AEW's Willow Nightingale Addresses Feud With Mercedes Mone

Willow Nightingale may now be CMLL Women's World Champion, while also feuding with her former best friend Kris Statlander. Even still, most fans will look back at Nightingale's 2024 as the year she tangled it up with Mercedes Mone, feuding with Mone over the AEW TBS Championship, which Mone won from Nightingale back at Double or Nothing.

Speaking with "Denise Salcedo," Nightingale was asked about the feud, which was born out of a match she had with Mone in New Japan back in 2023 that saw Mone injure her leg and miss the rest of the year. Nightingale confirmed it was among the biggest things she's ever done in her career.

"It was bananas," Nightingale said. "I think...I've been wrestling for like, 9 years. I'm coming up on 10 years now. And I've obviously experienced the whole range of human emotion. I've been ecstatic, super jazzed. I've been...I've gone through depressive episodes in wrestling. I've been nervous, obviously. But I don't think I've ever walked into any match with as much of...a ball of everything kind of going on at once. Like, holding a space within me. I was like 'I think I might puke just because I'm so overwhelmed by like everything.'"

Even though things got heated between them, Nightingale admitted she has a ton of respect for Mone as a performer and as a champion.

"She's carrying on the face of TBS name that I took on," Nightingale said. "And I'm excited to see what she can continue to do as TBS Champ. I think it put me in a great position in the eyes of all you lovely fans. And yeah, I think it's been great having her on the team. And I'm very happy I got to be her first opponent at AEW."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Denise Salcedo" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription