“Timeless” Toni Storm saw her time come and go.
Last week on Dynamite, Storm, who hadn’t been seen on AEW programming since Wembley Stadium in August, returned to confront Mariah May, providing an exclamation point to the conclusion of the Winter is Coming episode. Still, the show garnered a disappointing 594,000 viewers, only a slight increase from the prior week and a continued trend of an overall decline in the numbers. Of course, it’s going to take more than one return, debut, or segment to truly move the numbers in a different direction, but one right decision at a time can build momentum.
Last Wednesday’s reemergence of Toni Storm could give AEW a rare chance at another opportunity to fully utilize the talent that a specific performer brings to the table.
Unfortunately, the notion of being underutilized is a continuous theme around Storm’s career, and at least from the outside perspective, it looks like she was the victim of booking circumstances, as hee talent appears to justify a better spot than what she was given previously.
Known for her work in Stardom in Japan, Storm originally inked a WWE contract in 2018 to be a part of the NXT UK show. As we know, the pandemic restrictions eventually forced the end of the UK exclusive brand and thus her title reign as the NXT UK Women’s champion didn’t bring much cache with it when she finally debuted on Smackdown in July of 2021. Her time on the blue brand was undistinguished at best, with her addition to the show more or less being artificial since it seemed like the office didn’t have any plans for her character beyond her debut. After less than six months on the main roster, she requested her release from the company and it was granted at the end of the year.
I have to say that while it’s possible that she would’ve eventually been booked in a better fashion under the WWE banner, it’s equally as possible that she would’ve been lost in the shuffle or typecast as a secondary performer in the company. While All Elite Wrestling didn’t hit a skid until later in 2022, at the time, it’s understandable as to why Storm wanted to test the waters outside of the WWE.
As far as being a victim of booking circumstances, it somehow continued in All Elite Wrestling. She was given a run as the AEW Women’s World champion, but was dubbed the “interim champion” because of an injury suffered by Thunder Rosa. When Rosa couldn’t return to action after a few months, Storm was underwhelmingly declared the official champion. Since there was no unification match, as was implied for the few months that she was promoted as interim champion on television, Storm didn’t get the major victory or moment to propel her status within the women’s division. Her association with The Outcasts stable was equally underwhelming and as the the faction lost momentum so did Toni from an individual perspective. While it was great that Saraya could return to the ring and have the hometown victory at Wembley Stadium last year, I think it’s fair to say that after the serious neck injury that forced her into retirement for a few years, she’s not quite the same performer as she was during her peak in WWE. When Saraya didn’t takeoff under the All Elite banner, the rest of the group more or less had to follow suite.
With any momentum stalled, Toni was repackaged as the Hollywood star from the golden age as the “Timeless” gimmick late last year. There’s no question that she had to be given a new direction to rejuvenate her career, and she deserves a lot of credit for how well she did with the role. Gimmicks that are that over-the-top tend to be hit or miss, but Toni made it work, and the character got over with the audience. Granted, with such an over-the-top presentation, there’s only so much that can realistically be done with it and the argument could be made that there’s a limited tenure that such a persona can have on television. Sure, it was very entertaining for what it was, but the eccentric aspects of the character aren’t necessary the easiest to book at the top of the character.
Since there was a ceiling for how far such a gimmick could go, it made sense to bring Toni back to Dynamite with her original punk rock persona. The timeless gimmick was very effective as far as being a bridge to get Storm back to a position where she can be more or an overall asset to the company, but again given the nature of how over-the-top the starlet persona was, by nature it probably could’ve be something that she used as her character for more than a year or so.
However, outside of the return moment on television last week, the way that the character was portrayed on Rampage and Collision is already concerning, as it could set up another hurdle for her from a booking perspective.
Based on the interview that she interrupted with Thunder Rosa and introduced herself to everyone as if she didn’t remember who she was, this might be an angle that will be comparable to some of the more notoriously cringe worthy storylines in wrestling history. Why exactly would Toni not remember who she is? One of the benefits of the scripted world of professional wrestling is the ability to conveniently ignore small portions of logic that might get in the way of a smooth transition. Granted, if the gap in logic is too large to be ignored than you have Vince Russo-style writing that took more than one company off a cliff. At the same time, when The Undertaker showed up in 2000 as a biker, nobody questioned how he wasn’t the dead man persona anymore, and it wasn’t addressed. It was just assumed that whenever he was for the several months prior that there was a change in his persona, and the fans were happy to see him back so an explanation wasn’t needed. The same could be said for when he was buried at Survivor Series in 2003 and then reemerged at Wrestlemania the following year as the dead man again for the match with Kane. The fans were happy to see the original character back on television, and the biker character was needed to freshen up the presentation, but everyone knew that the classic persona was the legacy of The Undertaker character.
In this situation, Toni should’ve been brought back to television for a fresh start without anything convoluted like a case amnesia to make it more difficult for her to re-establish herself in the women’s division. The bottom line is, would any of the fans truly questioned why she was the rock star again? If not, the simplest presentation would’ve been the most effective strategy, especially because the premise for her return was already known, as she wants to get retribution for Mariah May’s previous heel turn. The baby face looking for revenge against the heel is more than enough of a storyline to build to a productive feud. Anything outside of that, especially in this scenario, just muddiest the waters.
Don’t get me wrong, Toni Storm is a very talented performer, but there’s never been a situation in pro wrestling where a case amnesia has led to success for anyone involved. Cactus Jack being lost in Cleveland is a segment that fans remember, but not because it was compelling television. Ric Flair being buried in the desert and put in a mental institution didn’t exactly help WCW either.
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
