Kenny Omega Credits Hikaru Shida For Putting Together Japan Bracket In AEW Women’s Tournament

Hikaru Shida will get a new challenger at AEW Revolution as she defends her Women’s Championship against the winner of the ongoing 16-woman tournament. 

The tournament has featured eight women on the United States side of the bracket and eight women on the Japan side of the bracket. Kenny Omega, who has long been a proponent of Joshi wrestling, has had a big hand in the AEW women’s division overall, but it was Hikaru Shida who put together the Japan side of the bracket for the tournament. 

“I enjoyed every minute of it. Every match had something unique to offer and I couldn’t have been more proud of them and couldn’t have been more proud of Hikaru Shida, actually,” Omega revealed to Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT of Shida’s involvement in putting things together. “She really went the extra mile and put it all together herself in Japan. These things don’t happen out of thin air. She really wanted to feature the women wrestlers more, the girls stuck in Japan and feature some of the women that she has worked with when she was doing freelance work. So we got some of the other freelancers like Veny, for example. She wrestles in Japan as Asuka. And Veny absolutely killed it against Emi Sakura. Just an incredible match. It gave people a taste of what they’re missing out on, just what they’re missing out out in the world. It’s unfortunate you can’t see all the best stuff all the time every week, but I felt extremely proud to host something as a way for people to see what goes on in that world of joshi and how our athletes are doing as well”

Omega stated he would like to get the women featured in the Japan bracket on television more, but admitted that is tough right now due to travel restrictions. 

The AEW Women’s Title Eliminator Tournament is scheduled to continue on Wednesday’s Dynamite with Nyla Rose vs. Britt Baker. The US semi-final and Japan final will be held on Sunday, February 28 on Bleacher Report. 

You can view Fightful’s tournament update by clicking here.