A top star has been pulled from the Owen Hart Tournament due to injury, however, a replacement has already been announced!
While both the men’s and women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament’s are in full swing, one line-up has undergone some changes.
Former AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida has sustained an injury and has had to withdraw from the tournament. However, it has been announced that her place will be taken by Kris Statlander. This means that Statlander will meet her former tag team partner Red Velvet in the quarter finals. The winner of that match will face either Ruby Soho or Riho.
On the May 13th episode of AEW Rampage during an interview with Jade Cargill and The Baddies, Tony Schiavone confirmed that Shida had suffered the injury during her recent Street Fight with Serena Deeb.
At time of writing, no details regarding the injury have been revealed, and it is unclear as to how long Shida will be out of action.
After weeks of qualifying matches, May 11th saw the tournament begin in earnest as three stars across the men’s and women’s brackets advanced to the semi finals.
With Martha Hart, (Owen’s wife) and his children Oje and Athena watching on in the crowd, the first match in the ring on Dynamite, was the clash between Adam Cole and Dax Harwood.
The bout played out in the midst of a riotous atmosphere as Harwood’s usual tributes to Bret Hart and the Hart family were punctuated by Adam Cole channelling his inner Shawn Michaels. The former NXT Champion, even paused to ‘tune up the band’ before attempting to land a Superkick.
Cole eventually grabbed the win by forcing Harwood to submit in the Sharpshooter to a chorus of boos.
Meanwhile, in the women’s bracket, Toni Storm saw off Jamie Hayter after a back and forth match which saw both women come close to victory on numerous occasions. But it was Storm who did eventually grab the win after hitting the Storm Zero.
In the show’s main event Darby Allin met Jeff Hardy, in what was hailed as a dream match by many fans. To add further fuel to the face-painted, daredevil fire, the match was made a No Disqualification bout. Both men cheated death on more than one occasion, with Allin hitting a Swanton from the top of a ladder in the ring to the floor and a pile of chairs.
Despite all of the high-flying, Hardy scored the win with a cradle after Allin had hit the Coffin Drop.