It’s impossible to feel anything but a sense of reinvigoration when you’re in the presence of Willow Nightingale. Fresh off an absolutely massive run in 2025, the AEW TBS Champion stood with me at the Melrose Ballroom to reflect on a career that has reached a boiling point.
While the night was a benefit for the Little Oaks Center for Neurodevelopment, we took a moment to look back at the journey that led Willow to the top of the mountain.
Conquering the CEO
We started with the moment that changed everything: the three-count against Mercedes Moné. I asked her how it felt to hear that bell ring and know she had finally reached the summit.
“2024 was like a really like standout year for me. Like up to that point, I was like, I don’t think I’ve ever been so just like happy with the way my career is going. And 2025… I definitely wasn’t having like the same like singles matches. I felt like I was like, I don’t think I’m hitting the same stride. I did some really cool things. Like I was in Anarchy in the Arena. I was like the first woman along with Marina to to be in that kind of match. There was a lot of like helping break down the barriers of intergender wrestling within my company. Um, so it was a great year, but there was a lot of times I felt like me myself, like Willow, who I am and what I’m about, was kind of like getting lost. Not necessarily in the shuffle, but like I just was going through my own weird personal stuff, you know, as people do.”
She noted that the win, which happened on New Year’s Eve, served as the ultimate punctuation mark.
“To end it on like the highest of highs, like to do the thing that so many other women weren’t able to do, like conquered that mountain, climb that mountain. It was just like like just like a a sigh of relief but also like a breath of like reinvigoration. I don’t I don’t even know. That was a really long way to answer saying it was freaking awesome.”
The Juxtaposition of the Metal Logo
One thing that has always stood out about Willow is the contrast in her presentation—specifically that death metal font logo. I asked if she was actually a metalhead or if it was a stylistic choice.
“I am a person who’s like, I’m all over the place. I like this and that. Um, I’ve listened to some metal. I’m not like a huge metal head. I’m not like heavy into hardcore. Um, I listen to I do listen to some hardcore. I listen to like some punk. But for me, the the reason that I really wanted to have that is because I wanted the juxtaposition of like the visual Willow, like being cute and cuddly and colorful and having something that was very like gritty and um loud and kind of like abrasive and in your face and like ah have the them side by side because I felt like that is also very characteristic of me, right? Like we do Yeah, I’ll listen. I’ll listen to a little bubble gum pop, but I also will give you a little bit of hard the gut scream. Guttural scream.”
From Video Games to Outlaw Deathmatches
The conversation shifted to where it all began. Like many of us, Willow’s entry point was through the digital ring.
“I start playing the wrestling video games and like something clicks where I’m like I love this. Of all the stuff I’ve ever done with you guys, this resonates with me so deeply. This is like my new hyperfixation. I love this. So, I start watching wrestling. Immediately, I’m like, ‘All right. Um, I’m gonna buy tapes so that when I’m not home to watch it live, my brother or sister can record it for me. I’m never going to miss an episode.'”
She mentioned being drawn to Matt Hardy early on, making her current work in AEW a full-circle moment. But as she got older, her tastes leaned into the more visceral side of the sport, including Joshi legends like Bull Nakano and Aja Kong, as well as the world of CZW.
“The same Tumblr rabbit hole that led me to like um you know the Bull Nakano and stuff like the Joshi was the same like people I was following would lead me into CZW death matches and then I got really into that and um so also working with Mox was cool for so many reasons um but yeah so that it’s really like that too like yes we have the exploding barb wire here we have a little bit of nipples ripping off and tournaments of death over here.”
The Stunner of the Truth: Kendo Sticks Hurt
Finally, I had to ask the question every fan wonders after seeing her in wars with people like Kris Statlander: what is the one weapon that hurts more than people realize?
“I think people don’t understand how much a kendo stick really hurts. Like a steel chair, you’ve lifted one, you can like feel metal. A candlestick isn’t something that people commonly come across and it kind of looks unsuspecting especially because it has like it’s like a bunch of like bands I guess to kind of like put together. You would think like oh there’s movement. It’s not It hurts so bad. It stings right. It almost cost Yeah, it’s hurts. It hurts so bad.”
Willow Nightingale continues to be a breath of fresh air in a business that can often feel cynical.
