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Willow Nightingale Bonds With New Wrestlers By Watching Their (And Her) Worst Match

Originally posted on Wrestlezone | By Ella Jay | Last updated 5/15/24

Willow Nightingale reflects on one of her not so fond wrestling matches.

Long before she firmly cemented herself with her current name, Willow Nightingale was sometimes known as Willow Monet. Nightingale’s brief run as Willow Monet primarily took shape under the banner of Combat Zone Wrestling, where she, and several other up-and-coming in-ring talents, competed in the promotion’s Dojo Wars series. It’s also where Nightingale says her worst match took place.

During a recent interview with WrestleZone Managing Editor Bill Pritchard, Nightingale looked back this performance, which occurred at the July 15, 2015 CZW Dojo Wars event. Willow was asked if she could pick her worst match ever, and she said this was something she actually does with newer wrestlers as a bonding experience.

“This is actually a thing I like to do when I am around either new wrestlers that I’m hanging out for the first time, and I’m trying to get to know them. And we are all either hanging out in a hotel room after a show or whatever. I’ll be like, ‘What’s the worst match you’ve ever had? And is it on YouTube? And can we watch it right now?’ So I obviously, always if I’m the one asking, have to initiate and be like, ‘Look, I’ll show you guys all my worst match.’”

Both the #TBS Champion @WillowWrestles and #TNT Champion @RatedRCope are looking to set their encounters at #AEWDoN against prospective opponents @MercedesVarnado and @MalakaiBlxck, respectively.

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— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) May 15, 2024

Dojo Wars

Willow noted that her personal pick had had more to do with the situation she and her opponent were both placed in.

“I don’t think it’s any bearing on my opponent, and what I think of her, because I truly do think she’s great. But, very early on in our career, Brittany Blake and I used to do Dojo Wars … And that day, they would just put the matches together and then you basically have matches in front of a small crowd so you can get working experience.” But without the pressure of there being a huge crowd,” Nightingale said. “So, one of these … I think it’s the first time ever I go over there. We are running a little bit late. I think it’s the first time ever meeting Brittany Blake. We’re put on first for the night.

“I barely have time to get dressed in time. I’m stressed out and I’m nervous because my trainer is also in the car. He’s there going to be watching my performance,” Nightingale continued. “And we just tie up, and I think I’m probably not even six months in at this point. She’s still so new. And it is just, Irish whip, Irish whip, duck a clothesline, hit a clothesline, Irish whip, Irish whip, go home just into her submission. It’s rough. But early on, a match goes so off the rails, where you don’t even have a game plan. You don’t even have any direction in like, ‘What am I doing? Where do I want to go?’ The only thing you can do is learn from it. And that was the point of Dojo Wars.”

Nightingale Improves

Despite what she described as a “rough start” at CZW, Nightingale did not let it deter her from taking advantage of this valuable learning opportunity. With each trip to Dojo Wars, Nightingale gradually felt herself improving in the ring. This feeling was later validated as she received positive feedback from onlookers.

“Every time I went back to Dojo Wars, I got better. Then they had people there who would watch and critique and give us feedback. And so, to keep going back and hearing feedback and being like, ‘You’re doing better,’ was rewarding,” Nightingale said.

Watch our full interview with Willow Nightingale below: