When professional wrestler "Timeless" Toni Storm makes her entrance at the UNO Lakefront Arena on Wednesday as the popular show “AEW: Dynamite” broadcasts live, she’ll be in living color. Fans watching at home, however, will see her in black and white, because Timeless Toni presents herself — with the help of AEW’s production team — as a diva from Hollywood’s glamorous Golden Age.
Timeless Toni is the All Elite Wrestling Women’s World Champion. But she doesn’t leave her persona behind when she goes backstage. She’s a throwback to wrestling’s past, in her retro ring attire, perhaps her bravado and her dedication to her character.
When New Zealand-born Toni Rossall faces the public, she stays in “kayfabe,” pro wrestling jargon for the illusion at the heart of the sport. She is Timeless Toni on screen, in the ring, and whenever she deals with the public, including interviews.
"I’m not a one-trick pony,” “Timeless” Toni boasted in a recent interview. “Not only do I have incredible acting skills (and) an incredible look, but I’m also quite the athlete. On the physical side, I’m a fantastic fighter, so I thought, ‘This is going to work perfectly.’”
Commitment and imagination
That commitment and imagination have made Timeless Toni one of the most popular figures in professional wrestling today. She combines top-notch work in the ring with a bawdy, self-absorbed comic persona.
That approach was standard until 1999 when the World Wrestling Federation changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment and began referring to its programming as “sports entertainment.”
Until that point, wrestlers worked hard to fuel the belief that the battle between good and evil at the core of every wrestling match was real.
In 1984, when ABC ƹϴý’ John Stossel told then-WWF wrestler “Dr. D” David Schultz that he thought wrestling was fake, Schultz slapped him in the face twice on camera, knocking him to the ground while asking him if that was fake.
In 1987, the WWF fired The Iron Sheik and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan when the police pulled them over for drinking while driving and found drugs in the car. The problem wasn’t the drinking or the drugs, though. Iron Sheik and Duggan were in a wrestling feud, fighting every night with Duggan defending America’s honor against the Iranian bad guy. Their arrest together could cause fans to lose faith in their characters.
Character is 'more important than anything'
Another AEW female wrestler, , understands why Storm protects her character so fiercely.
“It’s more important than anything,” said Cameron, who will also be performing in New Orleans on Wednesday. “What people resonate with and what stays with you is a defined character.”
Cameron started in AEW in 2022, but in the last six months or so, she has become a fan favorite despite losing more often than she wins.
The change came when Cameron discovered her catchphrase, “Feel the wrath!” The line would have been a standard, slightly pretentious threat coming from another wrestler, but it served as a window into Cameron since it didn’t line up with her win-loss record. She delivered it like a spunky little sister, and with so much belief in herself that the line caught on with the fans.
“When people start yelling something back to you from the audience, you feel like you’ve found something,” Cameron said. “It was definitely one of those ‘Eureka!’ moments.”
Cameron admits that her character is a dialed-up version of who she is out of the ring, but Timeless Toni Storm’s origin is less organic. AEW president Tony Khan told Sports Illustrated he envisioned Storm as a larger-than-life persona, like Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard" or Bette Davis in "All About Eve."
"That is Timeless Toni Storm," Khan said. "She’s that starlet, with that presence — backstage, in the ring, out of the ring — of one of those rare old Hollywood stars.”
Shoes flying
Storm brought that vision to life and made it her own, giving Timeless Toni an earthy sense of humor. She advised adversaries, backstage interviewers and fans, “Chin up, tits out, and watch for the shoe,” which was often followed moments later by a thrown shoe.
When asked if that was still her best advice considering the drama of her last year in the company, she said it was.
“It has served me well, and if I’m not mistaken it has served the public quite well,” Timeless Toni said. “People are inspired. The public are enthralled. They can’t get enough of it. They can’t get enough of chins, and they can’t get enough of tits.”
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AEW Dynamite and AEW Collision taping
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday (April 23)
WHERE: UNO Lakefront Arena, 6801 Franklin Ave., New Orleans
INFO: (504) 280-7171
TICKETS: $20 and up