Willow Nightingale Says Partnership With Kris Statlander Was The Most Fun She’d Had In Wrestling Up To That Point

Willow Nightingale talks her partnership with Kris Statlander in AEW.

Nightingale and Statlander have had an on again and off again partnership and rivalry over the past couple of years, with the pair teaming together and battling each other in hardcore match stipulations, as well as the pair trying to fix their friendship following Statlander’s betrayal. However, for Willow Nightingale, working with Statlander has been the most fun she’s had in her career so far.

While speaking to Blavity in a new interview, Willow spoke about her friendship with Kris Statlander.

“I think in professional wrestling, a lot of times, feuds are based around championships. But a championship belt is not something that’s necessarily as relatable to the audience as friendship is, which I think is really a reason people have been able to sink their teeth into [the rivalry with Statlander], especially because it is something that is so genuine and authentic and real, and it’s not just something that we threw together for television. There is true history there. Stat and I are from the same part of New York, Long Island. We did start around the same time. We both came up through the indies together. I got to watch her shine in AEW before I got there. And then when I got there, she was cheering on for me. We had that friendship in the locker room before it was even presented on television. And when it finally was, I’ll say that was probably the most fun I was having in wrestling at that time, up to that point when I was working with her on TV. It makes sense that something so organic and fun for us would also be received well by people. Just as much as people understand friendship, they understand betrayal, they understand jealousy, they understand that sometimes it can be hard to pick a side because things aren’t black and white. I think that is the most captivating and interesting part about what is going on with Stat and I. Obviously I understand my perspective — I’m sitting in this body, I feel it, I live it every day — but I can still look at her and, one, appreciate what an amazing wrestler she is, and the hard work that she’s put in everything, and feel for her. I can understand why she betrayed me, but it doesn’t take away the knife that she stabbed me with. And I think that’s what people relate to.”

While Statlander and Nightingale’s friendship remains on the rocks, Stat has found herself allying up with talent such as Harley Cameron in recent weeks.

Elsewhere in the same interview, Willow spoke about the growing idea of intergender wrestling becoming more commonplace on AEW television. You can read more about that here.