Cook: Toni’s Heel Time Is Now

Toni Storm turned heel on WWE NXT in a move no one saw coming, and Steve Cook completely understands why.

I see a lot of people out there wondering why Toni Storm turned on Ember Moon and joined Candice LeRae’s army of miscreants. They didn’t see it coming. Toni was a nice girl, had been ever since she appeared in the first Mae Young Classic. She was a popular winner of the second edition of that event, then moved on to NXT UK, where she was a popular Women’s Champion.

Toni wound up losing that championship to Kay Lee Ray, and eventually lost a match that stipulated that she couldn’t challenge for that particular title as long as Ray retains it. Everybody in NXT UK went on a long hiatus right afterwards due to the coronavirus and other issues involving some of the talents’ activities outside of the ring. Once that ended, Toni didn’t return to NXT UK. Instead, she moved over to the United States and joined the main NXT brand.

Here’s what you need to realize about Toni Storm.

The number one thing that motivates her is championships. Take a look at her international track record and you’ll see that. Everywhere Toni Storm has gone, she’s won championships. She broke in with Impact Pro Wrestling in Australia/New Zealand, and won every title she could there. Went to Japan, dominated the STARDOM promotion, winning every title she could there. Dominated Europe too. First Progress Women’s Champion. Won the wXw Women’s Championship twice. Won multiple tournaments on multiple continents.

Winning is what Toni Storm is all about. She’s not in this profession to make friends, she’s here to win titles and make money. If she makes friends along the way, that’s cool, but she’s more interested in the titles & money. Maybe more interested in the titles than the money, I’m not 100% sure what she’s into more there, but it really does seem like she likes those belts.

Take a look at the NXT landscape.

The NXT Women’s Champion is Io Shirai. Io is a popular champion, widely considered one of the best in the business and has a charisma about her that made people want to cheer her even when she wanted to be jeered. We’ve kind of reached the point where we’re looking for believable challengers for her, since she’s beaten everybody.

Candice LeRae is the captain of the WarGames team that Toni decided to join. Let’s be honest. Candice has established herself as somebody that can’t win the big one. The Lex Luger of the NXT Women’s Division. She’s lost two straight matches to Io Shirai, and there’s little reason to think that she can get it done in a third match.

Then there’s Dakota Kai. She got her shot at Io’s championship and lost. She got shots at previous champions and lost as well. Sure, she’s got Raquel Gonzalez by her side, but her win/loss record lately doesn’t exactly justify her getting another title shot. Nor can we justify Raquel Gonzalez getting a title shot, she hasn’t won a singles match since May.

Toni’s a smart woman with a taste for gold.

She realizes that winning War Games with this team would put her in a prime slot. If she could get the winning fall, well, that’d put her right in line for a title shot. Rhea Ripley used that to her advantage last year, and you know Toni knows all about that. Folks like me have declared that Toni Storm & Rhea Ripley are the future of WWE’s women’s divisions. Toni knows all too well that Rhea has moved ahead of her in the pecking order. Rhea already held the NXT Women’s Championship. Rhea is the one being rumored to make a move to either Raw or SmackDown, not Toni. Rhea already had her WrestleMania debut match. She’s ahead of Toni Storm in any way you can think of, which has to drive Toni nuts.

Toni’s very ambitious. She knows that Rhea Ripley is her main rival for domination of WWE’s various women’s divisions for the next few years or so. If she’s going to catch Rhea, she needs to win that NXT Women’s Championship. The best way to do that is to join forces with other folks that are dangerous, but aren’t seen as true threats.

Also, I get the feeling that Shotzi Blackheart crying over a tank turned Toni off of that potential friendship. It was a pretty weird moment that I doubt Toni could connect with.

Toni Time is coming.

This is part of the process. Every young wrestler goes through this. They need to turn heel to make you appreciate them more. Nobody these days can be a babyface from start to finish. We need to see their whole skillset. From where I sit, Toni Storm’s skillset is more conducive to making the unwashed masses boo her. At least for now. As we all know, things can change.

At this moment, Toni Storm needs you to boo her so she can attain her goals. I ask you to respect her wishes.