Okada initially suggested that the match take place after the pay-per-view.
All Elite Wrestling had a three-hour block of programming on 5/11 with live episodes of Collision and Rampage. During the broadcast, it was revealed that Willow Nightingale is going to be defending the TBS Championship against Tam Nakano at STARDOM’s Flashing Champions show on May 18th.
There was a press conference held with Nakano and STARDOM President Taro Okada. He detailed how the match came to be and it kick-started with Nakano’s reply to Nightingale’s tweet.
Okada reached out to AEW and initially, he suggested that the match take place after Flashing Champions but AEW wanted to make it happen immediately.
I am sure everyone was surprised at the TBS Title match, and I too was surprised. Because after training, the wrestlers are, you know, in the process of putting out a challenge for a suitable opponent, and we heard that the title can be defended anywhere, even overseas, so I wanted to take up on it. Tam Nakano was the first to reply, and I was surprised by her outburst. I immediately contacted AEW to see if we could make the match happen, and when we did, (Tony Khan & his team) contacted us and asked when the match could happen. I told them we could do it after the upcoming Flashing Champions pay-per-view, but they said let’s do it right away. We were told that Willow was ready to go anywhere and any time, so we decided to make the match right away. The relationship between STARDOM and AEW is such that the wrestlers’ dreams come true, and we wanted to support Tam Nakano trying to take the TBS Title so she could capture the championship and spread her wings to the next pay-per-view and into AEW. I would like to support her, and I hope she wins this match. We would like you to become a singles champion, become a new champion after a long drought.
It is being advertised that on May 26th, Nightingale is going to be putting the TBS Title on the line against Mercedes Moné at Double or Nothing. It’ll be Moné’s first match in the company since her debut in March.
If the quote in this article is used, please credit STARDOM for the translation with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcription.
