A cassette labeled the “Toni Storm Tapes” was handed to content creator Astrid Pizarro at AEW WrestleDream on Saturday in Orlando, Florida. Storm has been off AEW television since March.
Pizarro said someone handed her a package that read “play me,” and that her tape is labeled one of five.
“I was handed out the tape at WrestleDream by somebody. I opened it, it just said ‘play me.’ Thankfully my dad and my brother have a cassette player, so I was able to play it today,” Pizarro said in a video on X. “I was the only one in my area that got it, and it says one out of five. I don’t know who the other four people are.”
About the Toni Storm Tapes from WrestleDream #aew #WrestleDream pic.twitter.com/MGJu28mgSc
— “The Natural” Astrid Pizarro (@astridpizarro) October 19, 2026
What’s On The Tape
Pizarro transcribed the tape in a thread on X. Renee Paquette narrates and says no one has seen or heard from Storm since March 18, 2026. According to the narration, a brown paper package tied with string, with no return address, arrived at AEW’s office in Jacksonville, Florida, last Wednesday. Inside were five analog cassettes. Paquette says it was long rumored that Storm kept a recording device in her purse and recorded “every conversation, meeting and moment.”
The first tape is labeled “Mundanities.” Its opening track, “Morning Mantra,” has Storm reading backward affirmations, including, “I face the day with resentment and scorn. My mind is a mess, my heart is in shambles and my body is barely holding it together like an overstuffed garbage bag but damn it, I am timeless.”
Other tracks include Storm talking to her 12-year-old cocker spaniel, a “Seminar” track where she tells wrestling students, “Lesson number 4, if you want to make it in this business, you got to get yourself a cool hat,” and a “Cinema” track about her unreleased movie “Toni, Toni, Toni.” Paquette says the final tape is labeled “Death.”
Tony Khan On Toni Storm
Tony Khan was asked about Storm at the WrestleDream media scrum. “I can’t say when or where but I know ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm will be back in AEW,” Khan said,=. He added that she is “looking to get payback for whoever it was that took her out.”
Storm last wrestled at AEW Revolution on March 15, defeating Marina Shafir. She was pulled from her rematch with Shafir on the March 18 Dynamite in Fresno, California, and AEW aired an angle with Storm found laid out in her locker room. Dave Meltzer reported at the time that her absence was not due to an injury, and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter later reported she was expected to be out until 2027.
Storm is a record four-time AEW Women’s World Champion.
Analysis:
The tapes and Khan’s comments at the scrum both point to AEW building toward Storm’s return. With only one of the five tapes public so far, more clues may come out in the coming weeks. AEW has not announced a date for her return.
