Willow Nightingale to Defend AEW Women's Championship Despite Hand Injury

<p>Willow Nightingale will defend the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) Women’s World Championship against Mercedes Moné at All In, despite dealing with a hand injury. Nightingale spoke to the crowd in Glasgow on "Collision" with a wrap around her left hand.</p><p>"Mercedes, listen honey, you can try to stop me, attack me, take away this moment from me and the lovely people of Glasgow, but injured or not, I’m still here and I’m still talking to you guys," she said. "Luckily, there will be many more good moments because I’ll be damned if I let you take this championship from me on Sunday.</p><p>"So, listen Mercedes, you’re obsessed with attacking me. You’re obsessed with my smile. So, listen, I am your AEW women’s world champion, and on Sunday, at Wembley Stadium, I am walking in with this championship and this smile and I’m walking out still your AEW women’s world champion, still smiling."</p><p>The storyline developed last week when Moné attacked Nightingale in a backstage incident before their match. Nightingale later informed POST Wrestling that her left hand is broken and she will undergo an x-ray to determine its severity. "She's broken. I have to go get an x-ray later today to figure out the severity of that, because that would then inform just how guarded it has to be on Sunday – whether I'm able to get any kind of like wrist flexibility, or just hands or if I'm going to kind of have a situation like this where I'm just like a stump. So we'll see, we'll see. But the heart is good, she's full of love and passion and ready to fight," she stated.</p><p>Days before All In, Nightingale shared her expectations for the crowd at Wembley Stadium in London. "So, I'm definitely expecting a split crowd. I'll be completely honest," she said. "One of my biggest strengths is I know the people are there for me, I know the people are cheering for me, but I would be a fool to not recognize the popularity of Mercedes, even though people see her ways. They see that she's not truly like a good person at heart. There's something about her that some people are drawn to. So, I am kind of anticipating that.</p><p>"My biggest strength maybe being a little torn, a little split, but as I mentioned, anytime you're kind of at this caliber, we're All Elite Wrestling. We're All Elite, and I'm in world championship tier, right? I am the world champ. The people who are going to be facing me for this are going to be elite. They're going to be bringing their best. They're going to be giving their all. So, I have to go in already knowing it's going to be a hard fight. Already knowing I'm going to have to push through when my body wants to give out."</p><p>It remains to be seen how the injury will impact Nightingale's performance against Moné on Sunday.</p>