Two-time AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm made her AEW debut in 2022, but her appearance was only a last-minute addition to the show.
Toni Storm made her AEW debut on the 30th March 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite competing in a qualifying match for the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament.
She defeated The Bunny in a quick match that marked her first wrestling match since her release from the WWE earlier this year.
Toni Storm sat down on The Sessions with Renee Paquette to discuss her AEW debut, and revealed the reasons why she left the WWE in the first place.
Toni Storm’s AEW Debut
Speaking with Renee Paquette on an episode of The Sessions, Toni Storm revealed that she made the impulsive decision to quit, following a period of unhappiness in the WWE.
“When I went from NXT to SmackDown, I was like, you know, my main goal in wrestling was to be on Raw, SmackDown, the main roster, WWE TV.” Toni Storm revealed.
“And then it just… I got there and figured it out. Pretty soon, I realized this is just not gonna work out.” She added.
“This isn’t the place for me at all. And also, I’m 26, and I want to have a really good time in this job. I want to have a really good career, and I want to enjoy part of it.”
“And I just wasn’t enjoying it for so long. And I abruptly quit. I didn’t even intend. I woke up that morning having no idea that I was going to quit. But yeah, something… I guess something flipped, you know, a switch flipped.”
Toni Storm’s last WWE match was against Charlotte Flair, just five days before her WWE release.
Toni Storm then revealed that she was contacted just before the end of her 90 day no-compete clause, and was brought into AEW at the very last minute for her debut.
“That was a trip, wasn’t it?” Toni Storm said, “I didn’t really have much notice, going into that, it was kind of a last-minute thing.”
“I had no idea what the future had for me. I didn’t know if I was going to get a job. I had no idea what was next. Then, I get a call last second, after my 90 days were up. ‘Yeah, okay, I’ll be there, see you soon.’ [laughs].”
She also revealed to Renee Paquette that Ring of Honor contacted her prior to Toni Storm’s debut in AEW.
This was before Tony Khan bought the company, and the two-time AEW Women’s Champion found that it rekindled her love for wrestling.
“I was contacted to do Ring of Honor for WrestleMania weekend, and that was before Tony Khan, Ring of Honor, yeah.”
“But when I was contacted about that, I kind of got my… I was like, the thought of me wrestling again, I was like, ‘Oh, hey, like that… Yeah, I’d like to do that.'”
“Yeah, I got really excited again, and I hadn’t felt that in a while. I… Yeah, yeah, something clicked. I was like, ‘Oh man, I do still love you.'”
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