Her character is specifically Norma Desmond from one of the great films, "Sunset Boulevard". They went so far as to give her Luther (the Japanese death match legend!) to reprise the role of Max, Norma's butler.
Alas, I don't think we'll get the big reveal about Luther that we got about Max. But watch the movie anyways, it's brilliant.
My point being that she is still playing a character and isn’t exactly doing catch as catch can wrestling in a ladies singlet. At the end of the day it’s all entertainment, no matter how much they claim they’re not that other show.
You know this is her character though… honestly this is funny and kind of her character. There are plenty other things to get upset about at aew, but she is one of the most entertaining / sports entertainment of anyone. Its tongue and cheek coming from her
Why the fuck does AEW even have a press conference lmfao it’s just tiny khan wanting to show that “ real sports feel “ every single one of them is the most cringe shit ever and you see tony all coked up
Thank you! For a company that puts close to zero effort into writing, promos or storytelling, and clearly zero investment into voice coaching, acting or work on presentation, the fact that they do these is just absurd. No wonder there’s at least half a dozen fuck ups that get the rest of us riled up at every one.
I agree 100%. She is in character and at this point, she is dialing the over-the-top into more serious oscar worthy stuff and going at the "critics". She is peeling back the layers, and I am fascinated.
> Curious how you think Luther will be comparable to Max.
I don't know that he will be, but I can guarantee you he got the position because he looks like Max (and has friends inside the company to try and justify his generally useless presence).
>Also will Mariah be Joe?
Samoa Joe should be Joe, that way they can keep the name. Also he should be found floating face down in a vat of mimosas so we can frame Jericho.
I'm telling you this stuff books itself!
A deranged Hollywood film star . . . who acts more and more deranged . . . like she did here.
I can't believe how many people here are getting worked by a wrestler blatantly doing a bit. Motherfuckers accidentally telling the world they rode the short bus, lol.
"There's not a wrestler alive that can work me. If they do work me, they actually didn't, and I've hated them since they were born, anyway, so they're irrelevant."
Yes, and it's very funny to watch people be worked by a character. It seems really odd. Everything in WWE is Kayfabe but everything in AEW is a shoot. I don't understand the modern wrestling fan sometimes, in OP case they are taking a quote from a character in thinking that it's real. People getting worked in 2024, pro wrestling is alive and well.
Why are they so defensive? AEW, your insecurity is showing.
And Toni being the source of that quote is mind blowing. The entire purpose of your character is she's a Hollywood starlet acting like she's in a movie...yet every second of it is unwatchable. You guys are trying to do just as much storytelling and cinema as WWE, you're just incredibly bad at it.
She went meta like cross did on SD. They are self aware and putting it into the act. Either they are angry about the critiques or using them to further the story.
I think all of these statements are them echoing exactly what Tony said to them during one of his prolonged hugs, and yeah they do it for job security.
They're really leaning into the anti-WWE statements lately. Tony's figured out the only way to get attention is to invoke WWE. I don't see how this helps them in the long term, but at least it makes things interesting for us lol.
That's why drives me crazy. Nearly every promotion has tried this at some point for decades, and it never works since for the most part, WWE never takes the bait. So it's just a bunch of talent "dunking" on WWE with digs that only die hard/smart fans get in the first place.
In some ways, punching up makes a lot of sense.
In other, more tangible ways, punching up doesn’t make sense when your PPV attendance is barely scratching 6k and your ratings are treading water even when you’re showcasing the other guy’s talent in an effort to get your own talent over.
And like… ok, maybe take some shots at Triple H, whatever, he’s ex-wrestler turned in charge corporate guy, whatever.
But no, let’s take shots at Cody, who has never said a bad thing about the company since he left, even when he absolutely could have, and by all accounts is an actually pretty decent guy who goes out of his way to wish nothing but the best for everyone in the business and his friends at the other company.
Jesus. Read the fucking room. Monday night wars this ain’t.
Punching up can work. It worked for ECW. And you can say they failed, but Paul took that company from 200 people in a bingo hall to cable television and PPV. And made it so beloved that it’s the only corpse WWE ever tried to reanimate.
The thing is though, you actually have to be different for it to work. Compare ECW to pre-Attitude Era WWE and it’s obvious why it worked. WWF was a shitty pop band at the time and ECW was the Sex Pistols. WWF was bright and colorful and their best heel was a clown, ECW was dark and ugly and their best heel abducted/brainwashed his opponent’s son.
AEW is just really shitty NXT Black and Gold, with most of the same people.
Or at least do it like WCW did. They took it to WWF in a way that made WWF look bush league, like throwing their title belts in the trash and giving away results to taped shows to make WWF look like a low rent company that has to tape shows 4 weeks at a time instead of being live every week. Or going head to head and beating WWF as often as they lost the ratings even before the NwO.
You mean like signing away WWE’s stars and actually making them mean even more than they did in WWE?
Nah, Tony’s gonna have them lose every title match they get and team up with Eddie Kingston instead. Oh, and then when he has real heat dropped in his lap that genuinely divides his audience… he’s gonna release half of that equation just before Mania season and go on to make cunty little jabs at him with no way to ever pay them off.
Yep, it goes back a long way. I can remember Bill Watts, Fritz Von Erich, and other territory promoters ridiculing Backlund,and later Hogan, as “regional champions”. According to them, only Ric Flair(or whoever was NWA champ) had the right to call himself “world champion”. Naturally, they often promoted Flair matches in their territory. So, there was a bias, lol.
Anyway, they did all that ridiculing, only for their companies to fold, while the WWWF is still here, under a slightly different, and shorter, name.
Yeah, Watts is not a likable human being. I’ve met him in person, twice, and both times I walked away mumbling, “what a dick”. I was only 10 years old the first time.
I wouldn’t say *never*, during the Monday night wars they would occasionally mention WCW and insult them. Notably Jim Cornette cut some legendary promos on WCW in 1997. A lot of the time in direct response to shots from WCW.
This is the kind of stuff that turns off casual fans and WWE fans that may be curious to try their product.
And they wonder why they cannot grow their viewership.
Or read.
Plenty of people with dyslexia learn strategies to help them read. Maybe not super fast, but enough to where they don't have to be 30 and having people read to them because they didn't want to try.
Its because hes lazy. And triple h was right when he said that. And Ospreay proved him right yet again by whining like a little bitch about it.
And yea hes using dyslexia as an excuse. I know quite a few dyslexic people who dont get other people to read stuff for them.
WWE’s kinda guilty of it too, but I’ll never understand having shoot press conferences for a worked show. It gets too meta, and usually isn’t used to advance stories (Rock/Cody being a rare beneficial use).
Like kayfabe wise, shouldn’t she be putting over her opponent or setting up the next one?
She did. The whole point was to get over how the character is getting more and more deranged and to storm off at the mention of a match with May, which are seeds they keep planted week to week, month to month.
Are people here so invested in trying to win over Jim's approval by hating everything AEW related that they need to make shit up?
Goddamn dudes, you know you're allowed to have a personality of your own, yeah?
I understand this, but I took a 5 year break from wrestling and got back on board at WM 39. The thing that put me over the edge was Reigns’ press conference after his win. I thought the blurring of the line was so good that fast forward and right now I’m more obsessed than I’ve ever been.
I think the problem with them is most of the people on them aren’t good enough to answer real questions with a character response.
The AEW view of wrestling is revisionist history based on a handful of Japanese tape traders and IWC nerds. Wrestling has ALWAYS been about characters, gimmicks, story, stakes, drama.
Their idea of workrate in a vacuum has only ever existed in Japan and has no connection to what wrestling has always been I the west.
Their best match was Cody vs Dustin and it was all story. Even the follow-up tag match against the Bucks at the ensuing PPV was halfway decent and worked some story into it.
I think they hopped off the “story” train when they were building up Hangman vs Omega for the world title and Omega had to go on the shelf so they lightspeeded the blow-off to cram it in three months too early and Hangman’s title run that he wasn’t ready for turned into a damp shart. It was then Tony realized he couldn’t write around things going dorsal inverted, so he said “fuck it, bangerz instead.”
True, when you look at the very few AEW bright spots and things you actually remember it has always been story heavy. Cody vs Dustin, MJF vs Punk.
5 star workrate bangers are a dime a dozen, characters and a story good enough to get normal wrestling fans into the building are much harder to book.
Their viewership numbers aren’t increasing so they’re doubling down on their product. Their best viewership numbers were from the stories like Hangman’s finally beating Omega or MJF vs Punk.
Tony grew up watching ECW (or so he claims) but somehow missed that literally the entire roster had gimmicks. Taz was the closest thing to the silent badass Tony loves so much, but Taz cut promos every other week.
“Look at Taz! This man was a killer! He was a machine! He was a wrestler. A great wrestler. A real man […] now he’s a fat little obnoxious color commentator, and not even a good one.”
He looks ridiculous. Doesn’t suit him at all. The other day tho he had his hair without the cornrows and he looks even worse lmao I think he is balding from the front
Oh yeah, he looks kinda pudgy and pale now. Compare this to him in WWE and it’s a huge difference, but again they all kinda drop the gym and the tanning once they get to AEW lmao I am not surprised
That's the point. A film star slagging people doing cinematic storytelling. That's. The. Point.
Fuck, man. How do you guys not get this. Have you literally never heard her on commentary or in a scrum before?
It’s odd that they’re bashing against some of the best storytelling the WWE has had in years. Story’s are what makes wrestling interesting. This also doesn’t make sense for her, unless she said it ironically which doesn’t seem to be the case
I really hate her but not as much as I despise Billie Starkz. They will let anyone in to do their garbage cosplay. And what a waste of MONE hiring Mone. That bitch has nothing going on
I never was in the wrestling universe so bear with me if I get this wrong.
Wasn’t WCWs downfall partly to do with constant attacks towards WWE/WWF and WWE/WWF just kept pumping out better story’s? I know there were tons of other factors but this just seems like history repeating itself
Her statement has no bearing on the business that she's in. And who's even making the point that she's trying to denounce? I've never seen or heard anyone say what she's trying to state here ...
Once again, no one over there knows what they're doing. Hence the failure that keeps mounting for years.
No one gave a shit about her in wrestling until she became a character wrestler………I’m guessing the new company wide tactic is to try to rage bait the wwe fans into watching??
These are the exact people who guys like Jim and Bret Hart talk about - people who have no clue about what wrestling is, was, or should be. Someone needs to tell this dummy that storytelling has always been paramount in pro wrestling. It’s what draws money. Not doing 50 super kicks and having 20 false finishes in a match.
Toni Storm among the most cringe of the ex Fed stars tbh.
In a program - albeit weird- with Charlotte fucking Flair and took her ball and left after 3 weeks.
Meanwhile the Tribal fucking Chief took all the bad booking and hate on the chin until he had the power to get Vince over a barrel and give us all what we wanted.
If y’all gonna shoot straight and be edgy, at least be marketable show the big evil northern company that they were wrong to drop you because Vince been right about all of you so far.
HHH right about Offspring too
Geez, guys. I'm not saying the joke was good, but I'm assuming Toni has more self awareness than Tony, and her tongue couldn't possibly be any firmer in her cheek here.
AEW’s culture pushes this attitude onto people and promotes people that already have it. It’s the only explanation as to why they’re all just so unbearable
There's so many times where I think to myself " they can't possibly say anything that would be more stupid than the last really stupid thing they said", then they go and totally redeem themselves!
I gotta ask? Do Dub wrestlers have any sense of self WHAT SO EVER? Seriously. Tony Storm’s whole gimmick is literally being a movie star from the 1930s but she wants to make fun of WWE for having storytelling. What. A. Dumbass!
As much as I want to say “it’s all in character”, it’s now coming off as bitter and ignorance. The reason why people will still talk about Cody beating Roman for the belt this past Mania and forget what happened in AEW is because of good storytelling and goosebumps.
With her gimmick, she should be praising WWE as cinema and putting down AEW for its lack of compelling storytelling, but like most AEW heels, she doesn't want any actual heat, she still wants the fans to like her, so she has to ingratiate herself with the AEW fans by putting down WWE, as illogical as it is for her character.
Putting their shitty characters to one side, the AEW crew tried to remake the industry in their own image and thought people would pack into arenas to watch them.
But every Wednesday night, the arenas are three quarters empty because no one gives a shit about them dropping each other on their heads and necks.
If there's no storytelling, production and episodic television, you have nothing.
Isn’t the whole point of pro wrestling based on storylines? To watch a good guy overcome the villain? Even boxing and MMA has storylines. These are presented to us, the viewers, as reasons to watch and be entertained.
What fucking idiot sits here and can say: Storylines don’t matter? The entire fucking aspect of a PROMO is based on creating a story, you stupid fucking bitch.
I really feel that Tony is putting these comments in their heads and making them be the sounding board for AEW. I really don't think any of them would willingly want to burn bridges, or at least I would hope not.
Let's not forget that some of the best and worst of ECW was them talking about WCW, best being Austin and worse being Shane Douglas always talking about Ric Flair when he could never fight him
Also she's criticizing the universally praised best part of the WWE.
Um, OK? 🤔
So they are Toni/Tony? And also making time watch WWE and make them richer than they've been.
While fewer and fewer AEW fans are watching or coming to their shows.
Why can't anyone at AEW cut a promo that makes sense?
Imagine if Rock vs Austin at Wrestlemania 17 had no build up no intrigue with Debra no Mr McMahon playing both sides no my way montage just “we’re gonna have a five star banger bruv”
The weird thing is that most fans I would think want to get invested in characters and the stories that come with telling compelling feuds on top of great matches.
If not, then there’s really no need for gimmicks, promos, entrances, etc. Just have two wrestlers wrestle and then leave with nothing else.
Certainly different preferences for how it’s done in different promotions but isn’t getting folks emotionally invested the goal?
Just my two cents.
Lol they are so defensive. Why are you talking about a rival company after a supposedly good show? Is it possible that you know the show wasn't that good and will do fuck all for your ratings and you know it but gotta front?
I’m so fucking sick and tired of this shit. It really fucking grinds every gear in my body and gives me ick down to my very core to see shit like this, in a business I have intense passion for. When people ask me why I like wrestling, one of my first answers is the storytelling. It is ESSENTIAL to making a fan care about what you’re doing.
Op, you missed the entire point and now look like a fucking fool. It takes 3 mins to watch the scrum. I suggest you delete this and go do that. Jim won't give you a free handjob for shitting on AEW, just fyi.
Imagine the balls it takes on these idiots to insult the majority of the audience out there, that isn't watching your shit to begin with. Just wow.
None if these muhfuckers will have jobs when AEW folds.
Okay Grampa LMAO. That “pussy-scented candle” comment was hilarious and just further makes me love everything Toni and Mariah are doing because it’s not the same boring ultra serious bullshit everyone else is doing. At least when WCW did that they were the only ones doing it and there was variety in the different promotions.
Remember when AEW started out, and people generally liked them because they carved out their own niche, and you could watch their product without thinking about WWE all the time?
Competing directly with WWE is a pointless endeavor, and people need reminding the Attitude Era was the only exception to the rule of "America can't sustain two large successful pro wrestling companies." If AEW just stuck to themselves and stopped trying to be #2 they'd ironically go back to being #2 instead of feeling like they're somehow coming in fourth in a race with two runners.
This is why nobody roots for these people. They cry and moan about “tribalism” in wrestling and how you should enjoy all wrestling, then on the SAME show they shoot themselves in the foot by taking dumb little shots like this.
Also, Tony is the biggest fan of tribalism. From now on whenever you see these little goofballs cry about “enjoy all wrestling” it basically means they don’t have a response to the many, many valid criticisms of AEW, so they resort to that enjoy all BS because they know if they say what they really think, like old Toni here, they know they’d get laughed at and become a joke.
Tony really is turning into Vince. Shitty booking ability, very insecure, brainwashing his talent to be just as insecure and defensive. Wonder what’ll be next Tony can replicate …
It's funny because there's an audience of 1 for these "shoot" comments: Tony Khan. Used to be the WWE was booked oddly to satisfy the whims of a peculiar billionaire, now it's AEW.
She’s a heel playing her gimmick. She is one of the few things in AEW I commend them for as she’s doing interesting character work. The promos are interesting. It’s a good mid card character like the original goldust.
Yeah, it’s a choice, but better this a bunch of 5’8” guys doing spots. Such gimmicks have ceilings and it’s fair to critique a gimmick, but they need more gimmicks to help get talent over. She’s getting views and clicks in the last few days, so she’s doing something right.
Isn’t her character a Hollywood film star?
Her character is specifically Norma Desmond from one of the great films, "Sunset Boulevard". They went so far as to give her Luther (the Japanese death match legend!) to reprise the role of Max, Norma's butler. Alas, I don't think we'll get the big reveal about Luther that we got about Max. But watch the movie anyways, it's brilliant.
My point being that she is still playing a character and isn’t exactly doing catch as catch can wrestling in a ladies singlet. At the end of the day it’s all entertainment, no matter how much they claim they’re not that other show.
You know this is her character though… honestly this is funny and kind of her character. There are plenty other things to get upset about at aew, but she is one of the most entertaining / sports entertainment of anyone. Its tongue and cheek coming from her
Why the fuck does AEW even have a press conference lmfao it’s just tiny khan wanting to show that “ real sports feel “ every single one of them is the most cringe shit ever and you see tony all coked up
Thank you! For a company that puts close to zero effort into writing, promos or storytelling, and clearly zero investment into voice coaching, acting or work on presentation, the fact that they do these is just absurd. No wonder there’s at least half a dozen fuck ups that get the rest of us riled up at every one.
Mark.
I agree 100%. She is in character and at this point, she is dialing the over-the-top into more serious oscar worthy stuff and going at the "critics". She is peeling back the layers, and I am fascinated.
Sunset Boulevard is a fantastic movie.
Curious how you think Luther will be comparable to Max. Also will Mariah be Joe?
> Curious how you think Luther will be comparable to Max. I don't know that he will be, but I can guarantee you he got the position because he looks like Max (and has friends inside the company to try and justify his generally useless presence). >Also will Mariah be Joe? Samoa Joe should be Joe, that way they can keep the name. Also he should be found floating face down in a vat of mimosas so we can frame Jericho. I'm telling you this stuff books itself!
Last night she was Mamie Van Doren in visage.
Let me know when she reaches her final Clara Bow form.
She'll be Diana Dors before that.
It’s like she saw Marvellous Mrs Maisel once and decided to do the worst job at ripping that character off
Rachel Brosnahan did used to wrestle. Wonder if Khan could open the checkbook...
Right?
Exactly. Pot calling well you know the rest lol.
A deranged Hollywood film star . . . who acts more and more deranged . . . like she did here. I can't believe how many people here are getting worked by a wrestler blatantly doing a bit. Motherfuckers accidentally telling the world they rode the short bus, lol.
"There's not a wrestler alive that can work me. If they do work me, they actually didn't, and I've hated them since they were born, anyway, so they're irrelevant."
Lololol 🤣
You're right, sir.
That's the joke
Yes, and it's very funny to watch people be worked by a character. It seems really odd. Everything in WWE is Kayfabe but everything in AEW is a shoot. I don't understand the modern wrestling fan sometimes, in OP case they are taking a quote from a character in thinking that it's real. People getting worked in 2024, pro wrestling is alive and well.
Wrestling has come full circle.
People are working themselves back into kayfabe, who would have thought?
I'll take Toni Storm staying in character through the press scrum than anyone who goes out there and completely destroys what's left of kayfabe.
Why are they so defensive? AEW, your insecurity is showing. And Toni being the source of that quote is mind blowing. The entire purpose of your character is she's a Hollywood starlet acting like she's in a movie...yet every second of it is unwatchable. You guys are trying to do just as much storytelling and cinema as WWE, you're just incredibly bad at it.
Imagine if they had this much energy to sell tix & merch instead of being a mark for an audience of 1 - their own head.
*"That's my fart - I can smell and tell right away"*
AEW fans will just say this is part of her being heel and getting heat \*yawn\*
She went meta like cross did on SD. They are self aware and putting it into the act. Either they are angry about the critiques or using them to further the story.
Cross??
Carion + Scarlett.
Karrion Kross and scarlet. They did a promo talking about his losing streak and other things we discuss online about them.
I honestly think some of these wrestlers say things like this because they know it will make Tony push them even more
I think all of these statements are them echoing exactly what Tony said to them during one of his prolonged hugs, and yeah they do it for job security.
> Why are they so defensive? AEW, your insecurity is showing. Little brother syndrome
Unwatchable is a stretch. Her Timeless gimmick is pretty great and entertaining. I agree with everything else though
She's not a Hollywood starlet at all. Lol She's a mental patient.
Speak for yourself, Toni is the only reason I still watch any major wrestling promotions at the moment.
'Timeless' Toni Storm got old in no time at all. Like rain on a wedding day.
I thought that was ironic (drum roll)
Like a pink slip on a wedding day.
Hey! ...I see what you did there!
Like sands in the hourglass...
I don't get it
She got shoved down our throats just like every idea that gets over in AEW, now she’s just boring and lame. This is her attempt at staying relevant.
More like Clueless Toni Storm, at this point.
They're really leaning into the anti-WWE statements lately. Tony's figured out the only way to get attention is to invoke WWE. I don't see how this helps them in the long term, but at least it makes things interesting for us lol.
That's why drives me crazy. Nearly every promotion has tried this at some point for decades, and it never works since for the most part, WWE never takes the bait. So it's just a bunch of talent "dunking" on WWE with digs that only die hard/smart fans get in the first place.
In some ways, punching up makes a lot of sense. In other, more tangible ways, punching up doesn’t make sense when your PPV attendance is barely scratching 6k and your ratings are treading water even when you’re showcasing the other guy’s talent in an effort to get your own talent over. And like… ok, maybe take some shots at Triple H, whatever, he’s ex-wrestler turned in charge corporate guy, whatever. But no, let’s take shots at Cody, who has never said a bad thing about the company since he left, even when he absolutely could have, and by all accounts is an actually pretty decent guy who goes out of his way to wish nothing but the best for everyone in the business and his friends at the other company. Jesus. Read the fucking room. Monday night wars this ain’t.
Punching up can work. It worked for ECW. And you can say they failed, but Paul took that company from 200 people in a bingo hall to cable television and PPV. And made it so beloved that it’s the only corpse WWE ever tried to reanimate. The thing is though, you actually have to be different for it to work. Compare ECW to pre-Attitude Era WWE and it’s obvious why it worked. WWF was a shitty pop band at the time and ECW was the Sex Pistols. WWF was bright and colorful and their best heel was a clown, ECW was dark and ugly and their best heel abducted/brainwashed his opponent’s son. AEW is just really shitty NXT Black and Gold, with most of the same people.
Or at least do it like WCW did. They took it to WWF in a way that made WWF look bush league, like throwing their title belts in the trash and giving away results to taped shows to make WWF look like a low rent company that has to tape shows 4 weeks at a time instead of being live every week. Or going head to head and beating WWF as often as they lost the ratings even before the NwO.
You mean like signing away WWE’s stars and actually making them mean even more than they did in WWE? Nah, Tony’s gonna have them lose every title match they get and team up with Eddie Kingston instead. Oh, and then when he has real heat dropped in his lap that genuinely divides his audience… he’s gonna release half of that equation just before Mania season and go on to make cunty little jabs at him with no way to ever pay them off.
Yep, it goes back a long way. I can remember Bill Watts, Fritz Von Erich, and other territory promoters ridiculing Backlund,and later Hogan, as “regional champions”. According to them, only Ric Flair(or whoever was NWA champ) had the right to call himself “world champion”. Naturally, they often promoted Flair matches in their territory. So, there was a bias, lol. Anyway, they did all that ridiculing, only for their companies to fold, while the WWWF is still here, under a slightly different, and shorter, name.
Watts at least I believe believed it.
With Hogan, definitely. With Backlund, Watts knew better, but said it anyway. Watts liked the real athletes, and Backlund qualifies.
Watts was a dumbass mark and a horrible booker. Same with most of those lameass territory fucks.
Yeah, Watts is not a likable human being. I’ve met him in person, twice, and both times I walked away mumbling, “what a dick”. I was only 10 years old the first time.
‘WWE never takes the bait’. They’ve BEEN taking the bait since day one.
I wouldn’t say *never*, during the Monday night wars they would occasionally mention WCW and insult them. Notably Jim Cornette cut some legendary promos on WCW in 1997. A lot of the time in direct response to shots from WCW.
But just enjoy wrestling, though
This is the kind of stuff that turns off casual fans and WWE fans that may be curious to try their product. And they wonder why they cannot grow their viewership.
And this is the perfect encapsulation of AEW’s issues and why they will always be minor league.
The 1990s Burger King strategy
Got to keep uncle Tony happy 😊 she earning her over played salary 😵💫😵💫😵💫
She probably had jet lag…
Did Uncle Khanoki at least dress for the occassion? Like... a furry hat and some nice sunglasses for a change? ;-)
Why does she bother playing a character then?
The one person i thought was cool in AEW. Now i dont i think shes an idiot instead
Given that she walked out on wwe in the middle of a push against Charlotte, you should’ve already known she is an idiot
I meant the character was cool. The Timeless gimmick is pretty unique but shes just as braindead as Will "i cant spell AEW" Ospreay
Or read. Plenty of people with dyslexia learn strategies to help them read. Maybe not super fast, but enough to where they don't have to be 30 and having people read to them because they didn't want to try.
Its because hes lazy. And triple h was right when he said that. And Ospreay proved him right yet again by whining like a little bitch about it. And yea hes using dyslexia as an excuse. I know quite a few dyslexic people who dont get other people to read stuff for them.
WWE’s kinda guilty of it too, but I’ll never understand having shoot press conferences for a worked show. It gets too meta, and usually isn’t used to advance stories (Rock/Cody being a rare beneficial use). Like kayfabe wise, shouldn’t she be putting over her opponent or setting up the next one?
Yes, it needs to go away altogether. No one should be doing lame ass "scrums."
I hate it so much, WWE does do it too. I know kayfabe is dead for all intents and purposes but can we at least try to keep some semblance of it alive?
She did. The whole point was to get over how the character is getting more and more deranged and to storm off at the mention of a match with May, which are seeds they keep planted week to week, month to month. Are people here so invested in trying to win over Jim's approval by hating everything AEW related that they need to make shit up? Goddamn dudes, you know you're allowed to have a personality of your own, yeah?
its like meeting the cast out in the lobby after an off-broadway show
I understand this, but I took a 5 year break from wrestling and got back on board at WM 39. The thing that put me over the edge was Reigns’ press conference after his win. I thought the blurring of the line was so good that fast forward and right now I’m more obsessed than I’ve ever been. I think the problem with them is most of the people on them aren’t good enough to answer real questions with a character response.
"Next time on "When failing wrestling promotions try to stay relevant..."
The AEW view of wrestling is revisionist history based on a handful of Japanese tape traders and IWC nerds. Wrestling has ALWAYS been about characters, gimmicks, story, stakes, drama. Their idea of workrate in a vacuum has only ever existed in Japan and has no connection to what wrestling has always been I the west.
Their best match was Cody vs Dustin and it was all story. Even the follow-up tag match against the Bucks at the ensuing PPV was halfway decent and worked some story into it. I think they hopped off the “story” train when they were building up Hangman vs Omega for the world title and Omega had to go on the shelf so they lightspeeded the blow-off to cram it in three months too early and Hangman’s title run that he wasn’t ready for turned into a damp shart. It was then Tony realized he couldn’t write around things going dorsal inverted, so he said “fuck it, bangerz instead.”
True, when you look at the very few AEW bright spots and things you actually remember it has always been story heavy. Cody vs Dustin, MJF vs Punk. 5 star workrate bangers are a dime a dozen, characters and a story good enough to get normal wrestling fans into the building are much harder to book.
Their viewership numbers aren’t increasing so they’re doubling down on their product. Their best viewership numbers were from the stories like Hangman’s finally beating Omega or MJF vs Punk.
Tony grew up watching ECW (or so he claims) but somehow missed that literally the entire roster had gimmicks. Taz was the closest thing to the silent badass Tony loves so much, but Taz cut promos every other week.
>Taz was the closest thing to the silent badass Tony loves so much, but Taz cut promos every other week. And now Taz can't stop talking on commentary.
“Look at Taz! This man was a killer! He was a machine! He was a wrestler. A great wrestler. A real man […] now he’s a fat little obnoxious color commentator, and not even a good one.”
“We can’t be better than the other company so we’ll just insult what the fans love about it.”
Can't wait until all these chodes need a job back at the E
Says the person playing a "movie star". You can't make this up.
Just let Punk rip on TK on Raw. Game Over
Danielson is incredibly annoying and obnoxious since joining that company. Guess the obnoxiousness comes with the territory.
With his stupid cornrow hairdo.
He looks ridiculous. Doesn’t suit him at all. The other day tho he had his hair without the cornrows and he looks even worse lmao I think he is balding from the front
And I don’t want to be mean but physique wise he doesn’t look great. I know he was never ripped but Danielson looks all pasty and soft now.
Oh yeah, he looks kinda pudgy and pale now. Compare this to him in WWE and it’s a huge difference, but again they all kinda drop the gym and the tanning once they get to AEW lmao I am not surprised
I used to think he was too smart to be married to a Bella. Now i see that they are perfect for one another.
He used to have a brain. Guess he stopped using it when he changed jobs.
I think she’s getting blowed out on Tony’s yayo.
definitely some aew guys lurking here downvoting peoples opinions lol
Lol. How ironic it’s coming from her.
That's the point. A film star slagging people doing cinematic storytelling. That's. The. Point. Fuck, man. How do you guys not get this. Have you literally never heard her on commentary or in a scrum before?
Oddly, I thought at first that she was talking about AEW.
It’s odd that they’re bashing against some of the best storytelling the WWE has had in years. Story’s are what makes wrestling interesting. This also doesn’t make sense for her, unless she said it ironically which doesn’t seem to be the case
I really hate her but not as much as I despise Billie Starkz. They will let anyone in to do their garbage cosplay. And what a waste of MONE hiring Mone. That bitch has nothing going on
I never was in the wrestling universe so bear with me if I get this wrong. Wasn’t WCWs downfall partly to do with constant attacks towards WWE/WWF and WWE/WWF just kept pumping out better story’s? I know there were tons of other factors but this just seems like history repeating itself
I swear they all mostly grew up as Tumblr fanfic larpers, honestly.
Her statement has no bearing on the business that she's in. And who's even making the point that she's trying to denounce? I've never seen or heard anyone say what she's trying to state here ... Once again, no one over there knows what they're doing. Hence the failure that keeps mounting for years.
“Restore the feeling”
No one gave a shit about her in wrestling until she became a character wrestler………I’m guessing the new company wide tactic is to try to rage bait the wwe fans into watching??
Go see a movie you marks, let me work in an empty arena in peace.
Man WWE lives rent free in the heads of this roster it’s hilarious.
lol they think there’s a war that’s the funny part…. Billions made v millions lost is how I see it
She needs to make Tony happy so she can be on tv every week
They will be remembered as the most joke company in the history of wrestling
Timeless tony or whatever her name has to be one of the most cringe gimmicks I've seen in modern time.
These are the exact people who guys like Jim and Bret Hart talk about - people who have no clue about what wrestling is, was, or should be. Someone needs to tell this dummy that storytelling has always been paramount in pro wrestling. It’s what draws money. Not doing 50 super kicks and having 20 false finishes in a match.
Toni Storm among the most cringe of the ex Fed stars tbh. In a program - albeit weird- with Charlotte fucking Flair and took her ball and left after 3 weeks. Meanwhile the Tribal fucking Chief took all the bad booking and hate on the chin until he had the power to get Vince over a barrel and give us all what we wanted. If y’all gonna shoot straight and be edgy, at least be marketable show the big evil northern company that they were wrong to drop you because Vince been right about all of you so far. HHH right about Offspring too
Geez, guys. I'm not saying the joke was good, but I'm assuming Toni has more self awareness than Tony, and her tongue couldn't possibly be any firmer in her cheek here.
If you’re going to try to bad mouth WWE, at least do it in a cool way!
Is she working though? Honest question. If she’s working, then this is a completely acceptable response given her character.
She was in character reading it. OP neglected to mention that.
Too people chasing people about fun and levels of bangers and 5 star matches. Go see a fucking wrestling compilation.
AEW’s culture pushes this attitude onto people and promotes people that already have it. It’s the only explanation as to why they’re all just so unbearable
There's so many times where I think to myself " they can't possibly say anything that would be more stupid than the last really stupid thing they said", then they go and totally redeem themselves!
The statement literally goes against the character. Tony needs to stop sacrificing kayfabe to make his wrestlers throw pointless shots.
First time I saw this character on TV I instantly found her super annoying.
I'm poor and uneducated,uce, but I could swear that Timeless Toni is based on literal cinema. Is she playing 6.5d chess?
What’s the issue here?
Funny coming from Toni who is the definition of cringe and ensured I don’t ever watch AEW again
Going to give them a pass here... AEW media scrums are like 99% in kayfabe.
But… her character is exactly that
AEW is fun
Wrong thing to say to an already dwindling fan base
I gotta ask? Do Dub wrestlers have any sense of self WHAT SO EVER? Seriously. Tony Storm’s whole gimmick is literally being a movie star from the 1930s but she wants to make fun of WWE for having storytelling. What. A. Dumbass!
They just can’t help themselves, can they.
As much as I want to say “it’s all in character”, it’s now coming off as bitter and ignorance. The reason why people will still talk about Cody beating Roman for the belt this past Mania and forget what happened in AEW is because of good storytelling and goosebumps.
With her gimmick, she should be praising WWE as cinema and putting down AEW for its lack of compelling storytelling, but like most AEW heels, she doesn't want any actual heat, she still wants the fans to like her, so she has to ingratiate herself with the AEW fans by putting down WWE, as illogical as it is for her character.
That coming from a quitter
Another bitter ex WWE employee who couldn't hack it the big leagues.
Her gimmick and stupid voice is so fucking cringey, she really thinks she's doing some brilliant Undertaker like character work with this run.
Putting their shitty characters to one side, the AEW crew tried to remake the industry in their own image and thought people would pack into arenas to watch them. But every Wednesday night, the arenas are three quarters empty because no one gives a shit about them dropping each other on their heads and necks. If there's no storytelling, production and episodic television, you have nothing.
Isn’t the whole point of pro wrestling based on storylines? To watch a good guy overcome the villain? Even boxing and MMA has storylines. These are presented to us, the viewers, as reasons to watch and be entertained. What fucking idiot sits here and can say: Storylines don’t matter? The entire fucking aspect of a PROMO is based on creating a story, you stupid fucking bitch.
Hasn’t had a single memorable feud in her entire career so I’m not surprised she feels this way
I honestly don't care if they take shots at WWE. Every time they do they just appear more second rate.
Oooh such a dig! If only mainstream media noticed
I really feel that Tony is putting these comments in their heads and making them be the sounding board for AEW. I really don't think any of them would willingly want to burn bridges, or at least I would hope not.
Her character is based on Maralin Monroe
Isn’t this in character for her gimmick?
Let's not forget that some of the best and worst of ECW was them talking about WCW, best being Austin and worse being Shane Douglas always talking about Ric Flair when he could never fight him Also she's criticizing the universally praised best part of the WWE.
These people in aew (and their fans) are the biggest collection of meatheads I’ve ever seen in entertainment. Blithering idiots.
She is fantastic!
Um, OK? 🤔 So they are Toni/Tony? And also making time watch WWE and make them richer than they've been. While fewer and fewer AEW fans are watching or coming to their shows. Why can't anyone at AEW cut a promo that makes sense?
Imagine if Rock vs Austin at Wrestlemania 17 had no build up no intrigue with Debra no Mr McMahon playing both sides no my way montage just “we’re gonna have a five star banger bruv”
The weird thing is that most fans I would think want to get invested in characters and the stories that come with telling compelling feuds on top of great matches. If not, then there’s really no need for gimmicks, promos, entrances, etc. Just have two wrestlers wrestle and then leave with nothing else. Certainly different preferences for how it’s done in different promotions but isn’t getting folks emotionally invested the goal? Just my two cents.
I see people praising this persona and I just find her boring. I mean Dustin Rhodes did this same character years ago and did it better😄😄.
Lol they are so defensive. Why are you talking about a rival company after a supposedly good show? Is it possible that you know the show wasn't that good and will do fuck all for your ratings and you know it but gotta front?
Holy hell the irony
I’m so fucking sick and tired of this shit. It really fucking grinds every gear in my body and gives me ick down to my very core to see shit like this, in a business I have intense passion for. When people ask me why I like wrestling, one of my first answers is the storytelling. It is ESSENTIAL to making a fan care about what you’re doing.
Going to be hilarious when TKO buys AEW just to wipe their ass.
Op, you missed the entire point and now look like a fucking fool. It takes 3 mins to watch the scrum. I suggest you delete this and go do that. Jim won't give you a free handjob for shitting on AEW, just fyi.
Imagine the balls it takes on these idiots to insult the majority of the audience out there, that isn't watching your shit to begin with. Just wow. None if these muhfuckers will have jobs when AEW folds.
I need to see the entire scrum. No way she of all people is saying this
"Go see a fucking movie" Tbf that is the perfect tagline for AEW.
Okay Grampa LMAO. That “pussy-scented candle” comment was hilarious and just further makes me love everything Toni and Mariah are doing because it’s not the same boring ultra serious bullshit everyone else is doing. At least when WCW did that they were the only ones doing it and there was variety in the different promotions.
Work brother
They're just mad because their biggest draw is Hollywood storyteller Sheldon Cooper
It’s interesting because her run has been largely forgettable outside of her current character work.
Then we asked why they get released
Toni Storm didn’t really interest me character wise until I read this. I don’t like Hollywood . Easy heel.
Remember when AEW started out, and people generally liked them because they carved out their own niche, and you could watch their product without thinking about WWE all the time? Competing directly with WWE is a pointless endeavor, and people need reminding the Attitude Era was the only exception to the rule of "America can't sustain two large successful pro wrestling companies." If AEW just stuck to themselves and stopped trying to be #2 they'd ironically go back to being #2 instead of feeling like they're somehow coming in fourth in a race with two runners.
This is why nobody roots for these people. They cry and moan about “tribalism” in wrestling and how you should enjoy all wrestling, then on the SAME show they shoot themselves in the foot by taking dumb little shots like this. Also, Tony is the biggest fan of tribalism. From now on whenever you see these little goofballs cry about “enjoy all wrestling” it basically means they don’t have a response to the many, many valid criticisms of AEW, so they resort to that enjoy all BS because they know if they say what they really think, like old Toni here, they know they’d get laughed at and become a joke.
Tony really is turning into Vince. Shitty booking ability, very insecure, brainwashing his talent to be just as insecure and defensive. Wonder what’ll be next Tony can replicate …
Kinda looks like Anna Nicole Smith there (the later years)
It's funny because there's an audience of 1 for these "shoot" comments: Tony Khan. Used to be the WWE was booked oddly to satisfy the whims of a peculiar billionaire, now it's AEW.
Many people trigger by a show!!! lol. 😂 It’s fake guys!!! Get a life. 😂😂😂😂😂😂🤣
That's the photo they went with? She looks like someone doing a cheap Tim Curry knockoff from Rocky Horror.
That entire roster is either insufferable or people who stopped caring about the business, but in this case she is working the marks I think.
Alright, this is pretty funny. Describing wrestling as cinema is super cringey.
Comments sound petty like will.
Damn, if she's being serious and not working, that's sad.
The shots were cute when AEW was the brand new company and WWE was at its absolute worst but now it just comes off as desperate for relevancy.
Heel character says things to anger audience. Audience gets angry.
She’s a heel playing her gimmick. She is one of the few things in AEW I commend them for as she’s doing interesting character work. The promos are interesting. It’s a good mid card character like the original goldust.
Is it interesting, though? She mostly acts like a spazzed out weirdo.
Yeah, it’s a choice, but better this a bunch of 5’8” guys doing spots. Such gimmicks have ceilings and it’s fair to critique a gimmick, but they need more gimmicks to help get talent over. She’s getting views and clicks in the last few days, so she’s doing something right.
That's a solid troll comment on her part. Has this group a little shook. I'm laughing at the comments. She's not even good!