Coffey Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 "Cowboy" James Storm has been in TNA Wrestling since the first PPV. He was the best part of two tag teams (America's Most Wanted & Beer Money) neither of which sucked. He's a homegrown TNA talent, not a "WWE reject". He's charismatic, funny and not a bad wrestler. He's also a pretty good promo. If there was anyone on that roster that I would try to build the company around, it is probably him. Honestly, I figured WWE would have scooped him up quite some time ago. Although I still think Bobby Roode should have won the World Title on Sunday from Kurt Angle after all of that build-up, last night James Storm won the title. The show was not good, especially after that forty minute opening "promo" JUST WOULD NOT END. Plus, Storm won the title in like a two or three minutes match, doing nothing but a Superkick (I assume because Angle is fucked up and can't work due to injuries). Nevertheless, Storm deserves it and I'm glad, as of right now, that he's the top guy. Video: (this deserves its own thread) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovert Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Ends justifies the means to a certain degree here. Wasnt happy over the booking the past week but as a standalone moment the post match was fantastic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCampbell Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 This makes Storm the first person to have held the TNA World Title, TNA Tag Titles, and the Beer Drinking Title. I've always been a fan of the guy and I'm generally happy that he won, but the big celebration made it seem like he won some epic match. It was all of one minute long and all Storm did was the Last Call. Sidenote: Is Angle clean now? His arms don't look that much bigger than mine!@ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Kind of the "win" that I expected when clicking on the link: Angle kicks the living shit out of him (despite looking like a shell of himself), then turns around to deal with an annoying ref, and eats a Super Kick. I'm not sure is anything spells out "You Really Aren't Champ Worthy" than stuff like that. Post match was a strange DDP/Stone Cold/Sandman thingy. At first it seemed like a more genuine / less contrived version of DDP's go into the crowd, as he seeks out the sign. But then he pretty much zones out on the fans, ignores the various fans who want to high five him on the way back to the ring... and I'm back in the DDP Zone... except DDP would often at least fake that he gave a shit about the fans who gave enough of a shit about him to want to high five him. Beer splashing in the ring... eh. Not saying the whole thing sucked post match. It's better than a lot of fake emotional celebrations. But it wasn't off the charts. Match, though, pretty much sucked rocks. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 I feel like Storm is a much better choice than Roode is for the championship. He's a better promo, I think a slightly better inring guy and I tend to think the fans want to root for or against Storm where they're more lukewarm to Roode. I think if they're serious about turning the product around that he's the right guy to have the belt on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Sidenote: Is Angle clean now? His arms don't look that much bigger than mine!@ Actually, his arms have been in a fairly visible state of atrophy since his last year in the WWE or so. I think it's more, his neck is that fucked up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 I feel like Storm is a much better choice than Roode is for the championship. He's a better promo, I think a slightly better inring guy and I tend to think the fans want to root for or against Storm where they're more lukewarm to Roode. I think if they're serious about turning the product around that he's the right guy to have the belt on.This is pretty much exactly how I feel too. I don't dislike Roode, Storm is just.. better. At everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 I like Roode. I just don't see him as a world title guy, I never have. Storm was a guy that was considered to be second best to Chris Harris in AMW and has really proven everyone wrong. Who would've thought that Harris would be unemployed in 2011 and Storm would be World Champion. To me, Storm just makes you care. You want to cheer the guy when he's a face and you want to boo him as a heel. Looking back, I think his big breakout moment in TNA was the Dudley Boys funeral in 2005. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4JFxOYvLWo This was the first time I looked at Storm and saw someone that had the charisma to be a top star for the company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovert Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 I like Roode. I just don't see him as a world title guy, I never have. Storm was a guy that was considered to be second best to Chris Harris in AMW and has really proven everyone wrong. Who would've thought that Harris would be unemployed in 2011 and Storm would be World Champion. To me, Storm just makes you care. You want to cheer the guy when he's a face and you want to boo him as a heel. Looking back, I think his big breakout moment in TNA was the Dudley Boys funeral in 2005. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4JFxOYvLWo This was the first time I looked at Storm and saw someone that had the charisma to be a top star for the company. Remember when Chris Harris was the star of AMW? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 There's a potentially great story here with Storm, Roode and Fortune........I hope for the company's sake they don't drop the ball on it like they do with most angles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted October 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 Dixie Carter on Twitter said this was the most watched show in Impact Wrestling history, so I'm curious to see the numbers and the breakdown. Two million viewers on Thursday's IMPACT WRESTLING on SpikeTV - our most watched episode ever!!! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! http://twitter.com/#!/TNADixie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted October 21, 2011 Report Share Posted October 21, 2011 So over/under how many weeks till Storm drops the title to Hogan? I say 6. In all seriousness, I'm happy for Storm but I think his gimmick will hold him back unless he goes heel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jingus Posted October 22, 2011 Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 This one is really bizarre for me personally, because I knew James back before he got famous and worked with him on several occasions. (I've still got a VHS copy of him giving me the most hilariously ginger superkick which didn't even touch me.) So this is the first time that a guy I've known has managed to go far enough to be the world champ in an established nationally-televised federation. I've still got vivid memories of this dude bumping in the pouring rain at a free show in a used car lot, taking hiptosses from Prince Justice into a huge puddle of water in the middle of the ring. Storm always had talent, and it's worth your while to track down some footage of Bert Prentice's USA television from around 2001. Storm gets to work the oddest array of people on those shows; one week it's some flippy Wildside guy, next week it's fat old Tommy Rich. His feud against Rick Michaels was especially cool, including a couple of bumps off that balcony where PG-13 famously did that one hanging angle that was in all the old RFVideo highlight packages. But still, going from that to "and then I pin Kurt Angle for the world title" is a pretty big leap. They haven't ever really tried to seriously push Storm as a singles act before, it often seemed like his various partners were always planned to be the real stars. And with the current Vietnam-level clusterfuck that is the creative team in TNA, who the hell knows where this is going. I guess the most important question is... is the TNA belt important enough that this means anything? Where do you draw the line between legitimate national competitor and jumped-up superindy fed with the world's biggest money marks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted October 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 So over/under how many weeks till Storm drops the title to Hogan?This isn't how over/under works.. You have to give a number, ideally one where it is hard to choose which side. That number needs to not be a whole number, so that there aren't any push. C'mon, man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCampbell Posted October 22, 2011 Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 Dixie Carter on Twitter said this was the most watched show in Impact Wrestling history, so I'm curious to see the numbers and the breakdown. Two million viewers on Thursday's IMPACT WRESTLING on SpikeTV - our most watched episode ever!!! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!! http://twitter.com/#!/TNADixie James Storm = Ratings! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffey Posted October 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 James Storm = Ratings!Unfortunately, the quarter ratings didn't show that. The opening promo, for the first half hour, got a 1.38. The final 15 minutes with the title change got a 1.29 (lowest rating of the show). The end of the first hour got a 1.42 which was the highest of the show.. and was Gunner Vs. Abyss and the Velvey Sky slop. *sigh* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomk Posted October 22, 2011 Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 Storm was a guy that was considered to be second best to Chris Harris in AMW and has really proven everyone wrong. Who would've thought that Harris would be unemployed in 2011 and Storm would be World Champion. At what point was Harris considered to be the worker of that team? He was taller and worked a looser WWE Edge-like style that people thought might work out for him, but he was always clearly the weaker link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cm funk Posted October 22, 2011 Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 I was on markier boards back during the early TNA days, but I recall everybody thought Harris was the one who'd have the singles career. Better body, flashier moves.....and TNA felt the same way because they teased a big push a lot and protected him more than Storm. In hindsight it's clear he needed that protection and had a lot of limitations.....but most people didn't notice that at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomk Posted October 22, 2011 Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 Odd, I just put up three things I wrote in 02-where I described Harris as mediocre getting better while Storm was pretty great. The early Russo period of TNA (including the period where Russo was secretly booking), they ran an angle where Harris and Storm teased dissention. Harris was the cool guy who pretended to smoke cigarettes (he didn't inhale) who told Storm to dump his corny cowboy gimmick. Harris was pushed as the future star cause Russo thought cowboy gimmicks were corny and old school or something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeCampbell Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Harris wore the trenchcoat, came out with the shades, and used the spear as a finisher. I remember way back, on TSM, he was called "Redneck Edge" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad Dog Posted October 23, 2011 Report Share Posted October 23, 2011 Storm was a guy that was considered to be second best to Chris Harris in AMW and has really proven everyone wrong. Who would've thought that Harris would be unemployed in 2011 and Storm would be World Champion. At what point was Harris considered to be the worker of that team? He was taller and worked a looser WWE Edge-like style that people thought might work out for him, but he was always clearly the weaker link. I remember the general sentiment was he was better until the heel turn in 2005. I always thought he would go further because Storm really lacked personality until that heel turn. Like I said, the funeral segment I posted earlier is really where I saw Storm in a completely different light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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