All Elite Wrestling’s been taken to task by some critics for how they’ve presented their women’s division so far. The match they announced earlier today for All Out probably gives arguments to folks on both sides of the debate.
Before we get into any of that though, just as a wrestling match? This should be a banger:
#AEWAllOut
— All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) August 16, 2019
Saturday, August 31st, 2019 - @Sears_Centre - Chicago, IL@riho_gtmv vs @shidahikaru
LIVE on Pay Per View pic.twitter.com/j3lyxaiao7
Riho’s been on all three of AEW’s shows, but this will be her first straight-up singles match. She’s 2 - 1 in a Triple Threat and two tag matches. One of those wins was at Double Or Nothing, where she teamed with Hikaru Shida in her only appearance with with the company to date. Despite that, Shida is listed on All Elite’s roster page while Riho is not.
There’s not much in the way of a story here so far, outside the “wins and losses matter” record. In fact, the biggest women’s story AEW had going heading into All Out is on the pre-show, where the winner of The Buy In’s Casino Royale battle royal will get a shot at becoming the promotion’s first Women’s champ on Oct. 2 when they premiere on TNT.
Will the winner of that face the winner of this match? Are Riho and Hikaru pulling double duty at Sears Centre?
Hopefully, more will be revealed. Until then, here’s the updated card for Aug. 31 in Chicagoland:
- Chris Jericho vs. Hangman Page for the AEW World title
- Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega
- Best Friends (Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta) vs. The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson) for a first round bye in the AEW Tag Team championship tournament
- Lucha Bros vs. Young Bucks in a ladder match for the AAA Tag titles
- Cody Rhodes vs. Shawn Spears
- Darby Allin vs. Joey Janela vs. Jimmy Havoc
- Riho vs. Hikaru Shida
- Casino Battle Royale to determine a challenger for the new AEW Women’s World championship, featuring Allie, Britt Baker, Brandi Rhodes, Nyla Rose, Yuka Sakazaki, Ivelisse, Jazz, and Teal Piper (The Buy-In)