{"id":22836,"date":"2018-07-26T20:40:38","date_gmt":"2018-07-27T00:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=22836"},"modified":"2018-09-25T02:40:09","modified_gmt":"2018-09-25T06:40:09","slug":"eye-of-the-storm-toni-storm-19th-name-confirmed-for-mae-young-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2018\/07\/26\/eye-of-the-storm-toni-storm-19th-name-confirmed-for-mae-young-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"Eye of the Storm: Toni Storm 19th Name Confirmed For Mae Young Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Alongside <strong>Io Shirai<\/strong>, perhaps the name most people assumed would be a frontrunner for winning this year&#8217;s <strong>Mae Young Classic<\/strong> has finally been officially announced by the WWE, in what almost feels like a formality at this point. Aussie star <strong>Toni Storm<\/strong> &#8211; who moved to the UK a few years ago to become one of the UK scenes biggest and most decorated stars &#8211; has officially been confirmed as the 19th entrant into the Mae Young Classic II.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING: As first reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DailyMirror?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@DailyMirror<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tonistorm_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@tonistorm_<\/a> will RETURN to the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@WWE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/MaeYoungClassic?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#MaeYoungClassic<\/a> this year!  <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9cFy4iJEAO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/9cFy4iJEAO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Mae Young Classic (@MaeYoungClassic) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MaeYoungClassic\/status\/1022609342082809857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 26, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Debuting in 2011, Toni Storm learned her craft in the vibrant Australian indie scene, working with the likes of <strong>Melbourne City Wrestling (MCW), Riot City Wrestling (RCW)<\/strong>, and <strong>Pro Wrestling Alliance Queensland<\/strong> (<strong>PWAQ<\/strong>, now <strong>Chaos Championship Wrestling<\/strong>), where she was a 2x PWAQ Women&#8217;s Champion. In 2014, she tested the UK waters with <strong>British Empire Wrestling (BEW)<\/strong> and the rest, they say, is history.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_22842\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22842\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22842\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/5d0c88fce1f2ec3b69486ca9dc0d71b4-e1532651667651.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22842\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Owen Jones \/ Digital Beard Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In 2015, she began a whirlwind tour of the UK and European independents, competing for <strong>PROGRESS, IPW:UK, Merseyside&#8217;s All Star Wrestling (ASW), Southside Wrestling Entertainment (SWE)<\/strong>, Scotland&#8217;s <strong>Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), Preston City Wrestling (PCW)<\/strong> and much more, including Germany&#8217;s <strong>Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw)<\/strong> and Spain&#8217;s <strong>Revolution Championship Wrestling (RCW)<\/strong>. But conquering the British Isles and Europe was just the start.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Target Wrestling TV - Toni Storm vs Kay Lee Ray\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m-SX0Cvglcc?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<p>In 2016, she started working in Japan with <strong>Stardom<\/strong>, where she won the <strong>Stardom World Alliance (SWA)<\/strong> Undisputed World Women&#8217;s Championship, the championship defended in and outside of Stardom, in their allied territories such as BEW, RCW (Spain),\u00a0<strong>Association Biterroise de Catch (ABC)<\/strong> in France, and Mexico&#8217;s\u00a0<strong>Women Wrestling Stars (WWS)<\/strong>. She would go on to hold that title for 612 days.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_22840\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22840\" style=\"width: 441px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22840\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/tumblr_p6datfO96Q1waf7fpo1_1280-e1532651517704.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"441\" height=\"500\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22840\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: James Musselwhite \/ Portrait of a Wrestler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In 2017, she would be crowned the first ever PROGRESS Women&#8217;s Champion, following a gruelling Natural Progression tournament series, in a triple threat final against <strong>Laura Di Matteo<\/strong> and fellow MYC entrant <strong>Jinny<\/strong>. She held the PROGRESS title for 357 days, before losing it to Jinny this past May. But the <em><strong>Natural Progression Series IV<\/strong><\/em> wasn&#8217;t the only big tournament Storm won in 2017. It was the first of many. In April, she won the 2017 <em><strong>Cinderella Tournament<\/strong><\/em> in Stardom, giving her a title shot against World of Stardom Champion Io Shirai at a later date. By the time the title shot happened, Shirai was no longer the champion, but <strong>Mayu Iwatani<\/strong>. The challenge made no difference, and ultimately Storm defeated Iwatani to become the World of Stardom Champion in September of 2017. She also won the prestigious <em><strong>Stardom 5*Star Grand Prix<\/strong><\/em> in 2017 (Stardom&#8217;s version of NJPW&#8217;s <em><strong>G1 Climax<\/strong><\/em>) and in Germany, won the <em><strong>wXw Femme Fatales<\/strong><\/em> tournament. Not to mention, making the Final Four for the inaugural Mae Young Classic, bowing out to eventual winner, <strong>Kairi Sane<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_22838\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22838\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22838\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/XqzORlh-e1532651484579.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"500\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22838\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Stardom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In January of 2018, she added another women&#8217;s world title her to trophy case, winning the wXw Women&#8217;s Championship, defeating another MYC entrant, <strong>Killer Kelly<\/strong>. She was also a part of the WWE&#8217;s United Kingdom Championship Tournament event, winning the #1 Contendership to the NXT Women&#8217;s title, before facing defeat to <strong>Shayna Baszler<\/strong> on the second night. Just last night at <em><strong>PROGRESS Chapter 74: Mid Week Matters<\/strong><\/em>, she defeated Laura Di Matteo to become the #1 Contender again to Jinny&#8217;s PROGRESS title.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FREE MATCH : Frontline Wrestling: Toni Storm Vs Bea Priestley - 28\/6\/2018\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xmQgmHxrto4?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<figure id=\"attachment_22843\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22843\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22843\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/DUBBN8JWsAMEWLZ-696x464-e1532651765611.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22843\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: wXw<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Much like Io Shirai, Toni Storm is considered one of the top professional wrestlers in the world &#8211; regardless of gender &#8211; and is poised to become one of the focal points of NXT UK as it gets ready to start taping this weekend. But first, we&#8217;ll all see her once again enter the Mae Young Classic, but this time, the winner&#8217;s podium could feel the effects of an inbound Storm.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_22841\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22841\" style=\"width: 341px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22841\" src=\"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/c9606723868c1527b3c6e8018e436670266f53ac_00-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"341\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/c9606723868c1527b3c6e8018e436670266f53ac_00-1.jpg 341w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/c9606723868c1527b3c6e8018e436670266f53ac_00-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/07\/c9606723868c1527b3c6e8018e436670266f53ac_00-1-280x420.jpg 280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 341px) 100vw, 341px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22841\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Stardom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><strong>CURRENT CONFIRMED MAE YOUNG CLASSIC LINE-UP<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Kacy Catanzaro, USA<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Isla Dawn, Scotland<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Kavita Devi, India<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Jessica Elaban, USA<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Kaitlyn, USA<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Reina Gonzalez, USA<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Jinny, England<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Karen Q, USA<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Killer Kelly, Portugal<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Lacey Lane, USA<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Mercedes Martinez, USA<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Nicole Matthews, Canada<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Tegan Nox, Wales<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Deonna Purrazzo, USA<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Rhea Ripley, Australia<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Io Shirai, Japan<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Toni Storm, Australia<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Mia Yim, South Korea<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Zeuxis, Puerto Rico<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alongside Io Shirai, perhaps the name most people assumed would be a frontrunner for winning this year&#8217;s Mae Young Classic has finally been officially announced by the WWE, in what almost feels like a formality at this point. Aussie star Toni Storm &#8211; who moved to the UK a few years ago to become one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":649,"featured_media":22846,"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":[3317,2,317,3,320],"tags":[896,598],"class_list":["post-22836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-featured","category-women","category-wwe-universe","category-wwe-women","tag-mae-young-classic","tag-toni-storm"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22836","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\/649"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}