AEW’s Winter is Coming delivered some anticipated showdowns, including between former best friends turned bitter rivals Mariah May and Mina Shirakawa. Their friendship was a major part of May’s storyline with Toni Storm, who she ultimately betrayed and eventually dethroned as AEW World Women’s Champion at All In. Storm hasn’t been seen in AEW since that loss, but that all changed when she made her surprise return during tonight’s Dynamite. That said, Timeless Toni Storm is not the person who returned, as the former Champion revealed a completely different look when she finally showed up.
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The bad blood was apparent in the match between May and Shirakawa, and Shirakawa would punish her former best friend by targeting her leg and knee, slamming them repeatedly into the ring post and then doing even more damage against the post before letting May go.
The two stars would exchange vicious strikes in the center of the ring, though neither star could gain much of an advantage at that point. May was able to gain back control with a stiff knee to the head, but Shirakawa survived it to live another day. Unfortunately May delivered a headbutt that left Shirakawa stunned long enough to hit a Storm Zero, allowing May to get the win.
May didn’t get to celebrate for long though, as the crowd lost it at the sight of Toni Storm, who made her grand return to AEW TV (via DraVen). What immediately stood out though was that this wasn’t the Timeless Toni Storm fans had seen lose her Championship at All In, or the one who had shown up in several matches in Stardom.
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Instead, this was the original version of Storm that fans saw first debut in AEW back in 2022. This was also a version of Storm that Mariah May would copy during her original alliance with Storm, as May would appear in several of Storm’s previous looks during their run together. Since the debut of the Timeless look, Storm had never returned to any of her previous looks, but now that has evidently all changed, and fans were rather stunned.
That included Thunder Rosa, who had a WTF sign in the crowd. May was pretty surprised too, and while the crowd was indeed shocked at Storm’s look, fans were excited to see her back in AEW, especially after she previously teased she might be retiring from professional wrestling.
Tony Khan would say that was not happening afterwards, and after showing up in Stardom a few times, it was expected she would make her return to AEW, though no one expected her to show up in anything but the Timeless Toni Storm persona she had made so famous over the past year. Now we’ll have to wait and see what the future holds for her and Mariah May and if that includes the upcoming Worlds End pay-per-view.
Are you excited for Storm’s return, and what do you want to see next for her? You can talk all things wrestling with me on Bluesky @knightofoa!