James Storm Says COVID-19 Pandemic Ruined His WWE Return

Former TNA World Heavyweight Champion James Storm spent the majority of 2019 as a major star for the National Wrestling Alliance, but “The Cowboy’s” contract with the company quietly ended earlier this year. He hasn’t competed inside of a wrestling ring since March, but in a new interview with Pro Wrestling Sheet‘s Ryan Satin he dropped the news that he was supposed to arrive on WWE programming months ago. Storm said the company first reached out to him during Royal Rumble weekend, and he presumed it was to get a Beer Money reunion with Robert Roode on Raw.

“I get home and I see I got an email from Canyon Ceman saying, ‘Hey, we’re interested. Paul Heyman wants me to reach out and bring you to Raw,” Storm said. “I was like, ‘Wait … I think Bobby is going to Raw. Hmmm. This could be interesting.’ Ya know?”

Storm then said the NWA was willing to help get him to WWE by having him drop the NWA World Tag Team Championships (which he still technically holds with Eli Drake) during WrestleMania 36 weekend. Those plans were scrapped when the pandemic canceled every scheduled wrestling event for that week.

“I told them I would work the weekend of WrestleMania shows with Eli [Drake] to drop the NWA belts to whoever they wanted to drop it to,” Storm said. “Just go out on good terms. Good business, ya know? Then that show got cancelled for the NWA, and then it kept snowballing.”

Storm said plans had to keep getting pushed back due to the virus, and at this point he hasn’t spoken with anyone in the WWE since July.

“You just take it and keep rolling,” he said. “It’s not their fault. It’s just how everything is right now.”

Storm previously worked for WWE for a set of NXT tapings in October 2015. However instead of signing a full-time deal with the company, he opted to re-sign with Impact Wrestling.

Check out the full results from Sunday’s Clash of Champions pay-per-view in this list below. WWE will return to the WWE Network with another pay-per-view event this coming Sunday in NXT TakeOver 31.

• WWE Universal Championship: Roman Reigns def. Jey Uso
• WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre def. Randy Orton (Ambulance Match)
• SmackDown Women’s Championship: Asuka def. Bayley via DQ
• Raw Tag Team Championships: The Street Profits def. Andrade & Angel Garza
• United States Championship: Bobby Lashley def. Apollo Crews
• Raw Women’s Championship: Asuka def. Zelina Vega
• Intercontinental Championship: Sami Zayn def. Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles (Ladder Match)
• (Kickoff) SmackDown Tag Team Championships: Shinsuke Nakamura & Cesaro def. Lucha House Party