Willow Nightingale discusses advancing her career and no longer being considered the underdog.
Willow Nightingale may still be a fan-favorite, plucky babyface, but she can no longer be considered an underdog after capturing the New Japan STRONG Openweight Women's Championship and coming away with the victory and the Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament.
Willow Nightingale knows that she is no longer on the level of the underdog, telling Sean Ross Sapp in a recent interview that while the feeling is still surreal for her, she has begun to understand the gravity of all she's accomplished and is very grateful.
"It’s still a bit bizarre because, at this point, I’ve been wrestling for coming up on nine years. I’ve always been looked at as the underdog or someone who is a rookie or still getting my feet under me. For people to be shifting that perspective and really seeing me as someone who is there, who has brought it, who has already achieved these accolades, it’s still surreal. I’m still sitting in it and grasping the weight of it all, but doing so gratefully," she said.
Nightingale also has a ton of support from those within the industry, with names such as Deonna Purrazzo proclaiming during the global pandemic that WWE should have signed her. Willow says that it's very gratifying to hear support and praise from her peers. Specifically addressing Purrazzo, Nightingale says her praise is all the more gratifying because they've known each other since the start of Willow's career.
"Obviously, that’s going to be a rewarding thing to hear. As much as hearing praise from fans matters, hearing praise from people that I respect and work with and my peers, who know the ins and outs of the business and everything we do and go through, and they see every step of my journey, both in the ring and behind the scenes, if anything, that matters a little more," said Nightingale. "It’s very humbling and rewarding to hear that, especially from Deonna, who I have known since the beginning of my career. My first few months, she was the person I had wrestled the most. For her to keep me in such high regard, really put a smile on my face at a time when I was really questioning my own success and self-worth."
Although she came up short, Willow made history against Athena at Ring of Honor Death Before Dishonor 2023, when they became the first two women ever to headline a Ring of Honor pay-per-view.
Elsewhere in this interview, Nightingale addressed her victory in the Owen Hart Foundation Memorial Cup Tournament. Read more here.
