10 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Collision (June 24)

4. Willow Continues To Thrive As The Endearing Babyface

AEW Collision Willow Nightingale
AEW

Willow Nightingale, man...

Is there a more enjoyable, authentic babyface in pro wrestling right now? Likely not.

Seeing Willow getting to shine in the AEW spotlight lately, has been phenomenal for those who've kept an eye on Nightingale's career over the years. The New Yorker is one of those special talents who just makes you feel good about watching professional wrestling. Willow makes it fun, makes it a little daft, makes it accessible to all, but still puts on a hell of a game face when it's time to get to work.

Not just is the Nightingale character one of the most enjoyable presences in present-day wrestling, but the 29-year-old is also a mighty fine in-ring worker, too. While it seemed Willow may be more of an ROH-based talent at one point in time, her capturing of the NJPW Strong Women's Championship has seen her become a more featured player on AEW programming - and AEW programming is all the better for that.

Here on Collision, Willow once again put on a brilliant babyface performance, besting Nyla Rose - who very much held up her side of the bargain and was the perfect villain - to seal herself a spot in the Owen semis.

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Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.