Maya World is now a champion in AEW.
World captured the TBS Championship on Sunday night, taking down Hikaru Shida as part of AEW Redemption from Montreal, Quebec.
It looked as though Shida was closing in on a win late, scoring a long series of running knee strikes to the head of a down-and-out World. Shida hit a Falcon Arrow to follow up, but World grabbed a bottom rope to break the count.
As Shida was setting up for her next move, World caught the champ off-guard and suddenly connected with a Bridging Fallaway Slam for the pinfall win in 16 minutes.
The result begins World’s first-ever title run since joining the AEW roster.
World was coming off a big performance from last month, facing Mercedes Moné in the finals of this year’s women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament. The 24-minute showdown at Forbidden Door last month was won by Moné, but was the biggest showcase thus far for the fast-rising 24-year-old World.
Shida captured the vacant TBS Championship earlier this month, winning a six-way Survival of the Fittest match on Dynamite. The title was vacated earlier this year by Willow Nightingale after she suffered an injury.
