 During the tournament he was involved in a serious incident when he hit Masakazu Fukuda with an elbow drop during a match.Fukuda was in a coma and died 4 days later in hospital.Shibata and Wataru worked their way up the junior ranks together, though Shibata was a slight step ahead of Inoue throughout their joint rise, and subsequently challenged for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship first against Kendo Kashin on October 28, 2001 but lost.