Hikaru Shida To Defend Non-AEW Championship On Dark: Elevation

AEW is no stranger to bringing in championships from other promotions to be defended on "Dynamite", "Rampage", "Dark", or "Dark: Elevation", with titles from Ring of Honor, AAA, and New Japan all being featured at certain points. And now the time has come for another promotion to see their gold on AEW programming; joshi promotion Pro Wrestling WAVE.

As announced by AEW on Twitter earlier, Hikaru Shida will defend Pro Wrestling WAVE's top title, the Regina Di WAVE Championship on tonight's episode of "AEW Dark: Elevation", taking on her mentor and trainer Emi Sakura.

"Regina Di Wave championship [match] is TONIGHT!!!" Shida tweeted shortly after.

This will be Shida's first defense of the championship since she won it from Suzu Suzuki in Japan on August 14. She is also in her second reign as Regina Di WAVE Champion, having previously held the title from August 2014 to February 2015.

It will also be Shida's second match against Sakura in the last few weeks; she previously defeated her mentor in singles competition on a special edition of "Dark: Elevation" that aired on August 4. Sakura, who also owns and operates Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling in Japan, will be accompanied by Gatoh Move star and Super Asia Champion Baliyan Akki for tonight's match.

As noted by Shida on Twitter, tonight's match will be the first of several in a busy week for the former AEW Women's World Champion. Shida will team with Toni Storm to take on Dr. Britt Baker DMD and Jamie Hayter on "AEW Dynamite" this Wednesday, and will then take on Storm, Baker, and Hayter in a four-way match this Sunday at AEW All Out, to crown the AEW Interim Women's World Champion.