AEW women’s champion Willow Nightingale heads to All In match with hand injury, vows to keep title
Willow Nightingale will already have her hands full as she defends the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Women’s World Championship against Mercedes Moné at All In, but she appears to be dealing with a hand injury as well.
Nightingale addressed Moné on “Collision” ahead of their major All In match. She had a wrap around her left hand as she spoke to the crowd in Glasgow.
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Willow Nightingale, current AEW Women’s World Champion, attends the premiere of Apple TV’s “Ted Lasso” Season 4 at BAM Harvey Theater in New York, N.Y., on Aug. 4, 2026. (Lev Radin/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect)
“Mercedes, listen honey, you can try to stop me, attack me, take away this moment from me and the lovely people of Glasgow, but injured or not, I’m still here and I’m still talking to you guys,” she said. “Luckily, there will be many more good moments because I’ll be damned if I let you take this championship from me on Sunday.
“So, listen Mercedes, you’re obsessed with attacking me. You’re obsessed with my smile. So, listen, I am your AEW women’s world champion, and on Sunday, at Wembley Stadium, I am walking in with this championship and this smile and I’m walking out still your AEW women’s world champion, still smiling.”
The storyline played out last week when Moné attacked Nightingale, issuing a brutal backstage assault before their match.
Mercedes Mone enters the ring during the New Japan Pro-Wrestling – WRESTLE KINGDOM 17 in Tokyo Dome on January 04, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan. (Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)
However, Nightingale told POST Wrestling that her left hand is legitimately broken.
“She’s broken. I have to go get an x-ray later today to figure out the severity of that, because that would then inform just how guarded it has to be on Sunday – whether I’m able to get any kind of like wrist flexibility, or just hands or if I’m going to kind of have a situation like this where I’m just like a stump. So we’ll see, we’ll see. But the heart is good, she’s full of love and passion and ready to fight.”
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Nightingale talks All In match
Days before All In, Nightingale told OutKick what she was expecting from the crowd at Wembley Stadium in London.
“So, I’m definitely expecting a split crowd. I’ll be completely honest,” she said. “One of my biggest strengths is I know the people are there for me, I know the people are cheering for me, but I would be a fool to not recognize the popularity of Mercedes, even though people see her ways. They see that she’s not truly like a good person at heart. There’s something about her that some people are drawn to. So, I am kind of anticipating that.
Willow Nightingale enters the ring during Women’s Pro-Wrestling “Stardom” at Yokohama Budokan on May 18, 2024, in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. (Getty Images)
“My biggest strength maybe being a little torn, a little split, but as I mentioned, anytime you’re kind of at this caliber, we’re All Elite Wrestling. We’re All Elite, and I’m in world championship tier, right? I am the world champ. The people who are going to be facing me for this are going to be elite. They’re going to be bringing their best. They’re going to be giving their all. So, I have to go in already knowing it’s going to be a hard fight. Already knowing I’m going to have to push through when my body wants to give out.”
We will see how the injury affects Nightingale in her match against Moné on Sunday.
