2. Hikaru Shida
Hikaru Shida was an up-and-coming actress in Japan when she was cast as the lead in a movie about professional wrestling called Three Count. She and the rest of the cast trained under Emi Sakura at Ice Ribbon, where she fell in love with the craft and decided to switch career tracks. Since then, she’s been a fixture of the joshi scene, and has made a number of impactful international appearances, including a run at SHIMMER where she defeated Kimber Lee.
Shida is a unique presence who brings an actor’s attention to detail to the ring. She obviously thinks a lot about the subtleties of how to move while in a submission hold, how to sell the pain not just on her face, but in her limbs. She’s deceptively strong and knows exactly how to connect with a crowd. Her knee strikes are a thing of beauty. All Elite need a performer of Shida’s acumen if they want to make a splash.
