Toni Storm Beats Hikaru Shida to Win AEW Women's Title at Full Gear 2023

Toni Storm beat Hikaru Shida at Full Gear on Saturday to become the second three-time AEW women's world champion in company history.

Entering Full Gear, the AEW women's world title had bounced around with regularity since late May, and both Storm and Shida were in the thick of the championship picture for much of that time.

Storm won the title back from Jamie Hayter at Double or Nothing back in May with help from her then-Outcasts stablemates Saraya and Ruby Soho, but just two months later, Shida beat her for the championship on the 200th episode of Dynamite.

Shida's second title reign lasted less than a month, as Saraya won a four-way match over Shida, Storm and Britt Baker in her home country of England at All In to win the AEW Women's Championship for the first time.

Coming out of All In, Storm broke away from The Outcasts and continued to develop her own unique character. Storm referred to herself as "Timeless" Toni Storm and became reminiscent of a 1930s Hollywood actress.

Storm started to cut over-the-top, dramatic promos and was featured in black-and-white vignettes, which helped her get the new gimmick over quickly with the AEW fanbase.

As Storm fleshed out her character and skyrocketed in popularity, the AEW Women's World Championship took another detour, as Shida won it back from Saraya on the Oct. 10 episode of Dynamite.

That made the Japanese star the first three-time women's champ in AEW history, and it also put her firmly in Storm's crosshairs.

While Shida has arguably been the most dominant female star throughout AEW's existence, Storm was widely viewed as the favorite entering Full Gear because of the recent success she enjoyed and her status as the must-see performer in the women's division.

That clearly came into play Saturday, as the decision was made to put the title back on Storm for a third time and for what could very well be her longest reign to date.

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