Willow Nightingale had a very prosperous 2021 and has continued strong into 2022 thus far.
The indie talent who currently isn’t signed to a promotion started turning more heads during the ROH Women’s Title Tournament that took place last summer. Since ROH’s hiatus at the end of 2021, Willow has appeared on several occasions with AEW. Both companies are now owned by Tony Khan.
During ROH’s return from hiatus on April 1, Nightingale participated in the Supercard of Honor event in a championship match. She faced Mercedes Martinez to determine the Interim ROH Women’s Champion in a losing effort.
While speaking to Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture, Willow discussed how her appearance back with ROH came together.
“It was wild. From the time I started, Ring of Honor was a goal. I had been a fan from the time I started training. Women I admired and appreciate have wrestled here. Sara Del Ray, Daizee Haze really set that groundwork for the honor in women’s wrestling. honoring my craft is something that had been in my head for a long time. When I finally had the opportunity to work for Ring of Honor and Maria Kanellis, it was a dream come true. She really took charge of making sure the women were taken care of and we were being given the time to tell our stories and show the hard work we had been putting in and have the spotlight on us. When things switched over, I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s next,’ just like everyone at home. I was sitting at the table with my boyfriend watching TV when Tony Khan announced he now owns Ring of Honor. ‘I don’t know what this means for me.’ I was waiting to see what was next.'” [h/t – Fightful]
She continues, “A couple weeks ahead of Supercard of Honor, he reached out to me and asked me if I wanted to do the show. ‘Obviously, yes, please, thank you. Let’s figure this out.’ When I found out I was wrestling Mercedes, I was like, ‘this could be a career making match.’ That’s a spotlight elevated from what I was doing before. Now, I’m wrestling Mercedes, who in my mind is a big role model. There are things I’m really happy with, there are things I wish I had gone over a little differently, which is how I feel about every match, honestly. At the end of it, I was happy with it. Even being in the ring with Mercedes, is like learning through osmosis.”
Nightingale appeared on last week’s AEW Rampage where she faced Red Velvet in an attempt to qualify for the Owen Hart Cup. She came up short and Red Velvet moves forward to the tournament.
While speaking on where she may wrestle more permanently, both AEW and ROH appear to be potential prospects.
“It’s looking positive. I don’t have anything solid that I can tell anyone, but things are looking good. I’ve wrestled there and had nine matches and there were definitely moments on that journey where I was like, ‘what is going on?’ Moments of frustration, but especially the last couple of weeks, I’ve been re-affirmed, ‘trust the process, keep going.’ Stay on this journey folks.”
Would you like to see Willow become All Elite or join ROH? Join the discussion below.
