AEW's Willow Nightingale Explains How She Deals With Imposter Syndrome

Over the last several years, Willow Nightingale has risen to become one of the top stars of the women's division in AEW. This past August, she defended the AEW Women's World Championship against Mercedes Mone at All In, and though she lost, it still marked arguably the biggest match of her career. Appearing on "The Mick and Kenny Show," Mick Foley asked Nightingale what it was like dealing with the pressures of performing on such a major platform.

"So I sometimes kind of deal with imposter syndrome a little bit, where I'm like, 'I don't know how I got in this position. I don't know what I'm doing here. How did I get here?'" she answered. "One of the ways that I counter-act that is, before I ever go out or the day before a big show, ... I'll tell myself, 'You wouldn't be in this position accidentally. Nobody would let that happen by mistake, so clearly you've been doing something right that helped you get here.'"

Nightingale acknowledged that she's also had to deal with injuries during matches, including a broken hand heading into that show in particular. However, it's the internal struggles that can often be more difficult to manage, with Nightingale describing an injury as more of a "logistical" problem to deal with.

"Sometimes it's just like a — 'I am the world champion and that's crazy enough. Now I'm wrestling on our biggest show at the biggest stadium in the U.K. How am I going to do this?' And really, what it is, is I just have to remind myself, like, 'At the end of the day, it's my job. I'm a pro wrestler.'"

Despite the recent injury, Nightingale has remained active in the ring following her title loss. She wrestled Thekla at AEW All Out in a number-one contender's match but fell short, and then took part in a match at AEW Grand Slam: France.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Mick and Kenny Show" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.