Toni Storm Released by WWE

Days before 2021 came to end, wrestling fans were hit with one more shocking release from World Wrestling Entertainment: Toni Storm. The news hit all over wrestling sites that Toni Storm's tenure in WWE has come to an end after four years, with reports stating that she requested to be released. Even so, this release joins a vast collection of departures in the women's division alone, including Nia Jax, B-Fab, and Taya Valkyrie (among many others).

The New Zealand-born and Australia-raised Toni Storm's WWE career began with the Mae Young Classic in 2017, making her WWE debut after competing for years in her native land. In the first Mae Young Classic, Toni reached the semifinals, where she was eliminated by eventual winner Kairi Sane. However, the second Mae Young Classic in 2018 saw Toni win the entire tournament, defeating Io Shirai in the finals at WWE's Evolution event on October 28, 2018. Prior to her entrance in the second MYC, Toni had signed a WWE contract and had been competing in the NXT UK brand, where she spent months feuding with Rhea Ripley, the brand's lead villainess at that time.

Toni and Rhea clashed in the finals of a tournament to crown the first-ever NXT UK Women's Champion, with Toni on the losing end. However, Toni would defeat Rhea in a rematch at NXT UK Takeover: Blackpool to become the second-ever champion, and she would hold the title for 231 days until she was dethroned by Kay Lee Ray. Later in 2019, Toni participated at Survivor Series and was part of the NXT women's team in the three way elimination match. She was eliminated by Natalya and Sasha Banks, but Team NXT ended up winning the entire match. After appearing as a surprise entrant in the Women's Royal Rumble on January 26, 2020, Toni's feud with Kay Lee Ray continued on, ending with a loss to Kay Lee Ray in an I Quit title match.

On October 4, 2020, Toni appeared in a video package during that night's Takeover event, promoting a "different" Toni Storm in her return to the NXT brand. We would learn the truth about how different Toni would be a month later, as the November 25, 2020 edition of NXT saw Toni emerge after Ember Moon escaped a post-match attack from Candice LeRae, Raquel Gonzalez, and Dakota Kai. It appeared that Toni would lend a helping hand to Ember, as they teamed together weeks prior, only for Toni to actually attack Ember and send her to be beaten down by the trio of heels. So with that, Toni turned heel for the first time in WWE, and later explained that her new heel persona was part of the "different" Toni Storm that she promised.

Toni also joined Candice's WarGames team, which also consisted of Raquel and Dakota, and they actually won the Women's WarGames Match. Afterwards, Toni went on a pursuit of the NXT Women's Championship, only to come up short, and she spent the spring months of 2021 in a brief feud with the debuting Zoey Stark, who defeated the evil Toni at Takeover: Stand and Deliver.

Promos for Toni Storm's debut on SmackDown began to appear during the summer of 2021, and it was on July 23 that Toni debuted on SmackDown with her rockstar babyface persona back in full form, and defeated Zelina Vega. However, Toni's main roster tenure was met with the same problems we often saw when NXT callups occur: a lack of appearances. Toni was relegated to backstage appearances until being placed in the Queen's Crown Tournament in October, losing to the eventual overall winner, Zelina Vega in Round 1. After representing Team SmackDown in the Survivor Series match (where she eliminated Zelina and Carmella), Toni was placed in an angle and feud with SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair, which saw her challenge Charlotte for the title, only to be turned down. After pinning Charlotte in a tag team match, Toni's title opportunity came this past Christmas Eve, but she was unsuccessful.

Normally when these surprise releases happen, I put the blame on Vince McMahon, and rightfully so. Vince has a habit of burying and releasing stars who are hard-working, uber-talented, and popular, because he thinks he's always right when it comes to judging talent (Spoiler alert: he never is). However, in this case, I 100% believe that Toni requested this release, because I honestly think that had Toni stuck around, she would have been pushed. I think 2022 would have been a good year for her in WWE. So for once, this isn't totally on Vince McMahon, and I hope Toni continues to shine wherever she showcases her in-ring talent.

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