Toni Storm Beats Athena to Retain AEW Women's Title at Forbidden Door 2025

Toni Storm beat ROH women's world champion Athena at Forbidden Door on Sunday to retain the AEW Women's World Championship.

Storm won via submission after she forced Athena to tap out following a hard-fought match that pushed them both to their limits.

Storm and Athena were on a collision course since All In last month when they each scored victories that could be considered among the biggest of their career.

"Timeless" Toni put the AEW women's world title on the line against Mercedes Moné at All In, and she was widely viewed as the underdog due to the fact that Moné had yet to lose a singles match in AEW since signing with the company.

Mercedes kicked out of the Storm Zero on multiple occasions, but Storm finally finished her off with a Storm Zero from the top rope to retain the AEW women's world title.

At that same event, Athena outlasted 11 other women to win the women's Casino Gauntlet match, earning her a future shot at the AEW Women's World Championship.

In the weeks that followed All In, Storm became a target for Athena and Billie Starkz, with Athena teasing the cashing in of her title shot several times.

Storm's longtime friend, Alex Windsor, lent some support to Storm in order to even the odds, leading to Athena beating Windsor in a singles match on the July 26 episode of Collision.

Then, four days later on Dynamite, Athena and Starkz defeated Storm and Windsor in a tag team match when Athena pinned Storm.

While Athena could have cashed in her title shot at any time, including when Storm was in a weakened state, she made the honorable decision of giving Toni a heads up and choosing to have her title match at Forbidden Door.

That may have been a mistake on Athena's part, though, as Storm retained the championship and spoiled Athena's title opportunity in the process.