It seems that the lines of communication went haywire in AEW regarding Hikaru Shida and the Owen Hart tournament.
AEW has been playing up an injury for Shida since losing the street fight to Serena Deeb a little over two weeks ago. Commentary brought into question if Shida would be medically cleared to compete in the Owen Hart tournament. We found out the answer during Rampage when Shida was replaced by Kris Statlander.
Apparently, this decision seems to have confused Shida. She replied, “What?” to a clip of the segment.
What? https://t.co/rTZp7pi0pb
— HIKARU SHIDA 志田 光 (@shidahikaru) May 13, 2022
The quick assumption when jumping to conclusions is that Shida was unaware of this plan. She added fuel to this fire with her next tweet.
Well…. I already had 4 matches after the street fight and just finished the greatest fighting musical show.
— HIKARU SHIDA 志田 光 (@shidahikaru) May 13, 2022
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.
Shida has been wrestling in Japan since her loss to Deeb. She even competed in a 1 hour 45 minute tag team match. Shida also performed in the Makai fighting musical drama.
A short video for tonight’s MAKAI show for fans around the world #魔界 pic.twitter.com/iiFN30p9Yx
— HIKARU SHIDA 志田 光 (@shidahikaru) May 13, 2022
As soon as I heard AEW discussing an injury to Shida on Dynamite, it immediately struck me as an odd choice. At times, AEW embraces the idea of fans scouring social media and international wrestling to provide depth for story gaps, so it would seem obvious that fans would find out Shida is not injured severely enough to be pulled from the tournament.
As for Shida’s response, the line that sticks out most is, “Japanese wrestling is nothing for them.” It comes across as throwing shade, but I would caution that it might be a case of not expressing herself as intended in English.
In true babyface fashion, Shida decided to be positive about the situation and wished Statlander well.
I’m glad from my heart that Kris is in the tournament now.
— HIKARU SHIDA 志田 光 (@shidahikaru) May 13, 2022
And I’m gonna try to enjoy sudden holidays in Japan because it has been a while before I had.
Be positive!
What’s your take on this odd situation involving Hikaru Shida and AEW?
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