AEW: Mina Shirakawa on Her Match with Mariah May at AEW Dynamite Winter Is Coming 2024 Show, Keith Lee AEW Absence & Health Update, More News

Mina Shirakawa Comments on Her Match with Mariah May at AEW Dynamite Winter Is Coming 2024 Show

Instinct Culture’s Denise Salcedo held a recent interview with Stardom talent Mina Shirakawa. One of the topics discussed included Shirakawa’s thoughts about her match against “The Glamour” Mariah May on the December 11th AEW Dynamite Winter Is Coming 2024 show.

“Main event for AEW Dynamite, I had the pressure for the main event because this was live and many girls want to be the main event of a show. So, I had many pressure, stress, but I did it. I was sad because I lost but the more sad thing was being betrayed by Mariah May because me and Mariah made a unit in Japan. We had strong bond between us, I never imagined the bond was broken so I’m so sad but I decided, opponent, opposite side, so I have to beat her up in the future.”

Shirakawa also gave her thoughts about being interested in wanting to wrestle Kris Statlander and Hikaru Shida in AEW.

“AEW has many talented wrestlers. They are so beautiful and so strong. I’d like to wrestle Kris Statlander, she’s a good wrestler and if [even] she [loses] a match, she [still] has a big impact for her. Shida, yeah. Shida my sensei. I have never wrestled her in Japan, so in America, I want to wrestle her. So many dreams in AEW.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com 1 & 2

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Keith Lee AEW Absence & Health Status Update

As noted before, Keith Lee has been absent from AEW since December of 2023 and had underwent two surgeries for undisclosed issues in early 2024.

Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp reported in a recent Q&A article that Lee has still yet to be medically cleared for a potential in-ring return.

In response to a fan question as part of the article, Sapp stated that he still believes that Lee will wrestle again in the future but does not know when this would could be possible.

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AEW News & Notes

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that former WCW wrestler Scotty Riggs has been working in a backstage role for AEW for some time. Johnson reported that Riggs currently provides logistical support at shows including driving talents to venues and other related duties. Johnson also reported that Riggs has been with AEW for the past few months and possibly even longer.

As noted before, Tay Melo has been out of action for AEW since March of 2023 due to maternity leave reasons over the birth of her first child and was medically cleared for an in-ring return this past summer. Melo recently provided an update on Twitter revealing that she trained in the ring with Kenny Omega, Sammy Guevara, Hikaru Shida, and Jon Cruz this past Sunday.

John Silver reportedly will be making an appearance on the upcoming new season of Impractical Jokers on TBS, according to PWInsider. Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Silver was recently involved in the filming of content for this upcoming new season.

This past Monday’s Nitro Circus event in Savannah, Georgia featured Darby Allin making a guest appearance. During the show, Allin gave his displeasure over the judges awarding him zeroes for his tricks and performed an elbow drop off the ramp through a table in response.

In a recent interview with Mike Jones, Sonjay Dutt gave his thoughts about him being at peace with himself if he never wrestles again for his in-ring career. Dutt stated “I have totally made peace with that. I made peace with that towards the last couple of years of me being an in-ring competitor. Injuries catch up and life changes you. I have a wife and two kids. I tore my Achilles, and my shoulder was in bad shape. it was just a whirlwind of everything that happened at the perfect time to where I transitioned and started learning more and more about the backstage production aspect and the office roles. Everything happens for a reason. No complaints.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

Will Ospreay recently reflected on Twitter about his upcoming rematch with Ricochet in AEW for the Continental Classic 2024 tournament at this Saturday’s AEW Collision show at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Ospreay stated “Gentlemen’s agreement. If there is one minute before the time elapses. You & me stand in the middle of the ring and throw bombs till one of us drops. Holloway style. Stand & Bang. I ain’t drawing with you again.“