Toni Storm: Defining AEW’s Gold Standard

“I don’t even know what that means anymore: dream match. If it’s a dream, then it shouldn’t happen.”

Toni Storm doesn’t mince words. Toni Storm doesn’t celebrate yesterday, and she’s had a collection of yesterdays typically reserved for someone with gray hairs and grandkids. All Elite Wrestling’s Interim Women’s World champion has a detailed and dedicated path to the top of the wrestling world; tournaments, championships, moments, memories … they all exist, but they aren’t the focus for Toni Storm, they’re the process. For now, the champ is looking at what she’s got to do to keep that process going, and what’s next is not only ambitious, but it’s also concrete: Toni Storm is going to make you watch women’s wrestling.

At AEW Full Gear in Newark, New Jersey, Storm will defend her title against former friend (and pandemic plot mate) Jamie Hayter. This will be her fourth defense of the title since winning the interim championship at AEW All Out in September, and while appreciative and celebratory and aware, Storm’s mindset around titles is twofold: they are the target on her back and the weight on her shoulders, both of which she welcomes. It’s possible that so much early success has shifted expectations. Just 27 years old, Toni’s been wrestling for more than half her life, starting her training with New Zealand’s Impact Pro Wrestling at 13. It’s almost off the John G. Avildsen film assembly line: Kid from a single-parent household finds discipline through sport, excels through adversity, and gets the happy ending. “It was just me and my mom and my younger sister at the time”—Storm’s family relocated to Gold Coast, Australia, from New Zealand after her parents separated—“and there was a wrestling school that offered training for 12 and up, and I needed to do something. It was around that time, that age where you start getting into trouble. I think wrestling was a really good thing for me then because it kept me focused on something, it kept me on the straight and narrow. And I haven’t stopped since.” Like Ryu’s Street Fighter II victory screen, even when she hits a milestone, that podium is bare. Toni Storm is chasing two opponents: the wrestler in front of her, and the locker room she wants to see thrive.

Storm’s interest in wrestling began when she was 10, and two WWE Ruthless Aggression–era talents stood out to her. “Mickie James was a big part of that [fandom] … and I wanted to be like Jeff Hardy,” Toni says, reflecting on Jeff’s post Attitude Era–run that saw him break out as a singles star. It’s possible that watching a talent at their peak can produce unrealistic expectations. Storm likely couldn’t walk, or barely talk, during the plaid-pants, enhancement-talent Hardy Boyz days, and wasn’t old enough to attend elementary school when the TLC match was introduced. The Jeff Hardy that caught her eye had gone from Saturday-morning fodder for Razor Ramon (shout-out to Keith Davis) to tag-team specialist with older brother Matt to bona fide singles megastar and WWE Champion, on par with the Triple Hs, Edges, and John Cenas of the time. There’s this ownership, this artistic entitlement that comes from “coming up with the band.” You were there for the dank bars, the cheap merch, and the songs they wrote before hitting it big. So when someone’s first impression is their third chart-topper, there’s an instinctual desire to set them straight on how they should go about their fandom. Toni Storm may not have been there for the entire ride, but not even her largest inspiration knocks her off her pivot. “I still want to be like Jeff Hardy,” she says matter-of-factly, understanding his importance, while also acknowledging hers. “It’s always good when someone you grow up watching, you’re able to share the same locker room with [them], it’s always a good thing, right? That just means that I’ve gotten to where I’ve always wanted to be.” Early and sustained success, it seems, is just what’s supposed to happen for Storm.

Storm’s style is hard-hitting and deliberate, utilizing the late Mitsuharu Misawa’s Tiger Driver as her primary finisher. She credits her time in Japan for adding a dimension of toughness to her style after training with Impact Pro Wrestling and her initial run with Progress Wrestling (where she was their inaugural Progress Wrestling World Women’s Champion). “I think Stardom really helped toughen me up, because training in the dojo out there was very tough. The women out there are just incredibly hard-hitting, very, very talented, and it was those matches … training with them out in Japan and those experiences that really helped me get better.” World Wonder Ring Stardom, often shortened to simply Stardom, is an all-women’s wrestling promotion in Japan founded in 2010. Known for their stiff kicks, elaborate gear, and pronounced pageantry, Stardom is a popular destination for those looking to compete against some of the most stylish, technically sound women in the world. While she credits many competitors and trainers, it was here that she competed against (and trained with) some of the top women’s talent in recent years, including Mayu Iwatani; one of her Mae Young Classic opponents, Kairi Sane; and one half of the current WWE Women’s Tag Team champions, IYO SKY. Storm was only 20 in her first match with the then–Io Shirai, a rivalry that would carry over to both the Mae Young Classic and into NXT, where Storm would attempt to capture Shirai’s NXT’s Women’s title. “I wrestled her a few times and trained with her as well in the dojo. I was really young when I first started going to Japan and working for Stardom. I think I was 20 years old, and I didn’t have as much experience and [she] really helped bring a lot out of me … So did [Iwatani] and [Sane], you know, they taught me a lot, and really brought me up. It’s because of women like that that I’m where I am today.” While mostly training with (but not competing regularly against) Sane, Storm would defeat Iwatani for her first and only World of Stardom Championship, recognized as the top title in that promotion.

While Storm’s run in Stardom was a lot of building confidence and technique, her NXT run wasn’t just about learning but putting the finishing touches on who we’d see as a performer. The biggest plus, according to Storm, was the direction on wrestling for TV. While you can learn every move and hold created or popularized, how you apply them with a camera in your face is what provides access to the largest audience (a sentiment echoed by current NXT star Carmelo Hayes). Once more, Storm was blessed to work with some of the very best minds in wrestling, this time some of the longtime European stars and coaches. “NXT UK was honestly something so special. The experience I gained from that was unbelievable. The coaches that I got to work with in the [NXT UK Performance Center were] amazing and it was a really good and unique introduction to WWE for me … I got to train with Johnny Saint, I got to train with Robbie Brookside and Johnny Moss and James Mason, and it was really wonderful. Those are all very highly skilled guys that really know what they’re doing, and I was really blessed to be able to learn from them. The training was unbelievable and I’m really lucky I got to experience that. It was a really wonderful thing, NXT UK. And I got to learn from [current AEW coworker] William Regal a lot as well. I got the chance to spend a lot of time with him and that was just another great learning experience for me.”

This was also where Storm began to truly articulate her (expected and appreciated) burden of success. Maybe it’s maturity, maybe it’s performing in front of a majority English-speaking audience, maybe it’s the confidence from being coached up by the people you grew up watching. But Storm’s championship run in NXT is where the responsibility of status became apparent for her. Storm captured the NXT UK Women’s Championship by defeating Rhea Ripley at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool, and would hold the title for seven months. “It’s a lot of pressure, and that comes with being champion anywhere. It doesn’t matter what company you’re with. When you’re a champion, you’re the leader of the division, the company, and a lot is expected of you. A lot is asked of you. You’re the guy that everyone’s going to turn to, and you have to lead by example. And that was a lot of pressure on my shoulders at a young age and for a major place. And I still feel the same today as champion in AEW. You’re responsible for a lot, and you’re there to set an example as well. And I’m thankful that I got to experience that at such a young age, and it’s all really helped me.”

Toni’s short stint on WWE’s main roster is well documented, and while fans (myself included) will always ponder “What if?” concerning potential rivalries, matches, and moments, Toni’s stance on anything outside of what went well, at any stop, is both firm and forthright. “I don’t really think about that at all, to be honest. I don’t operate that way. It’s just a job, to be honest. I could be like, ‘Oh, yeah, it would have been nice to face everyone.’ I’m a fan of everyone there, but I’m not, like, mad about it.” It’s hard to argue a need for anger or resentment when you look at the things she was able to do. In just over four years, she was a brand’s top champion, competed against peers and mentors alike in a fan favorite tournament, was part of the team that won the only triple-branded traditional Survivor Series elimination match, and a now–main roster staple WarGames match. Outside of the rare air of winning a Royal Rumble or main-eventing WrestleMania, her…