She is TIMELESS Toni Storm!! (No longer...)

[brettappedout (BLM)]

Just a sidebar/question. Isn't Toni in a movie coming out where she and others play women who pioneered women's wrestling in the 30s or 40s?

So, the gimmick change definitely feels inspired by some of those women's stories, I'd imagine? Plus, old time Hollywood in general.

Anyway really digging Toni. I definitely feel that she is the most well round worker she has ever been. I happy for her.

ps give me her and Juice in a random backstage segment. It'd be 👉🥇 & ⏳️➖️!

[DichEvans]

Oct 6, 2023 12:37:13 GMT -5 brettappedout (BLM) said:

Just a sidebar/question. Isn't Toni in a movie coming out where she and others play women who pioneered women's wrestling in the 30s or 40s?

So, the gimmick change definitely feels inspired by some of those women's stories, I'd imagine? Plus, old time Hollywood in general.

Anyway really digging Toni. I definitely feel that she is the most well round worker she has ever been. I happy for her.

ps give me her and Juice in a random backstage segment. It'd be 👉🥇 & ⏳️➖️!

Well i am just curious to where her promo and acting ability came from. She would do promos in NXT and the indies and while they were not terrible, they were not even close to being this good.

[Dub H]

For what matter she has the 5th top selling shirt Monthly(behind Edge, Better than you Baybay and Bullet Club)

Tho OC likely sells more total of shirts.He has like 6 shirts on the Top Sellers

[cjb01: Limited Edition Item!]

Oct 6, 2023 12:40:25 GMT -5 DichEvans said:

Oct 6, 2023 12:37:13 GMT -5 brettappedout (BLM) said:

Just a sidebar/question. Isn't Toni in a movie coming out where she and others play women who pioneered women's wrestling in the 30s or 40s?

So, the gimmick change definitely feels inspired by some of those women's stories, I'd imagine? Plus, old time Hollywood in general.

Anyway really digging Toni. I definitely feel that she is the most well round worker she has ever been. I happy for her.

ps give me her and Juice in a random backstage segment. It'd be 👉🥇 & ⏳️➖️!

Well i am just curious to where her promo and acting ability came from. She would do promos in NXT and the indies and while they were not terrible, they were not even close to being this good.

Getting a character you can really sink your teeth into can really unlock so much other shit, and I think this is a shining example of that

Same with Roderick Strong, look how long he was simply labeled a dude who had no personality and nothing to latch onto... then he found something

I don't think anyone in wrestling is truly a lost cause, it's just a matter of finding that thing that takes them to the next level, and that's definitely where Toni has started to thrive here, ironically going from the 80's to the 30's lol

[johncasey]

Oct 5, 2023 0:04:04 GMT -5 jm said:

Oct 4, 2023 22:23:41 GMT -5 cjb01: Limited Edition Item! said:

You know how some wrestlers would get streamers thrown at them for entrances?

I need someone to spring for some roses to throw at Toni when she enters a ring...

Don't forget to make sure that everyone is respectfully clapping.

Thanks for putting that out there, now I want to see it.

It can be done, all it takes is a interview where she says she hates the cheers but likes the clapping. If they did it and catches on, it could move over to other company's.

Another thing, I remember hearing or reading that when Raw first started in January 1993, they wanted it that the audience were in suits and formal attire.

Something like that could work in the style of how they shoot the Parking Lot matches.

[johncasey]

Oct 5, 2023 17:55:58 GMT -5 KME said:

An amazing gimmick. Really never knew Toni had it in her but she's absolute perfection in this role, the way she speaks and the things she comes out with during an outburst, the mannerisms and facial expressions, the entrance, the skits with RJ (who I'm delighted to see getting TV time) it's all so, so great.

Glad you brought up RJ City, I would like it brought up how Schivonne and Renee pulled rank and have RJ interview all the mad/obnoxious wrestlers

[Hanky McCranky Jr.]

I like to think that Toni learned how to become so endearingly bizarre from her husband.

[Nosnorb]

[cjb01: Limited Edition Item!]

Oct 6, 2023 20:42:03 GMT -5 Nosnorb said:

THE GREATEST THEME OF ALL TIME!

[Mozenrath]

Oct 6, 2023 20:29:09 GMT -5 Hanky McCranky Jr. said:

I like to think that Toni learned how to become so endearingly bizarre from her husband.

Probably didn't hurt. That said, also probably experience and having a character that lets her really vamp it up.

[jm]

Oct 6, 2023 20:42:03 GMT -5 Nosnorb said:

[Final Countdown Jones]

I also wonder if it's helping just to have a character who's so many levels of abstractions away from herself. She's not just doing' the rock chick who likes the '80s' anymore. Acting and getting into a character who isn't you can be helpful for finding the confidence you don't have when you're playing something so close to yourself. Playing Mildred Burke probably helped her a lot, and then she skyrocket in with total confidence on this character, where she's actually acting instead of being anchored to any idea of herself. For some people, that's the piece that makes it click.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

My favorite part of her closeup is Toni immediately going "oh shit I have to hit my move now"

Also, I will now start calling the Observer "the trades"

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

Oct 6, 2023 23:05:06 GMT -5 Final Countdown Jones said:

I also wonder if it's helping just to have a character who's so many levels of abstractions away from herself. She's not just doing' the rock chick who likes the '80s' anymore. Acting and getting into a character who isn't you can be helpful for finding the confidence you don't have when you're playing something so close to yourself. Playing Mildred Burke probably helped her a lot, and then she skyrocket in with total confidence on this character, where she's actually acting instead of being anchored to any idea of herself. For some people, that's the piece that makes it click.

For all the talk of how good wrestling characters are the wrestler turned to 11, that's simply not everyone. It makes sense as advice because, bluntly, the majority of wrestlers are not actors, and they will do better by hewing as close to themselves as possible. But general advice is simply what has the highest hit rate, not the right approach for everyone.

[Deleted]

Mods gotta start using this when they have to lock a thread temporarily:


jasffy.tumblr.com

[ASYLUMHAUSEN]

It would appear Toni has been watching THAT Allie Katch & Effy vs Pheromones match. And taking notes.

👀

[HMARK Center]

Oct 7, 2023 0:28:00 GMT -5 Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby said:

Oct 6, 2023 23:05:06 GMT -5 Final Countdown Jones said:

I also wonder if it's helping just to have a character who's so many levels of abstractions away from herself. She's not just doing' the rock chick who likes the '80s' anymore. Acting and getting into a character who isn't you can be helpful for finding the confidence you don't have when you're playing something so close to yourself. Playing Mildred Burke probably helped her a lot, and then she skyrocket in with total confidence on this character, where she's actually acting instead of being anchored to any idea of herself. For some people, that's the piece that makes it click.

For all the talk of how good wrestling characters are the wrestler turned to 11, that's simply not everyone. It makes sense as advice because, bluntly, the majority of wrestlers are not actors, and they will do better by hewing as close to themselves as possible. But general advice is simply what has the highest hit rate, not the right approach for everyone.

Very interesting point; "turned to 11" is likely the best advice for most wrestlers, but for many having a gimmick might just give them that distance they need from their everyday selves to really live it up and breathe life into what they're doing without feeling like they're in some kind of awkward position of "would I really say/do something like that?", because out there gimmicks tend to lack limitations.

A key for Toni here, too, is that she's not just randomly doing a weird gimmick; she had her story of feeling rejected by the crowd when they booed her for the crime of not being Jaime Hayter, not having her first title reign officially recognized until it was already over, joining the Outcasts and winning the belt back with their help, thinking that meant she had everything worked out...only for Shida to cut things short and leave her realizing that she might've made the wrong decision, which must've been made worse when stablemate Saraya won the belt soon after. Rather than confront her personal failings or poor choices, she's retreated so far into a fantasy she's constructed that she's basically snapped.

[cjb01: Limited Edition Item!]

Looks like the messed up makeup look might vary by the week

Really love everything she's doing. Whoever has the title coming out of Title Tuesday, Toni needs to be the opponent.

[Hanky McCranky Jr.]

I honestly don't know how (or even if) they're going to keep her heel. The live crowds love her so far.

[Deleted]

Jamie Hayter returns and they have to turn her heel because she's not as over as Toni Storm.