{"id":116995,"date":"2021-08-20T02:27:31","date_gmt":"2021-08-20T02:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=116995"},"modified":"2021-08-20T02:58:07","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T02:58:07","slug":"brutal-wwe-snubbing-saved-aussies-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=116995","title":{"rendered":"Brutal WWE snubbing saved Aussie's dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian WWE superstar Toni Storm has the world at her feet, now a major drawcard in the wrestling industry, she admits being snubbed at an early age was the best thing that ever happened.<\/p>\n

Following a lengthy journey of wrestling overseas before spending four years perfecting her craft on WWE's developmental brand, NXT, New Zealand-born Storm was finally given her shot on one of the industry's biggest brands – SmackDown.<\/p>\n

Storm, 25, was handed her SmackDown debut just last month and made headlines around the wrestling world by defeating Zelina Vega.<\/p>\n

Joining what's recently become a long list of Aussies to appear on WWE SmackDown – a list that includes Daniel Vidot<\/a>, Buddy Murphy<\/a>, Peyton Royce<\/a>, Billie Kay<\/a> – Storm admits it took her a while to come to terms with the promotion in her career.<\/p>\n

"To be honest, I didn't believe it for so long," Storm told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

\"Toni<\/p>\n

"I was so excited and it felt like an out-of-body experience and then I walked around like nothing had happened… it was weird.<\/p>\n

"It's starting to sink in now and I'm at a whole different level of focus and I'm ready to get into it.<\/p>\n

Storm revealed she was given the nod to move from NXT to SmackDown after a number of "dark matches" before the live weekly tapings of SmackDown.<\/p>\n

'Dark matches' are essential warm-up fixtures, which don't go to air and are typically only seen by those in attendance.<\/p>\n

"I did a few dark matches before the shows in the weeks leading up [to the SmackDown debut] and I didn't think too much of it, I didn't know if this meant if they were interested. I didn't know if anything would happen," Storm said.<\/p>\n

\"Toni<\/p>\n

"After a while, I had (WWE talent executive) John Laurinaitis call me in and told me I would be moved up. It was an excellent moment.<\/p>\n

"It's a huge honour [to be moved up], but also a lot of pressure.<\/p>\n

"But for me, I enjoy the pressure and really getting into it and putting my head down and stuck in.<\/p>\n

"It's exciting, it's been a rollercoaster ever since."<\/p>\n

Opening up on her WWE journey, Storm admits she's thankful the iconic wrestling company snubbed her seven years ago when she was a teenager competing for a spot at a try-out event.<\/p>\n

"It was in Melbourne (2014). I just turned 18, I did an intense two-day Melbourne try-out and obviously didn't get signed from that," she said.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CRtfLzRnLK1\/<\/a><\/p>\n

"But it was good because I was far too young and I wasn't ready at the time.<\/p>\n

"I still had a lot to do, a long way to go and I needed to develop more as a person and not so much as a wrestler. I was a crazy 18-year-old, I needed to get some partying done like a human, I needed to get some life.<\/p>\n

"But as I went through those years, I stayed wrestling, I kept training and travelled the world. I learnt from as many different places as I could, and I had fun doing it."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

After not being signed at 18, Storm, who grew up in Australia after moving from New Zealand at the age of four, then headed overseas.<\/p>\n

The performer spent the next four years travelling around the world, stopping in Japan and the United Kingdom where she wrestled on independent promotions to learn more about the industry.<\/p>\n

"[Not getting signed at 18] I got to see what it was really like, I got to see what I needed to do to be good enough," Storm revealed.<\/p>\n

\"Toni<\/p>\n

"It set the tone of what would be expected of me If I was to be signed.<\/p>\n

"So, I went away and just learnt from whoever I could. I would seek advice from anyone who had been there or trained there. I learnt the ins and outs and I kept grinding, working hard and getting that experience.<\/p>\n

"You don't want to go in unprepared, so I made sure I got the best training that was available."<\/p>\n

Then, in 2017 while working with British independent wrestling organisation 'Progress', Storm was noticed by the WWE.<\/p>\n

The 'Progress' promotion was performing at Axxess – A WWE hosted event for fans in the lead-up to WrestleMania, which gives attendees access to watch independent brands perform, along with meet and greet opportunities.<\/p>\n

"I was working for Progress in the United Kingdon and they were doing WWE Axxess before WrestleMania, and I got go and be on Axxess with them as a member of the Progress team, and that was where they (WWE) got their first look [at me]," she said.<\/p>\n

WWE SummerSlam streams live on Sunday 22nd August at 10am (AEST) on WWE Network.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian WWE superstar Toni Storm has the world at her feet, now a major drawcard in the wrestling industry, she admits being snubbed at an […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116995"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116995"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116997,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116995\/revisions\/116997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}