Backstage Update On Hikaru Shida's AEW Status
More on Hikaru Shida after her confusing AEW Owen Hart Foundation Tournament withdrawal.
Recent communication issues between AEW and Hikaru Shida surrounding the Japanese star's removal from the ongoing Owen Hart Foundation Women's Tournament have been resolved.
This is the belief of Bryan Alvarez, who, on a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Live, stated that Shida recently made plans to return to her native Japan, work a few wrestling matches, engage in some other projects, then return to continue in the tournament. Unfortunately, an unforeseen situation arose while she was in Japan that prevented Shida from coming back to the United States in time.
Alvarez speculated that this may have been down to a visa problem. Whatever the case, the former AEW Women's World Champion isn't expected to be back in Tony Khan's promotion before The Owen ends. The finals will be contested at Double Or Nothing 2022 on 29 May.
Shida's tournament withdrawal was curious, as it was followed by Hikaru hitting Twitter with a series of posts disputing AEW's claims that she was injured, hence the pull-out. Later, a healthy Shida confirmed that she was unable to return for The Owen, saying "these difficult things sometimes happen with international talents."
The situation now appears to have been ironed out.