Hikaru Shida has been one of the more standout women’s wrestlers in All Elite Wrestling dating back to it’s inception and the former AEW champion has signed a new contract with the promotion. That was announced by Shida on her personal social media and was also something she touched on during a recent livestream on her YouTube channel.

While she has been absent from the AEW stage for almost a year now, Shida has been active on the Japanese wrestling circuit and also participated in a stage production in the role of a wrestler preparing to hang up their boots. Articulating on her YouTube channel that this was not a case of art imitating life, Shida said [via Vice]:

“It’s about a wrestler [the stageplay]. 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.”

The 37-year-old has been kept outside of the United States over the last several months due to visa related complications but the former multi-time AEW titleholder is still very much All Elite. The social media statement she dropped, referenced above, related to her visa situation as Shida stated [via Vice]:

“I just renewed my Visa and contract, so I’m not retiring. But fans asked me so that means my acting was too good.”

Hikaru Shida is a three time women’s champion second only to Toni Storm who has four reigns and Shida’s last AEW match, as of this writing came last November against current divisional titleholder Kris Statlander. With Storm and Statlander competing for the latter’s AEW crown at the looming WrestleDream card, some are mulling over the idea of the native of Japan making her triumphant return with the aim of tying Storm’s overall record for cumulative AEW Women’s title wins.