5 Ups & 3 Downs From AEW Dark (Nov 8)

4. Shida Shines

Hikaru Shida AEW Dark
AEW

Shida's fiery defeat of Big Swole, making her first singles appearance within the company, was a big improvement on the women's tag match in which the latter featured last week.

Whereas the current Phoenix of RISE was misrepresented as a brute last week, Arn Anderson was keen to put over her technical strength and tenacity this week, a smart contrast to Shida's indefatigable offence.

The pairing seemed to work wonders, as the Charlotte crowd - though possibly symptomatic of their general high investment throughout all of AEW this week - reacted big time to both competitors. Shida, unquestionably a future AEW Women's Champion, provided a necessary transition between Riho, eventually picked up the win, but both women picked up enormous credit. Based on this showing, it won't be long before Swole makes her Dynamite debut.

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Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.