Hikaru Shida Beats Nyla Rose, Retains AEW Women’s World Title at Full Gear 2020

Charles Sykes/Associated Press

Hikaru Shida beat Nyla Rose at AEW Full Gear on Saturday to retain the AEW Women’s World Championship.

Shida survived a diving knee drop from Rose:

The champion later countered with a falcon arrow and knees to Rose’s head:

The knees ultimately worked, and Shida got the pin for the win.

Saturday’s bout was a rematch from Double or Nothing in May, where Shida beat Rose in a No Disqualification, No Count-out match to win the AEW Women’s World title for the first time.

After that, Shida went on a remarkable run by beating every challenger placed in front of her. Because of that, she entered Full Gear with a nearly 170-day reign to her credit.

Shida defended the AEW Women’s Championship three times between Double or Nothing and Full Gear, earning victories over Penelope Ford, former NWA Women’s champion Thunder Rosa and Big Swole.

Meanwhile, Rose faded to the background to some degree, although she did make a big move by hiring Vickie Guerrero to be her manager.

She also won every singles match she was involved in between Double or Nothing and Full Gear, many of which were virtual squash matches on Dynamite and AEW Dark.

With Shida essentially beating all other legitimate challengers and nobody else stepping up, Rose was named No. 1 contender before Full Gear and given the opportunity to become the first two-time AEW Women’s World champion.

There wasn’t much of a storyline heading into Full Gear with regard to Shida and Rose, but the fact that Shida beat Rose for the title at Double or Nothing added some intrigue.

It can be argued that the Double or Nothing bout between Shida and Rose was AEW’s best women’s match to date, so there was some excitement surrounding the rematch.

With Shida retaining on Saturday, it may finally be time for AEW to give a heel Britt Baker a chance to feud with Shida and vie for the AEW Women’s title.

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