Toni Storm’s Evolution From Australian Indie Darling To AEW Icon

The rise of “Timeless” Toni Storm in AEW has been nothing wanting meteoric, but before the 29-year-old could get to that time, she needed to pay her dues, not only on the independent scene back home on the Gold Coast of Australia, but in the largest wrestling promotion on this planet, though Storm quickly learned WWE wasn’t for her. Storm, whose real name is Toni Rossall, became excited about wrestling at a really young age, when the term “WWE Diva” was just starting to enter the industry’s vernacular.

Storm discovered WWE on television when she was just 10 years old living together with her mother, when Trish Stratus was dominating the ladies’s division as its champion. The “Timeless” one has said in interviews that she would often get teased at school for being different. While others her age were excited about popular culture and more mainstream sports, Storm was excited about the WWE superstars she would watch on television.

Storm said that she was all in on wrestling well before she would develop into All Elite. She told ESPN she knew she desired to be a wrestler herself very early on, and was intrigued by the larger-than-life personalities of WWE. Storm knew someday she desired to make people as excited as she was while watching wrestling on TV. She’s doing just that in AEW now, as a record-breaking 4 time AEW Women’s Champion who has placed on a few of the perfect matches within the division, including one currently in talks for match of the 12 months in 2025.

“Timeless” Toni Storm has evolved in some ways throughout her profession. From her humble beginnings on this planet of skilled wrestling on the Gold Coast, to changing her entire wrestling persona from a rock star to an old Hollywood actress, Storm has greater than proved herself in all elements of the business.

Storm began watching WWE on television when she was 10 years old while living on the Gold Coast together with her mother following her parents’ split when she was only 4. It might take her a number of years to find a way to get in a hoop herself, but when she turned 12, Storm began training at a small, local wrestling school. She made her debut within the ring in front of a small crowd with Impact Pro Wrestling, or IPW, at 13, in October 2009. She was already using the ring name “Storm” on the time. Video of her early matches with IPW still exist online. She won her first title in 2010 with the promotion, the IPW Hardcore Championship.

In her early days on the Gold Coast, as Storm has explained in interviews, including to Fox Sports Australia, that she needed to wrestle lots of intergender matches, resulting from the actual fact not many ladies were training in the world on the time. Since she was wrestling men, Storm toughened up quick between the ropes, even at such a young age. She said that at times, it felt like she had a bunch of “big brothers beating her up.” She explained that she possibly wrestled about three girls in her early training days.

As she got older, Storm would wrestle across Australia and Recent Zealand for promotions including Riot City Wrestling and Melbourne City Wrestling. She eventually convinced her mother to let her go live together with her grandmother in the UK, where there have been more opportunities for her within the skilled wrestling industry.

At 18 years old, Storm first tried out for WWE in Melbourne. She didn’t initially make the cut, and that is when she moved to Liverpool to pursue her dreams. She began training full-time with Dean Allmark, who Storm called certainly one of her “biggest influences” to ESPN. She began developing her rocker go searching the time she began wrestling within the UK, crediting her mom for her love of all things from the Nineteen Eighties.

She made her debut as just “Storm” in Progress Wrestling in April 2015, in a losing effort. Two years later, in May 2017, she’d develop into the inaugural Progress Women’s Champion in a match that marked the primary time women had competed in a predominant event of the promotion. She traveled to Japan in 2016 and commenced working in Stardom, where she officially signed in October. Storm won the SWA World Championship in July and held on to the belt for a record-setting 612 days. She also won the 2017 Cinderella Tournament and the 5-Star GP that 12 months. Storm would later develop into the World of Stardom Champion after Mayu Iwatani was injured during their match, prompting an unplanned finish. She would go on to carry the gold for 258 days and was defeated by Kagetsu in June 2018.

Throughout her time on the independent scene, Storm wrestled across many countries and promotions. Others included Pro-Wrestling: EVE, Westside Xtreme Wrestling, Global Force Wrestling, British Empire Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Ulster, and plenty of, many more. Storm had well-honed her craft by the point WWE got here calling once more, and this time, she was ready.

WWE announced that Storm could be certainly one of the primary 4 participants in the primary Mae Young Classic in the summertime of 2017. She defeated the likes of Ayesha Raymond, Lacey Evans, and Piper Niven before her Classic dreams were dashed by Kairi Sane within the semi-finals. Despite the loss, Storm was signed to WWE and was also involved in the UK Championship Tournament. She became the No. 1 contender for the NXT Women’s Championship, but was defeated by defending champion Shayna Baszler.

Storm would get her next big shot in WWE with the second Mae Young Classic the next 12 months. She made it to the ultimate, which took place at the corporate’s historic all-women premium live event Evolution in October 2018. Storm defeated Io Shirai (now referred to as IYO SKY) to win the tournament. Storm wrestled within the tournament to crown the inaugural “WWE NXT UK” Women’s Champion, but lost to Rhea Ripley. She would win her first gold in WWE when she captured the title from “The Eradicator” at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool in January 2019. She held the title for seven months until losing to Kay Lee Ray at TakeOver: Cardiff in August. Her one and only “NXT UK” reign lasted 230 days.

That November, Storm wrestled on NXT’s Survivor Series team led by Ripley. In January, she entered her first Royal Rumble at #20, but was eliminated by Baszler. Storm’s final “NXT UK” match would happen right before pandemic lockdowns in February 2020 in a losing effort to Kay Lee Ray in an “I Quit” match. She could be gone from the UK’s version of WWE’s developmental brand, but would not be away from the corporate for long.

Storm returned to “WWE NXT,” stateside this time, in October 2020 and aligned herself in a heel stable with Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, and Raquel Gonzalez (now Rodriguez) for TakeOver: WarGames. She entered the Royal Rumble once more in 2021, this time within the seventh spot, and was eliminated by Ripley. Storm challenged for the NXT Women’s Championship twice, once more Io Shirai in a triple threat involving Mercedes Martinez, and again in a singles match with Shirai, but was unsuccessful each times.

Her predominant roster debut took place on the blue brand when she popped up on “WWE SmackDown” as a babyface in July 2021. She defeated Zelina Vega in her debut match, but was then defeated by Vega in the course of the first round of the Queen’s Crown tournament. Following a performance wherein she eliminated two competitors in that 12 months’s Survivor Series match, Storm entered an ill-fated feud with Charlotte Flair.

Storm has gone on record to say the feud, which made her request her WWE release at the tip of December, made her take into consideration leaving the skilled wrestling world eternally. Her faceoffs with Flair involved Storm throwing a pie in “The Queen’s” face at ringside, and he or she later revealed that WWE pitched for Flair to tear her shirt off. Storm said in an interview with Renee Paquette following her departure that her predominant goal in wrestling was to get to WWE’s predominant roster, but when she got there, she realized it wasn’t going to work out. She admitted she abruptly quit, though Storm said she left WWE for a lot of reasons.

Once she requested her release, Storm was granted her departure from WWE, without having won gold in the corporate’s predominant roster. The largest wrestling company on this planet won’t have been a fit for her, but she was still on the cusp of stardom.

Storm would not be gone for long, regardless of how her end in WWE made her feel. Just a number of months after her departure from Vince McMahon’s company, Storm would debut on the March 30, 2022 episode of “AEW Dynamite” where she defeated The Bunny to develop into a competitor in that 12 months’s Women’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament. 

She could be defeated by Britt Baker within the semi-finals, but she would proceed to claw her way, through various victories, to the AEW Women’s World Championship. At All Out, Storm defeated Baker, Jamie Hayter, and Hikaru Shida in a four-way match to develop into the interim champion while then-champion Thunder Rosa was out with injury. Her reign could be recognized as a full championship reign, resulting from Rosa later forfeiting the title, but only after Storm had dropped the gold to Hayter at Full Gear. Storm’s first of 4 runs with the title lasted 76 days.

Storm would then turn heel alongside fellow former WWE star Saraya to form the Outcasts alongside one more WWE alumnus, Ruby Soho. The trio would declare war on the AEW women’s locker room and would use kendo sticks and spray paint to batter and humiliate the opposite women, a lot of whom they targeted for being “homegrown” AEW talent. Double or Nothing 2023 became the stage where Storm would capture her second AEW Women’s World Championship from Hayter. She would successfully defend against the likes of Willow Nightingale and Taya Valkyrie before she lost the title to Shida on the 2 hundredth episode of “AEW Dynamite” at the start of August. Her second reign with the gold was even shorter, at just 66 days.

Storm didn’t recapture the gold at All In in a four-way match where she was pinned by Saraya. She then turned on the Outcasts at All Out and didn’t win the title back once more at Grand Slam.

After Storm lost the AEW Women’s World Championship to Shida, she slowly began unraveling emotionally. Her Grand Slam loss to Saraya appear to expedite the method, and Storm began to exhibit some strange, erratic behavior, like she had lost her grip on reality. In September 2023, Storm began to embrace an old Hollywood glamor-style persona of movies of old. She modified the way in which she spoke, her mannerisms and would even cut promos and appear in vignettes, entirely shot in black-and-white. In October 2023, Storm officially debuted as “Timeless” Toni Storm and would soon be accompanied to the ring by her butler, Luther.

Her first feud got here against Shida and Storm did the whole lot she could to steal the highlight from the champion. Through the feud, Mariah May, who would develop into a significant a part of the “Timeless” story beginnings, would also debut in AEW, as a crazed fan of Storm’s. Storm would take May under her wing over the next months as her understudy, a la “All About Eve,” and May would undergo Storm’s various “eras” of her profession, including her old rockstar gimmick.

Storm would win her third AEW Women’s World Championship, tying Shida’s record, at Full Gear when she defeated the Japanese star. The “Timeless” one would go on to defend her gold against the likes of Riho, Deonna Purrazzo, Thunder Rosa, Serena Deeb, and more, with all feuds enhanced with Storm’s dramatic, “Timeless” flair. She would then defend the gold against certainly one of May’s best friends and Stardom tag team partner, Mina Shirakawa, at Forbidden Door, further enhancing the lore of the “Timeless” character in a love triangle-esque storyline between the three women. May would then go on to win the Owen Hart Foundation tournament, and the whole lot would change once more for “Timeless” Toni Storm.

Right after winning the tournament, defeating Nightingale in the method, May would do the seemingly unthinkable and switch heel on her mentor as they celebrated May’s victory. The understudy would let the “Timeless” one know that she was coming after the AEW Women’s World Championship at All In that August. The pair would feud within the weeks before the pay-per-view, with the heel of a stiletto shoe getting used a weapon, then a bloody symbol of their friendship that had fallen apart. At All In, Storm hesitated to make use of the high heel against her former protege, allowing May to get the victory. Storm’s third reign with the title got here to an end at 281 days. Following the loss, Storm would go on a hiatus from AEW, but would compete in Stardom and CMLL.

After nearly 4 months, Storm returned to AEW in December, but as her rocker gimmick. She acted as if it was her first time in AEW and had no memory of being “Timeless,” almost as if she suffered amnesia. She acted as if she was just completely happy to be there and was respectful toward May, who was still champion. Storm dropped the amnesia act after winning a casino gauntlet match and earning a title shot. She became “Timeless” once more, to May’s shock, and the pair faced off at Grand Slam Australia. Storm won the title for a record-setting fourth time with a “big package” on May.

The pair would go on to have a critically acclaimed, but bloody bout referred to as the “Hollywood Ending” match at Revolution 2025. Storm successfully retained her gold over her former “understudy” in what veteran wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer rated a five-star match, and May would go away the corporate within the months following.

After the bloody gorefest that was the Hollywood Ending match, Storm took a number of weeks of from defending her gold to heal up, but was soon right back within the thick of things. Within the weeks and pay-per-views following, she would defend against AEW newcomer Megan Bayne at AEW Dynasty and could be victorious once more with a roll-up. She would tackle Shirakawa once more at Double or Nothing and would team up with the previous Stardom talent once she officially became All Elite. As of this writing, Storm is about to tackle the winner of the Women’s Owen Hart Memorial Tournament once more, and once more, its set to be a historic AEW doubt. Storm will tackle current TBS Champion and fellow former WWE star Mercedes Mone at All In Texas.

As she continues to dominate contained in the ring, “Timeless” Toni Storm can also be becoming a more mainstream character. Storm appeared within the 2024 film “Queen of the Ring” directed by Ash Avildsen. The film, based on the book “The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds, and the Making of an American Legend,” a biography all about Mildred Burke and the beginnings of girls’s skilled wrestling in america. Storm played Clara Mortensen, certainly one of Burke’s early opponents. 

With AEW’s continued work alongside Turner Broadcasting Network, where it airs its weekly programming, more AEW stars are making appearances in mainstream media. Recently, Storm, Kenny Omega, and MJF were spotted in promotional photos with the solid of James Gunns’ “Superman” ahead of “Dynamite’s’ three hundredth episode. 

As many fans regard “Timeless” Toni Storm as top-of-the-line characters moving into everything of skilled wrestling today, there is not any telling just how far the real-life Toni Rossall will go, but she’s come a great distance from Australia’s Gold Coast.