This Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite begins AEW’s women’s eliminator title tournament, which features 16-competitors (8 Japanese, 8 Americans) and bracket matchups that take place in both Japan and the United States. The winner will receive a future title opportunity at current AEW women’s champion, Hikaru Shida.
According to the Wrestling Observer, Shida is actually in Japan now helping produce the tournament matches with the Japanese talent, which explains why she has been absent from programming as she needed to properly quarantine to get there. Those bouts will be filmed on a closed-set at the Ice Ribbon Dojo. Reports are that AEW President Tony Khan is working on a unique and “cool” idea in order to broadcast the matches for the fans in the U.S.
Whoever wins from the Japanese bracket will travel to the U.S. and face the winner of the American bracket. As of this writing the only tournament matchup announced is tomorrow’s showdown between Leyla Hirsch and Thunder Rosa.
Stay tuned.