Hikaru Shida is at the top of her game right now. The current AEW Women’s World Champion looks unstoppable; time after time she has beaten every woman who has challenged her. Her reign currently stands at 307+ days, the longest reign in the brand’s history.
But what was she doing before all this? Let’s look at Hikaru Shida, her career so far, and her journey to AEW.
Early Career
Hikaru Shida’s career did not start out like most. At first, she was an actress and ended up starring in the movie, Three Count. The film also featured wrestlers Emi Sakura, Kyoko Inoue, and Yoshiko Tamura.
For the film, Shida trained under Sakura at her Ice Ribbon Dojo. Once filming ended, she decided she wanted to pursue a career in pro wrestling. She made her debut on July 20, 2008, losing to Kazumi Shimouma.
Her first win did not come until four months later in a six-woman tag match. She then entered the ICEx60 Title Tournament, where she picked up her first singles win against Miyako Matsumoto. However, she lost the following month in the second-round to Seina.
Starting in the spring of 2009, Shida began picking up more wins. Those came against the likes of Matsumoto, Chii Tomiya, Tanny Mouse, Mai Ichii, and Makoto. Besides wrestling for Ice Ribbon, she also began appearing for NEO Women’s Pro Wrestling in the summer of 2010.
Gold in Ice Ribbon
At this point in her career, Hikaru Shida was tabbed as the “future ace of Joshi Puroresu”. That October, she and Tsukasa Fujimoto challenged Sakura and Nanae Takahashi for the International Ribbon Tag Team Titles. Sadly, they could not capture the gold.
In November, Shida got a second shot at the titles, this time with Riho. But like before, Sakura and Takahashi were able to retain. Her third shot came several weeks later, but she and Matsumoto failed to win.
Hoping another partner would bring her luck, Shida tagged with Tamura the following month to challenge the champions. This time, however, the match ended in a time limit draw. Thankfully, fifth time was the charm, as she and Fujimoto defeated Sakura and Takahashi for the titles on December 23.
The champions successfully defended the titles on several occasions. They defeated the teams of Hikari Minami and Riho, Makoto and Riho, and Bambi and Makoto. Their reign ended on March 26, 2011 (93 days) at the hands of Sakura and Ray.
She and Fujimoto teamed up again in September and began picking up several wins. At the end of the month, they entered the International Ribbon Tag Team Title Tournament. They advanced to the semifinals, where they lost to Manami Toyota and Tsukushi.
The following month, Shida and other joshi wrestlers traveled to England to wrestle for Pro Wrestling: EVE and Southside Wrestling. She lost to The Alpha Female and Nikki Storm, but beat Kay Lee Ray in her final match.
Shida won the ICEx60 Title on December 28, her first singles title in her career. Three days later, she won the International Ribbon Tag Team Title for the second time. This time, she and Maki Narumiya defeated Sakura and Tsukushi. They held the titles for 39 days before losing them to Fujimoto and Tsukushi.
Other title pursuits
On June 9, 2012, Shida and Fujimoto entered a tournament to crown new REINA X World Tag Team Titles. They won the whole thing, beating Mia Yim and Aki Kambayashi in the finals. In the meantime, Shida defended the ICEx60 Title on several occasions. Her reign ended on September 23 at the hands of Mio Shirai, totaling 273 days.
At Ice Ribbon’s New Ice Ribbon #432 event, Shida and Fujimoto entered a one-day tag tournament. They advanced to the finals and beat Kurumi and Tsukushi to win the International Ribbon Tag Team Titles once again. However, three days later, the duo lost both titles to Hamuko Hoshi and Hailey Hatred.
For the rest of 2012 and into 2013, Shida continued competing in various tournaments and title matches. Along with Ice Ribbon, she also appeared for OZ Academy, Pro Wrestling WAVE, and Wrestling New Classic.
She won more gold, this time with Aja Kong, on April 24. Together they won the OZ Academy Tag Team Titles from Hiroyo Matsumoto and Tomoka Nakagawa. A month later, she and Fujimoto won the International Ribbon Tag Team Titles and REINA X World Tag Team Titles from Aoi Kizuki and Tsukushi. However, two days later they relinquished the REINA X World Tag Team Titles and returned them to their home promotion.
Adding to her already impressive collection of gold, Shida won the WAVE Tag Team Titles with Yumi Ohka on July 15. But then, most of her gold disappeared in the blink of an eye. On August 11, she and Kong lost the OZ Academy Tag Team Titles to Matsumoto and Nakagawa. The very next day, she and Ohka lost the WAVE Tag Team Titles to Gami and Nakagawa.
Luckily, her and Fujimoto continued to successfully defend the International Ribbon Tag Team Titles. This trend continued into 2014, starting on January 4. After they beat Kurumi and Inoue, Shida announced that she was leaving Ice Ribbon on March 30.
Their final defense came on March 22, when they won against Narumiya and Meari Naito. Shida’s final Ice Ribbon match came on March 30, where she lost to Fujimoto. Afterwards, the two relinquished the titles, ending their reign at 309 days. This at the time was the record for longest reign in Ice Ribbon history, along with the most successful title defenses.
Career after Ice Ribbon
After leaving Ice Ribbon, Hikaru Shida began appearing for various promotions. In April, she wrestled during several of Shimmer’s events. She defeated Evie, Kimber Lee, and Athena, while losing to Yim and Mercedes Martinez. She also appeared for OZ Academy, Pro Wrestling WAVE, Dotonbori, Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling, and DDT, among others.
Her next title win came on August 24, when she won the Regina Di WAVE Title. Less than two months later, she won the RCW Women’s Title in a triple threat match. She defended both titles against the likes of Shirai, Mary Apache, and Sakura Hirota. She lost the RCW Women’s Title in a street fight against Leah Owens on February 7, 2015. Four days later, she lost the Regina Di WAVE Title to Ayako Hamada.
A few weeks later, Shida and Syuri won the REINA World Tag Team Titles from Arisa Nakajima and Kana. They held the titles for 108 days before losing them to Makoto and Rina Yamashita.
On September 11, 2016, the duo won the OZ Academy Tag Team Titles from Kaori Yoneyama and Tsubasa Kuragaki. They added to their collection several weeks later, winning the Sendai Girls Tag Team Titles from Kong and Cassandra Miyagi. The following month, they lost the Sendai Girls Tag Team Titles to Dash Chisako and Kaoru. However, they regained the titles over a month later.
They held both sets of titles into 2017. The duo’s OZ Academy Tag Team Title reign ended on June 25 at the hands of Akino and Kaho Kobayashi. Less than a month later, they lost the Sendai Girls Tag Team Titles to Miyagi and Chisako.
Shida’s next title win did not come until June 3, 2018, where she won the OZ Academy Openweight Title from Yoshiko. Her reign lasted 315 days, losing the gold to Mayumi Ozaki on April 14, 2019.
AEW
AEW announced that they signed Hikaru Shida on April 9, 2019. Her debut came on May 25 at Double or Nothing. There she, Riho, and Ryo Mizunami defeated Kong, Sakura, and Yuka Sakazaki.
At All Out, Shida took on Riho for a chance to fight for the inaugural AEW Women’s World Championship on Dynamite. However, Riho won and went on to beat Nyla Rose for the title. Shida got a second shot at the title during a fatal four-way, but Riho retained.
After picking up plenty of wins going into 2020, she got another shot at the title at Double or Nothing. This time, she beat Rose in a no-DQ, no count out match to win the gold. Since then, she has defended it against the likes of Penelope Ford, Thunder Rosa, Abadon, and Mizunami.
Over the course of her career, Hikaru Shida has shown she can always rise to the occasion. She has had quite a successful career already and is showing no signs of slowing down.
One thing is certain: anyone who steps up to her next better bring their A-game.