Willow Nightingale
Here’s an interesting case that I imagine can culminate in a unique story. Nightingale’s April in AEW featured a running theme: defending her AEW TBS Championship against returning wrestlers. Each time, she has sent them back to the starting point. April 1 saw her dash Hikaru Shida’s hopes for gold, kickstarting a confusing attitude en route to an eventual heel turn and a partnership with Kris Statlander.
Queen Aminata was up next the following week, on April 8’s AEW Dynamite. While Aminata hasn’t been seen since, the women put on a hard-hitting match, only adding to Nightingale’s streak.
While Nightingale and Aminata parted ways respectfully, her next challenger wasn’t as kind. Kamille, who hadn’t been seen on AEW programming since Mercedes Mone fired her in 2024, assaulted Nightingale ahead of AEW Dynasty before ultimately losing to her on the April 15 AEW Dynamite.
This bled over into May 2, when Nightingale retained her belt over Anna Jay on AEW Collision. Nightingale ruining the returns of four wrestlers can very well come back to haunt her.
Darby Allin
I’ll tell you right now, I’m not the biggest fan of Darby Allin. Factoring in that I enjoy these car-crash style of matches laid out with plunder, blood, and gnarly bumps, something about Allin hadn’t resonated with me. Admittedly, when he casts those elements aside and takes part in bare-bones wrestling matches, I find he shines. That 2021 Full Gear match with MJF is such an apt example of this.
The Seattle native reminded me of just that in April. Following a trio’s tag match alongside Jack Perry and Bandido against the Don Callis Family on April 8, Allin’s destiny would change. Once he defeated Andrade El Idolo at AEW Dynasty to earn the right to challenge for the AEW World Championship. The next week bore greater fortunes for him. In the main event match, Allin climbed the true mountain that eluded him: the world title.
I mentioned his victory over Tommaso Ciampa, but he kept on, defending against Brody King, and in May, he faced Kevin Knight and PAC. Staying true to himself, Allin maintained his chaotic match structure with that of a workhorse to deliver high-octane matches.
