Throughout the month of February, Diva Dirt will spotlight one Black women’s wrestler a day. This won’t be a countdown, but just a way to shine light on the past and present Black women of the industry. With that said, these daily articles will not be in any particular order.
Representation matters to marginalized groups, and here at Diva Dirt we focus on giving those individuals the recognition they deserve.
- Jan. 30 – Jacqueline
- Jan. 31 – Lash Legend
- Feb. 1 – Nyla Rose
- Feb. 2 – Sharmell
- Feb. 3 – Awesome Kong
- Feb. 4 – Alicia Fox
- Feb. 5 – Kelani Jordan
- Feb. 6 – Queen Aminata.
- Feb. 7 – Cameron
- Feb. 8 – Maya World
For February 9, we are going to discuss one of the top Black women’s wrestler of today: Willow Nightingale.
Nightingale is currently signed with AEW and is a double champion. She holds the AEW TBS Championship and is one-half of the inaugural AEW Women’s Tag Team Champions. Her current reign as the TBS Champion makes her the first woman to hold this belt twice and she did it by defeating Mercedes Mone, ending Mone’s near 600 day reign.
Let’s talk about the start of Nightingale. She began wrestling over a decade ago in 2015 and it was no small journey to get where she is at today. On the indies she worked for promotions such as SHIMMER, New York Wrestling Connection, SHINE, and WSU.
In 2019, the career of Nightingale could have ended from a broken neck injury, but she persevered and was determined to make something of herself in wrestling as a result from this incident.
After 2021 when she officially signed with AEW, her trajectory has only been going up. In 2023 while with AEW, she became the first-ever NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion for the Japanese promotion. She is also a former CMLL Women’s World Champion in Mexico.
Nightingale is know for her bubbly personality and her fun loving character which is just a reflection of who she is as a person. She is a true inspiration for younger fans, specifically fans of color who see themselves in her.