Toni Storm (birth name Toni Rossall) is a New Zealand professional wrestler who gained fame in 2018 for her performance and win in the Mae Young Classic Tournament.
She has been involved in the world of wrestling since she was ten, saying that she saw it on TV for the first time, and then fully taking an interest in professional wrestling. She began training and debuted when she was 13, and at the age of 18 moved to England to further and hone her skills. While in England, she trained under famous English wrestler Dean Allmark and worked internationally in countries like France, Germany, Spain, and Finland.
While competing in the independent circuit, Toni developed her wrestling “persona”, settling with one influenced by her love of 80s glam rock/glam metal music, focusing her visuals on a rock star aesthetic. Toni has now left that persona aside, debuting her new persona “Timeless” Toni Storm, a Golden Age of Hollywood starlet, and has used catchphrases like “I’m ready for my close up”, and “And now a word from our sponsors” while performing.
Throughout her illustrious career, she has made appearances wrestling in WWE Smackdown! (1999-), and NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2017), and is the current All Elite Wrestling AEW Women’s World Championship holder.
While still on contract for the WWE, Toni came out as bi through WWE NXT’s Instagram stories in honor of Pride. The story said:
I’m bi and it feels good to say it..It’s something I’ve been really comfortable with for a long time. I just never expressed it.
After her announcement, other wrestling celebrities within the community congratulated her, including Viper-Piper, Mia Yim, and fellow bi wrestling star Triple H. In an interview with The Sessions with Renee Paquette, she said that her decision to come out so publicly was more of a spontaneous decision than anything:
They had me on for the Pride thing — I don’t know how it came up. I think I was joking like “Oh I’m bisexual” because I am so, should I announce it? Is that what we have to do? I don’t know, I was just talking, just blabbing on and they were like, “It’d be really good. If you want to, you can, people would probably really like that.” And I was like, “Oh yeah, sure. There’s no harm in being open about stuff, it might encourage other people to be open about stuff, it might make them feel better.”
Toni is currently engaged to fellow wrestling star Juice, and has also stated that “you can be bi and also be in a straight-appearing relationship, that doesn’t make you any less bi”.