BREAKING: Toni Storm to retire from pro wrestling and AEW, effective immediately

Toni Storm is leaving pro wrestling. After losing the AEW Women’s World Championship to Mariah May at All In 2024, and following losses in both NJPW and CMLL, Storm told SB Nation in an exclusive interview (and in a style all of her own) that there’s nothing left for her in the sport.

Storm apologized to her fans for “being such a failure,” adding that they won’t be seeing her in AEW, NJPW, CMLL, or anywhere else in wrestling. “I’m not used to being a loser,” Storm said, “I’ve failed at everything. I lost in AEW, I lost in Japan, I lost in Mexico. This is the last you’ll hear from me again. Enjoy Mariah May as your champion. You can all enjoy that.”

Storm said she hasn’t spoken to AEW President and CEO Tony Khan about her decision to hang up the boots, confirming that this story is the first time he’ll learn about her decision as well. A despondent Storm continually apologized, and when asked if there was anything that could change her mind she asked me, the interviewer, to try and convince her to keep wrestling.

I explained to Storm that her career isn’t defined by recent results, and that millions of people love seeing her work. Storm thanked me, but again confirmed that she won’t be returning to wrestling — while also suggesting we get coffee together some time. I suggested a flat white, and she seemed to like that.

“AEW is just fine without me. Everything is going well for AEW. They don’t need Toni Storm,” she repeated several times. When asked if there was anything she’d change about her career, a moment in time she’d go back to, Storm had a very clear answer: “When I met Mariah May. I’d been on the top of the world for many, many years. I delivered. Then Mariah came onto the scene and everything went tits up.”

Without much to talk about when it came to her future in wrestling, I did my best to try and learn more about Toni Storm away from the ring. She confirms that her favorite way to eat eggs is poached, and that her valet Luther prepares them for her (doing a damn good job, at that), while also adding that if given the choice between owning a rhino-sized hamster and a hamster-sized rhino she’d choose the small rhino, because “I feel like I’d have a little bit of control that way.”

Despite not having any plans to return to wrestling I asked Storm if hypothetically she could see herself ever having another protege, knowing what happened with Mariah May. “I can’t even handle a rhino-sized hamster,” Storm said, clearly reflective on what this all meant for her future.

Storm said her fans will never hear from her again. She is currently in an undisclosed location with no plans to make another appearance in public. I asked her if there was anything else she had to say to her legion of fans, and she offered some parting words:

“Chin down. Tits in. Don’t bother watching for the shoe.”