James Storm explains why he left TNA/Impact Wrestling.
In 2016, the former TNA World Heavyweight Champion opted to return to the promotion after a very short stint in NXT. However, Storm’s latest tenure with the company didn’t last long as the 43-year-old left Impact in 2018.
During that time, Storm reunited with Robert Roode to form Beer Money, and once Roode left the company then the veteran went through several gimmicks such as the short-lived Death Crew Council with Bram and Eddie Kingston.
By the time 2018 rolled around, Storm had done everything that there was to do in Impact Wrestling, and the “Cowboy” revealed during an interview with Lucha Libre Online that he wanted a fresh start somewhere else (Transcript courtesy of sescoops.com):
“I had been there for 15 years and, I don’t know, I just kind of wanted to do something different, I still love Impact; I still wish nothing but the best for Impact Wrestling, but it was my time to step away from Impact.
Another issue was the fact that management backstage was a mess during his final stint with the company:
“At that time, I didn’t know really who was running the company, you had Dixie, you had the Harris brothers, then you had Anthem out of Canada, then you had Billy Corgan,” said James Storm, “So it was just like, okay, I don’t know who my boss is.”
Storm also stated that he actually wanted to leave a year before his contract was up as he just didn’t feel that the company had any concrete plans for him. Storm has seemingly moved on from TNA/Impact Wrestling as he’s competed in ROH and NWA ever since.