Willow Nightingale continues to break down doors.
AEW Double Or Nothing will feature another Anarchy In The Arena match, this time pitting the Death Riders and the Young Bucks against the team of Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs, Katsuyori Shibata, Swerve Strickland, Kenny Omega, and Willow Nightingale.
This will be a huge milestone for Nightingale and Marina Shafir, as they'll become the first women to take part in an Anarchy In The Arena match.
In a new interview with Jon Alba on The Takedown, Nightingale was asked about getting the chance to compete in the match.
“I have had so much happen in the past few years that I would have never imagined I would find myself in these situations. But, I have over the past few months — first I came to the aid of my friend Orange Cassidy [even with] as much as Jon Moxley terrifies me and scared me. I really first started getting all wrapped up in that because of OC. Then, you see somebody like Adam Copeland, who I have been watching since I was a child and I got to tag with him before the Death Riders stuff was happening, that was wild. He was like, hey, they got a crazy chick on their team, I need a crazy chick on my team too. So I helped him as a friend, which is insane and crazy. Now, Swerve, Samoa Joe, Kenny Omega, it is wild for me to take a step back and if I thought ten years ago, these are the people who I am not only professionally working with but standing hand-in-hand with and fighting for this company and kicking butt together. Even if you look at the opposition, that’s a stacked team. That’s crazy. But at this point, that’s reality. That’s my job. I’m going to do it. I’m not afraid. While I may have doubted myself in the past, I don’t doubt myself anymore. Every opportunity that is put in front of me, I just think about what’s the best way I can make the most of this. If Marina and I are thrown into the main event scene, guess what? We’re gonna do right by the women. I respect her, I respect her because I know what she’s been through, but i'm going to take her down.”
Alba proceeded to ask Nightingale how her inclusion in the match helps the women's division in AEW.
“Well, obviously, Anarchy In The Arena is a big attraction for people but it also is the heart of AEW, something that we’ve done time and time again. When you look at giant stables, when you look at factions and groups of people, we always talk about brotherhood. Even with the old school greeting to one another is like brother, brother, brother — I think we can have a sense of fraternity and like rooting and cheering for one another without it having to be a boy’s club at 2025. Mox is a smart man, the reason he has Marina Shafir guarding the AEW Championship is because she’s tough as hell. At the end of the day, she is a badass woman. That is so much more than about brotherhood in a very gender specific way. I think, yeah, we’ve all been butt kickers but the story of brotherhood just being for the boys can go deeper because obviously, AEW is known for letting us girlies go crazy and have our tag team street fight matches, the one I had with Kris Statlander. Obviously, to be brought into another level to think like, ‘Oh, well they think they’re as tough as the boys.’ No, we’re gonna hang with the boys. It’s called Anarchy and we’re bringing it. That’s how I feel about it.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Nightingale confirmed a Fightful Select report about recently re-signing with AEW. Her full comments can be found by clicking here.
Fans can click here to check out the current lineup for AEW Double Or Nothing.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
