Toni Storm’s sudden removal from All Elite Wrestling programming and the expectation that she may not wrestle again in 2026 are reportedly not related to an injury.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, AEW only became aware of the situation on the day of the AEW Dynamite taping, forcing a last-minute change.
“On the Toni Storm thing, it appears she’s not gonna be wrestling for a long, long time, and this was something that they found out on Wednesday,” Meltzer said. “It was not an injury or anything like that. On Wednesday, she’s there. She is set up to wrestle in this match, and they had to do this emergency angle to take her out and put Mina Shirakawa in. On the day, on Wednesday, earliest Wednesday morning, certainly all day Tuesday, they were under the impression that she was going to be wrestling.”
Storm had been scheduled for a No Holds Barred match against Marina Shafir on the March 18 episode in Fresno, California, but was pulled just minutes before the show went live. AEW aired an angle showing Storm laid out backstage, with Mina Shirakawa stepping in as her replacement and defeating Shafir.
Earlier reports had suggested Storm might not be cleared to compete through 2026, initially leading to assumptions of a physical issue. Meltzer’s clarification that it is not injury-related raises new questions about the nature of her absence.
The situation also impacts creative plans. Ronda Rousey made her AEW debut at AEW Revolution, confronting Storm in a segment that appeared to set up a future program. With Storm now sidelined, those plans are reportedly on hold, though AEW is said to have a direction in place regarding the storyline surrounding her on-screen attacker.
Storm has been with AEW since 2022 and is a record four-time AEW Women’s World Champion, holding the title for a combined 640 days across her reigns.
