Maki Itoh Explains Her Absence From AEW Television

Maki Itoh emerged to become popular name in the Japanese wrestling scene. Her impressive wrestling style also helped her score some matches in Tony Khan’s All Elite Wrestling. She has not been seen on their television programming for a while and recently explained her absence from AEW.

Maki Itoh got her first experience in professional wrestling, as a member of the second generation of LinQ members, in 2013. She was invited by president Sanshiro Takagi to take part in the Idol Lumberjack 4 Way Match at a show by DDT Pro-Wrestling. Apart from that, she has been a part of various acting projects and has primarily wrestled for Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling.

The former TJPW International Princess Champion has also been part of AEW programming, wrestling matches on AEW Dark: Elevation, against the likes of Ryo Mizunami and Riho. Maki Itoh recently spoke about her absence from AEW, weighing on not making as many AEW appearances as the fans expected. She spoke about this during an interview with Steve Fall for WrestlingNews.co.

“So, she doesn’t actually know the reason why she wasn’t on TV at all,” Itoh said through a translator. “Maybe it’s just AEW booking, she’s not very sure. She didn’t have a problem like, you know, working visa because it’s a long process to get a person there for a long time, right? But recently thanks to the team at AEW, she could have a visa for more long-term appearances. So, who knows? Maybe next time.”

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It was also disclosed that Maki Itoh has 2 primary goals for the year 2023. We’ll have to see if she accomplishes them.

“For her aim in 2023 in Japan, she wants to get a title belt, obviously. She feels like maybe a tag team title belt would be really nice just about now. For America, obviously, she wants to go back to being on AEW television again.”

Maki Itoh revealed that, although she does not get a chance to talk to AEW President Tony Khan often due to his extremely busy schedule, he had immense praise for the Japanese star whenever she got a chance to communicate with Khan. This could be indicative that we could soon see Maki back for a major storyline on AEW television programming.

Do you want to see Maki Itoh return to AEW soon? Sound off in the comments!