Hikaru Shida Heads Back to the U.S. After Long AEW Absence – Hikaru Shida may soon be making her long-awaited return to All Elite Wrestling. The former AEW Women’s World Champion has been absent from the company since November 2024 due to visa renewal issues that kept her in Japan for nearly a year.
While away from AEW, Shida continued wrestling in her home country, including an appearance at an OZ Academy event this past September. Despite staying active in Japan, her status with AEW remained in question, with no confirmed timeline for her return.
Now, Shida has provided an encouraging update. Posting on social media before her departure, she wrote, “Soaked in the hot springs at the airport, ate curry in the lounge—all set! See you again, Japan. I’m ready to go back to the US.” This statement signals that she is heading back stateside, a step that could pave the way for her re-entry into AEW programming.
Shida has been with AEW since 2019 and is one of the promotion’s key originals. She has held the AEW Women’s World Championship three times, with her most recent reign occurring in 2023. Her last AEW match before her absence came on the November 20, 2024 episode of Dynamite, where she lost to Kris Statlander.
In May, Kenny Omega commented on Shida’s situation during a Twitch stream, explaining that the visa renewal process was taking longer than expected. “You never really know how long the process is going to take. And in this case, it’s taking quite a while,” Omega said.
Shida appeared to be close to resolving the issue in July when she posted a photo of her passport, but her return did not happen at that time. With her now traveling back to the United States, the possibility of seeing her in an AEW ring again is closer than it has been in months.
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Hikaru Shida Heads Back to the U.S. After Long AEW Absence
