AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida recently appeared on Talk Is Jericho for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling. During the discussion, Shida commented on joining AEW:
“It was Kenny (Omega). He also wrestled in Ice Ribbon (where Hikaru wrestled). He contacted me and the first time, I think it was just the first Double or Nothing. So just one match. He mentioned the contract, but I said, ‘I can’t because I have the actress show, like a stage play show in Japan. It’s called Makai and I’m the main character of that so I can’t quit. So I can’t go to the U.S.’ but he called me, ‘You can keep doing the Makai and you can also do AEW two. You can do both.’ That’s so much different than I imagined.”
Winning her first AEW Women’s Championship in 2020:
“It was crazy because I thought it would take longer, but it was like six months. So yeah, when I came here, I was like, Okay, I’m going to be a champion someday, yay, but after six months, oh my God, I’m champion now. But yeah, it was great but there were no crowds in the venue so I think I felt more kind of anxious.”
If she is nervous about defending her title coming up at All In at Wembley Stadium:
“I don’t know why, but not really yet for now. Toni, Britt, I know them well and we wrestled a couple times and actually, I like to wrestle them, so I think I can show my best with them at Wembley, so actually, I’m really excited.”
Shida will defend her title against Dr. Britt Baker, DMD, Saraya, and Toni Storm this Sunday at AEW ALL IN London.
You can check out the complete podcast below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
