Willow Nightingale is proud of her bout with Athena in Ring of Honor.
The TBS Champion is one of the most popular women in AEW right now. She is set to face Mercedes Moné at Double or Nothing 2024, looking to get another win over the former Sasha Banks in the process.
However, she has been looking back at another iconic match from her career. Willow Nightingale recently spoke with Bleacher Report, and discussed how she felt in their match at ROH Death Before Dishonor.
That match was the first women’s match to main event a ROH PPV in history. It was a huge achievement, especially as the main event featured two women of color as the competitors.
“It really does mean so much,” she said. “When I started wrestling, that was not my goal. I don’t think I set out to inspire younger girls or younger Black people. I didn’t see that power within myself. As I did start doing more, I would see people come to me at merchandise tables and be like ‘My daughter feels inspired by your curly hair.’ Something which to me feels very trivial.
“The reason I started wearing my curly hair when I wrestled is if I ever straightened it and I sweat for 20 minutes, I’m gonna have curly hair anyway. It was like ‘Well, this is who I am. I can’t hide from it. I’m not gonna hide from it. I’m gonna embrace it.’
“And that’s when I started having people tell me ‘That matters to this person. To these little eyes, having you be the person who is big and powerful, it shows that physically, you are embodying feminine strength. And you’re big, and you have curly hair, and you’re a little quirky, and you are a woman of color.’
Willow Nightingale: I Didn’t See People Like Me Wrestling When Growing Up
Willow Nightingale continued. The TBS Champion spoke about how important representation is for young wrestling fans. She lamented the fact that she didn’t see people like herself wrestling while growing up, and sees her current role as a “coveted position”.
“These are things that people resonate with personally. Growing up, I didn’t get to see a lot. So to have such a coveted position on a card like that in such a big role, it shows younger girls, younger people of color, that not only do we deserve a spot on the show, but we can also be the very best thing on the show.
“Never downplay who you are or downsize who you are because there is so much power and so much you’re worthy of, even if you haven’t tapped into it yet.”
A learning experience
Prior to using Nightingale as her in-ring surname, Willow was sometimes known as ‘Willow Monet.’ Nightingale’s brief run as Willow Monet primarily took shape under the banner of Combat Zone Wrestling, where Nightingale says her worst match took place.
During a recent interview with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard, Nightingale looked back this performance, which occurred at the July 15, 2015 CZW Dojo Wars event. Willow was asked if she could pick her worst match ever. She then shared how this was actually something she actually does with newer wrestlers as a bonding experience.
“This is actually a thing I like to do when I am around either new wrestlers that I’m hanging out for the first time, and I’m trying to get to know them. And we are all either hanging out in a hotel room after a show or whatever. I’ll be like, ‘What’s the worst match you’ve ever had? And is it on YouTube? And can we watch it right now?’ So I obviously, always if I’m the one asking, have to initiate and be like, ‘Look, I’ll show you guys all my worst match.’”
Check out our full interview with Willow Nightingale below:
