Update on Hikaru Shida’s AEW status
Hikaru Shida appears to be back in the United States.
The 37-year-old hasn’t wrestled for AEW since November as she has been in Japan dealing with visa issues. She recently posted a photo of herself with a passport on Instagram along with an airplane emoji. On Saturday, she posted an image of herself reunited with her cat.
In May, Kenny Omega, who had been looking after Shida’s cats, mentioned on a video game stream that Shida’s visa renewal was taking longer than expected.
“You never really know how long the process is going to take. And in this case, it’s taking quite a while,” he said.
Shida wrestled at Korakuen Hall on Tuesday at an independent show, teaming with Starlight Kid and Saori Anou in the main event. Her most recent AEW match was a loss to Kris Statlander on the November 20 episode of AEW Dynamite.
Ian Carey is a writer from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, whose work has appeared in award-winning publications such as NOW Magazine and The Huffington Post. He joined the F4WOnline team in 2019 and was named managing editor in the summer of 2026. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Ian has covered professional wrestling for more than 15 years.