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Toni Storm Trends After Botched WWE Title Switch

By Lyle Kilbane • Published Dec 17, 2025 07:50 EST
Toni Storm AEW

Why did a botched WWE title switch lead to AEW’s Toni Storm trending on social media?

Just four months after her in-ring WWE debut, Blake Monroe captured the NXT Women’s North American Championship. But now, that title reign is over in a way that nobody expected.

The December 16th edition of NXT saw Blake Monroe defend her gold against Thea Hail in what many expected to be a routine title defence. But as Vince McMahon used to tell everyone week after week, anything can happen in WWE.

Hail attempted a pin on the champion, and rather than get her shoulder off the mat, Monroe simply lifted her hand, causing the referee to count the fall, declaring Hail the winner and the new NXT Women’s North American Champion.

But what does any of that have to do with Toni Storm?

Toni Storm Warned Blake Monroe

Blake Monroe used to be known as Mariah May in AEW and was famously attached to Storm for her entire run in that company.

Initially, Monroe was a loyal fan of Toni Storm, wanting to learn everything from the then-AEW Women’s World Champion. However, when May won the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, giving her a shot at that gold, she immediately betrayed Storm.

What followed was an iconic feud that saw both women trade the AEW Women’s World Championship. As they prepared for their Hollywood Ending at Revolution, which proved to be May’s last match in AEW, Storm cut a famous promo on her rival, seemingly hinting at her future move to WWE as she said:

You do not deserve the dignity of death. I sentence you to a lifetime of mediocrity. Your life will continue, your career will continue and it’ll be good but never great. People will like you but never love you because the star that you are will not compare to this monster you’ve become, so you will dwindle, be replaced, be forgotten. Then, one day, many years from now, someone will ask: Whatever happened to Mariah May? She found out what happens when you try to kill God.