AEW: Will Washington Signing, Hikaru Shida Surprise Return, Double or Nothing 2023 Updated Card

AEW Hires Fightful’s Will Washington as New Director of Wrestling Administration

AEW CEO Tony Khan announced on Twitter on Wednesday that former Fightful personality and Grapsody podcast series host Will Washington was recently hired to be AEW’s new Director of Wrestling Administration. Khan also announced that Washington’s new executive duties includes him helping out with the company’s live events, social media, creative, and PR.

He's the new AEW Wrestling Administration Coordinator,
working in many areas of wrestling: live events, social media, creative, PR,
he has a great wrestling mind,
he's here backstage TONIGHT at Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite live on TBS, and it's official, @WilliamRBR is All Elite! pic.twitter.com/QTXIx1qroU

— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) May 3, 2023

Fightful Select reported that Washington had recently finished up all of his work with them and had signed an official contract with AEW on April 27th. It was reported that among Washington’s duties includes him overseeing AEW’s creative continuity and long-term creative plans and will be working directly with Khan.

It was reported that due to his recent hiring, Washington’s work for Fightful as a podcaster and news contributor will be coming to an end due to the terms of his deal prohibiting him from contributing news and to prevent a conflict of interest from taking place.

In the report, Fightful thanked Washington for all of his work and contributions and stated that they are proud of him for his new career in wrestling.

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Hikaru Shida Makes Surprise Return on Wednesday’s Dynamite Show

Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Baltimore, Maryland featured Hikaru Shida making her surprise return to the company.

Following Saraya’s victory over Willow Nightingale, Saraya and The Outcasts launched a post-match attack on Nightingale. During their attack, Shida made a surprise appearance running out with a kendo stick in hand to save Nightingale only to hug Saraya and teased that she had joined the Outcasts.

This was later revealed to be just a ruse by Shida to draw away The Outcasts’ attention away from Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter entering the ring leading to all three laying out The Outcasts.

WHAT SIDE IS SHE ON!?

THE SIDE OF THE HOMEGROWN!#AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/tDRGn0iF5r

— AEW on TV (@AEWonTV) May 4, 2023

Prior to her return, Shida had been absent from AEW since this past January due to her being in Japan for wrestling-related work.

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Two New Matches Added to AEW Double or Nothing 2023, Updated Card

Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite show in Baltimore, Maryland featured one new match and one updated match added to the card of AEW’s Double or Nothing 2023 event, which takes place on May 28th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The new match announced was an AEW World Tag Team Championship match of Jeff Jarret & Jay Lethal vs. FTR (c). This match was setup during a segment on the show that involved Jeff Jarret, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, and Satnam Singh paying a visit to the Briscoe Family Chicken Farm in Delaware. During the segment, Lethal and Jarrett discussed their recent singles victories over FTR and issued a challenge for FTR’s AEW World Tag Team Championship at this month’s Double or Nothing 2023 event.

.@TheLethalJay and @RealJeffJarrett have issued a challenge to #AEW Tag Team Champions #FTR @DaxFTR @CashWheelerFTR for #AEWDoN 🐓 pic.twitter.com/mLAPjqbI2T

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) May 4, 2023

In regards to the updated match, this was announced to be an AEW World Championship Four-way match of Darby Allin vs. Jungle Boy Jack Perry vs. Sammy Guevara vs. MJF (c). Following last week’s controversial victory by Guevara over Allin in the finals of the Four Pillars tournament, Tony Schiavone stated to MJF and Guevara that he was told by AEW CEO Tony Khan that MJF and Guevara would be teaming in a tag team match against Allin and Perry for this week’s Dynamite show. Sciavone stated that if MJF and Guevara won, then the AEW World’s title match at Double or Nothing 2023 would remain as a singles match between them but if they lost, then Allin and Perry would be added to the title match. During the main event of Wednesday’s show, this tag team match resulted in Allin pinning Guevara to give his team the win and officially added himself and Perry to the AEW World title match.

FOUR PILLARS

ONE TITLE

YOUR DOUBLE OR NOTHING MAIN EVENT IS OFFICIAL!#AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/yX7SYKkgpk

— AEW on TV (@AEWonTV) May 4, 2023

Updated card for AEW Double or Nothing 2023:

• AEW World Tag Team Championship – Darby Allin vs. Jungle Boy Jack Perry vs. Sammy Guevara vs. MJF (c)
• AEW World Tag Team Championship – Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal vs. FTR (c)