Tony Khan Hails AEW Star As One Of His All-Time Favorite Characters In Pro Wrestling

Since starting AEW, founder Tony Khan has had quite the journey while learning the wrestling industry. Khan grew up watching the sport, and his passion eventually led him to create his own company. Khan has displayed his knowledge and love for wrestling's past over the years, but on a recent episode of "Going Ringside," Khan revealed one of his current favorite wrestlers on the AEW roster is Toni Storm, who he had a memorable interaction with at the media scrum for Worlds End.

"'Timeless' Toni Storm is really an amazing character .... She's unpredictable. She's become one of the all-time personal favorites for me in terms of a pro wrestler and in terms of a character." Storm joined AEW in March 2022 after spending a few years in WWE. She hit the ground running and became the AEW Women's World Champion in September 2022. During the fall of last year, Storm went through a gimmick change and the "Timeless" era began. The concept of the character initially revolved around a Hollywood starlet trying to find her way. Since then, her character has evolved with Storm's success in the ring. On "Going Ringside", Khan shared some details about the concept of the "Timeless" persona.

"What a great star "Timeless" Tony Storm is, who is effectively a silent film star from maybe the 1930s as opposed to now," he said. "Really throwing back to nearly a hundred years ago a different era. Her character is inspired by some of the real starlets and people who played even these really iconic, and in some cases, even aging movie stars like Gloria Swanson in 'Sunset Boulevard' or Bette Davis in 'All About Eve'. Under her new character, Storm regained the AEW Women's title from Hikaru Shida at "Full Gear." She's recently been paired with Mariah May, who joined the company in November. Storm also appears to be set for a battle with new AEW signing Deonna Purrazzo, who said she was seeking storm in her debut Wednesday.