Former TNA Champion explains their decision to move away from WWE NXT.
Wrestling for over two decades now, former TNA World Champion James Storm also made a couple of brief appearances in WWE. A part of the NXT roster in 2015, Storm wrestled two matches there before parting ways.
During a recent interview with Ben Veal on Wrestling Life, he explained his decision to leave NXT.
“Yeah, everybody thinks it’s because of the money and all of this whatever. I’m one of the guys, even Hunter [Triple H] told me, ‘Look, you won’t be here long.’ He goes, ‘Vince [McMahon] loves characters and you’re a character that can work and you’re great on the mic so you won’t be here long at all in NXT.’ Which is fine, I wouldn’t have minded wrestling in NXT, a lot of my friends were there as well because they went to the main roster.
It was something where they sent me the contract first and I ran through it and stuff but when I got down there to talk to them about signing it, the dates had changed. It went to a lot more dates, which it’s fine or whatever, but at the time, me and my wife were trying to have a baby and we had to do all this other stuff or whatever. The dates just wasn’t going to match up and TNA was the way better option because they wasn’t running that many house shows at the time, it was all just TV and pay-per-views.”
He further shared the advice he received from Triple H:
Hunter just told me, he goes, ‘Hey, you know, you never know way down the line, just keep yourself in shape and you never know what can happen.’ It’s just one of those things where I don’t know, I’ve always kept myself in shape. I remember Jim Ross saying on his podcast, he goes, ‘Whenever you get the call, they’re not going to wait for you to get in shape. They want you ready to go.”
H/t Fightful
A part of TNA from 2002 to 2015, he later returned there in 2016 and stayed with them until 2018. Although Storm has made multiple other appearances in different promotions all around the world, he is most vividly remembered by the fans for his Total Nonstop Action Wrestling stint.
The former champion had a few other brief TNA runs in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. He currently wrestles on the Independent circuit.
Gail Kim Breaks Silence On TNA Firing
Recently, reports emerged about TNA firing their veteran star Gail Kim. While it generated negativity from the fans, Gail Kim recently broke her silence on her departure from the promotion.
“Just wanted to say thank you to the fans, friends and especially my peers for all the support you have given me over the last few days. I’ve received such an enormous amount of love and it really has helped process this change for me. More than anything I am grateful for all the years and opportunities I was given to help build something I always dreamed of.
The [Knockouts] division is and will always be my heart and all the women who were a part of it. Thanks to the incredibly hard working and passionate TNA talent & crew that I have had the pleasure of working with. This will not end my passion or my love for wrestling and this is not the end of Gail Kim in the wrestling world. You don’t put in 17 years in one company and stop when you are this passionate. I look forward to sharing my journey and am taking some time for myself and prepare for what’s ahead. Looking forward to the future”
In other news: A former WWE star believes his release from the promotion was a case of “collateral damage”.