Hikaru Shida Wants More Joshi Stars In AEW

Hikaru Shida feels like AEW bringing in more Joshi stars would prove to be a successful move.

Having held the AEW Women’s World Championship on two occasions, Hikaru Shida has had a standout career in the short history of All Elite Wrestling. She also holds the record as the longest-reigning title holder at 372 days.

Her most recent reign came to an end this past Sunday when Saraya won the four-way contest for the title to win the gold in her home country at Wembley Stadium in front of 81,000 fans.

However, Shida seemingly has her sights set on the future of the women’s division in the company, and would welcome more of a Joshi element.

“The Best Style In The World”

In a discussion with Tempest of WrestleTalk via Fightful, Hikaru Shida commented on how she has been trying to demonstrate her favorite style of wrestling on the biggest stage.

I’m saying this from beginning, the Japanese Joshi style is the best style in the world. I’m so glad to show Joshi style to the world. Japanese wrestling business is much smaller than it is in the United States, so there are a lot of great wrestlers, but we don’t have TV shows, we just have the small streaming [services]. One reason I’m in AEW is to show more Japanese Joshi to the world and I hope that other Joshi wrestlers get a big chance to be a big star and be rich.

Continuing on, Shida referenced the Women’s Championship Eliminator tournament from 2021, which featured half the bracket being fought by Japanese wrestlers, and hopes that further crossovers could happen.

Yeah, of course. Our roster is so big, I really hope so. Some wrestlers who wrestled in the tournament in Japan [in 2021], I hope they come to the US and wrestle in front of big crowds.

Hikaru Shida also recently named a Ring Of Honor star who would be a dream opponent.

With thanks to Fightful for the transcription.