Toni Storm sent shockwaves through the wrestling world when she quit WWE halfway through a SmackDown Women’s Championship feud with Charlotte Flair. Four months later Toni Storm was in AEW. In just one month, she has proved why her decision to leave WWE for AEW was a good one.
She has been given more time on camera and in the ring. Toni Storm is clearly being built up as the next star of the AEW women’s division. In WWE, it seemed inevitable that she would be used simply to benefit established stars such as Charlotte Flair.
Toni Storm AEW Immediate Success
Toni Storm made her AEW debut in an Owen Hart tournament qualifier match against The Bunny. Immediately, she was presented as a star. Her name graphic highlighted that she had held championships in eight promotions worldwide. Storm was given time to show her explosiveness, resilience, and hard-hitting style in her victory over The Bunny.
Storm went into a feud with AEW’s biggest female star Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. Storm scored the decisive pin in a tag team match along with Ruby Soho against Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter. Storm then scored a win against the next big thing in AEW Hayter in the Quarter Finals of the Owen Hart tournament.
Already The Right Move
The match with Hayter again allowed Storm the time to work a physical and evenly-weighted match. Storm’s loss to Baker in the semi-finals of the tournament shouldn’t be viewed as such a bad thing. The controversy surrounding the loss adds to Storm’s babyface character. Expect the Baker feud to continue and end with Storm ready for a shot at either the AEW Women’s or TBS Championship.
Her matches in the AEW Owen Hart tournament compared to her match in the WWE Queen’s Crown are absolute chalk and cheese and reflect AEW’s commitment to Storm.
Storm On WWE Main Roster
Perhaps the most shocking booking of Storm on the main roster came when she lost to Zelina Vega in just two minutes in the first round of the Queen’s Crown tournament. The tournament was a perfect chance to build Storm up but WWE instead chose to have her lose and look weak in the process.
When Storm lost to Flair on the December 17th edition of SmackDown it marked just her fifth match in as many months since joining the main roster. The bout, which Storm lost, clocked in at just under 15 minutes. The rest of Storm’s main roster matches lasted an average of three minutes. Unsurprisingly, Storm saw she would be treated better elsewhere and left.
What’s Next For Toni Storm in AEW?
During her time on the WWE’s main roster, Storm was never given a marquee pay-per-view match. Storm now has five wins in just over a month in AEW. This is more than the number of TV matches she had in WWE.
Storm will soon get her PPV moment. In the meantime, AEW will continue to present her as the megastar she is.
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS and AEW Dark: Elevation (Monday nights) and AEW: Dark (Tuesday nights) at 7 PM ET on YouTube. AEW Rampage airs on TNT at 10 PM EST every Friday night.
