“The liar’s kiss that says I love you, but means something else. You’re good at giving such kisses.” – Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Gaby Rodgers’ Lily Carver character spoke those words to Ralph Meeker’s Mike Carver seconds before shooting him in the gut, but they as well have been spoken by Toni Storm to Mariah May just before “The Glamour” struck her with the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament title belt she earned for winning the field. Each strike to Toni’s head with the heel of her own shoe was another betrayal by Mariah, a lie ripping apart each moment they’d shared since Mariah’s arrival in AEW late last year. The question was of course asked if this was Mariah’s play from the moment Toni Storm finally let her in, especially given that it took many months for the AEW Women’s World Champion to treat May as something more than just a fangirl. Mariah chased after Toni, a living embodiment of every fan stalking the hotel and waiting for acknowledgment by their favorite wrestler, while Toni treated her as as annoyance, so much so she couldn’t be bothered to watch Mariah’s initial matches inside the AEW ring.
It wasn’t until Mariah began changing her appearance to one as identical as physically possible to Toni Storm’s classic look from before she even arrived in All Elite Wrestling. Mariah’s willingness to sacrifice herself for Toni’s success also drew them closer, and perhaps made “The Timeless One” comfortable enough to actually embrace Mariah’s presence in her life. The first time Toni Storm summoned Mariah May to her bosom it felt as if the distance Mariah had been kept at for the last several months was finally fading away. Then Toni Storm threw in the towel on Mariah’s behalf when she faced Serena Deeb, and that was not the happiest of moments as the winner of that match was set to face Toni Storm at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2024 in a title fight. The situation was nearly reversed on that pay-per-view when Mariah attempted to throw the towel in to save Toni Storm, but Luther (who’d always watched Mariah with a side eye) stopped it from happening, though to Toni the optics looked as if he was the one preparing to give up the ghost on Storm’s behalf.
Then there was the Mina Shirakawa situation, and that more than anything was the impetus for Toni Storm truly embracing Mariah May as her surrogate daughter. Seemingly afraid of losing Mariah to her former Stardom partner, Toni became the cheerleader for Mariah that she’d never before, encouraged her entry into The Owen despite it meaning the possibility of them fighting over the World Title down the line, and even begrudgingly worked with Mina, her FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 opponent, ahead of their title bout. In the run-up to that pay-per-view event, there even seemed to be a reversal of the power dynamic as it was Mariah summoning both Toni and Mina to her bosom, and the three women actually left UBS Arena together after Toni defeated Mina to retain the title.
After the stressors of possibly losing Mariah to Mina, of possibly losing the title to Mina for that matter, with Toni retaining the title and Mariah defeating Saraya to advance to the semifinals of The Owen, it seemed everything in the Timeless camp was copacetic for the first time in months. Mariah was being treated with the respect she deserved by Toni, looked upon as an equal rather than a subordinate even. Then AEW traveled to Calgary for The Owen Finals, and everything turned to bloody betrayal for the AEW Women’s World Champion…
What has been the most disturbing thing about the last six weeks since Mariah made her violent choice is how “The Glamour” has talked about the entire situation. She has genuinely expressed love for Toni Storm, appreciation for everything Toni Storm taught her, and that all of this is just the culmination of the lessons learned from Storm’s successes, the culmination of Mariah’s intent from the very beginning. It was never a matter of “if” but rather one of “when” this would happen, and Mariah made the most of the opportunity she created by winning The Owen. It shattered Storm’s heart, she didn’t even have the life in her to fight back during the assault, but in the weeks since there has been plenty of fighting, plenty of violence, and more than a fair share of emotional outpouring. Mariah telling the word in as cold a fashion as possible about her love for Toni while an emotionally eviscerated Storm openly weeps on stage while promising to end May’s life if that’s what it takes. It even exploded on Saturday during the ALL IN: LONDON CELEBRATION at Boxpark Wembley as Renee Paquette and RJ City interview “The Glamour”:
It all comes to a head today at ALL IN: LONDON 2024, the death of friendship, the rise of animosity, the violence and the pain and the tears and the heartbreak; at the core of it all, the 281-day AEW Women’s World Championship reign of “Timeless” Toni Storm. One year ago she left Wembley Stadium empty-handed, failing to dethrone Hikaru Shida as champion and instead watching Saraya achieve that dream, will Toni again fail on AEW’s biggest stage, or will this be the biggest blockbuster night of her career as she gets her revenge on “The Glamour” Mariah May?