Willow Nightingale Wants AEW And NJPW's Women's Matches To Become 'Must Watch’

Whilst the state of mainstream women’s wrestling is better than it was a decade ago there is still plenty of work to be done to get women’s division matches and storylines to that next level of popularity.

All Elite Wrestling in particular have had a hit-or-miss time with its women’s division, whilst New Japan Pro Wrestling have only recently started promoting women’s matches due to their relationship with STARDOM, and introduction of a NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship.

One wrestler who has one foot in both companies is Willow Nightingale, and the inaugural NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion wants to make women’s wrestling in both companies ‘must watch’ programming:

“I think it would be easy to be selfish and say I want to be the face of the division,” began Nightingale on The Corner Podcast. “I want to be the face of women’s wrestling. That would be great, but I do also recognise that I am one of many super crazy, incredibly talented women. So when you go to an AEW show, you’ll notice there’s usually only one women’s match on the card. My goal is to put on performances that will not only give us another match or give us more time, right, because that’s the boss’s choice at the end of the day. But I want for it to feel merited, I want it to feel worthwhile, I want for people to tune in and actually watch it. Because if we’re given the time and nobody’s watching it, what does it matter?

“I want women’s wrestling in All Elite Wrestling, in New Japan to be must-watch matches. That is the only thing that I can think of that would give me the long-term effect that I want for my wrestling career. I want to be a legend. That doesn’t happen just winning one championship. I could win this and then my first defence, lose it. I don’t want that to be the case. I’m gonna go out there and fight as hard as I can to make sure that doesn’t happen. But it’s the consistency. I want to consistently want to go out there and put my best foot forward, and I don’t forget that. It’s not just me, it’s all of the women who have put so much on the line to do this. So that for me is how you create a legacy.”

H/T: Fightful