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The first match announced for WWE's upcoming NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff was Toni Storm defending her NXT UK Women's Title against Kay Lee Ray. This would be Storm's second UK TakeOver after she won the title from Rhea Rhipley during the first.
However, this match, which is scheduled for August 31st, was thrown into doubt recently when rumors surfaced online that Storm had picked up an injury, with no one really knowing what the deal was or how it affected Storm or the NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff match.
This all started when Storm had to pull out of a scheduled appearance for independent promotion wXw at the last minute, with no real explanation given for why at the time. Later, Dave Meltzer of f4wonline would report that she was injured.
However, I was able to chat with Toni Storm this week and ask her about why she pulled out of the wXw show. We also discussed whether or not she was injured as well as what her status actually was for the TakeOver: Cardiff match. Here's what she said,
Well basically, I'm traveling a lot, I'm working a lot, I'm doing a lot of shows. Obviously, I'm going to be okay for TakeOver. I just had to cancel a few bookings to prevent injury because sometimes you just get to a point and after ten years, my body starts to, kind of, fail me a little bit.
As you can see, Storm pulled out of the wXw show as a precaution, but would be absolutely fine for TakeOver: Cardiff. Despite the rigorous schedule taking its toll on her, she went on to add:
"But yeah, I did have a little bit of an issue with my shoulder and I just needed to take a break because there's so much at stake. I'm going into the biggest match of my career so far. My biggest title defense since being champion. So, I just have to actually take care of myself for a few weeks leading into this. I can't take any risks at the moment because what we do to our bodies can be so dangerous, so I'm basically just getting myself in proper condition because there's so much at stake."
As you can see Storm confirmed that she did have a nagging shoulder injury, but again she would be fine and just wanted to make sure she did everything she could to be fully fit for her big title match.
