Hikaru Shida And Persephone Qualify For AEW Survival Of The Fittest Match

By Sam Palmer
Hikaru Shida at AEW All Out 2024 AEW/Lee South

The AEW TBS Championship is currently vacant following Willow Nightingale's injury, but a new champion will be crowned on the July 1 episode of "AEW Dynamite" in a Survival of the Fittest Match. Six AEW stars will compete in an elimination style bout to determine the new champion, and both Hikaru Shida and Persephone secured their places in the match during the Summer Blockbuster episode of "AEW Collision."

Shida was the first to qualify as she defeated Zayda Steel in the first of six qualifying matches that will take place over the coming weeks. The former AEW Women's World Champion was dominant throughout the match despite Steel's best efforts to gain some momentum. However, Shida was too much for Steel as she hit a modified Falcon Arrow before locking her in a submission hold to gain the victory. Shida has never held the AEW TBS Championship, but if she does get the win on July 1, she will become only the second woman behind Kris Statlander to have held both women's singles titles in AEW.

Later on in the night, the CMLL World Women's Champion Persephone punched her ticket to the Survival of the Fittest Match as she defeated Julia Hart. Persephone has crossed paths with Hart in recent weeks, with Hart even blinding the CMLL star with the black mist, but there were no tricks from Hart this time around as Persephone literally slapped the mist out of Hart's mouth in the closing stages, before hitting her with a Crucifix Bomb for the victory. Persephone was eliminated from the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament on last week's episode of "Collision," so she will be looking to use the Survival of the Fittest Match as a way to regain her momentum in AEW. Four more qualifying matches will take place between now and July 1, with the likes of Queen Aminata, Harley Cameron, Mina Shirakawa, and the aforementioned Kris Statlander still looking to qualify.

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