Willow Nightingale comments on her fractured relationship with Kris Statlander and their being on opposite ends from her in a mixed tag team match at AEW All In.
Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander were best friends until Stokely Hathaway got in between them, and Statlander turned on Nightingale after she lost the AEW TBS Title to Mercedes Mone at AEW Double or Nothing. They have already wrestled with each other several times and will be part of a mixed tag team match at AEW All In: Zero Hour.
In the upcoming match on August 25, Nightingale will team up with "Big Tom" Tomohiro Ishii. On loan from New Japan Pro-Wrestling, "The Stone Pitbull" looks to have Nightingale's back against Statlander, who will team up with another individual who's got that dog in them, the aforementioned Stokely Hathaway.
Willow Nightingale was the most recent guest on Close Up with Renee Paquette. During the discussion, she described the bittersweet nature of her rivalry with Kris Statlander. While she tries to be bubbly and kind on the surface, Nightingale also believes that violence is one of human beings' first languages. This rivalry allows her to live that duality.
"It’s pretty bittersweet because you always think the biggest moments of my career, ‘Oh, we’re gonna be in front of this crazy crowd in this historic, giant building,’ and you think you’re gonna do it with your friend," said Nightingale. "Sure, I was envisioning sharing big, special moments with Stat, but not this way. So it is a little disorienting. It’s also…she must have been aware that she had whatever these weird feelings were stirring up, and in her head, she just kind of was playing me along. I don’t really know what happened, but it hurts. I’m a very kind, loving person, and bubbly, and I think that’s what people connect to me for.
"I also, at my core, think that violence and aggression is one of our first languages, and it’s a very useful way to express yourself. So I get to live that duality," she continued. "I can have my personality be how I feel most of the time, how I want to interact with people. But sometimes, that’s not how it goes, and I, in this job, get to find a way to deal with those less-than-savory feelings. I guess I’m in a way that I get to wrestle her because it’s one way for me to work through this, but I don’t know. I don’t know that I have been betrayed by a friend like this ever before in my life. So we’ll see. We’ll see what happens."
Statlander previously defeated Nightingale to earn a future shot at the CMLL Women's Championship. Learn more about that here.
Fans can check out the full card for the event here. Fightful will have live coverage on August 25.
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