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Tag: Riho

  • Riho Confirms Arm Injury After AEW Return Match

    Riho Confirms Arm Injury After AEW Return Match

    Former AEW Women’s Champion Riho has confirmed her injury.

    The female star took on Instagram to announce the news. She posted a photo with a sling, and noted that she has fractured her arm.

    A number of AEW stars have since replied to the post and people such as the TBS Champion Mercedes Mone, Willow Nightingale and Madison Ryan have wished a speedy recovery to their co-worker:

    Riho had only returned to the ring during the July 6 episode of AEW Collision where she defeated Lady Frost. Here’s the spot where she’s believed to have sustained the injury:

    https://x.com/sebas_bucks/status/1809761721692877306?s=46

    The 27-year-old had been out of action for four months before that. Her last match before the Collision debut had taken place at the March 13 episode of Dynamite where she suffered a defeat at the hands of Willow Nightingale.

    Riho In AEW

    Riho has been a part of the AEW roster since their first show in Double or Nothing 2019. She competed in a six-women tag team match at the event.

    She was notably crowned the Inaugural Women’s World Champion of the company. The former DDT star defeated Hikaru Shida during the premiere episode of Dynamite for the victory.

    Things have not gone Riho’s way since the COVID-19 pandemic. She has had to take multiple long breaks due to travel restrictions as well as injuries and has not held any titles in AEW since then.

  • Riho Back in Japan to Renew Visa, No Idea When AEW Return Will Happen

    Riho Back in Japan to Renew Visa, No Idea When AEW Return Will Happen

    Fans wanting to see Riho back in the ring will have to keep waiting as the former AEW Women’s World Champion is currently in Japan to renew her work Visa. 

    Despite being one of the earliest names signed to AEW, fans haven’t seen much of Riho as of late. In a social media post, the inaugural AEW Women’s World Champion shared that she’s currently in Japan and is waiting for her Visa to be renewed. Riho added that she does not know when she will be returning to AEW programming. 

    Riho’s social media post explaining her absence. 

    Riho has competed just seven times for AEW over the past 12 months. Her most recent match was on the AEW Dynamite ‘Big Business’ show in March of 2024. She was defeated by Willow Nightingale. 

    Visa Issues

    Riho Isn’t the only name to be dealing with Visa issues. Jay White was absent from AEW’s recent events in Canada and it was reported that was due to Visa problems prohibiting him from working in the Great White North. 

    Rush’s most recent match for AEW was at Worlds End and saw him on the losing side of an eight-man tag-team match. Not only is Rush dealing with Visa issues, but he has also been recovering from an injury.

    Katsutori Shibata had to return to Japan in November 2023 due to Visa issues. This resulted in him relinquishing the Ring of Honor PURE Championship to Wheeler Yuta. This was hardly the biggest setback of his career though, as Shibata nearly died after a match with Kazuchika Okada in 2017. He now plans to end his wrestling career with AEW. 

    Visa issues are an unfortunate side-effect of wrestlers who seek success outside of their home country. Hopefully, it won’t be long before Riho has things sorted and is back in an AEW ring once more. 

  • Former AEW Women’s Champion Expected To Return From Injury Soon

    Former AEW Women’s Champion Expected To Return From Injury Soon

    One former AEW Women’s Champion looks to be on the verge of making her return.

    The current world titleholder in AEW’s women’s division is Thunder Rosa. The TBS Champion is Jade Cargill. Jade has been shutting down all challengers, while Thunder’s reign is in the early stages. A return could add a spark to the division.

    Riho Expecting To Return Soon

    • Riho
      (via AEW)

    Riho has confirmed on her blog that she has completely healed from a broken collarbone. Her return to the United States is imminent (via The Midwest Marks Podcast).

    https://twitter.com/marks_midwest/status/1520489795713175555

    Riho’s last match was back in January when she took on Britt Baker at Battle of the Belts. It was in that match where Riho suffered the injury.

    Reports had said the former AEW Women’s Champion was expected to fully recover in about three months so it appears everything went according to plan.

  • First AEW Battle of the Belts Match Revealed

    First AEW Battle of the Belts Match Revealed

    AEW has officially announced the very first match for their Battle of the Belts special event which will air on TNT at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on January 8th.

    It was confirmed during AEW Rampage on Friday night that Britt Baker will defend the AEW Women’s Championship against Riho at Battle of the Belts in Charlotte, North Carolina at the Bojangles Coliseum.

    You can see the official announcement graphic from AEW’s Twitter account below.

    Riho had earned the title shot by defeating Baker back on the November 26th edition of AEW Rampage in a Black Friday Deal Match. At that point, we knew Riho would get a title shot but didn’t know when. That question has now been answered.

    While no other matches have officially been announced for Battle of the Belts, many assume that Bryan Danielson will face AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page on the show. This past Wednesday night, Page and Danielson had an all-time classic on Dynamite — a match which ended in a draw after 60 minutes. The two are understandably due for a rematch, and Battle of the Belts seems like the perfect opportunity.

    A Throwback to Yesterday

    The Battle of the Belts TNT special has the flavor of the old WCW Clash of the Champions events which aired on TBS between 1988 and 1997. Most are expecting the AEW show to have PPV level excitement behind it by the time we get there.

    The event will be held at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte (formerly known as the Charlotte Coliseum and Independence Arena). The venue was home to several WCW events in year’s past.

    According to the WrestleTix Twitter account, AEW Battle of the Belts has sold around 73% of the alotted tickets as of press time. That’s good for 4,583 tickets sold out of a setup that will be able to hold 6,240 fans. We’d expect a good majority of those remaining tickets to move over the next couple of weeks, especially if Page vs. Danielson is announced.

    Check out the Top Rope Nation wrestling podcast for your weekly dose of pro wrestling talk featuring interviews, analysis and exclusive news: Apple – Spotify – YouTube.

  • Riho Joins Women’s Casino Battle Royal at All Out

    Riho Joins Women’s Casino Battle Royal at All Out

    Former All Elite Wrestling Women’s World Champion Riho will enter the Women’s Casino Battle Royal at AEW All Out this Sunday.

    Tony Khan revealed in a media call today that Riho will compete in the 21-woman Battle Royal. He was going to delay the news until AEW Rampage on Friday but decided to share today. Riho is the 20th participant that will compete in the match.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gDiUIVrups

    Rules of the Women’s Casino Battle Royal

    The Women’s Casino Battle Royal will be the second women’s battle royal in All Out history. The rule of the match is that five-woman will start the match, and every three minutes, another five-woman will join. The way to eliminate opponents in the match is by throwing them over the top rope and making their feet touch the floor. Participants are grouped based on their suit from cards like hearts, clubs, diamonds, and hearts. When all 20 participants have entered the match, the Joker will join, who makes up the 21st competitor. The surviving participant of the match is the winner and gets an AEW Women’s World Championship match.

    Nyla Rose became the first woman to win the match at the inaugural AEW All Out event on August 31, 2019. She will also be competing in the match on Sunday.

    Who Will be the last Participant

    While revealing that Riho will be in the match, Khan didn’t share who will be the 21st participant. The last competitor could also not be on the active AEW roster. AEW may not reveal who it would be until the match has started.

  • Riho’s Absence From AEW TV Explained

    Riho’s Absence From AEW TV Explained

    Former AEW Women’s Champion Riho is expected to return to AEW television soon.

    Many have wondered why Riho hasn’t been seen in action for over a month. Her last appearance took place on the July 7 edition of AEW Dark: Elevation. Riho picked up a victory over Amber Nova.

    Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reports that Riho has a bad reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine. The good news is that she has been feeling better and is looking to return to the ring soon. An exact timeframe wasn’t revealed.

    Riho decided to make the full-time jump from Stardom to AEW. Stardom reportedly wanted to sign her full-time but AEW got the jump on it first. She was reportedly in the process of moving from Japan to the United States.

    Back in Oct. 2019, Riho became the inaugural AEW Women’s World Champion. She held on to that title for 133 days before losing it to Nyla Rose. Her last high-profile match took place back in May at Double or Nothing. She challenged Serena Debb for the NWA Women’s Title. Riho was submitted in the title match.

    Who would you like to see Riho feud with upon her return to AEW TV?

  • NWA Title Match Booked For AEW Double or Nothing Buy-In

    NWA Title Match Booked For AEW Double or Nothing Buy-In

    All Elite Wrestling has announced that the NWA World Women’s Championship will be defended this weekend on the Double or Nothing Buy-In show. NWA Women’s Champion Serena Deeb will defend against former AEW Women’s Champion, Riho.

    Deeb recently returned from knee surgery that had kept her out of action for 3 months. She defeated Red Velvet in a well-reviewed match on last week’s edition of Dynamite. 23-year-old Riho hasn’t wrestled in AEW since March 10th. She picked up a victory over Maki Itoh on the first-ever edition of AEW Dark: Elevation.

    This will be just the 2nd ever match between Riho and Deeb. They met back in February in the 1st round of the AEW Women’s title-eliminator tournament. Riho pulled out the victory in a match, which is the likely reason she has been granted this title shot.

    Serena Deeb vs Riho

    The announcement of this match comes one day after a new #1 Contender to the NWA Women’s title was not able to be determined on last night’s edition of NWA Powerrr. Thunder Rosa and Kamille wrestled to a 20-minute time limit draw on the show. It is now unclear who will challenge for the belt on June 6th when the NWA presents its next PPV, When Our Shadows Fall.

  • Riho Returning To AEW To Compete In #1 Contender Tournament For Women’s Title

    Riho Returning To AEW To Compete In #1 Contender Tournament For Women’s Title

    AEW has finally announced the return of their Inaugural women’s champion Riho after almost 10 months of absence for the female star from the company.

    The promotion announced a women’s eliminator tournament last week to determine the new #1 contender for the current champion Hikaru Shida.

    The company then announced an interesting first-round match for the tournament during tonight’s episode of Dynamite, confirming that a returning Riho will be facing the current NWA women’s champion Sarena Deeb:

    Riho was crowned the first-ever AEW women’s champion during the premiere episode of Dynamite back in October 2019 after defeating Hikaru Shida in a one on one match.

    She held the title for 133 days before losing it to Nyla Rose in February last year. Shida then won the championship from Rose during Double Or Nothing in May.

    The Japanese star took a leave from AEW not long after losing the championship due to the travel restrictions put in place to stop the spread of coronavirus.

    Though the company has not provided any timetable for this bout just yet and so we will have to wait and see when the former women’s champion actually makes her return to AEW programming.

  • Update On Riho’s AEW Status

    Update On Riho’s AEW Status

    Former AEW Women’s Champion, Riho, has not wrestled in the United States since March. She’s been keeping an active schedule with the World Wonder Ring Stardom promotion in Japan, however. According to a recent report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, AEW is hoping to have Riho back on its shows soon.

    “The company is right now working on bringing Riho back. People have been asking about her since Stardom stopped using her a few weeks ago. She could be back as early as February,” wrote Dave Meltzer. Riho’s last match with Stardom was on December 26th, 2020.

    News that AEW is hoping to have Riho back shortly comes on the heels of the announcement of the Women’s Championship Eliminator tournament. AEW announced the tournament on Dynamite this week and graphics for it show an American side and a Japanese side.

    Another Joshi star who has worked with AEW in the past, Emi Sakura, posted the following in regards to the upcoming tournament:

    Riho won the AEW Women’s Championship on the first-ever edition of Dynamite. She defeated Nyla Rose in the finals of a tournament to crown the first champion. Riho held the title for 19 weeks and 4 defences before dropping it to Rose on the 19th edition of Dynamite on February 12th, 2020.