Hikaru Shida ended a nearly three-year AEW championship drought on the July 2 episode of Dynamite, capturing the vacant TBS Championship under controversial circumstances.
The title change came in a Survival of the Fittest match that main evented the show. Six women entered the contest for the vacant TBS Championship: Harley Cameron, Queen Aminata, Persephone, Kris Statlander, Hikaru Shida, and Maika.
How The Survival Of The Fittest Match Played Out
The first elimination came early, with Persephone removing Harley Cameron after a top-rope powerbomb. A few minutes later, Shida eliminated Maika with a unique pin attempt. Persephone then took Queen Aminata out of the match with a rollup.
Persephone soon got a taste of her own medicine, being eliminated by a sit-down pin from Statlander. She did not take the loss well, striking Statlander with the TBS Championship belt before heading out.
Shida capitalized on Persephone’s unsanctioned belt shot to Kris Statlander, then locked in a submission to win the title.
A former TBS title holder herself, Statlander will obviously not be happy with how things played out, and she is likely to demand a rematch for the belt on account of the controversial finish of the Dynamite match.
A Long-Awaited Payoff For Shida
This is Shida’s first championship reign in AEW since 2023, when she won the AEW Women’s World Championship for the third time. That reign lasted only 39 days.
The TBS Championship had been vacant after Willow Nightingale relinquished it due to injury, prompting the promotion to book the Survival of the Fittest match to crown a new champion. Shida had never held the TBS Title before, having previously come up short in a challenge for the belt against Mercedes Mone at AEW All Out in 2024.
The win follows Shida’s AEW re-signing last year, giving the former three-time AEW Women’s World Champion a fresh chapter after a stretch of creative limbo.