HORRIBLE News From Willow Nightingale... (AEW News)
AEW TBS Champ forced to immediately vacate title due to injury, but it gets even worse.
Willow Nightingale cut a typically upbeat yet still emotional figure on Wednesday's edition of AEW Dynamite. There, during a backstage segment, she announced that she'd be vacating the TBS Title and pulling out of contention for the Owen Hart Foundation tournament at Double Or Nothing 2026 this weekend.
That's a double whammy Tony Khan certainly didn't need before such a huge pay-per-view.
During her address, Willow revealed that she'd injured her shoulder during a match vs. Red Velvet on the 16 May episode of Collision. Making matters worse, that was little more than a routine title defence for Nightingale, and was only viewed as a tune-up bout before she wrestled Alex Windsor at DoN.
Sadly, Windsor will have to skip the PPV herself - The Wrestling Observer reports that her match with Willow has been replaced on the show's formatting sheets by Athena vs. Mina Shirakawa. Meanwhile, Nightingale's spot in the tourney will go to an unnamed (at time of writing) worker on the roster.
Someone is about to benefit from Willow's misfortune. It sucks, but that's pro wrestling. Injuries can happen at any time, even to slick, accomplished performers like Nightingale.
Willow beat Mercedes Mone to become AEW TBS Champion last December, but her reign is over. Khan hasn't announced what he plans to do with the vacated strap. Another tournament is possible, or maybe he'll simply line up a pair of top contenders and have them joust it out on Dynamite or Collision in the near future.
All the best to Nightingale as she recovers during her layoff.