Hikaru Shida Reveals Her Current Whereabouts

Where in the world is Hikaru Shida? In a tweet made in the early hours of December 30, Shida revealed that she is back in Japan for two championship defenses.

At Ice Ribbon's RibbonManiaNew Year's Eve, Shida is set to defend her International Ribbon Tag Team Championship alongside Ibuki Hoshi against the team of Yuna Manase and Totoro Satsuki. This will be Shida and Hoshi's first defense of the Championship since winning the titles back in September. Shida is also set to defend her Regina Di WAVE Championship on New Year's Day at Pro Wrestling Wave's WAVE NAMI 1 against Risa Sera. It will be Shida's fourth defense of the championship, but only her second defense at a Pro Wrestling Wave event — the other two took place on AEW programming earlier this year. Shida first defended the title on "AEW: Dark Elevation" on August 29 against Emi Sakura. The title then made its way to AEW TV, where Shida made her third defense of the championship, this time against The Bunny on the December 9 episode of "AEW Rampage."

Before departing for Japan, Shida and current AEW Women's World Champion Jamie Hayter clashed for the championship in the main event of the December 21 edition of "Dynamite," with Hayter ultimately coming out on top in a contest that has won near-universal praise. Shida formerly held the AEW Women's World Championship through the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic and still holds the record for longest reign with the title, and the longest AEW title reign of any kind.