Summary

A report says Toni Storm’s absence changed AEW women’s world title plans on March 18. Toni Storm had originally been advertised to face Marina Shafir on Dynamite, but an on-air attack angle removed her before the show.

Mina Shirakawa then defeated Marina Shafir in a no-holds-barred match, and the report states Toni Storm is expected to be out of action until 2027.

Toni Storm absence and Thekla direction reshape the AEW women’s title picture

The reported late change on March 18 immediately altered AEW’s women’s world title path, because the planned Toni Storm vs. Marina Shafir result was replaced by an injury-style mystery angle tied to multiple possible attackers.

That pivot also reframed the build that had already shifted into a no-holds-barred rebook on Dynamite, as seen in the March 18 match update, and it carried into subsequent women’s title movement on the March 25 Dynamite results.

Quote from Dave Meltzer

"It is not an injury situation and it came up on 3/18 the day of the show as all plans until the afternoon were for Storm to beat Marina Shafir to lead to the start of a Thekla vs. Toni Storm program for the title. When they found out she could not wrestle, they laid out the injury angle and will be doing a tease akin to Who Shot JR? with clues and such and multiple potential assailants."

Dave Meltzer later went on to say:

"I was told outright before even asking about the subject that the two subjects Tony Khan will not talk about are Toni Storm and the story about his company putting in a bid to purchase WWE in 2023."

Sources

As reported by NoDQ.