There are a number of AEW fans who have only started watching the company over the past two years, meaning that they would have only known Toni Storm in her “Timeless” gimmick. It’s important to know exactly how the character came about in storyline, and it all started with Storm completely losing her mind.

Storm lost her AEW Women’s World Championship on the 200th episode of “AEW Dynamite” to Hikaru Shida in August 2023, with Shida matching Storm’s then-record of being a two-time champion. In the weeks that followed, Storm would become more erratic, short-tempered, and found a fondness in throwing her shoes at anyone who interviewed her, especially Renee Paquette and Lexy Nair, the latter of whom Storm didn’t remember being interviewed by. This short-term crisis almost came to an end at the inaugural AEW All In London pay-per-view as Storm vowed to walk out of Wembley Stadium with the title, and she was going to use her friend Saraya to help her.

Saraya and Storm were both members of The Outcasts stable alongside Ruby Soho, and in the four-way match at All In London, Saraya and Storm looked to outnumber the champion Shida, and the other participant, Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.. However, it was Saraya who left Wembley Stadium with the title, and cracks in The Outcasts began to show. Storm was visibly shaken in the aftermath of All In London and didn’t know if she had lost her spark, but what was certain was that she was losing her mind. This was even more evident when she cost Ruby the AEW TBS Championship in a match against Kris Statlander at All Out in September 2023, causing further turmoil within The Outcasts.

Storm would get a chance to put things right when she earned another shot at the AEW Women’s World Championship at the Grand Slam edition of “Dynamite,” but things would go from bad to worse for her. Not only did Saraya beat Strom to retain her title, but she was officially kicked out of The Outcasts and left to wander the AEW landscape by herself. In an attempt to help her along the way, RJ City would have sit-down interviews with her titled “Portrait of a Star,” and while it didn’t look like much progress was being made, a major breakthrough came on the Fourth Anniversary edition of “Dynamite” that October.

Storm completely snapped at RJ as she ranted about how wrestling is so short-term and the pressure of being such a big star weighs down on her more than anyone, but when RJ stated that she wasn’t even that old, Storm stopped and came to a realization. She wasn’t old, she wasn’t young, she was “Timeless.” The character was born out of being separated from the top prize in AEW for so long that Storm needed to find out who she truly was in order to get back to the top, and once she understood who she was, there was no slowing her down.