7 Exact Times Wrestlers Got Their Spot TAKEN

2. Toni Storm > Saraya (AEW Dynamite, August 30, 2023)

Toni Storm AEW
AEW

If you squint, you can half-see what on earth Tony Khan was thinking by pushing Saraya so hard in AEW. 

A lot of people wanted the former Paige to make a comeback. She was a popular “better than the Divas” pre-Women’s Revolution wrestler in WWE, and for empathy’s sake, she was forced into retirement in her twenties. Also, from Khan’s perspective, Saraya was the subject of a modest box office and critical hit movie, 2019’s ‘Fighting With My Family’, produced and heavily promoted by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. There was potentially some further name value in Saraya there. This all made for a nice story, if not a good run. 

Saraya was not good at all in AEW. While her shock debut at Grand Slam 2022 went down well, she almost immediately accidentally said that the division was awful and needed saving, and then, ironically, just as quickly became the worst part of it. The trash-talk was horrendous - “Well, Doctor, your name rhymes with sh*t!” she said to Britt Baker - and her in-ring performances were slack and generic. Khan in his defence quickly turned Saraya heel, but her shrill promo style was quintessential go-away heat. Saraya was awarded with the Women’s World title at the first All In: London, in a four-way match against Toni Storm, Hikatu Shida and Britt Baker, though even her home country fans were hardly gasping for it. This established her as the top star, nominally, in the division. This spot was re-taken in almost record time by former occupant Toni Storm. 

Storm had already started to flirt with a golden age of cinema look, wearing a medium-length swirl of curls at All In. The black-and-white tron had also debuted. But on the very next Dynamite, Storm, in the tizz that marked her descent into madness, drew an enormous belly laugh - which sparked her ascent as the top women’s star and the funniest person in all of wrestling. “It’s safe to say that Wembley went tits up!” she said to a corpsing Renee Paquette. 

That also rhymed with Britt, but it was infinitely funnier.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick (Creative Writing BA Hons) is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over a decade of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential UK institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!