James Storm had quite the run in TNA Wrestling.
The 47-year-old was one of the original homegrown talents who helped build the company in the early 2000’s. Storm made an impact with Chris Harris and Gail Kim as America’s Most Wanted. He made an impact with Bobby Roode as Beer Money.
However, the “Cowboy” always showcased flashes of potential as a singles star and Storm finally got that opportunity in 2011. James Storm fought Kurt Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on Impact and beat the Olympic Gold Medalist! Sadly, Storm’s title run didn’t last long as he dropped it to his former Beer Money partner eight days later, but that moment of Storm winning the belt and celebrating with fans was certain one of the most memorable ones in the company’s history.
The former TNA star sat down with Chris Van Vliet and talked about his career including winning the TNA World title, a moment that he dubbed as “really cool”. Storm explained when he was told that he was winning the belt and his emotions before and after the match.
“It was great. A lot of the stuff leading up to it kind of went off course or whatever. Because I beat him, and then the next week I lost it to Bobby, which is fine, because Bobby was going on this big heel run, and then I was supposed to beat him in Arizona in a hardcore match that we were having as well. So the night before he wrestles Kurt and loses, and they didn’t tell him until that day, I believe. They didn’t tell him that Kurt was going to keep the belt, and they didn’t tell me that I was winning the belt until about an hour before we were supposed to go out. So I had this huge match planned with Kurt. It was really cool, because he believed in me enough to put a match together, which was really cool. This is awesome.
Then about an hour he came to me and goes, ‘Hey, man. My hamstring is messed up really bad. I can’t really…’ I was like, ‘Hey, man, no problem, we take it easy.’ He goes, ‘How about we do this instead? How about I go out there and just beat you up for a little bit? Then you kick me out of nowhere, and then you take the rest of the time to do you. You’ve earned this spot to go out and celebrate.
You do whatever you want to do.’ So when I beat him, I roll over, and I said, thank you very much. He said, ‘Quit laying there, get up and celebrate.’ Yes, sir. So, I mean, it was really cool. I did a lot of driving with him and stuff, and just learned stuff from him. I always say I’ve been very fortunate, because I’ve been able to learn from Dusty Rhodes, Curt Hennig and Kurt Angle.”
Check out the full interview where Storm talked about why he turned down a deal with WWE/NXT, how him kayfabe pushing Mickie James in front of a train almost got him arrested, and so much more!