“Pro wrestling takes as much from itself as it does from our current cultural moment,” says Katie Stebbins, a Film Magazine author and co-host of the Clean Finish podcast, “but harking back to the golden age of a completely different medium feels like a homage to itself, acknowledging that pro wrestling is uniquely built and elevated and a wholly unique way of telling stories.”
Story development
The storyline, which has unfolded over the past year across AEW’s three-weekly shows, began in earnest as the buildup to All In 2023 saw Storm lose the title. It put her in a vicious circle.In backstage interviews, her character slowly changes: Whereas previously her style was more rock-oriented, now she speaks like a Golden Age Hollywood actress in the twilight years of her career, like Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard (made even funnier by the fact that she’s only 28 years old), and most live interviews end with her rambling loudly and hurling her shoes at unsuspecting colleagues.
This evolved further, so that whenever Toni steps in front of the camera, she is shown in black and white with fake film grain. Now her entrance music sounds like a classic movie overture, she is advertised as “From Stage 7 at Warner Brothers Studios,” her costume has changed to a silk gown, and her in-ring attire is something Ingrid Bergman would wear on the beach. She has a butler. For a while, she even quoted Sunset Boulevard verbatim, saying, “Mr. Khan, I’m ready for my close-up!”, pausing for the camera to zoom quickly before taking down her opponent. And despite being a millennial from New Zealand, Toni speaks about Jayne Mansfield and other Hollywood icons with the kind of transatlantic accent that actresses of the time would have, as if they’d spent time on the front lines with them.
And something closer to this:
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While Stebbins emphasizes that the film’s “playful remix of generic ‘Old Hollywood glamour’ and the specifics of two enduring classics, Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve,” he also points out that these references aren’t required reading for fans: “If they look familiar, great, but if they don’t, it really doesn’t affect your enjoyment.” The film may inspire people to seek out these films for the first time.
Finally, in November 2023, Mariah, a huge Hitomi fan, made an appearance. She claimed backstage that she came to AEW because of Toni and would follow in her footsteps. From here, the story acquired an “All About Eve” angle, with Toni starting to look like Margo, an old-school star of Bette Davis, being chased by Eve, a die-hard Anne Baxter fan. For the next few weeks, Toni ignored Mariah and struggled to get her attention. She finally dressed up as Toni, walked to the ring to Idol’s old theme song, wore her old ring gear, later made her own variation, and beat her to complete the betrayal.
