It was announced on this evening’s AEW Rampage that former women’s champion Hikaru Shida had been injured in her Street Fight with Serena Deeb, and would no longer be able to compete in the Owen Hart Memorial tournament. Kris Statlander was named as Shida’s replacement.
However, there is now an interesting wrinkle added to the story. Shida took to Twitter during tonight’s Rampage and revealed that she is not injured at all, nor was she informed that she was being pulled from the tournament. Her full tweet reads:
“Well…. I already had 4 matches after the street fight and just finished the greatest fighting musical show. But I seem to have been injured…Japanese wrestling is nothing for them. I’m so sorry. And sorry couldn’t be in the tournament too. I’m glad from my heart that Kris is in the tournament now. And I’m gonna try to enjoy sudden holidays in Japan because it has been a while before I had. Be positive!”
We cannot currently confirm whether this is an elaborate storyline for Shida in AEW, or an actual shoot. Check out her tweets below.