Willow Nightingale has mixed feels about her match with Kris Statlander at Wembley Stadium.
On Sunday, the CMLL World Women’s Champion will compete at AEW All In for the first time. She teams with Tomohiro Ishii to take on the duo of Kris Statlander and Stokely Hathaway, continuing her long-running feud with Statlander.
The winner of that match will choose the stipulation of Kris Statlander vs Willow Nightingale at AEW All Out. However, the occasion of the match is one that Nightingale has mixed views on.
She spoke with Renee Paquette recently on Close Up with Renee Paquette. Willow Nightingale called the match “bittersweet”, as she always imagined sharing these historic moments with Statlander, rather than battling against her.
“It’s pretty bittersweet because you always think the biggest moments of your career are going to be in front of this crazy crowd, in some historic, giant building.” Willow Nightingale said. “You imagine sharing those moments with your friends. I envisioned sharing big, special moments with Kris Statlander, but not like this. It’s a little disorienting.”
“I think she must have been aware of whatever these weird feelings were stirring up inside her. In her head, she was kind of playing me along. You only find true friends in wrestling; it’s rare to find someone you can really hang your hat on. It seemed like we had that.”
“There’s this saying: you cheer for other people until you get the chance to have people cheer for you.” Willow Nightingale added. “On the Indies, you’re out there grinding, thinking, ‘My turn will come. My big break will come.’ You see people moving up and living the dream, and then it happens to Stat. I was genuinely so happy for her, rooting and cheering for her. When I had my moment, I felt like she was genuinely cheering for me too. It felt like, ‘Cool, we’re here for each other.’ So I don’t really know what happened, but it hurts.”
Willow Nightingale: Violence & Aggression Are Our First Language
Despite her outgoing persona, Willow Nightingale is going to go all in on Kris Statlander at Wembley Stadium.
She continued, calling violence and aggression “some of our first language”, noting that she would utiutilizelise it and deal with her feelings about Statlander in that way at Wembley.
I’m a very kind, loving, and bubbly person, and I think that’s what people connect to me for.” Willow Nightingale said. “But at my core, I also believe that violence and aggression are some of our first languages. They’re useful ways to express yourself. I get to live that duality—most of the time, I want to interact with people in a kind and civil way. That’s ideal, like this lovely conversation we’re having. But sometimes, it doesn’t go that way. In this job, I get to find ways to deal with those less-than-savory feelings.
So, in a way, I guess I’m lucky that I get to wrestle her. It’s one way for me to work through this. But I don’t know that I’ve ever been betrayed by a friend like this before in my life.”
