Contrary to popular belief, Willow Nightingale is not a member of AEW, at least not on a full-time basis.

No, despite having wrestled in 14 matches for the promotion dating all the way back to April of 2021, including three wins on AEW Dark Elevation, a spot in the Owen Hart Foundation Women's Tournament qualifying round, and a match versus Mercedes Martinez for the then-vacant Interim ROH Women's World Title at Supercard of Honor – a match that she had an official theme for – Nightingale remains a per-appearance performer for AEW, without a spot on the official roster page to call her own.

If Nightingale continues to perform up to her efforts on Rampage, and the crowd continues to go wild for the purple-haired babyface, it feels like a missed opportunity to give her some run in a woman's division in desperate need of some positively popular performers.

AEW needs to fully embrace Willow Nightingale.

The AEW women's division is jam-packed full of heels. The promotion employs Jade Cargill, who is rapidly approaching her 40th straight singles win, Britt Baker, who had arguably the most memorable run with the strap in promotion history, and a number of other dastardly personalities like Nyla Rose, Serena Deeb, Tay Conti, Marina Shafir, and Allie who has consistently remained in the mid-card or higher since their individual arrivals in the promotion one way or another.

Sure, Tony Khan has attempted to offset their additions with the likes of Kris Statlander, Athena, Ruby Soho, Toni Storm, and current champion Thunder Rosa – the latter of whom are more anti-heroes than true baby faces – plus their rotating collection of Joshi performers, but for the most part, the division has been dominated by heel-ish performers who aren't exactly telling the kids at home to each their vegetables and take their vitamins.

What AEW needs, to both even out the proverbial scales and to shake up a division with sometimes excessive repeat matches, is some fresh blood to bring some boundless positive energy to the roster. What AEW needs is another solid worker who can shake things both on Dark/Dark Elevation and on weekly television.

What AEW needs is Willow Nightingale.

A seven-year pro who has recorded 314 matches since making her debut in 2015 as a part of the NYWC event at the Sportatorium in New York City, New York, Willow has wrestled some of the biggest East Coast-based names in wrestling today, from Deonna Purrazzo to Kris Statlander, Allie Katch, Tasha Steelz, and Kiera Hogan, before making her major promotion debut at GCW, and then AEW Dark from Daily's place, where she lost a pair of quick matches to Diamante and Thunder Rosa.

From there, Willow landed more dark matches for AEW, made her ROH debut against Alex Garcia, and steadily built up a reputation for being one of the best wrestlers for hire on the independent circuit. She wrestled in 10 different title matches, including a win at her original promotion NYWC over Johnny Radke, Dino Might, and John Silver to begin a two-month title run, and became a fixture of multiple promotions from AEW to ROH and even Beyond Wrestling, where she was an inaugural member of their women's division alongside frequent cross-promotional foe Holidead.

Is Nightingale looking for work? Nope, she's wrestled 36 matches in 2022 alone and will likely book even more bouts by the end of the year, but for Willow to take the next step forward in her career, she needs to land with a bigger promotion willing to let her work a consistent clip in front of fans who grow to love her. Considering the latter part is already true despite only having 14 matches in the promotion to her credit, that company should probably be AEW.

Look, it's no secret that the AEW women's division has been much maligned by fans who believe Tony Khan hasn't paid it enough attention. They point to the same faces who are on television each week, the volume of dark matches Mercedes Martinez wrestles off of television for the Ring of Honor championship, and the discrepancy in minutes and roster spots afforded to female performers versus male ones and will use that information to put down the division as a whole. While some of those criticisms might be justified, the easiest way to get more women on television is to get more women on the roster, ingratiate them to the fan base, and get the fans clamoring for their in-ring work. Fortunately, Willow Nightingale already has the second half down, and with the sort of seasoning that comes from being a full-time contracted talent, it's only a matter of time before she goes from an underground fan favorite to a full-blown star.