Willow Nightingale has discussed her mental health struggles ahead of AEW Redemption.
At AEW Redemption, Willow Nightingale became the first women’s Grand Slam Champion in AEW history when she defeated Thekla to capture the AEW Women’s World Title. The victory came two months after Nightingale was forced to relinquish the TBS Championship and pull out of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament due to a shoulder injury.
On the Redemption Countdown show, Nightingale disclosed that, although fans expect her to be a “smiley happy person” all the time, she had been dealing with depression for the past year. At the post-show media scrum, she opened up further, explaining that the day of filming she had “a really hard time being Willow.”
“I will say that it wasn’t like a diagnosis; it was very much me just being in a place. People have thoughts about self-diagnosis. I have people that I speak to, we have mental health help here. That is one great thing about AEW is that we do have a therapist who travels with us and is there whenever anybody needs him. I went in to record that stuff for Countdown that day, and I was going through it, and I was having a really hard time being Willow and thinking about wrestling. If we really think about it, the past year has been so crazy in a world-sense, like who isn’t struggling right now?
“They were like, ‘What are your thoughts on this?’ and I was like, ‘Man, really, I don’t know. Why do I deserve to be champion? I don’t know, this is how I feel, this is what I’ve been going through. This is All Elite Wrestling. Everybody is the best. We all deserve it. I guess at the end of the day, this is how I’ve been feeling, and I’ve still been showing up. When the opportunities are there, it doesn’t matter how I feel, I’ve been delivering.’ If the opportunities are there, I’m winning and showing up, then that shows you that I can do that when I need to.”
Willow Nightingale Says It’s Unrealistic To Expect Anyone To Be Happy & Smiling 24/7
Willow Nightingale went on to emphasize the importance of honesty when speaking about mental health, but ended on a positive note, saying pro-wrestling is something that brings her the joy she needs.
“Speaking of mental health, it’s very important, especially being the happy and smiling girl, to be honest and say, ‘That’s unrealistic to have that 24/7. Nobody is that all the time.’ I think it is good to strive for a little positivity to try and allow ourselves some grace when things are tough and say, ‘We all mess up, we all don’t feel great, but what is something that can bring even an iota of joy?’ Wrestling is that for me, so much. Being able to do it, watch it, be around it, absorb it, live it. That really is Willow.”
Willow Nightingale has now secured her place at AEW All In London, where she will defend the Women’s World Championship against Mercedes Moné, who won the 2026 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament.
