Willow Nightingale has discussed Mercedes Mone coming into AEW.
On March 13, All Elite Wrestling presented a version of Dynamite titled ‘Big Business’ which was centred around one of the worst kept secrets: Mercedes Mone’s AEW debut. After a period away from the ring to nurse an ankle injury, The CEO ended her absence by emphatically marking her arrival for Tony Khan’s company and immediately mixing it up with Skye Blue and TBS Champion Julia Hart. All in all, AEW did as much as they could to make Mercedes’ signing as momentous as they could.
Speaking with Lyric Swinton, Willow Nightingale was asked about Mone coming into All Elite Wrestling. Here, she described the addition to the women’s roster as a ‘game-changer’ and discussed how we’ll have to let it play out.
“Now with Mercedes kind of entering the fold, I have already stated that I think she’s gonna be a game-changer. She obviously has changed women’s wrestling or had a hand in changing women’s wrestling and the perception of it. Coming into our division, which is what, maybe four, five years old, and the direction that we’ll go, I think it’s all good stuff. I think it’s all a good sign, for all of us, for everybody in the locker room. So now we’ll have to let it all unfold in front of us and see how it plays out,”
-Willow Nightingale
Interestingly, as many may recall, Nightingale was the last to share the ring with Mercedes before her unfortunate injury at NJPW Resurgence in May of last year. Despite it not initially being the plan, Willow walked out of the event with the Strong Women’s Championship, and it was the last time we saw Mone until her AEW Dynamite debut.
On this, Nightingale was asked what her dynamic will be like with The CEO how that they are part of the same roster rather than doing battle in a one-off match.
“I think the last time we faced each other, it was very clearly, we both want to win this championship, this is a first-time encounter, and potentially the only time we would have an encounter at that point. Now, the tone has definitely shifted she to the injury, due to the fact that she’s sticking around. This isn’t a one-off kind of thing. Now we have to kind of figure out we fit into each other’s lives. I’m still not really sure where she stands with me. I don’t feel great about how things ended the last time we wrestled, but I do still think very highly of her, obviously, and I hope she can see that my intentions are good. I hope she can see that I appreciate her and I think she’s a great wrestler, but I’m also a great wrestler,”
-Willow Nightingale
Given that the injury to Mone (which could be described as a freak accident) happened in the match with Nightingale, it will be interesting to see if the company add any tension between them as Mercedes’ AEW run continues to unfold.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on the reaction to Mercedes Mone’s AEW debut as soon as we hear more.
H/T to Fightful for the transcription.
