Willow Nightingale reflects on winning the CMLL Women's World Title at CMLL-NJPW FantasticaMania.
Following Stephanie Vaquer's exit from CMLL, the CMLL Women's World Championship was vacated. However, it was only a matter of days before Willow Nightingale filled the vacancy. Willow Nightingale won the championship at NJPW-CMLL FantasticaMania on July 13, defeating Lluvia and Viva Van.
Willow made history with this victory, becoming the first-ever American-born champion in the history of this particular title. After the match, she spoke very emotionally about what the victory meant to her.
In a video uploaded to AEW's X account, Nightingale spoke candidly about fighting through a "broken spirit" after several in-character setbacks in recent weeks on AEW TV, including being betrayed by her best friend, Kris Statlander, and losing to Mariah May in the finals of the Owen Hart Foundation Memorial Cup Tournament.
"The last time I wrestled in CMLL was actually also my first week in CMLL, but do you want to know what happened when I showed up? I freaking won," said Willow gleefully. "I beat the current CMLL Champion at that point, Stephanie Vaquer. Stephanie's not here; the championship's vacant. Who's going to step up? No one else but Willow Nightingale, duh!
"My spirit was actually a little broken coming in here," she continued. "AEW, my friend turned on me. I just lost my last match. I really needed a win, and today, I didn't just get a win. I walked out an international champion."
Stephanie Vaquer signed with WWE and made her in-ring debut at a WWE Live event in Mexico on July 13. Learn more here.
You can find results from around the wrestling world in Fightful's results section.
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