NJPW Strong Women’s Champion Willow Nightingale appeared as a guest on Busted Open Radio for an in-depth interview covering all things pro wrestling. During the discussion, Nightingale commented on being a fan of Mercedes Mone:
“She is extremely accomplished. I’m a fan of hers and I think respect goes into what we do in wrestling through and through. I remember sitting on the couch and watching when she made her main roster debut on Raw. I went through the house screaming and my mom was like, ‘What’s going on?’ I was very excited because I had gone to school in Boston and she was a Boston girl. She’s a woman of color. It really just seemed like everything she did, she truly believed in herself and that is something that inspired me. Even before AEW or Ring of Honor, like if this company doesn’t see this power in me, I see the star power in myself. She was somebody I could kind of turn to and be like, that is the attitude that I need. She was in so many landmark matches. So especially going into this, I knew the possibility of facing her was there and I wanted to do her proud as much as I did myself and hopefully this is something that can earn respect from her and the New Japan fan base.”
Mone’s injury:
“I do hope she gets well and recovers as quickly as possible. If I still have this title by the time she comes back, I would love a rematch. With that being said, I think there are more eyes on me than ever before. I’m somebody who’s very used to people being on my side, people cheering for me, and people rooting for me, and after this championship win, I did receive a lot of that. A lot of people were saying, you deserve it. A lot of people saying it’s about time, but there have also been a handful of people who don’t think that I can live up to what being a champion is, especially of this caliber. Now I recognize the fact that the championship is on me. They can’t change that and the only thing I can do is step up and prove to them that I am worthy of this title.”
“One of the things that I’m planning on doing is trying to find some time to head out to LA and train over at the New Japan Dojo and really kind of look over my schedule and reevaluate how much training I can fit into being on the road on top of what I’m already doing. So for me, those were like the first steps because I know I don’t want this to be something that people when they look at the history books and they see Willow Nightingale as the first New Japan Strong Women’s Champion, I don’t want them to see a little asterisk and be like, ‘Oh, well, she only won because her opponent got hurt and it was an easy victory.’ That’s pro wrestling. That’s how it happens. If you get hurt that day, the fight wasn’t on your side. The fight was on my side that night and here I am champion. So the only thing I can do is move forward as a champion, wear this title with pride, and do all I can to continue defending it for as long as I can.”
You can check out her complete appearance below:
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
