Willow Nightingale Ends Mercedes Mone's AEW TBS Title Reign On Final Dynamite Of 2025
Mercedes Mone continued her championship-losing run as Willow Nightingale beat her to become the first-ever two-time TBS Champion to close "AEW Dynamite: New Year's Smash." Mone was defending her title against Nightingale after she had pinned her at Worlds End, retaining the Women's World Tag Team Championship alongside Harley Cameron. The loss ends Mone's reign at 585 days; she defeated Nightingale for the belt back at AEW Double or Nothing 2024 and successfully defended it 24 times before dropping it back to the previous champion.
Mone fought a much more aggressive match, flipping off the crowd and going for moves designed to hurt her opponent. But she spent much of the early goings of the bout coming out second best to Nightingale's relentless momentum. However, the champion did get into the fight as the action went to the outside; heading back into the ring, Mone hooked Nightingale's foot on the apron, causing her drop face-first onto the steel steps.
As the match went on and she failed to put Nightingale away, Mone grew increasingly frustrated. It was in an attempt to punish Nightingale that she was then maneuvered into a Death Valley driver, the champion getting dropped by lariats before the challenger's signature Pounce. Nightingale connected with the Babe With The Powerbomb, the resulting cover broken at two by Mone's foot on the ropes. She went for a moonsault, Mone moved out of the way, and Nightingale got her knees up on an attempted frog splash from Money. Nightingale followed that up with a Death Valley Driver onto the apron.
Mone got two out of Three Amigos onto the floor before Nightingale fought out, looking to put Mone through the announcer's desk, before Mone got the third suplex onto the table – said table not breaking with the impact. But when all was said and done, Nightingale beat the count-out and then the attempted pinfalls from Mone, powering through to hit one more Babe With The Powerbomb in the middle of the ring, securing the winning pinfall and her second TBS Championship. She's the first person to hold the TBS title twice and the first woman to hold two AEW titles at the same time.