Ranking 22 WWE Debuts And Returns In 2021

11. Toni Storm

Brock Lesnar WWE SummerSlam 2021
WWE.com

Don’t be fooled: Toni Storm only makes this high on this list because she hasn’t been released or jobbed out into oblivion. In fact, she closes out the year as a challenger for the SmackDown Women’s Championship.

But Storm’s journey on the main roster has been anything but rosy or smooth. Called up in July, the former Mae Young Classic winner languished on the blue brand roster, doing nothing of note, including getting eliminated in the first round of the Queen’s Crown tournament

It wasn’t until last month that Storm started getting some attention, finally inserted into a feud with Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. However, this rivalry doesn’t feel like a changing of the guard, but more of a space-filler/learning experience for Toni.

It’s really maddening in some ways: Storm should be a can’t-miss prospect, and instead she’s been a background bit player for most of her time here.

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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.