AEW's Willow Nightingale Talks Love Of Hardcore Wrestling, Wants More Women Involved

For better or worse, hardcore wrestling is largely considered a men's game. It's somewhat rare to hear a female competitor espouse their love for it, and even more surprising when that sentiment comes from one of the more bubbly personalities on the current AEW roster, Willow Nightingale. Nightingale, who has several hardcore matches under her belt in AEW and beyond, talked about her fandom of the style during an appearance on "Chats & Graps."

"I was a big fan of death match wrestling before I started wrestling," Nightingale said. "Like every time a street fight is announced ... we want to go out there and go crazy, go balls to the wall and deliver. Because the precedent's already been set [with] Britt and Thunder Rosa."Airing on "AEW Dynamite" in March 2021, the brutal Lights Out match between Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa was, for many casual fans, the first time they'd seen women get color in the ring. There are certainly those who think there's an inherent discomfort in seeing women bleed on TV, but others — like WWE Hall of Famer Lita —raved about the encounter.

Nightingale gave kudos to indie stars like LuFisto, Allie Katch and Masha Slamovich for their work in this realm, before voicing her confidence that fans can expect more hardcore women's matches on AEW programming. "The precedent's been set that we will get hardcore," Nightingale reiterated. "I love it, I think it's great. I'm pretty confident we're gonna have more of it in the future. Because we love it, and the audience loves it. Why stop?" Nightingale most recently indulged her passion for hardcore wrestling on the March 20 "AEW Rampage," teaming with Kris Statlander in a losing effort to Skye Blue and Julia Hart.