WWE fans were shocked when it was revealed that Toni Storm had left the company, and it was unclear if WWE had released her or if she had requested her release. Then it was revealed that she had requested her release from WWE and they had granted it, with a report from Fightful detailing that with all of the previous cuts to the roster it didn’t seem like they could reject that request. Now a new report from the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer sheds a bit more light on why Storm asked for her release, and while her booking issues might have been a factor, the primary reason seems to have been burnout.
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Meltzer said, “As far as her reasons and why she left, the only thing I heard was, you know, burnout, essentially.” He then added, “There’s probably a 90-day non-compete involved…whether she can go [to AEW] and that was part of the deal that you can’t go there, I don’t know that.”
Odds are she does have a non-compete clause, and we won’t really know what happened until Storm decides to reveal more details. If the main reason is burnout, she might not head to any company right away, but if she does decide to step back into the ring, there will be no shortage of places looking to add her to the roster.
After being teased for weeks after the WWE Draft, Storm finally moved from NXT to SmackDown, and though she notched a win, shortly after fans started wondering why she wasn’t appearing on television to follow up on it. Then Survivor Series came around and she wasn’t part of the teams, and fans were upset once more, letting WWE know.
This ended up changing when Storm was added to the SmackDown Women’s team, and then she started a feud with SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair. They would then have a match on the Christmas edition of SmackDown, and though Storm lost, she still looked strong, so the assumption was that they would have a rematch at Day 1. That never happened, though they had rematches during the holiday tour ahead of Storm’s departure.
Hopefully, we’ll hear from Storm sometime soon, but let us know who you think Storm should sign with in the comments!
H/T Cageside Seats
