TSM Profile: James Storm

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I like the idea of discussing a wrestler each week. It's a neat idea to give us something to focus on in between Impacts and ppvs. It's fitting...The WWE (folder) did it first...and TNA (folder) is ripping it off...

 

For week 1 we're going with a guy who has been on the roster from day 1:

 

James Storm

 

 

Name: "Cowboy" James Storm

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 245

Age: 30

TNA Debut: June 19, 2002

Accomplishments: 7x NWA World Tag Team Champion

 

 

Background: One of a handful of people that have remained with TNA from the first ever show until today. With partner Chris Harris formed the most successful tag team in TNA history, America's Most Wanted. Since the breakup of AMW Storm has gone back and forth between comedy midcarder and serious midcarder.

 

 

Points for Discussion: Does James Storm have the ability to break through as a singles wrestler...or was the end of AMW the end of Storm's usefulness? Is his drunken cowboy gimmick too lower midcard for him to be take seriously? Favorite Match? Should the fact that Storm is one of the few guys who has been in the company since its inception dictate a bigger role in the present company?

[Steviekick 0]

I think that Storm is a useful enough guy for TNA to keep around. He's not awful in the ring and seems to get a genuine fan reaction. The drunken redneck gimmick works with him. They just need to figure out how to balance him drinking constantly and him being looked at as a serious competitor.

 

With guys like Storm hanging around doing nothing, TNA really needs a secondary to keep guys like him busy.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Random videos:

 

 

 

Storm vs. Harris highlights

[Jingus 0]

I think Storm's thick southern accent will keep him from ever being a world champion. Jarrett sounds like a bonafide Yankee compared to Storm. But he's a perfectly competent old-fashioned brawler type and does decent midcard comedy too.

 

I also wish I had a way to upload video footage online, because I've got a hilarious tape of James performing the most pathetic "superkick" in the history of wrestling on me. I'd seen him knock people's heads off with that damn kick, so when it was coming at me I put my hands up to help cushion the blow... and his foot slowly tapped me on the belly button.

[cd213 0]

I think that Storm is a useful enough guy for TNA to keep around. He's not awful in the ring and seems to get a genuine fan reaction. The drunken redneck gimmick works with him. They just need to figure out how to balance him drinking constantly and him being looked at as a serious competitor.

 

With guys like Storm hanging around doing nothing, TNA really needs a secondary to keep guys like him busy.

 

I couldn't have said it better myself. As someone that has been watching since the first weekly PPV, it's great to see him still around and making a name for himself. He would be the first person I would give a secondary title to. A feud between he and newly single Tomko would be great (that might just be because I'm a HUGE mark for both of them).

[Steviekick 0]

Storm/Tomko would be a fun feud.

[Mecha Mummy 0]

Honestly, I'm glad James Storm is still around and successful enough. He's a solid worker who has pretty much taken everything TNA's given to him and made it work, from the original goofy happy-go-lucky cowboy character he had (I really did enjoy early Harris and Storm when Harris was the straight man and Storm was comic relief; they were an example of the "tag partners who clash as characters but work as a team well" routine that actually WORKED), to the serious, straight-laced tag team wrestler he was when AMW became the focus of the tag division in '03, to the drunken cowboy thing he does now. I doubt he'll ever headline, but he's a solid worker with good charisma who can easily work in either an uppercard, more serious role or lowercard comedy and not feel forced into either position. It's cool to see a guy who's been around since day one, really does feel like an out and out TNA guy, and is still doing well for himself.

[Toxxic 0]

Storm's OK in the ring, and I rather like the character. I think they've been able to hit the balance a few times and show that Storm can either be a violent drunk or an incompetent drunk, and it depends on how much he's drunk. But he has a good look, good entrance music, a couple of amusing shirts ('Save Water, Drink Beer' made me laugh), and there's been enough nastiness in his history to off-set the occasional comedy. He is a walking, talking, drinking example of why TNA needs an Intercontinental equivalent.

[luke-o 0]

I'm not sure how people could debate the fact that a drunken red neck could be a World champion when Stone Cold Steve Austin was at one time the biggest thing in wrestling. Having said that, he did have the charimsa to carry it, not saying that Storm doesn't have charisma.

 

I'm a fan of Storm and would like to see him pushed as top contender. But a TV title could do him the world of good as well as other wrestlers on the card.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

Storms drunken gimmick and Austin drinking beer are completely different.

 

 

Also, I like Storm and he looked like a major player after destroying Sting a couple of weeks back with the beer bottle during the face celebration and then being revealed as the fifth member of Team Tomko. I wasn't really into his match with Sting from this weeks Impact, though.

 

I think he can be a solid uppercard heel, especially with the Lethal Lockdown and possible feud with Sting...but I think it will take awhile for people to forget his 6 or so month feud with Eric Young over a title that doesn't exist.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I think Toxxic made a good point about Storm being able to pull off believable low card comedy and mid card seriousness.

 

And you're right that it will take time to shake off the drinking championship lunacy...

 

Do you think that, if they kept to a more serious character, Storm could handle a bigger push. Perhaps playing off of the fact that only he and AJ are active wrestlers that have been in the company from day 1? I kind of liked when Roode was pissed that Booker T was getting attention when he'd been there a lot longer (which they then dropped to focus on Roode being an asshole)...and Storm's a natural for that kind of story since he's probably the best example of a "TNA original" on the roster.

 

When I think TNA I still pretty much think AJ Styles (but I had seen him prior to TNA in RoH and WWA ppv). Storm I had never heard of and quite literally watched him become a star in TNA. And when you go back to the first years of TNA, AMW was just behind, or up there with, AJ and JJ as the faces of the company.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

The problem I have with Storm's potential push is when he was with AMW he was always seen as the secondary character of the team. Remember Harris was receiving a title push at one point when Storm was out, but Storm never got that chance on his own. It's like people thinking Jeff Hardy is a World title contender in the WWE whereas when Matt Hardy's name is mentioned it's met with "ehhh...."