Willow Nightingale has been forced to give up the TBS Championship and her spot in the Owen Hart Cup.
On the May 20th edition of AEW Dynamite, Willow Nightingale announced that she had suffered a shoulder injury that would leave her out of action indefinitely. In a backstage segment, the star said that winning the title back from Mercedes Mone was one of the greatest moments in her AEW career, and she had planned to be a fighting champion.
“Winning this championship was one of the greatest moments of my career. And I haven’t had a shortage of great moments in AEW. I’ve won the Owen before, I’ve won the TBS Title before this reign, and I’ve become half of the very first AEW Women’s Tag Team Champions. But winning this back from Mercedes, I knew that if I could do that, I could prove to myself, I could prove to the world that I’m everything I believed I could be. Which is why I told myself I would fight, day in, day out, to any challenger that stepped up, and if I couldn’t do that, then I didn’t deserve to be the TBS Champion.”
Nightingale said she injured her shoulder on her tenth defence, which saw her defeat Red Velvet on Collision. The injury means that she will no longer be able to compete in the Owen Hart Cup and has to vacate the TBS Title.
“As fate would have it, in my most recent title defence against Red Velvet, I injured my right shoulder, and I want so bad to wrestle at Double or Nothing in front of my family at home in New York against Alex Windsor. I want to go on in the Owen and go to All In and become the AEW World Champ, but unfortunately, I have to withdraw from the Owen Hart Cup. Furthermore, I must relinquish the TBS Championship.”
Willow Nightingale Vows To Head Straight For The Top Of AEW On Her Return
Willow Nightingale finished by thanking fans and promising that she will be heading right back to the top when she returns to AEW, although she admitted she doesn’t know when that will be.
“Now, it’s been an honour and a privilege to hold this championship, and after ten successful title defences, I’m overjoyed to have been the face of TBS. But as sure as this smile remains on my face, I will be back. I don’t know when, but I’ll tell you this: I’m coming right back to the top. So everyone, thank you.”
Fighting champion through and through.
Unfortunately, @willowwrestles has suffered an injury and will be forced to withdraw from the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament and relinquish the TBS Title!
Watch #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS + HBO Max pic.twitter.com/a2ntrffQCL
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) May 21, 2026
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