Riho's AEW Return Confirmed, Faces Serena Deeb In Eliminator Tournament
Former AEW Women's Champion Riho faces Serena Deeb in long-awaited comeback match.
The first ever All Elite Wrestling Women's Champion is on her way back to the promotion.
AEW confirmed during last night's broadcast that Riho will face reigning NWA Women's World Champion Serena Deeb in the first round of the Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament. There's no word on an exact date for the bout, though "coming soon" was plastered across the match banner.
The tournament's original advertising featured a United States flag on one side and a Japanese on the other, birthing talk of individual brackets for both countries. The Deeb vs. Riho pairing suggests it'll be mixed instead.
Riho's announcement comeback follows a report in last week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter stating that AEW was working on bringing her back. February was mentioned as a potential comeback month, which looks increasingly likely after last night's Dynamite.
Riho hasn't wrestled for AEW since March 2020. Unable to travel from her native Japan as a result of the ongoing global health crisis, she was recently targetted by Stardom, where she had been freelancing, but finished up in December and may now be on her back to the US on something closer to a permanent basis, given the country's new restrictions.