Toni Rossall (born 19 October 1995), better known by the ring name Toni Storm, is a New Zealand-Australian professional wrestler. As of March 2022, she is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where she performs as "Timeless" Toni Storm.
Rossall first gained attention for her work on several independent promotion, such as the Japanese promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom where she won the World of Stardom Championship and SWA World Championship for a record-setting reign of 612 days, the British promotion Progress Wrestling where she won the Progress Women's Championship and the German promotion Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), where she won the wXw Women's Championship twice. She would work with WWE, winning the Mae Young Classic tournament in 2018 at WWE's first all-female pay-per-view, Evolution. She became a one-time NXT UK Women's Champion and performed on the NXT UK, NXT, and SmackDown brands before requesting her release in 2021.
After leaving WWE, Storm signed with AEW in the spring of 2022. By 2023, she would change her gimmick to that of a classic Hollywood actress, known as "Timeless" Toni Storm. She is a record-setting four-time AEW Women's World Champion.
Early life
Toni Rossall was born in Auckland on 19 October 1995, and moved to Australia's Gold Coast with her mother at the age of four after her parents separated. At the age of 10, while living on the Gold Coast, she discovered WWE on television and developed an interest in professional wrestling.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2009–2015)
Rossall began training at a small Gold Coast wrestling company and debuted on 9 October 2009 when she was 13 years old. After five years of honing her skills with that company, she decided at the age of 18 that she wanted to receive further training to become a better wrestler; she got her mother's permission to move to England and live with her grandmother in Liverpool, where she trained under Dean Allmark. She then started working internationally in countries such as Finland, France, Germany, and Spain. She took part in a WWE tryout camp in Melbourne during WWE's 2014 Australian tour, and attended another tryout camp in Manchester during WWE's 2015 UK tour.
Progress Wrestling (2015–2018)
Rossall made her debut under the ring name Storm (later Toni Storm) for Progress Wrestling on 14 April 2015 in a losing effort against Elizabeth. In May 2017, she became the inaugural Progress Women's Champion after defeating Jinny and Laura Di Matteo in a three-way match. This marked the first time that female wrestlers competed in the main event of a Progress event. Throughout the year, Storm went on to successfully defend the championship numerous times against challengers like Kay Lee Ray, Laura Di Matteo and Candice LeRae. She lost the title to Jinny at Chapter 69: Be Here Now.
World Wonder Ring Stardom (2016–2018)
In 2016, Storm began working for the Japanese promotion Stardom, where she won the SWA World Championship on 24 July. On 2 October 2016, Stardom officially announced that Storm had signed with the promotion. She would hold the championship for a record-setting reign of 612 days. After winning the 2017 Cinderella Tournament on 30 April, Storm also won the 2017 5★Star GP on 18 September, becoming the first wrestler to win the two tournaments in the same year. On 24 September, Storm became the new World of Stardom Champion in an unplanned finish when Mayu Iwatani was legitimately injured during a title defense against her, prompting the referee to stop the match and award Storm the title. On 9 June 2018, Kagetsu defeated Storm in a title match, ending her reign at 258 days.
WWE (2017–2021)
On 16 June 2017, WWE announced Storm as one of the first four participants of the Mae Young Classic. Storm entered the tournament on 13 July, defeating Ayesha Raymond in the first round. The following day, Storm defeated Lacey Evans in the second round and Piper Niven in the quarterfinals, before being eliminated from the tournament in the semi-finals by Kairi Sane. On 9 May 2018, Storm was advertised for the upcoming United Kingdom Championship Tournament. On 24 May, Storm signed a WWE contract. On 18 June at the United Kingdom Championship Tournament, Storm defeated Killer Kelly and Isla Dawn in a triple threat match to become the contender for the NXT Women's Championship. The following day at the NXT U.K. Championship, Storm was defeated by the defending NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler. Months later, she participated in the second Mae Young Classic, a tournament she won when she defeated Io Shirai at WWE Evolution.
She also participated in a tournament to crown the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion, but she lost against Rhea Ripley. In a rematch on 12 January 2019 at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool, Storm defeated Ripley to win the title. She reigned as champion until 31 August 2019 at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff, where Storm lost her title to Kay Lee Ray, ending her reign at 230 days.
On 24 November 2019 on the TakeOver: WarGames post-show Q&A session with Triple H, Storm was announced to be a part of the NXT Women's Survivor Series team by team captain Rhea Ripley. At Survivor Series, Storm was eliminated via submission by Natalya and Sasha Banks. At NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II, Storm competed unsuccessfully in a triple threat match for the NXT UK Women's Championship against Kay Lee Ray and Piper Niven. Storm participated in the women's Royal Rumble match at the namesake pay-per-view and entered at No. 20 but was eliminated by Shayna Baszler. Storm wrestled her last match in the brand on 27 February 2020 episode of NXT UK, losing to Kay Lee Ray in an "I Quit" match.
After an 8-month hiatus, on 4 October 2020 at TakeOver 31, Storm returned to NXT following the NXT Women's Championship match between Io Shirai and Candice LeRae. She then joined Candice LeRae's team with Dakota Kai, and Raquel González for TakeOver: WarGames, turning heel. At Royal Rumble, she entered as and was eliminated by Rhea Ripley. She then competed in a triple threat match for the NXT Women's Championship involving Mercedes Martinez and reigning champion Io Shirai at TakeOver: Vengeance Day in a losing effort. On 10 March 2021 episode of NXT, Storm challenged Shirai for the title, where she was again unsuccessful.
Storm debuted on SmackDown on 23 July episode as a face, defeating Zelina Vega. She was then defeated by Vega during the Queen's Crown tournament in the first round. She participated in the 5 on 5 Survivor Series elimination match at Survivor Series; eliminating both Carmella and Vega but was then eliminated by Liv Morgan. Storm then began a program with SmackDown Women's Champion Charlotte Flair with Storm winning their first bout via disqualification. She then received her title opportunity on the Christmas Eve edition of SmackDown in a losing effort. This would be her last televised appearance in WWE as she abruptly requested her release the following week on 29 December, which was immediately granted.
In an interview with Renee Paquette six months later, Storm said of her departure from WWE:
It was cool at one point and then it wasn't. It changed and I didn't want anything to do with it. My main goal in wrestling was to be on [WWE's main roster] and then I got there [and] realised that this is just not going to work out. [...] I abruptly quit. I woke up that morning having no idea that I was going to quit [and] it was a complicated ordeal. I had built up frustrations with the place for a very long time, like a lot of people do. They don't give a shit, so why should I? This isn't going to work. I'm not going to succeed here, I can just see it. [...] I like to think that I've been around wrestling long enough to know—I just know what's right and what's wrong for me and what I like and what I don't like, and I just didn't like it in the end. I didn't feel that appreciated. And I just felt like they, at times, didn't have very much respect for me. I…