Today, TNA Wrestling legend “The Cowboy” James Storm sat down with four-time Emmy-winning host Chris Van Vliet for a candid and entertaining episode of Insight with Chris Van Vliet. The two longtime friends covered a wide range of topics, diving into some of the most talked-about moments from Storm’s career — including the infamous Blindfold Steel Cage Match and the unforgettable train segment with Mickie James. Storm also opened up about his brief run in WWE NXT in 2015, where he shocked fans with a surprise debut on the October 21st episode, picking up a win over Danny Burch before making his final appearance on December 2nd with a victory over Adam Rose. One of the most exciting revelations from the conversation was Storm’s transition into acting, and his latest project with Van Vliet — a brand new short film titled Worst Man. The film, which recently wrapped production, features both Storm and Van Vliet alongside former Disney Channel star Jason Earles, known for his roles in Hannah Montana and Kickin’ It. With a fall film festival release on the horizon, Worst Man promises to be a must-watch for wrestling and film fans alike.
Here is a snippet of their interview courtesy of Chrisvanvliet.com:
On whether it is difficult paying his dues in another industry:
“Yeah, in a way it is, but also I had to learn to dumb it down a lot, especially in acting. Because in wrestling, you got to be loud and you got to make sure the people in the back row hear you, and that’s who you’re catering to. Whereas acting, you just have the camera and you have a microphone on you, so I had to be sure to reel it in a whole lot and just kind of tone it down.”
On how acting differs to cutting a wrestling promo:
“The funny thing is in wrestling, I’m “The Cowboy” James Storm, so it’s okay to have the southern accent and everything. Whereas in the movies, I’ve had to take dialect classes to kind of tone down the southern accent. But I’m learning now that a lot of these directors and movie people are going toward at least one character in their film with a southern accent, because it’s so desirable now, which is good for me.”
On his love of acting:
“I really wanted to find something that gives me that same adrenaline rush. Being in front of the camera, in front of five to ten thousand people to me now it’s the same as when I’m in front of five or ten people in a room. As soon as that director says action, it’s just something about being in front of that camera and that adrenaline rush. I think that’s what hurts a lot of wrestlers when they want to get out of wrestling, is they can’t find that thing that fills that desire of that adrenaline rush, because it is one of the craziest things ever. I tell people it’s a drug. Once you experience it, especially at a high level, it’s hard just to go to a nine-to-five job. It’s almost impossible.”
On the blindfold steel cage match:
“Oh, man, me and Chris were in this big feud. I was supposed to have put his eye out and everything. So they’re like to even the field, you should have to see like he does, and be in a blindfold match. This isn’t 80s no more. That match is so hard to pull off, especially in those times, even today. I was just like all right, well if that’s what you want to do. Then I was like, Wait, this is inside of an electrified cage too? There’s so many gimmicks going on in here. But thank God the cage wasn’t on when we did it. But it wasn’t until like 30 minutes before our match started that they realized that they didn’t have the blindfolds, so they ran to somewhere and just got two black bags and just put them over our heads that didn’t have draw strings or anything, so they keep falling off. There’s a point in the match when I look at Chris and I said, ‘No, to hell with this, we’re taking it home.’ He’s like, really? I was like, yep. I think it was the beer bottle and for the finish or whatever. I was like, we’re going home. I got to the back, and to his credit, Vince Russo, he was standing right there, he knew it too, and I just lit into him. He goes, ‘I am so sorry, blah, blah, blah. I understand if you want to punch me.’ I said, ‘Oh, I’m not going to punch you. I want to.’ He goes, ‘To make it up, I’ll let you do any match that you want to do.’ And then that’s when we did the Texas death match.”
On why never signed with WWE:
“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, you give a man motivation, he’ll work his ass off if. 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. 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, Canon 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.’”
Was that a tough decision?
“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.”
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