| James Storm | |
|---|---|
| Ring name(s) | James Storm |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 230 lb (100 kg)[1] |
| Born | June 1, 1977 [2] Franklin, Tennessee[3] |
| Resides | Thompson's Station, Tennessee[4] |
| Billed from | Leiper's Fork, Tennessee[1] |
| Trained by | Kelly Wolfe[3][5] Jerry Jarrett[5] Shane Morton[6] |
| Debut | 1997[3] |
James Allen Cox[2][4] (born June 1, 1977) is an American professional wrestler who competes under the ring name "The Cowboy" James Storm. Since 2002, Storm has been employed by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he, along with A.J. Styles and Jeff Jarrett, is one of three wrestlers to have worked continuously for the promotion since its first broadcast in June of that year.
Primarily a tag team wrestler, Storm has held 11 tag team championships during his time with TNA, winning the NWA World Tag Team Championship seven times and the TNA World Tag Team Championship four times, as a member of the tag teams America's Most Wanted, alongside "Wildcat" Chris Harris, and Beer Money, Inc., alongside Bobby Roode. In October 2011, Storm achieved his first major singles accomplishment in TNA, when he defeated Kurt Angle to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
Contents |
James Cox was an amateur wrestler while in high school. In addition, he was a talented basketball player, and was awarded a scholarship to Austin Peay State University (which he was forced to relinquish after injuring his shoulder).
Cox's professional wrestling career began when he was trained by Kelly Wolfe, a veteran tag team wrestler, in 1995. His training was hampered by a broken shoulder, and Cox eventually dropped out of Slash's training school. He resumed training with Shane Morton after his shoulder had healed.
Cox toured the south-east independent circuit before being signed to a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) developmental deal in 2000. Cox made several appearances for World Championship Wrestling on WCW Worldwide and WCW Saturday Night in 2000 as an enhancement talent, where he assumed the ring name "James Storm". Storm returned to the independent circuit after WCW was sold to the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001.
Storm wrestled his future tag team partner, Chris Harris, on a "Legends Night" show on June 1, 2002. As a result of the match, both wrestlers were hired by the upstart Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion. The pair were expected to wrestle as singles wrestlers, but were instead placed into a tag team. They named themselves "America's Most Wanted" because, according to Storm the name was a reference to his "little trouble with the law".
Storm appeared on the inaugural TNA pay-per-view on June 19, 2002, and the team wrestled for the first time on the second ever TNA pay-per-view on June 26, 2002. The team quickly became mainstays of the promotion, and teamed regularly over the next few years. Splits were teased in early 2003 and again in 2004, but nothing came of them.
Storm, along with Harris, turned heel in late-2005 by helping Jeff Jarrett defeat Raven for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. They went on to join Jarrett's Army, acquiring the managerial skills of Gail Kim in the process. Storm's penchant for wearing cowboy hats resulted in the team being often jeered as "Brokeback Mountain", a reference to the movie about homosexual cowboys, during their heel run. In mid 2006, they would again tease their split due to miscommunication during their matches, most notably when Harris accidentally hit Storm with a garbage can during a No Disqualification match against Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon). During their run as a team, the duo won the NWA World Tag Team Championship six times.
On the December 14, 2006 edition of Impact!, the team came to an end after a feud ending match with The Latin American Xchange (Homicide and Hernandez) when Storm hit Harris with a beer bottle "blinding" Harris's right eye. Storm would go on to feud with Petey Williams before turning on Gail Kim and aligning himself with the returning Jacqueline Moore. He then went on a huge winning streak winning the majority of his matches over Petey Williams, Eric Young and even his own former partner Harris in his return match among several others. At the Sacrifice pay-per view, Storm was defeated by his former tag team partner Harris in a Texas Death Match, which ended his long running winning streak. The two faced off again in a King of the Mountain qualifying match where both men hit each other with weapons and caused each other to bleed from the head. Harris would spear Storm through the tunnel wall which would give the referee no other choice but to count both of them out.
After this, he teamed with Robert Roode to defeat Eric Young and Rhino. He and Jacqueline would celebrate a tag team victory against Rhino by pouring beer into his mouth, which set off Rhino due to the instant reminder of a history of alcohol abuse that he overcame, thus sparking a feud between them. As the weeks continued, Storm would mockingly taunt Rhino about "knowing he likes alcohol" every chance he got, and continue to try and pour beer in Rhino's mouth any time he defeated him. Storm was able to defeat Rhino at the Victory Road 2007 after hitting Rhino with a beer bottle. Their feud continued with Storm again defeating Rhino in a Bar Room Brawl at Hard Justice. For several weeks, Storm would be included in vignettes where he would try to find Rhino at local bars. Rhino then challenged Storm to a match at No Surrender. Rhino defeated Storm by pinfall after he gored Storm through a table.
After Rhino was injured, Storm started a feud with Eric Young over who was the better drinker. Young won Storm's World Beer Drinking Championship (a title unrecognised by TNA, actually a WWE Championship toy belt decorated with beer bottles) and held it for two months before losing it back to Storm in a ladder match. Following this Rhino made his return from injury and proceeded to deliver a Gore to Storm, challenging him to an Elevation X match. As the ladder match with Eric Young had demonstrated, Storm has a (kayfabe) fear of heights, a major disadvantage in Elevation-X. After teasing a walk-out Storm did in fact compete in the match and after attempting to hide inside of the scaffold structure, Storm ended up losing the match and falling through a table in the ring below. Following a couple of weeks off to (kayfabe) heal his injuries, Storm returned on the live March 27 episode of Impact! and attacked Sting with a beer bottle. On the April 4 edition of Impact!, Matt Morgan allowed Storm to join Team Tomko making it a five on four match (until Matt Morgan himself joined Team Cage). At Lockdown, Storm, along with Team Tomko lost their match against Team Cage. Storm was then announced as one of the "Egotistical Eight" to participate in the Deuces Wild Tournament, and he would have to team up with a random partner, who was later to be revealed as his bitter rival, Sting. Storm then faced Sting in a "No Disqualification" match that Sting won. At Sacrifice, Sting and Storm lost to Team 3D.
On the June 12 edition of Impact, Storm, alongside Robert Roode, challenged LAX for the TNA World Tag Team Championship.[7] Storm and Roode were successful in winning the match following a Last Call from Storm to Hernandez with a belt wrapped around his boot.[7] Hector Guerrero (LAX's manager), who was at ringside however, informed the referee about what happened and the match was restarted. LAX ended up retaining the titles following a Border Toss from Hernandez to Storm.[7] After the match, Storm, Roode and Jacqueline handcuffed LAX to the ring posts, and then proceeded to whip them with leather belts.[7] The next week on Impact!, LAX challenged Storm and Roode to a Fan's Revenge Match at Victory Road for the titles.[8] The team of Storm and Roode (now known as "Beer Money") lost to The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) in one match and Samoa Joe and Kevin Nash in another match later in the July 3 episode of Impact!. At Victory Road, LAX retained the titles.[9] At Hard Justice, Beer Money defeated LAX after Storm hit Homicide with a beer bottle and won the TNA World Tag Team Championship for the first time individually and as a team.[10] At No Surrender Beer Money, Inc. defeated LAX to retain the titles[11] and two weeks later on Impact! they defeated LAX in a six person tag team match and as a result Hector Guerrero was forced to leave LAX.[12] At Bound for Glory IV, Beer Money, Inc. won the Monster's Ball Match against Matt Morgan and Abyss, Team 3D and LAX to retain the titles. On the January 8 edition of Impact! they lost the titles to Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed, after Lethal cashed in his "Feast or Fired" briefcase.[13] At Genesis Beer Money Inc. won back the TNA World Tag Team Championships when James Storm and Robert Roode defeated Matt Morgan and Abyss and Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed in a 3-way match.[14] Beer Money, Inc. faced Creed and Jay Lethal at Against All Odds, after Lethal and Creed won a number one contenders match against Matt Morgan and Abyss. Eventually Beer Money retained the titles after Storm hit the Last Call on Lethal.[15] At Lockdown 2009, Beer Money lost the TNA Tag Team titles to Team 3D in a Philadelphia Street Fight, where Team 3D's IWGP Tag Team Titles were also on the line.
On May 15, 2009, Jeremy Borash announced that Cox had signed a new multi year deal with TNA the previous day.[16]
In May 2009 Beer Money entered the Team 3D Invitational Tag Team Tournament, during which they turned face. At Sacrifice Beer Money defeated The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams) to win the tournament and earn the right to challenge Team 3D for the TNA World Tag Team Titles.[17] At Slammiversary Beer Money defeated Team 3D to win the TNA World Tag Team Titles for the third time. The following month at Victory Road, Beer Money lost the titles to Booker T and Scott Steiner of The Main Event Mafia. The two teams would see their feud intervene with that of Team 3D and The British Invasion, causing a 4-way war that would last the next 3 months. Beer Money would go on to lose to the British Invasion in an IWGP Tag Team Championship match at Hard Justice,[18] win a Lethal Lockdown match at No Surrender (teaming with Team 3D against MEM and the Invasion),[19] and lose a 4-way Full Metal Mayhem match at Bound for Glory for both the TNA and IWGP Tag Team Championships, with Team 3D winning the IWGP belts and the British Invasion the TNA belts.[20] Beer Money were permitted one last title shot the following Impact!, where they fought the British Invasion in a Six Sides of Steel match. Brutus Magnus would have his team disqualified by punching the referee, causing him and Doug Williams to retain the championships.[21] On the November 12 edition of Impact! Beer Money defeated the British Invasion in a non-title match to join the Motor City Machineguns in the Tag Team Title match at Turning Point.[22] At the Pay-Per-View The British Invasion managed to retain their titles after Kevin Nash nailed Storm with the TNA Global Championship belt.[23] At Genesis Storm and Roode scored an upset victory over The Band of Kevin Nash and Syxx-Pac.[24]
With Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff taking over TNA at the beginning of 2010, Beer Money's TV time was significantly reduced.[25] Upon their return to Impact!, Beer Money turned heel on the March 8 edition of Impact! by first volunteering to face Jeff Jarrett in a handicap match and then defeating him after a low blow and the DWI, claiming it was the only way they were going to get noticed by the new management.[26] Storm and Roode have since acted as Bischoff's henchmen, taking on wrestlers he's had problems with, often in two-on-one situations.[27][28] At Destination X Beer Money challenged Matt Morgan and Hernandez for the TNA World Tag Team Championship, but were unable to dethrone the defending champions.[29] At Lockdown Beer Money, along with Sting and Desmond Wolfe, represented Team Flair in the annual Lethal Lockdown match, where they were defeated by Team Hogan (Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy).[30] They then started a feud with the newly formed team of Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson, known collectively as The Enigmatic Assholes, who would go on to defeat them at Slammiversary VIII.[31] On the following edition of Impact! Ric Flair, who had aligned himself with Storm, Roode, A.J. Styles, Desmond Wolfe and Kazarian, announced that he would reform the Four Horsemen under the new name Fourtune, stating that each of them would have to earn their spots in the group and that in order for Storm and Roode to earn their spots, they needed to become the Ole Anderson and Tully Blanchard of the group.[32][33] After the TNA World Tag Team Championship was vacated in June, Beer Money entered a four–team, two–week long tournament to decide who would get to face The Motor City Machine Guns for the titles at Victory Road. Beer Money advanced to the title match at the pay-per-view by defeating Team 3D and Ink Inc. (Jesse Neal and Shannon Moore).[33][34] At Victory Road Beer Money was defeated by the Motor City Machine Guns in the match for the World Tag Team Championship.[35] After Victory Road Beer Money entered a Best of Five Series with the Motor City Machine Guns, contested for the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Beer Money won the first two matches, a ladder match and a Street Fight, after knocking their opponents out with beer bottles.[36][37] On the July 29 edition of Impact!, Ric Flair announced that Storm and Roode, who were just one victory away from becoming four–time TNA World Tag Team Champions, had earned the right to join himself, Styles and Kazarian to become the final two members of Fourtune.[38][39] However, Shelley and Sabin came back to win the two following matches in the Best of Five Series, a steel cage match and an Ultimate X match, to even the score to 2–2 and set up a deciding match for the August 12 edition of Impact!.[39][40] On the August 12 edition of Impact! Beer Money, Inc. was defeated in a Two Out of Three Falls match and as a result lost the Best of Five Series 2–3.[41] Later that night Douglas Williams and Matt Morgan were added to Fourtune, as the stable attacked EV 2.0, a stable consisting of former Extreme Championship Wrestling performers.[41] In the weeks leading to Bound for Glory, the stable's name was tweaked to Fortune to represent the expansion in the number of members in the group.[42][43] At Bound for Glory Storm, Roode, Styles, Kazarian and Morgan were defeated in a Lethal Lockdown match by EV 2.0 members Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Rhino, Sabu and Stevie Richards.[44] On the following edition of Impact! Fortune formed an alliance with Hulk Hogan's and Eric Bischoff's new stable, Immortal.[45] At Turning Point Fortune defeated EV 2.0 in a ten man tag team match and, as a result, EV 2.0's Sabu was released from TNA.[46] The following month at Final Resolution, Storm and Roode returned to the TNA World Tag Team Championship picture by defeating Ink Inc. in a number one contender's match.[47] On January 9, 2011, at Genesis, Beer Money, Inc. defeated the Motor City Machine Guns to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship for the fourth time.[48]
On January 31 at the tapings of the February 3 edition of Impact!, Fortune turned face by attacking Immortal, when they interfered in a TNA World Heavyweight Championship match between Mr. Anderson and Jeff Hardy.[49][50] Ric Flair, who did not take part in Fortune's turn due being out with a torn rotator cuff, returned at the February 14 tapings of the February 17 edition of Impact!, turning on Fortune and jumping to Immortal.[51][52] On April 17 at Lockdown, Storm, Roode, Kazarian and Christopher Daniels, who replaced an injured A.J. Styles, defeated Immortal representatives Ric Flair, Abyss, Bully Ray and Matt Hardy in a Lethal Lockdown match.[53] The following month at Sacrifice, Beer Money, Inc. successfully defended the TNA World Tag Team Championship against Immortal representatives Matt Hardy and Chris Harris, who had made his surprise return to TNA on the previous edition of Impact!.[54] On the following edition of Impact Wrestling, Immortal assaulted Roode, sidelining him with a storyline shoulder injury.[55] Two weeks later, Eric Bischoff attempted to strip Beer Money, Inc. of their TNA World Tag Team Championship due to Roode's injury, but was interrupted by the champions' former rival Alex Shelley, who agreed to take Roode's spot in the title defense against the British Invasion at Slammiversary IX.[56] At the pay-per-view, Storm and Shelley were successful in their title defense.[57] Roode made his in-ring return on the June 23 edition of Impact Wrestling, in a tag team match, where he and Storm were defeated by Crimson and Matt Morgan.[58] On July 13, Beer Money, Inc. became the longest reigning TNA World Tag Team Champions in the title's history, breaking the previous record of 184 days set by A.J. Styles and Tomko in 2007. On August 7 at Hardcore Justice, Beer Money, Inc. successfully defended the TNA World Tag Team Championship against Mexican America (Anarquia and Hernandez).[59] Two days later, at the tapings of the August 18 edition of Impact Wrestling, Mexican America defeated Beer Money, Inc. in a rematch, following interference from Jeff Jarrett, to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship, ending Storm's and Roode's record-setting reign at 212 days.[60][61]
From June to September, Storm was one of the twelve participants in the Bound for Glory Series to determine the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. When the group stage of the tournament concluded, Storm finished in the top four and thus advanced to the finals at No Surrender along with Robert Roode, Bully Ray and Gunner.[62] On September 11 at No Surrender, Storm was disqualified in his match against Bully Ray, eliminating him from the tournament.[63] After Roode, who went on to win the tournament, had failed to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Kurt Angle at Bound for Glory, Storm received his shot at the title and on October 18 at the tapings of the October 20 edition of Impact Wrestling, defeated Angle to become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion.[64][65] Just eight days later, at the tapings of the November 3 edition of Impact Wrestling, Storm lost the title to Bobby Roode, after he used Storm's own beer bottle against him, turning heel in the process and effectively dissolving Beer Money, Inc.[66][67] Storm and Roode had a rematch for the title the following week. As a result of a backstage attack, Storm came in to the match bleeding and eventually lost, after passing out due to blood loss.[68] On the November 17 edition of Impact Wrestling, Storm was attacked by the returning Kurt Angle, who in the process revealed that he had also attacked him prior to the previous week's title match.[69] On December 11 at Final Resolution, Storm defeated Angle in a singles match.[70]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Death from Above | Gunnar |
Cox starred in the 2011 horror film Death from Above, alongside fellow wrestlers Kurt Angle, Sid Eudy, Matt Morgan, Terry Gerin and Jessica Kresa.[71]
Cox has a daughter, born in 2005.[72] He married Dani McEntee on March 30, 2011.[4]
1Championship not officially recognized by TNA Wrestling
