{"id":105832,"date":"2021-12-11T10:26:52","date_gmt":"2021-12-11T15:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=105832"},"modified":"2021-12-11T10:26:52","modified_gmt":"2021-12-11T15:26:52","slug":"toni-storm-time-to-shine-smackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/12\/11\/toni-storm-time-to-shine-smackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Toni\u2019s Time: When Will Toni Storm Get to Shine on SmackDown?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Just when will it be \u2018Toni\u2019s time to storm?\u2019 The phrase was first tossed around when <em><strong>Friday Night SmackDown<\/strong><\/em> star <strong>Toni Storm<\/strong> was still a snarky heel on <em><strong>NXT<\/strong>.<\/em> With the spring 2021 call up of arch-rival <strong>Rhea Ripley<\/strong> to <strong><em>Monday Night Raw<\/em><\/strong>, it seemed Storm was poised to dominate the \u201cBlack and Gold\u201d brand\u2019s women\u2019s roster, at last. Instead, she lost a shot at the NXT women\u2019s title to then-NXT Women\u2019s Champion <strong>Io Shirai. <\/strong>In the last days of the ThunderDome at Amway Center, Storm was tapped in to work dark matches before SmackDown tapings, for the eyes of WWE officials, along with <strong>Scarlett Bordeaux <\/strong>and <strong>Shotzi Blackheart.<\/strong> Out of the three women, Blackheart and Storm were chosen for midsummer main roster call-ups to SmackDown.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Toni Storm comes for revenge against Charlotte Flair | WWE ON FOX | FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l3m6wNljUnc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Toni Storm on SmackDown<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>The Former NXT UK Women&#8217;s Champion Beginning<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Storm\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/07\/25\/toni-storm-debuts-on-smackdown\/\" target=\"_self\">\u201cblue brand\u201d debut<\/a> came on July 23, in a match against <strong>Zelina Vega, <\/strong>in which Storm was victorious. Her rebranding as a babyface began here, but in the months that followed, Storm was largely absent from SmackDown. When she did appear, it was in comedic backstage segments in which her \u201cChild of the 80s\u201d character seemed to be prevaricating towards a romantic angle with fellow rocker <strong>Rick Boogs.<\/strong> Luckily, things changed streams for Storm when she was added to SmackDown\u2019s women\u2019s <strong><em>Survivor Series <\/em><\/strong>team. Though the SmackDown team fell to Monday Night Raw women\u2019s team, Storm\u2019s momentum didn\u2019t dissipate. On the Thanksgiving-themed November 27 SmackDown, Storm\u2019s confrontation with SmackDown Women\u2019s Champion <strong>Charlotte Flair<\/strong> led to pies flying. The women have traded pies and insults in the following weeks. On December 10\u2019s broadcast from Staples Center in Los Angeles, Storm graduated from food fights to full gear, finally getting Flair where she wanted her, all along: in the ring.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Toni Storm vs. Charlotte Flair<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2021\/12\/10\/wwe-smackdown-toni-storm-vs-charlotte\/\" target=\"_self\">The match<\/a> was Storm\u2019s finest moment on SmackDown thus far. In heelish fashion, Flair dismissively dominated Storm in the match\u2019s opening minutes, countering her every maneuver. The winds changed when Storm threw herself into a crossbody on Flair, getting a cover on the champion that Flair escaped from looking visibly diminished. The Staples Center crowd liked what they saw, and broke into robust cries of \u201cLet\u2019s go, Toni!\u201d Storm followed up her gutsy crossbody with a series of uppercuts to Flair and vivaciously evaded &#8220;The Queen&#8221; as the two ran the ropes. When Storm found herself backed into the post, she held Flair off with a big boot kick. Flair returned it in kind, laying out Storm, earning boos of consternation from the crowd who were vocally \u201cTeam Toni\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>As commentators <strong>Michael Cole <\/strong>and <strong>Pat McAfee<\/strong> touted Storm\u2019s pro wrestling history and proficiency, Flair dove from her double moonsault into a cover on Storm, which Storm narrowly escaped; Flair followed this up by assaulting Storm\u2019s legs with repeated figure eight locks. Storm turned the tables by rolling Flair up, shoulders down. Flair escaped, and as the women scrambled to their feet Flair delivered another kick to Storm. Storm clasped Flair&#8217;s midsection for a German suplex, the effort of which wrenched a scream of determination from Storm. From here &#8220;The Queen&#8221; was all malice, unleashing on Storm with a brutal snapback on the ropes, driving her head into the post, and kicking her relentlessly as Storm was trapped in the corner of the ring.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Toni Storm vs. Charlotte Flair: SmackDown, Dec. 10, 2021\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/UCpReLCvhvo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Result of the Match<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>It was this which led the match to be halted, and Storm was declared the winner via disqualification. Despite this, December 10\u2019s match was still a dynamic performance from Storm. Finally, her babyface character had a chance to shine, proving herself a capable and courageous athlete, earning the admiration of the crowd with her abilities and its sympathy as Charlotte savagely unloaded on her. So often, Storm\u2019s career has trailed at the heels of Rhea Ripley\u2019s. But where Ripley\u2019s and Flair\u2019s Raw feud was bogged down by too much scripted story, now that they are past trading pies Flair and Storm tell a simple story in the ring: two women, champion and challenger, the cold and calculating Flair meting out her aggression when it can best serve her, and fiery Toni Storm charging in with heart and determination. Where she thrived in domination on NXT, the Toni Storm of SmackDown is beginning to lean into being a sympathetic, vulnerable figure the audience can get behind.<\/p>\n<p>Although Flair is headed to an inevitable collision with <strong>Sasha Banks<\/strong> for the SmackDown Women&#8217;s Championship, the inconclusive finish to her December 10 match with Storm indicates that the two are in for another collision. If their compelling chemistry and Storm\u2019s growth in her new role continue, it is sure to be another delightful duel of fire and ice.<\/p>\n<p><em>Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for 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 check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WWE Network<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Peacock<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just when will it be \u2018Toni\u2019s time to storm?\u2019 The phrase was first tossed around when Friday Night SmackDown star Toni Storm was still a snarky heel on NXT. With the spring 2021 call up of arch-rival Rhea Ripley to Monday Night Raw, it seemed Storm was poised to dominate the \u201cBlack and Gold\u201d brand\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3715,"featured_media":105842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,317,4,5,3,320],"tags":[403,304,2091,4714,7734,159,3093,3207,598],"class_list":["post-105832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-smackdown","category-women","category-wwe","category-nxt","category-wwe-universe","category-wwe-women","tag-charlotte-flair","tag-io-shirai","tag-michael-cole","tag-pat-mcafee","tag-rick-boogs","tag-sasha-banks","tag-scarlett-bordeaux","tag-shotzi-blackheart","tag-toni-storm"],"modified_by":"Robbie Sutter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3715"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}