AEW's Willow Nightingale Discusses Reverence For Pro Wrestling

AEW star Willow Nightingale is living her dreams as a wrestler and etching her name into the annals of wrestling history around the globe. 

Nightingale sat down on an episode of "Close Up with Renee Paquette" and discussed her affinity for professional wrestling and how she is a fan, first and foremost. The AEW star told Paquette that she first got into professional wrestling through video games, and after discovering '90s Joshi wrestling online when she was around 18, she decided that in-ring action was her dream.

"I saw Aja Kong, Bull Nakano, Akira Hokuto, Manami Toyota, the list goes on and on and on, and that really is like — I already loved wrestling, but that was where I could see a place for myself in wrestling," Nightingale said. "So, I was like, 'I'm going to sign up and learn how to wrestle,' after school didn't work out for me, and bunch of a life stuff is zig-zagging all around, I was like, 'I'm going to wrestle.'"

The former NJPW STRONG Women's Champion explained she didn't have the opportunity to go to Japan until right after she had just signed with AEW. Following a 10-day tour, she told herself that would "probably be it," assuming she would just be doing AEW TV "week in and week out." Nightingale is thankful she was wrong about that.

"We have some great partners in New Japan and CMLL, and if anything, it just started [for me,]" she said. "I've been able to really live these lifelong dreams that I didn't think were possible once I got signed. I try to be aware of things as I'm living them."

Willow Nightingale also told Renee Paquette a story about seeing her name on a list of fellow champions online, describing it as a moment that "really hit" her. The instance was the first time she cried over wrestling since she broke her neck.

"I, reading something online about how I was one of the first women to hold a major championship for a Japanese company, an American company, and a Mexican company," she said. "The short list of all the people who had done that was Bull Nakano, Akira Hokuto ... That was the moment I was like, 'Oh, s***,' and I sat in my car and I cried because it sunk in, like, 'You're doing really cool stuff!'"

The former AEW TBS Champion said reading the list made her proud of herself and all her accomplishments. 

Nightingale picked up a victory alongside Tomohiro Ishii against Kris Statlander and Stokely Hathaway at All In at Wembley Stadium. The victory now puts the ball in Nightingale's corner in her feud against her former friend, as she now gets to pick the stipulation for their upcoming match at All Out.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Close Up with Renee Paquette" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.