AEW star bids emotional farewell

AEW fans are celebrating a bittersweet happening today ahead of the next live Dynamite episode. A certain fan-favorite wrestler, who is no stranger to controversy, is saying goodbye to one fanbase while preparing to return to another. Rumors on the big return are swirling as AEW prepares for Double or Nothing VII.

Mina Shirakawa began her pro wrestling journey at age 31 in 2018. The Tokyo native made her name in Stardom and NJPW, then debuted for Tony Khan's ROH in March 2024. This led to her All Elite debut the following month and viral programs with Toni Storm and longtime friend-foe Mariah May. The 37-year-old finished up with Stardom in early April and announced her plans to return to All Elite Wrestling.

The Venus of Pro Wrestling is headed back to the United States. Shirakawa took to X (fka Twitter) today to announce that she is moving out of her home in the Japanese capital. The five-time Stardom champion and Eddie Kingston's favorite women's wrestler left an emotional message on her past and future and thanked The Land of The Rising Sun before heading to the airport.

"I cried so many tears in this room. But every morning, I chose to fight for my future. Hard times may come. But I’ll never give up. Thank you, Japan. [Japanese flag emoji] [airplane emoji] [American flag emoji] #MinaNow," Mina Shirakawa wrote with the photo below.

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Shirakawa's last match for Tony Khan was a win over Leila Grey at the ROH TV tapings on April 12. Her last AEW bout was the loss to Mariah May at Winter Is Coming on December 11.

AEW Dynamite updated lineup for tonight

All Elite Wrestling will invade the Masonic Temple in Detroit for tonight's live Dynamite. Below is the updated lineup:

Adam Page will appear live
Will Ospreay will appear live
Renee Paquette hosts a sit-down interview with Jamie Hayter
Samoa Joe vs. Claudio Castagnoli
The Young Bucks and Ricochet vs. Mark Briscoe, Swerve Strickland, and Mike Bailey
Women's World Championship Eliminator Match: Toni Storm (c) vs. Thunder Rosa vs. Penelope Ford vs. Anna Jay
Continental Championship Eliminator Match: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kevin Knight

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AEW will return to the same venue on Thursday night for a live Collision episode. The special edition will air live on TBS instead of the usual Saturday TNT timeslot.

About the author

Marc Middleton is a writer from North Carolina, USA. He is currently in his first year at Sportskeeda as a contributor to the WWE section.

Marc began roaming the online world of wrestling in 1997, and has worked in the IWC since 1998-1999. He spent most of the past 15 years working for the biggest independently owned sports entertainment websites.

Marc enjoys free timing in his free time. He lives with the most beautiful girl in the world, and they plan to never have kids, but they are blessed enough to have the best dog in the world who just had his 15th birthday.

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Edited by Sanchari Bhattacharya