Willow Nightingale is living the dream.
Prior to her arrival in AEW, Willow cemented her status as one of the brightest stars on the independent scene. She has wrestled for ROH, MLW, and Beyond, among other companies. Willow made her AEW debut on AEW Dark in 2021, and she started increasingly competing for the company over the next several months. She officially signed with AEW in October 2022, and she has become a featured member of the women's division.
Speaking on Excuse Me: The Vickie Guerrero Show, Nightingale discussed landing in AEW and reflected on her journey up to this point. Nightingale made it clear that she felt like her dream came true when she officially joined the roster. Moving forward, she stated that she's happily living her dream, and she's prepared to come to work every day to do her job.
"I feel really fortunate because, especially the journey that I had, I had started working semi-regularly as an extra [with AEW]. I was really lucky to have people who were willing to make me feel [like] a part of the family, even though I wasn’t there in an official capacity. So then when I did officially join the team, there was already that level of comfortability and on top of it, it was like my dream came true. Even now that the honeymoon is kind of over, of being signed, I still look around every day and I’m like, I’m living my dream. I made this happen. There’s a million things I could complain about, but this is the job I want to do. So I’m here, I’m present, and I’m going to do what I have to. That’s just the way I look at every day there," Nightingale said.
Nightingale also reflected on how she didn't think making to a company with televised wrestling was a realistic goal when she first got into the business. She noted that she tried to have realistic goals. Willow then described how, once AEW launched, she knew she wanted to work there, and she made that her top objective. She also discussed how she feels about being able to represent people like her.
"When I started wrestling training, I started in 2014, in terms of training. Had my first match in 2015. At that time, making it to a television company didn’t really seem like a realistic goal. That was just kind of like, ‘Maybe, one day, would be nice,’ but I wanted to set really practical goals for myself. I had always been a big fan of this wrestling promotion, SHIMMER, which is based on Chicago. It was just basically whoever is a women’s wrestler in the United States, even globally, because they were bringing in women from all over, but just putting on the best matches you can. There weren’t any standards for what kind of mold you should fit into. It was just, be the best version of yourself that you can be. I also think it’s really important to recognize the difference between presentation and fitting a mold because I feel like everyone brings a level of professionalism. We’re all stars, we all bring this level of presence with us, but it doesn’t mean that there’s one definition for that. That’s something that, when AEW started, because that started within my career, I was like, ‘This is awesome. This is where I want to be. This is the place.’ Since I saw it happening, I made that my goal, and I made it happen. Now I’m lucky that I get to be the representation for people like me, that I never had. Growing up, I didn’t see anyone that looked like [me]. There are people I meet who, as crazy as it seems, I’ve met people who have cried, telling me when they meet me, ‘You have no idea how much it means to see someone like you in the position you’re in.’ I don’t take it lightly, so thank you for making my dreams on the other side of this come true," she said.
Guerrero brought up Nightingale's growth throughout her time in AEW and wondered whether she could see how far she has come. Nightingale responded by describing how she can tell the crowds have gotten louder for her, and she's excited by this response. Willow also made it clear that she tries not to let this progress go to her head, and she wants to keep pushing forward.
“The thing that I really go off of is the energy and the vibe whenever I go out to shows and whenever I make my entrance, I feel that. I feel that the crowds have gotten louder, there are more people with me. But to me, that’s all just really exciting. I try not to let it go to my head because I don’t want to be the kind of person that coasts and gets super comfortable and is like, ‘I’m the person.’ I felt it for a very little bit, and already I’ve been having conversations with my boyfriend where it’s like, ‘I have to shift, I have to start doing new this, I have to get better at this.’ People have plateaus, but I want to just keep on getting better, rising in popularity, I want to be the face, a face of this company. So I’m gonna keep trying," Nightingale said.
In the same interview, Willow stated that she'd like to see Women's Tag Team Championships in AEW. Check out her comments here.
Willow recently suffered a minor injury, so she was pulled from a Beyond Wrestling show. More information is available here.
Click here to see what Nightingale had to say about her Street Fight on AEW Rampage.
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