All Elite Wrestling has never been shy about showing its video game influences, with a number of its wrestlers competing in costumes clearly dressed by video game characters. Recently, AEW Women's Champion Hikaru Shida has been wrestling in a costume clearly inspired by Final Fantasy 7's Tifa Lockhart, which she wore at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view event and on the latest episode of AEW Dynamite.
Shida's Tifa outfit is spot-on, complete with Tifa's iconic gloves and suspenders. It looks almost exactly the same, except Shida's outfit is red, as opposed to the white outfit typically worn by Tifa. Shida has been known to cosplay as Tifa outside of wrestling as well, so she clearly has an affinity for Final Fantasy 7 and the popular character, though it will be interesting to see if she pays homage to other video game characters in future matches.
While AEW has referenced a number of video games in its first year of existence, Final Fantasy 7 is easily the most well-represented. Besides Shida's Tifa outfit, Kenny Omega has also appeared in a match with a costume inspired by Final Fantasy 7 villain Sephiroth, and even named his One Winged Angel finishing move after him.
It goes the other way as well, with video games seemingly making reference to AEW. For example, the recently released Streets of Rage 4 has an enemy model that appears to be based on popular AEW star Orange Cassidy.
In the meantime, some AEW fans may be wondering when the promotion will be getting a video game adaptation of its own, and that remains to be seen. Top AEW executives and stars have already confirmed that an AEW video game is in the works, though they have stopped short of sharing more specific details. It's been teased that the AEW video game will feature similar gameplay as the classic Nintendo 64 games like WWF No Mercy, but fans are still waiting on an official reveal to be sure.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though an official reveal of the AEW video game will be happening any time soon. Cody Rhodes has cautioned that video game development takes time if fans want a quality product, and so AEW enthusiasts should be patient.