Top Star Missed Last Night's AEW Dynamite Due To Visa Issues

This major AEW favourite was absent from last night's Dynamite.

by Andrew Pollard
Jamie Hayter
AEW

With AEW Women's Champion Jamie Hayter a notable absence from last night's AEW Dynamite, it's now been revealed that the powerhouse is dealing with a visa issue.

Speaking on the latest edition of Wrestling Observer Radio (via WrestlingNews.co), Dave Meltzer noted that Hayter has had to return to England to resolve a problem surrounding her visa.

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As Metzler explained:

"Jamie Hayter, okay, she wasn't on the show this week. She'll be back pretty soon. What happened, is she had to return to England for visa reasons, to get her visa renewed and everything like that, which is something that happens. Like, all of the foreign talent in WWE from time to time, they might disappear for a couple of weeks every couple of years for this. It's all worked out and it's all fine, but I'm not sure which week she'll be back, but she's not there right now."

As alluded to by Meltzer there, visa issues are relatively commonplace in pro wrestling, even in the major promotions. For example, Dragon Lee's recent arrival in NXT was held up by a visa problem, and Kenny Omega had to take a short hiatus from AEW programming due to a similar issue.

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Jamie Hayter is currently in the midst of a 124-day reign as the AEW Women's Champion, having toppled Toni Storm for that (then interim) prize at Full Gear last November.

Since then, Hayter has only defended the title on two occasions - against Hikaru Shida at December's Holiday Bash episode of Dynamite, and against Ruby Soho and Saraya at Revolution earlier this month - but the ever-charismatic Brit has been a regular fixture of AEW programming in non-title matches during that time as she's made herself one of the most popular acts in the entire company.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.