Why Ex-TNA Champion Turned Down Triple H’s WWE Offer
A TNA legend said no to Triple H when WWE wanted to hire him.
James Storm is someone who will always be remembered as one of the greatest TNA wrestlers in the company’s history. During his TNA run, Storm was a former World Champion, although his eight-day title reign was brief, and many fans would have liked to see him hold it for longer.
During his TNA run, the beer-drinking Storm was mainly known as a tag team specialist, having won the TNA and NWA Tag Team Titles a combined 14 times. Storm teamed with Chris Harris as America’s Most Wanted for 7 title reigns, and he teamed up with Bobby Roode as Beer Money for another five title reigns as well.
In October and December 2015, Storm wrestled at WWE NXT tapings when Paul “Triple H” Levesque was running the brand. It was revealed at that time that WWE wanted to sign Storm full-time, but he turned them down, so Storm returned to TNA instead.
During an interview with Insight’s Chris Van Vliet, Storm talked about why he didn’t sign a contract with Triple H’s WWE NXT brand.
“Man, it was a lot. Mostly had to do with my family. Had a little bit to do with money, which is not like they didn’t pay him a lot of money, so he’s not coming. It wasn’t like that at all. They gave me a contract, I went home and I got a call from Regal. He goes, ‘Hey, we definitely want to sign you.’ I was like, Oh, great.
So I was going to sign the contract and all that stuff, and then he asked me, ‘Can you tighten up a little bit? Lose a little weight?’ I was like, Yeah. I busted my ass and I lost 20 pounds. I got in really good shape when I got back down there. Everybody’s like, Oh, my God, you look totally different. Because I always tell people, if you give a man motivation, he’ll work his ass off. So I did it, and then when I got down there, the contract had changed.
They added 25 more dates, but the money didn’t move. I even told him TNA had offered me another contract to come back because they heard about me wanting to sign with WWE. I said, ‘Look, this is what TNA is offering me. I’m not trying to hold this over your head at all, because you don’t have to match this at all. I’m just saying this is what I’m willing to give up to come and work for this, but it has to be right.’
Because my wife, she wanted to have another child at the time, but she had to take the shots and all this stuff, so I was basically kind of giving that up as well, because I was going to be on the road a lot.”
James Storm Said No To WWE’s Triple H Because Of The Money
Since Storm was an established TNA wrestler, he was likely offered more money to remain in TNA rather than go to NXT, which is a place where wrestlers get paid less than WWE main roster stars.
“We came to an agreement, and she was like, ‘Well, if they can just give you this, then you have my blessing to sign.’ Hunter is like, ‘I just can’t do it.’ I was just like, ‘All right, well, I’m sorry, my wife gave me permission not to sign, so I’m going home.’ Three days later, Canyon Ceman called me. He goes, ‘Hey, man. Paul wants to know if he can call you.’
I was like, ‘What? Hunter?’ He goes yeah. I go, ‘He has my phone number. I just talked to him not too long ago.’ He goes, ‘Well, since you’re not signed, we had to go through the proper channels, and I had to make sure, you’re on a recorded line.’ I was like, whatever, yeah, he can call me.
So he called me and I talked and he’s like, ‘Look, you’re not gonna be here long, because Vince loves characters and you know how to work, so you’ll probably be shipped off real quick.’ I was like, ‘Well, can you give what I was asking?’ And like I said, it was not much at all, and he’s like, ‘No, I just don’t have the authority to do that.’ I was like, ‘I’m sorry, man. I’m gonna have to say no.'”
When asked if it was a tough decision, Storm expressed that it was a hard decision for him.
“That was the hardest phone call I think I’ve ever had to get off the phone with a man. Usually I just hang up the phone. I was like, oh, man. Am I making the right decision?
But in hindsight, I didn’t know at the time, but it was the right decision for me and my family at that time, because I was able to have my son that’s eight years old now, and everything. So I can’t imagine what if I would have taken that.”
James Storm didn’t sign with WWE, but he can always claim to have been undefeated in WWE, boasting a 2-0 record.