Willow Nightingale is still grasping with her success.
The former NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion spoke on this topic during a recent interview with Fightful, where she expressed how surreal it is for her to be ascending to the top of the AEW/ROH women’s division.
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.
Willow later discusses the praise she has received from her peers in the industry, which includes former three-time Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo.
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. 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.
Willow recently made history with Athena, as the two became the first women to ever headline a Ring of Honor pay-per-view. You can read about that here.