Hikaru Shida has confirmed that she recently signed a new deal with AEW.

The former AEW Women’s World Champion made the announcement during a YouTube livestream on Friday, following weeks of speculation from fans who believed she may be stepping away from wrestling after portraying a retiring performer in a Japanese stage production last month.

Shida explained that the rumors stemmed from her role in a MAKAI stage play, where she starred as a wrestler announcing her retirement.

“I was the main character. The show was almost two hours, and I think only five minutes without me during the whole show,” Shida said. “It was the hardest stage play for me in ten years, but it was really great.”

Performing under the name Tsuruhime, Shida has been part of MAKAI since 2014, a theatre company known for its mix of live action, musical performance, and wrestling-inspired storytelling.

Discussing her latest performance, Shida said:

“It’s about a wrestler. The title was ‘Retirement’ and this is the story of the wrestler who just announced her retirement, and that’s me. Actually, after the show many fans asked me like, ‘Are you retiring or is it just a play?’ And of course it’s just a play. I’m not retiring, I just renewed my visa and contract so I’m not retiring. But fans asked me so that means my acting was too good.”

The stage show ran from September 18 to 21. Shida later posted on X on October 2 that she was heading back to the United States. Her most recent AEW appearance came on the November 20, 2024, edition of AEW Dynamite, where she lost to Kris Statlander.

Shida’s full livestream can be viewed below.