A new report has sought to shed more light on the reasons surrounding Toni Storm’s shock departure from WWE.
In July 2021 Storm graduated to the main roster of WWE after a stint on both NXT UK and NXT when she debuted on SmackDown. Storm was most recently seen competing in a losing effort against Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women’s Title on the Christmas Eve episode of SmackDown.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful first reported that Toni Storm was “gone” from the company and has followed up with a possible reason that she has departed and says it came at Storm’s request.
Later reports state that Toni Storm flew herself home out of pocket following a live event where she faced both Flair and Sasha Banks and that there were many in the company “blindsided” by her decision to leave.
Now Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio has shed more light on the reasons surrounding Storm’s abrupt exit from the company, citing “burnout” as a possible factor:
“As far as her reasons and why she left, the only thing I heard was burnout essentially. I heard from some people there. [It was] kind of the feeling if you watch the buildup of her in the Charlotte Flair feud and you’re probably if you were her, and you think about your job as opposed to just doing your job, you probably ask a lot of questions like, why did I get a pie thrown in my face twice when I’m the babyface?”
“Even though she did get the revenge, why when you’re building up the big match do I get my ass kicked and win by disqualification. Why did I not win that match? The one thing with WWE is they are about feeding their top stars. They have their protective stars…”
Meltzer added that Storm’s booking “could be part of it,” but thinks more will be revealed when Toni Storm herself breaks her silence on the issue:
“Perhaps she’ll say something. There’s probably a 90-day compete involved under any circumstance.”