Virtually nobody was told about this ahead of time aside from those involved in the angle. They were all told that this was a very perilous situation and make sure to stay away from Shibata’s head. Shibata would do his trademark spots and get beaten down, but stay away from his head. This was a one-off situation as Shibata can’t be cleared to wrestle
Regarding Hiromu Takahashi, the only thing we’ve heard is that he’s almost ready to return and they want to do is right and there’s no rush. It seems it’s more about how Gedo can weave a storyline around his return for impact and having the return coincide with something big