>>6101359>Were these two really good friends irl?I believe "it's complicated" would best describe it. They came up in the same Young Lion class so they were close in that sense, but Tanahashi did definitely have problems with Shibata's attitude towards pro-wrestling and his abandonment of NJPW in the latter half of 2000's. An excerpt from Tanahashi's book:
>My feelings for Shibata are complicated. He is clumsy, too pure, and once he gets an idea about “What pro-wrestling should be” into his head, he can only move forward in that direction. >When he stated, “I’m starting to enjoy pro-wrestling” in 2013 G1 CLIMAX, I snapped at him and said “Cut the crap!” On one hand, this was a rage against him for leaving the company at desperate times. “Of course you’ll enjoy wrestling in front of a full packed hectic crowd!” But to be honest, I wanted him to realize that long before this.>He should have realized sooner. Only if he would have stayed in NJPW and worked together with us to make things better...>I’m fully aware of the reason why he couldn’t come to enjoy wrestling at that time, and that he left the company after much agonizing. So on the other hand, I feel happy for what he’s said.>But I found his last word in NJPW (2005) “I’m not going to be a white-collar (yes-man) wrestler” offensive.>Shibata has always turned down what the company brought to him saying, "I'm not interested” but when you ask him what he wants to do, he never came up with an actual plan. There’s no way the fans would support him, and Shibata himself would eventually reach a dead-end. That’s why I refuted, “Shibata is like a junior high student who has just entered his rebellious age. Pro-wrestling is a brawl? Killing? Then why are you wrestling in the first place!” >These words didn’t just come out of my mouth out of anger, this is what I’ve been advocating for years. And I still feel the same. 