Toni Storm is standing atop AEW's women's division once again. The "Timeless" star is in her record fourth reign with the AEW Women's World Championship, and she's set for a major segment on tonight's episode of Collision.
After vanquishing her protege, Mariah May, the champion has set her sights on a rising star in the women's division: Megan Bayne. The latter has been dominant in her matches against Kris Statlander and Thunder Rosa, and she's currently undefeated in All Elite Wrestling.
Storm and Bayne are set to clash for the AEW Women's World Championship at Dynasty next weekend. Ahead of their bout, Tony Khan has announced that fans will hear from the champion to kick off this week's Saturday Night Collision:
"TONIGHT 8pm ET/7pm CT on TNT + Max Saturday Night #AEWCollision “Timeless” Toni Storm Speaks Live TONIGHT! Before her #AEWDynasty Women’s World Title match vs red hot challenger @meganbayne next Sunday, we’ll hear from World Champion Toni Storm live to start Collision TONIGHT!" he wrote.
Deonna Purrazzo calls out double standards after Toni Storm's "Hollywood Ending'
Toni Storm and Mariah May finished their feud with a bloody "Hollywood Ending" at AEW Revolution 2024. The match was brutal and barbaric, and some critics have complained that the women took it too far.
However, Deonna Purrazzo thinks otherwise. In a recent conversation with VICE, The Virtuosa called out the double standards applied to the women's division, pointing to how fans will criticize when the women don't deliver enough, then say they've done too much when they go all out:
"So it’s interesting when you have that take where it’s like, ‘you didn’t give us enough!’ Then women do what Toni and Mariah did, and it’s like, ‘you gave us too much.’ There’s a time and place; we’re telling stories. We’ve been watching Toni and Mariah build to this match at Revolution. That was the time and place for them, and I think that if we’re talking about women’s equality in wrestling and giving us these opportunities, then we need to do something more extreme."
Storm has established herself as one of the top female wrestlers in the world, and her four AEW Women's World Championship reigns serve as proof. Whether the Australian starlet will be able to retain her title against Megan Bayne remains to be seen.