“Timeless” Toni Storm should’ve been on a high after defeating Mariah May at REVOLUTION 2025 and earning her Hollywood Ending. Instead she found herself laying at the feet of Megan Bayne on the AEW stage, knocked loopy by Bayne’s shadowy attack, while the world was quite clear on just what Bayne’s intentions were for All Elite Wrestling. See Bayne had a brief sting in AEW several years ago, just a trio of matches between 2021 and 2022, but she returned to the stage as part of the GRAND SLAM: AUSTRALIA Casino Gauntlet on January 15th and had quite the impressive showing prior to Toni Storm winning the battle by pinning Julia Hart. The time away had honed Megan Bayne into a dominating force inside the squared circle, and though she didn’t have much to say to AEW cameras or her opponents, Bayne’s actions spoke quite loudly.
Since that Casino Gauntlet Bayne has won seven consecutive matches, including two over former TBS Champion Kris Statlander and one over former AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa. She’s also dominated Toni Storm at every turn, leaving the champion laying with Fate’s Descent multiple times, including one week ago on COLLISION. We’ve seen Bayne take the usually devastating running Hip Attack from “The Timeless One” and shrug it off with a wry grin on her face. Though Storm has overcome threats ranging from Mariah May to Deonna Purrazzo to Mina Shirakawa to Taya Valkyrie to Hikaru Shida over the course of her cumulative 473 days as Women’s World Champion, she’s never faced an athlete like Megan Bayne across those four title reigns. As tough as “The Timeless One” has shown herself to be, a foe may have found her who possesses attributes Toni cannot overcome. After everything Toni Storm endured to get back to the spotlight she stands in now, are we about to watch the curtain close on her starring role?
As seen in the clip embedded above, TBS Champion Mercedes Moné faced off with Julia Hart in a tag team match that also featured Harley Cameron and, in her first-ever COLLISION match, ROH Women’s World Champion Athena. Given the dynamic between Mercedes and Harley, it’s a wonder they functioned as a team at all, especially when faced with two opponents with plenty of reasons to gun specifically for “The CEO”. It should, however, be no shock that when the going got tough, Moné left Harley high-and-dry to be beaten, sacrificing the first blemish on her AEW record. Mercedes wanted no part of that action, saving herself for tonight’s Quarterfinal bout and her first one-on-one fight with former TBS Champion Julia Hart!
The CEO’s participation in the tournament comes as a result of her desire to adorn herself with even more gold, without risking any of her current trophies in the process, but she drew one of the toughest fights of the Women’s Tournament right off the bat. While fans already knew Julia Hart was tough from her TBS Title reign, since her return from injury she’s demonstrated that at a whole new level. Her fights with Jamie Hayter and Queen Aminata have been rough, and Hart’s been more than willing to just get in there and throw down. That’s a trait she’s going to need to endure to the Finals of her first Owen at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2025, especially given the possible road the brackets have laid out. The winner of this bout faces the winner of Athena/Harley Cameron in the Semifinals, and while there’s no doubt fans are salivating at the prospect of Athena versus Mercedes Moné taking place, the thought of Athena and Hart fighting is quite intriguing as well!