AEW Star Willow Nightingale Reflects On Unplanned Title Win Over Mercedes Mone

AEW star Willow Nightingale looks to be one of the women on Mercedes Mone's hitlist following the former WWE star's arrival in AEW. The two women faced each other in May 2023 at the NJPW STRONG Resurgence event in the finals of the NJPW STRONG Women's Championship tournament, a final that Mone was supposed to win until she broke her ankle, leading to Nightingale becoming the inaugural champion.

While the result was decided on the fly, Nightingale explained on "Chats and Graps" that in life, everything happens for a specific reason. "I'm not like a religious person, but I do think that everything happens for a reason," Nightingale said. "I think the universe kind of control or power there might be, there are events that happen for a certain reason. That night, I had two matches that I was like 'well this point, these are kind of the best matches I've had,' so it's that momentum that's 'keep going forward, you're doing good,' but there is this weight and pressure that is bestowed upon you anytime you win a championship, especially beating someone like Mercedes."

Nightingale understands that Mone is one of the most esteemed wrestlers of her generation, something Nightingale even stated herself after beating her. The two women initially thought that match would be the only time they faced off, but now that Mone is All Elite, their eventual rematch will have a much different tone due to the previous injury. "We have to kind of figure out how we fit into each other's lives," Nightingale said. "I'm still not really sure where she stands with me, I don't feel great about how things ended the last time we wrestled each other, but I do still think very highly of her obviously and I hope she can see that my intentions are good."

Please credit "Chats and Graps" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.