AEW Fans: Get Ready To Meet Your New Favourite Wrestler
An AEW date awaits this hard-hitting star, whose US breakout potential is immense.
American wrestling fans will once again profit from All Elite Wrestling's working partnerships with other promotions when Tokyo Joshi Pro stalwart Miyu Yamashita challenges for Thunder Rosa's AEW Women's World Championship.
AEW is yet to set a date for Rosa vs. Yamashita II, which is due to take place following Miyu's defeat of Rosa at TJPW's Summer Sun Princess '22 event on 9 July. That first outing will, however, air on tonight's AEW Dark along with PAC's recent All-Atlantic Title defence against Shota Umino in the UK's Revolution Pro Wrestling.
Yamashita has worked only one AEW taping in the past, teaming with Skye Blue in a defeat to Nyla Rose and Serena Deeb on the 6 June Dark: Elevation show. This came as part of a short United States excursion also encompassing dates with Prestige Wrestling and Deadlock Pro. Competing in the US for the first time since April 2019, the 27-year-old delivered acclaimed work opposite Masha Slamovich, familiar opponent Maki Itoh, and Miyuki Takase on the independents.
The brisk, bruising Slamovich match has been uploaded to YouTube for free.
While unlikely to embark on a similar year-long excursion away from her home promotion in the near future, Yamashita nonetheless has the potential to follow in compatriot Konosuke Takeshita's footsteps as the next touring Japanese wrestler to break out in AEW. A fearsome head-kicker of immense physical charisma and an ice-cold aura not dissimilar to Katusyori Shibata, she is not only one of modern wrestling's most compelling Ace figures, but amongst the sport's best pure strikers too.
Not that her approach is one-dimensional, though. Through dramatic, emotional battles with Itoh, Shoko Nakajima, Yuka Sakazaki, and more, Yamashita has proven herself amongst the most compelling, diverse big-match wrestlers around.
Watch the bout linked above for a taster of her style. Then, await the second Thunder Rosa match and witness what could potentially be one of the greatest Women's World Title fights in AEW's short history.