Shinjiro Otani Hospitalized Following Serious Injury At ZERO1 Event

Japanese legend Shinjiro Otani has been hospitalized after he was stretchered out of the ring from a serious injury at Pro Wrestling ZERO1’s Sunday show. BBM Sports in Japan reports that the main event of the show saw Otani facing Takashi Sugiura for the latter’s ZERO1 World Heavyweight Championshp. During the match, Otani took a German suplex into the turnbuckle that rendered Otani unable to move. The match was stopped and Otani was stretchered from the ring and taken to the hospital.

Tokyo Sports spoke with the match’s referee, Katsumi Sasazaki, who said, “He was conscious. He could hear [his own] voice and he could clearly see where he was. However, he complained that he couldn’t move his hands and that he couldn’t move, and he said, ‘I can’t feel my hands.'”

Otani is believed to have suffered a cervical spine injury. On behalf of 411, our best wishes to Otani for a full recovery.