Running from November 2023 until August 2024, AEW told the story of “Timeless” Toni Storm and her protégé, Mariah May. What ran as the longest, intentionally queer storyline in modern professional wrestling captivated audiences, culminating in an AEW Women’s World Championship title match at ALL IN.
My name is Beau Q. I really enjoy breaking a wrestling match down to the oft nuanced narrative parts in its literature to better understand the feud, appreciate the performance, and deepen my experience. This feud finish was laid out to accelerate your understanding of Mariah May and how we should feel about her. Let’s get it.
BACKSTORY
“Timeless” Toni Storm is a stereotypical 1920s starlet. Mariah May is Storm’s stalker/protégé. In the beginning of their partnership, Storm rejected May’s affections, treating her like refuse. This relationship arc paid direct homage to 1950’s All About Eve thanks to the host of Hey! (EW), RJ City, who helped course-correct the program and its TCM deep cut references. After defending the title from May’s ex-tag team partner, Mina Shirakawa, Storm sought out May’s adoration, and their relationship blossomed in new ways. Though, once Storm supported May’s Owen Hart Cup win that allowed them to meet in the ring as partners at ALL IN, May betrayed this new love by stabbing Storm in the face with her literal heel. Now, they’re getting TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz to help put their video packages over, and talking about dying in the ring.
CARD PLACEMENT
As the second match of nine on the official ALL IN card, crowd fatigue had not yet set in. But after 1 hour 30 minutes of Zero Hour pre-show spot fests and the Trios title ladder match that opened AEW‘s Wembley ppv, this was the last slot of good will before exhaustion would force the audience into a bathroom break.
However, given all the production values, the prestige of the title, and how popular the feud had become, AEW booked this match as the co-main event– most expected seeing this later that night. So when it was announced before fans had truly locked in, the stadium booed. This could be due to poor visibility with only two gigantic LED screens (when they had had four last year), ring lights blinding seating sections, or even the perception that internal politicking led to another, narratively lighter women’s title match to be on later.
Regardless, the Storm/May video package ends with Storm & May basking in glory, hard cuts to May kissing a bloodied Storm during the initial heel turn, and ends with the lyrics “…still my beating heart.”
ENTRANCES
MARIAH MAY: To a chorus of (confusing) boos, “The Glamour” is scrawled in red script along the white titantron screens, an illustration of May with smeared lipstick/blood (?) sits center-stage. This is how a modern starlet is presented.
MAY’S RING ATTIRE: rocking a white leather duster with spiked shoulders, her name in katakana on the back, May arrives in confidence with the Owen Hart Cup championship, but brandishing high enough for the nosebleeds to see, the white heel covered in Storm’s blood. This is what a modern starlet looks like.
A devout May simp, Nigel McGuinness anoints her a winner on commentary. We cut to a close-up of the crowd where an older woman wearing a Mariah May tee sits in the VIP ringside spot; it’s May’s mother, Lorraine. Excalibur mentions this is only her second time seeing her daughter wrestle live.
TONI STORM: With a jaunty, unfamiliar, but welcome musical cue, the Wembley Stadium ticker tape flashes “‘Timeless’ Toni Storm.” A special video entrance pays homage to the ending of 1980’s The Shining by slowly trucking in a familiar hallway beset with black and white framed photos– the largest one consisting of Storm standing in front of the original Wembley Stadium. A close-up dissolves, revealing this was taken in 1924.
Luther (the butler) walks out to center-ramp, calls for Storm, and her name & photos appear as if on a 1920s Hollywood marquee. The live feed of Wembley transitions from full color to black/white, and Storm comes out astonished.
STORM’S RING ATTIRE: emblazoned down the train of a floor-length white gown, it says TIMELESS in Roman numeral font. Her hair perfectly coiffed in curls with jewels to keep it up on the side and sparkle under the ring lights for bigger ppv crowds. This is how you remember her.
Earlier, Storm promised “…my final gift to [May] will be the grandest Toni Storm of them all. The strongest chin! The toughest tits! and the stiffest shoe…” Storm returns to the ring and blesses the hard cam with her trademark Close-Up pose. Fun bit of live-editing here by immediately cutting to May (full color) looking on in disgust.
THE MATCH
Referee Aubrey Edwards [hereafter: Ref] raises the AEW Women’s World Championship for all to see what we are here for. The bell rings. A moment passes with dueling chants, Storm & May come face to face in the middle. Storm apologetically pleads, May shakes her head no, then we get the Takayama/Frye spot where they grab each other by the neck and throw repeated punches to the head. After enough punches, they lower until May goes for her finisher, Mayday, by ducking in for a fireman’s carry. Storm counters with her finisher, Storm Zero, by locking her arms underneath for the snap piledriver. May undermines the effort, escapes, and they use the Takayama/Frye spot to transition out into a sequence where Storm gets a boot to the stomach that pauses May. May reverses an Irish whip to the corner, blows Storm a kiss, then runs in, only to be hopped over by Storm– May answers with a shotgun dropkick for the hard knockdown, sending Storm to the opposite corner. In the first sequence alone, we’re seeing blood feud signifiers (Takayama/Frye), lethality, and May knowing more about Storm’s playbook than vice versa.
May stomps Storm out and argues with the Ref. In the crowd, Shirakawa anxiously watches from the stands. Those days of three-way kissing and female bonds seem so long ago now. We return to May soaking in the boos, stomping Storm out. May primes Storm for a chop, licks her hand multiple times, and Storm no-sells– she said she was bringing the toughest tits to the performance. Storm calls for more even though a welt has immediately formed over her right shoulder lmao! They exchange chops until Storm raises her arm, May counters low, but this was bait for Storm to DDT May to the lower ropes. Storm scrapes her boot across May’s head, runs the rope for a Hip Attack, but May lets her tangle up for a swim-under sunset flip powerbomb to the outside! She taunts with a finger in her teeth, “did I do that?”, spits on Luther, and when Ref goes to separate the two, May places a knee on Storm’s neck. She has the advantage, she is familiar with Storm’s game, she is the winner. Back inside, May takes Storm on the newly minted Mariah Go-Round, a spinning sidewalk slam. In full control, the Glamour decimates Storm with a rope-run shotgun dropkick for the knockdown.
Luther, a proper second, slaps the ring apron to summon claps from the crowd to empower a weakened Storm. Meanwhile, May sets her back up in the corner for a clunky transition where a double handed chop nets a handstand avalanche hurricanrana; a nod to Trish Stratus’ Stratusphere! Here May finally goes for what Excalibur refers to as a ‘disrespectful cover’ with a 1.85 kickout. Usually title challengers will target a limb that powers the champ’s finisher to depower it, but May spends a large portion delivering her power moves to the back. This large area is usually how performers bump, so it’s not the weakest point to target, but when weakened, no wrestler can move with a hurt back. Good news: by weakening Storm with repeated back bumps, May is setting up for a devastating Mayday, her Samoan Driver finisher, that lands opponents on their back. This has become a war of attrition as Storm cedes too much of her back.
Immediately after, May stretches Storm’s back out with a double underhook butterfly hold that flabbergasts the encyclopedic Excalibur, because it’s more of a Brazilian jiu-jitsu maneuver than a wrestling submission. Storm reverses, but May escapes. May slaps her– “what is this version of Storm I am fighting.” Storm begs at May’s heels, but an AEW production member cuts away to a wide shot missing this important interaction! May dogwalks her hard cam to be battered, then mirror the initial heel turn where May kisses her on the head. This reawakens Storm who counters by mounting May for some clubbing blows!
This advantage is short-lived however, as Storm lets up, which allows May to swim through a waistlock into a back suplex. Storm rolls outside to catch a breather, but May hits a jumping knee strike off the apron sending Storm upside-down. May grants her mentor a breather as she makes her way through outside spots: gloating to the crowd, robotically giving McGuinness a forehead kiss (that will repower his in-ring career three matches later), and deciding Luther needs to be shotgun dropkicked. If relishing in unattained glory, aligning with heels, and treating seconds as fodder isn’t heel enough: May heads over to VIP ringside and slaps her mother in the face! And shrugs it off??! That’s the kind of disdainful spot you save to mar a heel’s likability.
Heel succeeding, May finally receives some short comeuppance when Storm lands a bottom rope Hip Attack on May while she’s backing into the ring. Storm follows it up by slamming May’s head into the steel steps– though, because May’s arms are long enough to prop her up too far from the steps, she’s mostly slamming her hands. Storm finishes the combo with a quick Storm Zero on the steps. Storm takes a breather, heads over to May’s mom, takes her into her bosom, and “TONI, TONI STORM” chants ring out. Selling her beaten back, Storm makes her way back as Ref skirts her off her prey. See, May spent that time blading, comes back with a faceful of color from the finisher on the steps, but otherwise still in this. Throwing her back in the ring, Storm sets May up on the ring post for the call-and-response 10 clubbing blows spot; the blood worsening. After a signature Timeless taunt, Storm hair biels May one way, then back the other direction. Tagging her mom, reviving Nigel’s career, and dropping Luther reinvigorated the grandest Toni Storm performance. Blood in the water, crowd singing out her name, Storm breaks down the understudy’s advantage.
Back in the driver seat, Storm throws few punches before winding up her Right Hand of God, a nod to her irl husband, Juice Robinson, who had lost a Trios title opportunity a match prior! But oh, the hubris! May spits in her face. No matter, Storm wipes it off and sends it back with a slap hard enough to score a hard knockdown. Storm gets her back on her feet for a chokebomb that nets a 2.5 kickout. No one was buying on that pin, but it forces May to exert energy, which at this point is all Storm can ask for.
The next transitive sequence plays slower in execution, but the ideas are spot on: May falls back to the ring post closest hard cam right. As Storm runs in, May brings up her legs as a counter, Storm swings them out, May answers with a back elbow, gets on the apron, hits a high kick over the rope, then sends Storm ring opposite with a missile dropkick. I find this funny, because they’re really only working the same two ring posts, so the crowd closest to hard cam left is getting no spots lol. After a Hip Attack in the corner, May heads to ring middle before coming back in for a second Hip Attack. Crowd boos, so May builds anticipation, and sends a third one Storm’s way. May heads all the way to the opposite post for a run-up, but Storm takes her out with a lariat. Looks like May goes for an inside out bump, but stops halfway through the rotation for a back bump; safety first! Even on the big stage!
Back on the offense, Storm hits a German suplex, Hip Attack, and Storm Zero. This is the finisher combo she’s used countless times on countless defenses. All gold, every time. May sells this like death, but musters a kickout at 2.15. Storm pleads with Ref, but it doesn’t matter– May got her middle finger in the air. She’s not getting taken out like that. Here’s where the signature smarky comedy of “Timeless” Toni Storm comes out: in a nod to late match OKADA’s wrist control spot, Storm wrests control from May’s middle finger. May paints Storm with slaps while Tony Schiavone portrays May as a horror movie villain, blood on their face, coming back from the dead. Slaps are traded, but Storm weakens and May speeds up. They scrum (rugby) for a sec, which Ref breaks up with her back turned. So, May hits a Storm signature, the Cunt Punt…and Storm returns the favor. Storm & May finish this late match sequence with stereo headbutts. Both fall and the crowd roars; “it’s a standing ovation!” Our contenders rise to their feet, Storm threatens with a fist– we’ve seen this spot earlier! May goes under, which means Storm baited out another Storm Zero! But May fumbles the handlock and snipes out a fireman’s carry for the Mayday. That’s a 2.85 kickout center of the ring…and May thought this was it.
May’s mom still selling the effects of elder abuse. Shirakawa verklempt (though, it looks like they moved her a seat away from Rachel Ellering for the shot). Mariah May goes for the Women’s World Championship belt, but Luther reaches up to snag it off the ring apron. He gives a middle finger as he passes out! Looking to cheat her way to a win, May goes for the literal heel on the opposite side while Ref watches the entire affair lol! Oblivious to Ref, May pretends to hide it, though Storm puts a boot immediately on it. She knows a heel when she sees one. From there, Storm decides whether or not to use it on a now pleading May. Overcome with emotion that the betrayer is asking for mercy a match in, Storm bellows, “Noo! don’t you dare do this! Noo!” She rears back, eyes closed, doubles over…then throws the shoe away. Storm’s killer instinct clicks on, so she goes for a Storm Zero as Excalibur puts over the relationship, “she loved Mariah May.”
BUT! May cuts Storm Zero in its windup, and reverses for a 2 count. This is where the targeted back returns to haunt Storm! May gets up first, and with Storm seated looking in the opposite direction, she nails her with a knee strike to the back of the head, targeting the spinal cord. One rope run later and May hits a ridiculous knee strike to Storm’s moneymaking face to snap her on her devastated back…and with a quick kiss, May steals some valor with the Storm Zero. One! Two! Three! AND NEW WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPION: “THE GLAMOUR” MARIAH MAY
AFTERMATH
Luther is still trying to save Storm. Shirakawa, ambiguously, finally catches her breath. May’s mom is still selling the slap, scared of what gold will do to her terrible daughter.
May raises both belts on the ringpost closest hard cam right (no love for hard cam left!), kissing each belt. She walks backwards out of the ring, looking on as Storm has not moved; flat on her back, middle of the ring. Storm rises, distraught, laughing, swimming, dancing while the entire stadium assembly chants “TONI, TONI STORM.” She is still in full color. No more black and white as she exits. Mariah May has brought her to modern times.
Last we see Storm, AEW backstage crew catch her walking out into London’s streets (in black and white). She curiously skip-dances her way through barricades. Luther tries to help.
May, with her bloody heel, two belts, bloody face, tells us, “THE FUCK DID I TELL YOU.”
Welcomed into the Media Scrum by Renee Paquette and Tony Khan, May cuts Paquette off. Now wearing a periwinkle satin dress with an open back and a black veil, May is “dressed for a funeral.” She reads a eulogy for Toni Storm:
“Toni Storm’s career is dead. Today August 25th 2024 at 6:48 PM, Toni Storm’s career passed away in the middle of Wembley Stadium in a pile of blood, spit, and embarrassment. She dies of natural causes, because I am naturally better than her in every way. She is survived by her bumbling, bald butler, Ben Mankiewicz, and anyone who pretends to love old movies, because they cannot deal with their own pathetic realities. There will be no funeral service. A donation can be made in her name at ‘shop AEW dot com forward slash Mariah May.’ Toni, thanks for everything, you stupid, washed up twat. May you rest in peace and rot in hell.
In other news, a star was born today. Her name is “The Glamour,” Mariah May. She is your AEW Women’s World Champion and at the tender age of 26, she has the wrestling world by the balls. AEW is officially all about Mariah.”
She then refuses to answer questions and leaves.
WHERE TO FROM HERE
The modern starlet anointed, the former star fallen. Thus ends one of the greatest AEW feuds since their inception. Where does the AEW Women’s World Championship scene goes from here? Will “Timeless” Toni Storm suffer another mental health crisis that will no doubt spawn a new gimmick for her? What does Mariah May want now that she’s in the spotlight?
I don’t particularly know. It’s wrestling; just like Batman— the story never ends. It just evolves into the next point it wants to make. What that point is, who knows, but I can’t wait to see.