Victoria Warns Toni Storm Against Bashing WWE, Saying She’s an ‘AEW for Life’

During a recent appearance on WrestlingNews.co’s “The Velvet Ropes with SoCal Val, former WWE Superstar Lisa Marie Varon (aka Victoria) criticized AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm regarding some of her recent comments speaking about being an “AEW Lifer” and never wanting to return to WWE. Speaking to the Sandman on his podcast, Storm said of WWE, “I think they’re great, and I understand them for exactly what they are. They’re a machine. They’re a business. And I just don’t fit in with their whole shtick, and that’s cool.” Varon warned Storm that she shouldn’t try to bury another company to prop up her current one. Below are some highlights:

Lisa Marie Varon on Toni Storm: “First of all, I love Toni Storm. I love her look, Marilyn. Super sweet when you see her at a meet and greet, very thankful. And yeah, I love her, but you never bury a company. You know, we all learn this saying that ‘maybe that’s not the place for me,’ but every company changes every year. You never know when you’re going to go back or when they’re going to demand Toni Storm to make a comeback to WWE.”

On why you shouldn’t bash any wrestling company: “You don’t want to bash any company, and I’ve learned that lesson. I’ve done that before and shame on me, but I think you get very like in your head going, ‘I need to say what I am feeling right now.’ But social media is not the platform to go if I’m angry at a moment. You know what? Let me think about it tomorrow if I feel the same way, you know because social media is so easy to go on a rampage and you’re going to go the next day, ‘I shouldn’t have said that.'”

On being subjected to “cancel culture” and getting pulled from a booking as a result: “I got canceled on a October 19 show, and it was on Twitter, and a friend of mine called me and said, ‘Hey, I just want to see if you’re okay,’ and then she goes, ‘Oh, they canceled you for a certain reason.’ And I was like, ‘what?’ And I never experienced, this is just recent, to experience so much hate, and we got to rise above.”

On struggling not to response to the online hate: “Everybody knows that it was very… I was struggling so hard not to say anything, but I’m the better person. I should not care about what somebody else thinks of me. They don’t know me.”

Storm previously left WWE in late 2021, later signing with WWE in the following year. The Timeless star defends her title this weekend at AEW All Out 2025 in a Fatal 4-Way bout against former Women’s World Champion Jamie Hayter, former TBS Champion Kris Statlander, and Thekla.