Hikaru Shida returned on last night's AEW Dynamite!
The former AEW Women's Champion made her first appearance on the show in several months and appeared to align with Saraya, Toni Storm and Ruby Soho before a ruse alongside Dr Britt Baker DMD and Jamie Hayter was revealed and the three were able to strike back against the heels.
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Saraya had just defeated Willow Nightingale with ample help from Storm and Soho, and were continuing to beat her down post-match when Shida's music hit and the scene played out.
Shida was last seen on the show in January, unsure of which side to take in the immediate aftermath of Storm and Saraya's turn on the AEW regulars. She'd previously been spurned by Saraya when the Brit was asked to pick a tag team partner and chose Storm instead. Her role in the story had been unclear until now, with her last match in All Elite Wrestling pre-dating those angles. Since last appearing on the show, she had worked various dates in Japan for WAVE and Ice Ribbon, as well as a pair of matches on the Jericho Cruise in February.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
