Welcome to the AEW All In 2024 PPVPreview presented by GrapPro.com
We will be previewing all matches from the pay per view this week. On the day of the show I will do an all encompassing predictions as I have done in the past.
AEW Women’s World Championship
Mariah May vs Timeless Toni Storm (c)
When Toni Storm first became Timeless, I was a fan from the beginning. I was certainly in the minority.
I don’t blame the doubt people had on the character. The gimmick certainly felt goofy and outside of the sports feel that AEW fans always state they crave. Toni also was really trying to figure herself out in-ring with the gimmick, with a lot of camera gimmicks and comedy antics which turned her from one of the best wrestlers in the division into something much less.
But I had hope it was just ironing out the character and eventually figuring out how to make it work. Even when defeating Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s World Championship, the match quality wasn’t there. It was actually a match months later on AEW Collision against AZM that Toni finally figured it out in-ring wise.
Despite this, I found her character wildly fascinating and some of the most exciting work in AEW each week. From the feud with Deonna Purrazzo to Thunder Rosa to Serena Deeb, Toni was running through the Women’s Division while establishing that Timeless persona. She also turned from heel to babyface as the crowd warmed up to the character.
If you need to understand who the Timeless character is, BBC did a great article about the character and its origins in classic Hollywood films like All About Eve and Sunset Boulevard.
The moment we got word about Mariah May coming in as a Toni Storm superfan, everyone figured out that they would be running an All About Eve storyline. At least the people cultured on film. It will forever be funny to me because Toni is only two years older than Mariah.
Mariah May has played it absolutely perfectly. She started as just an innocent fan, accepted into Toni’s World despite the watchful eye of Luther the Butler. She then started wearing Toni Storm’s old gear when she first entered AEW, the rockstar type persona Storm used to sport. It felt like we were watching Timeless Toni Storm embrace herself.
Adding Mina Shirakawa to the story was a fantastic play by AEW, not just to add a Forbidden Door match between AEW and Stardom, but to give a new flavour to the entire program. Mina in a lot of ways could have exposed Mariah May in being a sycophant, someone who has been latching onto popular women and stealing their thunder since the day she entered Stardom. Instead, Mina played into Toni’s jealousy of the fact that Mariah loved her as much as she loved Toni.
Mina could have exposed Mariah’s entire plan. Instead she allowed Toni to become even less in suspecting Mariah to one day take her out. Mariah seemed to successfully get Toni, Mina, and Mariah all together in love. But it’s never love with Mariah. It’s about power.
In winning the 2024 Owen Hart Memorial Tournament, Mariah May won her shot at Timeless Toni Storm at Wembley Stadium. Mariah didn’t even try to play it up as a competitive bout between friends. She immediately attacked Toni Storm, tossed Luther the Butler off the stage, and bludgeoned Storm in the head with a championship belt and a shoe.
Toni Storm from the very beginning of the Timeless character had been telling everyone, “Chin up, Tits Out, and Watch Out for the Shoe” and with Mariah hitting her with the heel of it, she changed that into, “Toni Storm didn’t watch out for the heel.”
The image of Mariah kissing Toni’s bloody face as Toni didn’t fight back and instead just cried is one of the most powerful images All Elite Wrestling has ever presented in the company. I put it up there with the Dark Order entrance for the 10-Man Elimination Match. I put it up there with CM Punk coming out to Miseria Cantere. I put it up with Bryan Danielson coming out to the Final Countdown. I put it up with MJF giving his scarf to Cody to break the door class and attack the Inner Circle. It’s one of the greatest images in AEW history.
For all of the “Cinema” talk in pro wrestling this was truly one of those moments. Mariah perfectly played the snake. Toni Storm was so emotionally destroyed that she trusted Mariah and let her in this much to only watch her betray her the moment she gets a shot she could only lay in a pool of her own blood and sob.
Since then, Toni has changed her image up to a visage of anger and vitriol. She wants revenge on Mariah. She’s incapable of anything other than pure vitriol towards Mariah. Mariah on the other hand has spoken with calm and calculation. She’s in the very least presenting herself as in control for every moment, knowing this is exactly what she has always wanted to do.
Storm being a… storm of emotions is likely a bad omen for her in being able to defend her championship at Wembley Stadium. The England native Mariah May has every emotional advantage entering the match. Her plan since debut has been executed to perfection. I would not be surprised if she ultimately wins this due to it, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if Timeless Toni Storm flips the script and re-writes All About Eve.
Margo walked away from the role of a lifetime only for Eve to take her place and eventually deal with her own Eve in Phoebe. I don’t think Timeless Toni Storm walks away from anything. Not without stomping Mariah May dry under the heel of her shoe.
