Willow Nightingale Explains Why She Didn't Defend CMLL Title At AEW All Out 2024

Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander went to war at AEW All Out, brawling all over the NOW Arena during their Chicago Street Fight.

There were light tubes, thumbtacks, and broken barricades left in their wake, with Statlander walking away victorious after choking Nightingale with a steel chain. The match seemed to originally be for Nightingale's CMLL World Women's Championship which she has held since July, but it ended up as a non-title affair. The champion revealed the official reason why the title wasn't on the line during a recent appearance on the "Battleground" podcast, that was recorded before All Out.

"[CMLL] are not big into the blood and the guts and the hardcore stuff, so they're not even sanctioning the match," Nightingale said. 

Nightingale will now turn her attention to CMLL's "91. Aniversario" event on September 13, where she will defend her championship against Zeuxis. She spoke about the title defense and her return to the building that she has come to love over the past few months — Arena Mexico.

"The last time I was in Arena Mexico, I felt so much love," Nightingale said. "I felt like this air of, like ... the best word that pops into my head right now is 'regality.' Like, we don't have a building like Arena Mexico in the United States. We don't have a structure that is specifically dedicated to professional wrestling and has been there for upwards of 60, 70 years." 

Nightingale rounded off by saying that passion and love seep through the walls of Arena Mexico, and she cannot wait to return.

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