The lead-up to the thirty-fifth installment of World Wrestling Entertainment’s pay per view series Survivor Series has been conducted mostly online, with announcements via Twitter about who would be staffing the teams representing Friday Night SmackDown and Monday Night Raw in the “battle for brand supremacy.” The fallout on WWE television has seen Dominik Mysterio pulled from the Raw team and replaced by Bobby Lashley and newcomer Aliyah also pulled from the SmackDown women’s team. Her Survivor Series replacement was announced via Twitter: fellow NXT alumna Toni Storm.
A Storm is coming to Survivor Series 🌪
Team Raw better brace themselves for bad weather as Toni Storm will replace @WWE_Aliyah on the #SmackDown Women's #SurvivorSeries Team ⛈ pic.twitter.com/PONK2pQQjw
— WWE UK (@WWEUK) November 19, 2021
Toni Storm Enters the Survivor Series
Storm debuted on SmackDown on July 23, 2021, after first being on the rosters of NXT and NXT UK. On NXT, Storm was frequently in contention for the NXT Women’s Championship, but never attained the title. She was, however, the NXT UK Women’s Champion for 231 days. During her time at NXT UK, she feuded with Rhea Ripley, losing her first bid for the NXT UK women’s title to Ripley, and then defeating her to gain it. They continued to be rivals on NXT U.S., until Ripley’s call-up to Raw. NXT’s iteration of Storm was a snarky heel who dominated in the ring with a technically gifted and punishing moveset.
However, upon coming to the “blue brand” she was rebranded as a babyface in the Liv Morgan mold, edgy but ebullient, and referred to as a “child of the 80s” for her glam metal-inspired ring gear. She has been featured rarely and sporadically on SmackDown, despite her prodigious in-ring talent and background as a champion in NXT UK and Stardom. Her first appearance, on July 23, was a victory over Zelina Vega, whom she later lost to in October 2021 in the Queen’s Crown tournament, missing out on the honor of being WWE’s first “Queen of the Ring.” On November 12’s SmackDown, she challenged Charlotte Flair for her SmackDown women’s thampionship, but was rebuffed, Flair remains laser-focused on long-time rival Becky Lynch, whom she will face at Survivor Series in a champion vs. champion match.
Storm is no stranger to Survivor Series, having been a member of Ripley’s NXT women’s Survivor Series team at 2019’s event. She was eliminated by Sasha Banks and Natalya. This time around, Storm is joined by SmackDown teammates Banks, Natalya, Shayna Baszler, and Shotzi Blackheart. Hopefully, her contributions at Survivor Series 2021 on November 21 give her time on SmackDown a second wind.
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