Willow Nightingale discusses her goals for women's wrestling.
Nightingale has been in the spotlight recently, as she has been on a breakout run in AEW and ROH in recent months. At NJPW Resurgence, she defeated Mercedes Mone, who suffered an ankle injury during the match, to become the inaugural NJPW STRONG Women's Champion
Speaking on The Corner Podcast, Nightingale emphasized her goal to have women's wrestling matches that feel worthwhile. She noted that there wouldn't be as much progress in a situation where women got more time but nobody watched. Nightingale stated that she wanted women's wrestling to be must-watch programming. She also highlighted her quest to be consistent in her attempt to become a legend.
“I think it would be easy to be selfish and say I want to be the face of the division. I want to be the face of women’s wrestling. That would be great, but I do also recognize that I am one of many super crazy, incredibly talented women. So when you go to an AEW show, you’ll notice there’s usually only one women’s match on the card. My goal is to put on performances that will not only give us another match or give us more time, right, because that’s the boss’s choice at the end of the day. But I want for it to feel merited, I want it to feel worthwhile, I want for people to tune in and actually watch it. Because if we’re given the time and nobody’s watching it, what does it matter? I want women’s wrestling in All Elite Wrestling, in New Japan to be must-watch matches. That is the only thing that I can think of that would give me the long-term effect that I want for my wrestling career. I want to be a legend. That doesn’t happen just winning one championship. I could win this and then my first defense, lose it. I don’t want that to be the case. I’m gonna go out there and fight as hard as I can to make sure that doesn’t happen. But it’s the consistency. I want to consistently want to go out there and put my best foot forward, and I don’t forget that. It’s not just me, it’s all of the women who have put so much on the line to do this. So that for me is how you create a legacy," Nightingale said.
Click here to see what Nightingale had to say about her hope that the NJPW STRONG Women's Championship will be featured on AEW programming.
In a recent interview, Nightingale stated that she didn't want there to be an asterisk on her title win STRONG. Check out her comments here.
Nightingale will defend the NJPW STRONG Women's Championship on the June 2 episode of AEW Rampage. Check out the card here.
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