| Lance Storm | |
|---|---|
Storm in 2001. |
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| Ring name(s) | Lance Storm[1] The Black Mamba Lance T Storm The SWA Kid[2] The Ideal Canadian[1] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[3] |
| Billed weight | 231 lb (105 kg)[3] |
| Born | April 3, 1969 [1] Sarnia, Ontario, Canada[1] |
| Resides | Calgary, Alberta, Canada[1] |
| Billed from | Calgary, Alberta, Canada[3] |
| Trained by | Ed Langley Stu Hart[4] Keith Hart[4] |
| Debut | October 2, 1990[1] |
Lance Timothy Evers[4] (born April 3, 1969) known professionally by his ring name Lance Storm, is a semi-retired Canadian professional wrestler.[1] He is best known for his work in World Wrestling Entertainment, Extreme Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling. He runs a pro wrestling school, Storm Wrestling Academy, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
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Lance Storm was trained by Ed Langley and Brad Young of the Hart Brothers Wrestling Camp in Calgary. There he met fellow student and friend Chris Jericho and would later debut against him in 1990 as Lance T. Storm.[5] Early on, he mainly wrestled in Calgary but also spent time in Japan in Wrestling Association "R". Along with Jericho, Storm debuted in Smoky Mountain Wrestling in 1994, forming a tag team known as the Thrillseekers. After Jericho was injured, Storm continued to compete in singles competition for a few months, even winning the "Beat the Champ" TV Title.[6] He then left SMW and moved on to a Winnipeg-based West Four Wrestling Alliance, where he teamed once again with Jericho.
In 1996, Storm joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). Early in his ECW career, he took part in a match against Rob Van Dam at Barely Legal where he was booed by the crowd for two visibly "weak" chair shots to Van Dam. He made a name for himself by becoming a villain and teaming with Chris Candido, as a junior member of Shane Douglas' Triple Threat. Shortly after his team with Candido broke up and a feud between the two ensued, Storm introduced his valet Tammy Lynn Bytch, a parody of Candido's real life girlfriend Tammy Lynn Sytch, who appeared in ECW to side with Candido and feud with Bytch.
Following his feud with Candido, Storm proceeded to feud with Jerry Lynn, facing him in the opener of Anarchy Rulz '99. Storm formed a tag team with his trainee Justin Credible, named the Impact Players. The stable joined Storm and his valet (now renamed Dawn Marie) with Credible and his manager Jason. The team earned two ECW World Tag Team Championship reigns along the way.[7] During this time, Storm also gained a position as a booker in ECW and had a hand in much of the product content on TV and pay-per-view.[5] After the company began to suffer financial hardships, Storm left ECW for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in order to support his family.[5] His final match was against his former tag team partner, Justin Credible.
Storm left ECW in 2000 to join WCW, where he became a singles wrestler. He made his first appearance on the June 19, 2000 episode of Nitro and quickly became one of WCW's most important on-screen characters, winning the United States Heavyweight Championship,[8] the Cruiserweight Championship,[9] and the Hardcore Championship[3] in rapid succession.[5] As an affront to the fans, he renamed the titles to the Canadian Heavyweight Championship,[1] 100 kg and Under Championship,[1] and Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title (S.H.I.T.),[1] respectively, complete with large stickers that covered the belts' faceplates. Storm was the first triple-champion in WCW history and also tried to win the World Heavyweight Championship as well, but was defeated by champion Booker T. Storm eventually gave up the Cruiserweight/100 kg title, presenting it to Elix Skipper, and the Hardcore/S.H.I.T. title, passing it on to Carl Ouellet (who lost it in his first defense).
Storm's stable, Team Canada, feuded with General Rection's stable, the Misfits In Action, for several months. In particular, Storm and Rection feuded with each other over Storm's "Canadian" Heavyweight Title, which Rection finally won and promptly renamed back to the U.S. Heavyweight Title.
When WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 2001, Storm's contract was kept and he became a WWF employee.[5] Storm, portrayed as a serious, humourless heel, was in The Alliance and was their first WCW superstar ever to invade a WWF program, on the May 28, 2001 episode of Raw.[5] Storm got a decent push during the Invasion angle as he won the Intercontinental Championship[10] from Albert on the July 23 edition of Raw. He lost the title a month later to Edge at SummerSlam on August 19.
Storm formed a tag team with The Hurricane and feuded with the Hardy Boyz over the WWF and WCW Tag Team Titles for the next few months; this included a match at No Mercy, which Storm's team lost. Eventually, Team Alliance lost at Survivor Series and Storm was fired (in storyline) along with the rest of the alliance roster by Vince McMahon. Storm eventually got his job back officially on the December 17, 2001 edition of Raw when he defeated The Rock with help from Test in a match that earned him a WWF contract. Storm remained a heel and in 2002, he formed The Un-Americans along with Christian, Test, and later William Regal.[5] Leading angry tirades against the United States and waving an inverted American flag in the ring, they drew loud boos from the crowds. During this angle, Storm and Christian won the WWE Tag Team Championship on July 21 at Vengeance, defeating Hulk Hogan and Edge.[11] They dropped the title to Kane and The Hurricane on the September 23, 2002 edition of Raw. Eventually, the stable broke apart on September 30, when they brawled with each other because they were frustrated that they all had lost on the same night.
Storm continued teaming with Regal as a regular tag team with the same Anti-American gimmick; Storm waved the Canadian flag and Regal waved the British flag. The duo won the World Tag Team Championship on two separate occasions.[11] The first was by defeating Booker T and Goldust on the January 6, 2003 edition of Raw with help from Chief Morley, but they lost the titles at the Royal Rumble to The Dudley Boyz. Storm and Regal began their second reign as World Tag Team Champions the next night on Raw by defeating The Dudley Boyz with help from Chief Morley again. On the March 24, 2003 edition of Raw, Chief Morley announced that since the belts had not been defended in 30 days due to William Regal's health problems, the duo would be stripped of the title. He immediately named himself and Lance Storm the new World Tag Team Champions starting Lance Storm's fourth tag team title reign.[11] Storm and Morley successfully defended the World Tag Team Title on an edition of WWE Heat prior to WrestleMania XIX against Rob Van Dam and Kane with help from The Dudley Boyz. The following night on the March 31, 2003 episode of Raw, Storm and Morley faced Kane and Rob Van Dam and The Dudley Boyz in a 3-Way Elimination match, dropping the titles to Kane and Rob Van Dam.
From there, Storm was briefly involved in a storyline in which Stone Cold Steve Austin, an authority figure, encouraged the fans to chant "boring" during Storm's matches including one with Storm losing to newcomer Garrison Cade on June 16, 2003, thanks to Austin bringing out a pillow and blanket and snoring loudly into the microphone, and other distracting antics. Storm eventually found help from Goldust who helped improve Storm's charisma, which eventually turned Storm into a fan favorite and Storm started dancing. He soon rejoined Morley, who had also become a fan favorite and reverted back to his Val Venis character. Their reformed team began entering the ring with very attractive women but this time their tag team never got a push.
Storm eventually turned into a villain once more by betraying the fans. This happened when he told them of how he was sick and tired of pleasing them with his dancing and how it was just a waste of his time on an episode of Raw following the 2004 Draft Lottery, only to be squashed by Rhyno immediately thereafter, thus turning Rhyno into a fan favorite once again. This would turn out to be Storm's last appearance on Raw.
In April 2004, Storm chose to retire from in-ring action. His last match was on April 19, 2004 and he faced Steven Richards at the Calgary Saddledome. He then accepted a position backstage with WWE, working as a wrestling trainer in Ohio Valley Wrestling, WWE's main developmental territory.
On March 23, 2005, Storm came out of retirement to participate in a six-man tag team match with Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro against fellow ECW alumni Tommy Dreamer and The Dudley Boyz. On April 9, 2005 in Cloverport, Kentucky, Storm teamed with Matt Cappotelli to face Mercury and Nitro.
Storm resigned from WWE in May 2005 and announced that he intended to open his own training school in his hometown of Calgary, the Storm Wrestling Academy, with the first semester beginning in September 2005. He returned to WWE for one night on May 30, 2005 and faced Maven on Sunday Night Heat. Storm wrestled one last time on a WWE-promoted show at ECW One Night Stand on June 12, 2005, where he defeated his close friend and former tag team partner Chris Jericho with the help of Justin Credible.
Since leaving WWE, Storm has made several appearances on the independent circuit. At Hardcore Homecoming on November 4, 2005 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Storm interfered in a steel cage match between Justin Credible and Jerry Lynn, helping Credible defeat Lynn. At the December 3, 2005 Ring of Honor show Steel Cage Warfare in New York, New York, Storm congratulated ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson following a successful title defense against Rocky Romero. Storm has also stated that he would be receptive to working with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling if he was presented with an angle that piqued his interest, such as one involving his friends Christian and Chris Jericho. Since then, however, Storm has made it quite clear that he is no longer interested in working for TNA.
On April 1, 2006, at Better Than Our Best, Storm returned to Ring of Honor to face Bryan Danielson for the ROH World Championship in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to the event, Storm would commend Bryan Danielson and say that he is the one person to make him come out of retirement. Danielson defeated Storm by submission to retain the title.[12] ROH fans were appreciative of Storm's efforts and chanted "You've still got it" as a tribute.
May 26 and 27 saw Storm work for the UK based wrestling promotion 1PW. On May 26 (Know Your Enemy, Night One) he teamed with UK wrestler Andy Boy Simmonz in a first round match of the 1PW Tag Team Championship Title Tournament. He was originally scheduled to team with Justin Credible to reform the Impact Players, but Credible missed his flight. Storm and Simmonz lost to eventual finalists A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels. On May 27 (Know Your Enemy, Night Two), he battled (and eventually lost to) Doug Williams.
Storm has made rare indy appearances for Northern Ontario based promotion Blood, Sweat & Ears. On December 3, 2006 in Mississauga, Ontario, he lost to Christian Cage and suffered a throat injury due to a stiff clothesline. On July 21, 2007, he fought Christopher Daniels in Timmins, Ontario, defeating him via the Superkick and in his hometown of North Bay, Ontario on August 11, 2007, he defeated Robert Roode with the same move.
On July 3, 2009 it was announced that Storm would be coming out of retirement to perform at two Ring of Honor shows on July 24 and 25, Death Before Dishonor VII: Nights 1 and 2 respectively .[13] On July 24, Storm and fellow Canadian Kevin Steen defeated Chris Hero and Davey Richards and on July 25, Storm was defeated by Hero in a one-on-one grudge match. Following the match, Storm cut an emotional promo, and later announced his belief that this would be his last match, saying "I shared this match with people who share my love and respect for this business, and I am now home being Lance Evers with the family I will share the rest of my life with. I still have my school, and I will always be a part of this business, but I truly believe I am now done as a performer. They say, never say never in this business, and because of that I won’t, but I think I left it all in the ring that night and I believe I wrote the final page in the 19-year long book that was the career of Lance Storm."[14]
On April 3, 2010, Storm came out of retirement to wrestle his friend Bryan Alvarez at a Tulalip Championship Wrestling event. Storm was defeated in the match, which he wrestled under a mask as The Ideal Canadian.[1]
In 2010, Lance Storm declined the chance to wrestle at TNA's ECW reunion PPV event Hardcore Justice.[15]
On August 27, 2011, Storm came out of retirement to work a short match with Tommy Dreamer.[16]
In November 2009, Lance Storm announced he had accepted the position as the head booker of the Prairie Wrestling Alliance, a promotion that operates out of Edmonton. PWA and the Storm Wrestling Academy had also begun working together very closely. On March 19, 2011, Storm made a return to the ring at PWA's 10th anniversary show, teaming with Brother Devon in a tag team match, where they defeated Bully Ray and Dylan Knight.[17]
Evers and his wife Tina have two daughters, Rachel and Rebecca.[5]
Before getting into wrestling, Evers attended Wilfrid Laurier University School of Business and Economics in Waterloo, Ontario.[18] Storm currently writes a monthly column for British wrestling and MMA magazine FIGHTING SPIRIT.[19] Since 2005, Lance has been a regular guest on podcasts available through the Figure Four Weekly / Wrestling Observer web site, as well as a frequent guest on the nationally-airing Wrestling Observer Live radio show.[20] In 2011, Storm and ten of his Storm Wrestling Academy students were featured in a ten part reality television show, World of Hurt, which premiered on The Cave on May 1.[17]
Lance also runs his own website [1] where he posts commentaries on a variety of topics. Lance also interacts with his fans through his Facebook fan page and his twitter account.
He is also an author writing Storm Warning and currently working on Storm Warning 2. The e-book is a collection of his best commentaries from his website.