Willow Nightingale Wins Right To Face Julia Hart At AEW Dynasty For TBS Championship

It's official: Willow Nightingale will be challenging Julia Hart for the TBS Championship at AEW Dynasty.

Nightingale emerged victorious over her best friend Kris Statlander, Skye Blue, and Anna Jay in a fourway No. 1 Contender's match on Wednesday's "AEW Dynamite." In the closing moments of the match, Jay landed a spinning back heel kick to Statlander to send her crashing to the outside, but Nightingale caught her with a Doctor Bomb for the pinfall. As Nightingale celebrated her win, Hart snuck up on her and clocked her with her title before she took notice of Mercedes Mone in her seat at the commentary desk and stared her down.

Nightingale has crossed paths with Hart in a handful of singles and tag team matches since September 2023, but is no stranger to Mone either. The pair have previously shared the squared circle with one another at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Resurgence event in May 2023, during which Nightingale defeated Mone to become the inaugural NJPW Strong Women's Champion after Mone suffered an injury. Meanwhile, Hart has been TBS Champion since November of last year, defeating Blue and Statlander at AEW Full Gear. She has since successfully retained her title against the likes of Jay, Abadon, Trish Adora, and Emi Sakura.

As of this writing, three other matches have been announced for the April 21 pay-per-view. Bryan Danielson will be going head-to-head with Will Ospreay while the finals of the ongoing AEW World Tag Team Tournament will be held to crown new AEW World Tag Team Champions, and as of Wednesday night, Samoa Joe will defend the AEW world title against Swerve Strickland.