Home AEW star Toni Storm is out for the rest of 2026, but it’s not an injury
NASCAR/Wrestling

AEW star Toni Storm is out for the rest of 2026, but it’s not an injury

Chris Graham
toni storm aew
Toni Storm. Photo: AEW

It was originally reported that Toni Storm was being written off AEW TV for the remainder of 2026 due to injury, but several published reports this week have it not being an injury – and there’s speculation that, because of the timeline being advanced for her protracted absence, well, we’re talking at least nine months here that she’s supposed to be out.

You can figure it out from there, I presume.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter editor Dave Meltzer was the first to break the news that the injury angle first advanced in connection with the March 18 “Dynamite” had been debunked.

Storm, per Meltzer, was being booked for a program with AEW world champion Thekla, which was to begin after her scheduled blowoff match with Marina Shafir on the March 18 “Dynamite.”

It was learned before the show that Storm was no longer medically cleared to wrestle, so the booking team came up with an angle that had a TV camera finding her in the dressing room having been laid out by, somebody, we don’t know who.

Per Meltzer, Storm was going to win the feud blowoff match with Shafir at the March 18 show, ahead of a program with Thekla over the AEW title, and then a summertime program with former UFC and WWE star Ronda Rousey, who made a cameo appearance at last week’s “Revolution” pay-per-view.

Per multiple online reports, Storm made a previously scheduled appearance at a Big Event EXS autograph signing this past weekend, and was not selling either the kayfabe backstage attack injury, or any legit real-life injury.

Fightful Select is reporting that the plans for Storm for the remainder of 2026 are to keep her name in front of fans with references to the attack angle, which Meltzer referred to as a sort of “Who shot JR?” storyline.

Support AFP

Multimedia

 

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].