Follow the Buzzards, follow James Storm

http://v2wrestling.com/5/post/2014/09/follow-the-buzzards-follow-james-storm.html


Just over two years ago, I wrote an article about how TNA had successfully created the next big wrestling star in James Storm. At the time I truly believed that the crowd reaction and the way he was booked had made him the breakout star who was going to headline PPVs. (Article here - http://v2journal.com/james-storm-building-a-star.html)

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out like I predicted or more importantly, did it work out for Storm.

In 2011, whilst chasing Roode for the title, Storm was on fire, both creatively and in the ring. Even after his hiatus in early 2012, he returned in June 2012  to end the streak of Crimson to a massive crowd reaction (by the way, what has happened to Crimson?) at Slammiversary. James Storm, headliner had arrived.

But it never happened for James.

He continued to chase Roode and eventually had a critically acclaimed brawl at Bound for Glory with him. But then that was it. Roode stayed at the top table but Storm sunk quickly. His time as a main eventer, which had been brilliantly built up over a whole year, disappeared. A feud with Bad Influence followed, that whilst entertaining, just saw him treading water. The cowboy had been run out of the Main Event Saloon.

2013 continue with pretty much more of the same, wandering aimlessly (creatively). Up until this point, everyone, including Storm if his performances were anything to go by, had become bored of the Cowboy. Sorry, James, about your luck.

Then the cowboy had a shoot out with a Gunner.

In Late 2013, Storm teamed up with Gunner to go into a series of matches for the tag team titles. Although, creatively, this was just something for the two of them to do on television, TNA struck gold. Together, neither man was getting any type of response from the crowd at this point. Together, they started to rediscover some personality in and out of the ring.  Now for the pedants reading this, Storm and Gunner had actually teamed and won the tag belts in June 2013 but then didn’t defend the titles for over 180 days at Octobers Bound for Glory. That’s how irrelevant they had become.

Although it took until the Feast or Fired match before the inevitable rivalry between the two came to a head, the tension and characterisation of the two had been booked solidly. Not brilliantly but just consistently and generally well.

The splitting of these two created two career revitalisations that we have not seen in a long time. The former tag partners put on for what many people (well maybe just me), was the feud of 2014 so far. The series of matches, the smashed beer bottles, the animosity in the feud was the best thing that either had been involved with up till that point. And for me, that includes Storms feud with Roode and his time in Beer Money. He had finally arrived as a heel character that was believable and totally dislikeable. And Gunner was starting to show what he could potentially achieve in the future – a headliner, with the look and in ring skills that could carry a company.

So Storm had reinvented himself as a heel and then went in to a nothing feud with Mr Anderson over drinking I seem to recall. One of the strangest reasons for a feud that comes to mind.

At this point I felt that we had reached Groundhog Day again. Storm had built himself back up and was now back to treading water again. Was this what Storms future held?

Thankfully not.

At last, TNA have managed to do something that WWE hasn’t in years. They have found a gimmick for a wrestler in the midcard, that not only has legs but is also compulsive viewing. James Storms Revolution is playing out exactly how the highly acclaimed Bray Wyatt should have. Now it is unfair to compare the two performers and similarities because they are different enough to both have a place. But there are parallels that need to be looked at.

The raison d’etre for Wyatt was to kidnap his victims, induct them into his cult and rebirth them. So far, all he has managed to do is convert the grand sum of zero people (discounting Harper and Rowan who were there from the start) other than Daniel Bryan for a show and a half. Bray may be charismatic and can deliver an intense promo but as a long arching gimmick, he is pretty useless in his quest.

Now look at Storm. He doesn’t have the random imagery in his promos that Bray does but his character does have a direction and intensity similar to Wyatt. And at least his reason for the revolution is actually working! He has brainwashed/ kidnapped/ reimaged two languishing characters already into something far more interesting than Bray has managed over a much longer timescale.

And in doing so, he has redeveloped his character into something new, interesting and possibly headlining in the future. For all the plaudits that Wyatt was receiving from the audience, Storms performance has gone by largely unnoticed and that is a real shame.

For all of the sins of TNA creative past, they are finally getting Storm right. Yes, he could have been THE babyface of TNA in 2012 but now they have something much better – they have a guy who can take also rans, breathe new life into them and also push himself up to the main event in the meantime. At the moment, there is no better character realisation in mainstream wrestling than the work of Storm.

I thought Storm was done in 2013. I am so glad I was wrong. Although I got my prediction wrong 2 years ago, I am confident that 2015 will be a big year for James Storm. God knows he deserves it.

If you want to get in touch, please email wrestling@v2journal.com, and you can follow us on twitter @v2wrestlingshow

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http://v2wrestling.com/5/post/2014/09/follow-the-buzzards-follow-james-storm.html

Great article and totally agree that Storm is underrated. He was treading water for a long time (too long for a guy of his talent) but now is revitalised and relevant again. His revolution has got to the point now where I actually want him to recruit more guys and there's still plenty of mileage in this gimmick. I'm pleased for Storm and for TNA for getting this one right.

I've been following this with some interest. Looks like it could be building up to another Main Event Mafia vs Aces & Eights type scenario.

Agree that Storm has been following an Eric Young sort of path for a while, having to take whatever he's given and run with it (and to be fair he's done pretty well IMO).

Hopefully this is the start of his rise back to the top. Always liked him as a face character, but he's still very watchable/credible as a heel.