Note On Hikaru Shida’s Status Amid AEW Absence

Hikaru Shida has not been on TV for over a year now, and a new report has a bit of an update on her status. As noted in October, Shida had been renewing her visa, with a previous report noting that she spent much of 2025 working on getting her visa issues resolved while also dealing with some issues with her shoulder.

The latest Fightful Select Answers Q&A notes that Shida’s visa issues appear to be resolved and that she’s been back in the United States for a while. As was noted in January, she was backstage at the AEW Dynamite in Orlando, Florida where she lives.

There is currently no word on why Shida is not back on television, with Sean Ross Sapp noting that often it’s just a case of “out of sight, out of mind” with talent that has been off TV for a while.

Shida last competed in AEW in November of 2024. She worked a number of matches in Japan last year, most recently at Sonoko Kato’s retirement show for OZ Academy on November 23rd, 2025 for an eight-person tag team win alongside Aja Kong, Chikayo Nagashima, and Nagisa Nozaki over Hiroyo Matsumoto, Rina Yamashita, VENY, and Yuki Kamifuku.