On a stacked roster that features a CEO, a timeless movie star, a fallen goddess, an African queen, and many others in its cast of characters, it would be tough for the average woman to stand out amongst the pack.

Luckily for AEW star Willow Nightingale, she’s the furthest thing from average.

Less than three years into her time in All Elite Wrestling, she has amassed a resume that many wrestlers could only dream of. She is a former AEW TBS Champion, the 2023 Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament winner, and the first woman (alongside Marina Shafir) to participate in AEW’s signature Anarchy In The Arena match.

If her work in the United States wasn’t impressive enough, her international accolades shine even brighter. She was the inaugural NJPW Strong Women’s Champion, inking her name in history atop Japan’s top wrestling promotion, New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Nightingale is also a former CMLL World Women’s Champion. CMLL is the oldest wrestling promotion in the world, celebrating 92 years of Mexican lucha libre excellence this October. She’s performed in some of the world’s most famous venues, including Wembley Stadium, Arena Mexico, and the Tokyo Dome. On top of that, she’s main-evented PPVs for Ring of Honor Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

Perhaps her greatest accomplishment is the connection she’s forged with wrestling fans around the world. Her trademark, “Nothing Matters, Smile Anyway,” resonates every time she steps in the ring, enchanting audiences with her bright grin and cheerful disposition. “The Babe With The Power” brings a hard-hitting style and penchant for violence to the table that has made her one of the most popular performers in AEW.

Blavity caught up with Willow Nightingale for a Q&A about her 2025 successes, breaking barriers in intergender wrestling, the growth of the AEW women’s division, and more.

On her and Marina Shafir becoming the first women to compete in an Anarchy In The Arena match

I think Anarchy In The Arena, along with really any big moment in my career, you don’t realize the gravity of it until you’re on the other side. Looking around the room and seeing who I was teaming with was mind-boggling. I saw on Twitter somebody referred to us as, if AEW had assembled their Avengers, this is the team that they would’ve picked. And I was like, that’s crazy. To look around at people like that — [Samoa] Joe, Kenny [Omega], really everyone on the team. When you look around and think about how these are people that you’ve admired for years, and then you’re like, oh, but I am not just looking up to them. I am their peer.

I am just as deserving of being here as they are, but I still do obviously know that they’re so much more experienced than I and have so much more knowledge to hand down to me. In those weeks when I was working with the guys, I was just trying to absorb as much as possible — whether that just be the way that they command themselves, the way that they speak to other people, the way that they view and present themselves. I felt like that was a very important thing that I tried to pick up on. Because in women’s wrestling, now it’s changing a little bit where you will see women having much longer careers. But when you’re looking at veterans of wrestling for 20-plus years, you don’t come across that in other women very often. You’re not seeing it in the locker room — how somebody with that much experience under their belt presents and carries themselves.

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On intergender wrestling

The first time I felt like I really kind of got to mix it up was when I tagged with Swerve [Strickland] against Marina and Mox to the point that they both put hands on us as well, which I think was the thing that really shattered down that barrier, made the little crack to have it open up for Anarchy In The Arena. It’s something that I wear with pride to be one of the people that really helped push the boundaries. There are so many people that paved the way for intergender wrestling to happen on television in such a way. I can’t say that I know what’s going to happen or that it will happen, but personally, having been any part of it, if it does happen, it would be really cool. It would mean a lot.

On the possibility of a Women’s Blood And Guts match

To see how the division has evolved from those early days to hold onto all of that wonderful, aesthetically pleasing [part of being] women’s wrestlers, but still kick a– in a bloody, gory mix of everything too, I think we’re really trying to push and show that. A lot of times, people will say our women’s division is just as good as our men’s division, and I feel that should be standard everywhere, all over the place. But I feel like we have our own unique identity, and I really do think a Blood And Guts type match is a part of that. I think we love bearing that. I think we love the viscerality of that, so it’s about time if something like that does happen.

On her Chappell Roan-inspired gear for AEW All In Texas

I was very happy with how it turned out. I put actual belt buckles on it, which — hardware was not something that I’ve ever worked with before in that capacity. So that was a bit challenging, and also may not be the most practical thing for very highly physical contact professional wrestling. I do think unless there was a special occasion again where that gear kind of felt appropriate, I don’t know that it will be getting another wear, but I’m so happy with what it was for what it was. Months ago, when I saw Chappell wear that to the Grammys, I was like, oh, that looks comfortable. It looks like it would be good wrestling gear, and All In is in Texas this year, so if I end up doing something on the show, I really do want that to be the direction I go.

Fans did also think so. Actually, one of my coworkers had also suggested it to me like, “Hey, you should do this.” And then all the fans suggested it too. So the Casino Gauntlet gets announced, and I’m like, I guess there’s a chance I could be in there. I should buy fabric and try to start making gear, maybe.

On All In Texas

I literally cried the moment the bell rang and the match was over, just because it was a flurry of emotions. I think holding it together all day, realizing how big the moment was — not just for myself, but our whole division. To have a match that spotlights all of us and gives us the time, and it’s on the main card. And just being there at the start of that match and watching it all unfold in front of me…the moment it was done, I was like, OK, release everything. That was the biggest, oh, OK, we’re going up the rollercoaster, and now here’s the emotional explosion.

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On being one of three Black women to wrestle in the Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Dynasty

There’s a lot about ’90s Joshi wrestling that really inspired me. Aja Kong being a big one in terms of being a biracial person who doesn’t necessarily fit the conventional body type of what a wrestler is assumed to look like, and being the toughest, most badass person imaginable. So to think about someone like her breaking down barriers, then myself, Athena, and Mercedes Moné, which I am not somebody who really likes to talk about my relationships with people outside of the ring. Obviously Athena and Mercedes are both amazing wrestlers. I think they have bad attitudes, but ultimately, I respect what they do. I respect who they are and what they’ve had to go through to get where they are in wrestling. Hell, I’ll say this — a big part of the reason I was crying at All In is if I wasn’t the person who won [the women’s Casino Gauntlet], Athena winning is something that is very moving to me.

To share a moment like being at the Tokyo Dome, which for the past few decades hasn’t really had many women perform there…to have Black women come over and be a part of what I think is one of the most captivating wrestling cultures that exists despite racism here, there, and everywhere in the world, still being able to be a part of that…I’m a little at a loss for words still, because life moves so fast and I don’t really get to always sink into things, eat as much as I try. But it was just cool. It was another one of those moments where I didn’t get the full scope of it until it was done. When I was standing there with Athena and Mercedes, and it’s like, OK, this is exciting for me because of my own fandom, and then hugging and being together, realizing the scope of what it means for so many more people outside of myself, and how much bigger it is than just me is a lot.

On the potential of AEW women’s tag team championships

I think it is a fair observation to note that there is a limited amount of television time for everyone on the roster. [The women’s division] has been making up a lot of time with tags, and we’ve been doing these all-star tags. I think if it’s there, if you’re already putting these types of matches out, reward us, give us something to fight for. I think it would be really cool.

When [Kris] Stat and I were teaming, I remember there was one time Tony [Khan] had asked us, he was like, yeah, you guys should walk down to the ring like the Road Warriors. He was like, yeah, you guys go down to the ring like you’re big, bad, tough, you’re cool like The Road Warriors. Go out there and do it! Let’s go. It put it in my head, I was like, oh my God, if that’s how you would view Stat and I, the peak would be to do [Goddesses of Stardom] Tag League over at Stardom. I think that would be so cool.

Whoever is following me and watching me probably already knows about Stardom and joshi [wrestling] because I talk about it all the time, but go and watch those things. I want to bring it here. I’d love to have something like that. I’d love to make time for it and present it in such a way where it can really not just be an attraction, but the attraction. I think we have the chemistry within the locker room between teams and alliances to make it happen and make it exciting. Also, AEW is built on tag team wrestling. Our founders are the Young Bucks, and I think tag team matches are really some of our best matches. Let’s get some women’s tag matches up there as the best matches you’ve ever seen. I do think we have the depth in the locker room to pull it off.

On her ongoing saga with former friend and tag team partner Kris Statlander

I think in professional wrestling, a lot of times, feuds are based around championships. But a championship belt is not something that’s necessarily as relatable to the audience as friendship is, which I think is really a reason people have been able to sink their teeth into [the rivalry with Statlander], especially because it is something that is so genuine and authentic and real, and it’s not just something that we threw together for television.

There is true history there. Stat and I are from the same part of New York, Long Island. We did start around the same time. We both came up through the indies together. I got to watch her shine in AEW before I got there. And then when I got there, she was cheering on for me. We had that friendship in the locker room before it was even presented on television. And when it finally was, I’ll say that was probably the most fun I was having in wrestling at that time, up to that point when I was working with her on TV. It makes sense that something so organic and fun for us would also be received well by people.

Just as much as people understand friendship, they understand betrayal, they understand jealousy, they understand that sometimes it can be hard to pick a side because things aren’t black and white. I think that is the most captivating and interesting part about what is going on with Stat and I. Obviously I understand my perspective — I’m sitting in this body, I feel it, I live it every day — but I can still look at her and, one, appreciate what an amazing wrestler she is, and the hard work that she’s put in everything, and feel for her. I can understand why she betrayed me, but it doesn’t take away the knife that she stabbed me with. And I think that’s what people relate to.

On her goals for the future

I kind of just look at it as trying to maintain a steady incline, which can sometimes be hard because there’s a whole lot of other badass, tough women on the roster who want to be in the spot that I’m in, let alone the spot ahead of me. Because it took me however many years in AEW to get to where I am right now, and I still want to get ahead, but there are people who are just getting here and say, no, Willow, I want to be where you are.

So there’s a very welcome fight because I love the women’s division as it is right now. I think we’ve got a lot of new faces that have come in and are hungry and hardworking, and I welcome it. It keeps me sharp, and how am I supposed to get ahead if the people around me aren’t pushing me to be my best self? I want to continue that climb. I’m not satisfied. We talk about doing stadiums, I think it’s exciting. I love it. There’s a lot of emotions around it, but what would be even cooler than wrestling at a stadium? Having a title match at a stadium or main eventing a stadium. And as far as I know, I haven’t done that yet. So there’s still work to do.

Catch Willow Nightingale on AEW Dynamite, live every Wednesday on TBS and streaming on HBO Max, and AEW Collision, every Saturday on TNT and streaming on HBO Max.

Lyric Swinton

Writing since August 2024 · 3 stories contributed