The history of pro wrestling is full of tremendously talented wrestlers with what people describe as “a great mind for the business” who never become top stars. They may capture a lot of belts, but never the most important belt, and fit into whatever slot they’re needed in. Canadian legend Lance Storm is one such performer, a technically gifted and highly decorated wrestler who may fly under the radar for some fans.
Over the course of his 26-year career, Storm has wrestled as both heel and face as well as both singles star and tag team specialist for the three major companies of the 1990s and early 2000s: ECW, WWE, and WCW. Let’s take a look at what fans should know about him.
10 Trained With Chris Jericho
Hailing from Ontario, Canada, Lance Storm sought training at the Hart Brothers Wrestling Camp, a pro wrestling school that was reportedly only nominally affiliated with the Hart family. There, he met fellow Canadian Chris Jericho, and the two struck up a friendship. When it came time to make their official in-ring debut, they would be one another’s opponents, and eventually travel the world together. Their last known bout would be a solid effort to open up the ECW reunion show, One Night Stand, in 2005.
9 The Thrillseekers
While the two started out as opponents, Lance Storm and Chris Jericho would quickly become a tag team, forming a duo first known as Sudden Impact. After teaming in Canada and in Japan’s Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, Storm and Jericho would get their first big break as part of Jim Cornette’s Tennessee-based Smoky Mountain Wrestling, where they were presented as a pair of extreme sports-loving heartthrobs named The Thrillseekers. Eventually Jericho would suffer an injury, leaving Storm to carry on as a singles competitor, and he enjoyed a month-long reign with the SMW Beat the Champ Television Title.
8 Teamed/Feuded With Chris Candido
Following a return to Canada and a run with the Japanese promotion WAR, Lance Storm debuted for Extreme Championship Wrestling in 1997, taking on the various notable stars of the promotion before turning heel and forming a tag team with Chris Candido.
By the end of the year, the duo would capture the ECW World Tag Team Championship, holding it for 203 days. After losing the belts to Rob Van Dam and Sabu and failing to regain them, however, Candido and Storm began to feud with one another, leading to a climactic encounter at Heat Wave 1998.
7 The Impact Players
In 1999, Lance Storm found a new partner in Justin Credible, who Storm and Jericho trained back in their days at the Hart Brothers Wrestling Camp. As The Impact Players, Storm and Credible feuded with Shane Douglas and Tommy Dreamer, proving to be a formidable tag team as they racked up two reigns with the ECW World Tag Team Championship, making a total of three tag title reigns for Storm. This partnership would end once Storm departed the company to sign with WCW.
6 Team Canada
After debuting in WCW in mid-June of 2000, Lance Storm managed to win three titles by the end of July. A Canadian heel, Storm slapped some Canadian flag stickers on each title belt, renaming the Cruiserweight Championship, the Hardcore Championship, and the United States Heavyweight Championship into the 100 Kilos and Under Championship, the Saskatchewan Hardcore International Championship, and the Canadian Heavyweight Championship. As part of this gimmick, Storm had his own stable in Team Canada, which included Elix Skipper, Bret Hart, Jacques Rougeau, and the American Jim Duggan, among others.
5 The First Invader In WWE
Lance Storm stuck around in WCW until the bitter end, and found himself a part of WWE once it bought WCW. Notably, Storm was the first WCW star to invade a WWE show, showing up on a Raw in late May 2001. As part of The WCW/ECW Alliance, Storm managed to capture the Intercontinental Championship during this angle, but found himself without a job once Vince McMahon (in storyline) fired a majority of the Alliance members following their loss at Survivor Series in November 2001.
4 The Un-Americans
In mid-2001, Lance Storm basically experienced a revival of his Team Canada stable in WWE when he joined up with fellow Canadians Christian and Test to form a faction called The Un-Americans. Because it wasn’t strictly presented as a Canadian group, The Un-Americans were able to expand by adding British wrestler William Regal to the team.
As part of the Un-Americans, Storm would capture the World Tag Team Championship with Christian, and then win it two more times with Regal after The Un-Americans had mostly split up.
3 Worked In Developmental
After being saddled with a dancing ladies’ man gimmick and being relegated to WWE’s minor shows, Lance Storm embarked on his first retirement in the spring of 2004. After putting his in-ring career to bed, Storm found a new role in pro wrestling, working as a head trainer in WWE’s developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling, where he prepared developmental talent for the main roster. This stint would last until 2005, after which Storm would move on to a new venture in the wrestling business.
2 Ran A Wrestling School
Like many wrestlers with something to offer to younger generations, Lance Storm eventually branched out into training, opening his own school, the Storm Wrestling Academy, in mid-2005 after he departed WWE. Over the years, Storm’s school boasted notable alumni like Tenille Dashwood, Chelsea Green, Biff Busick, Taya Valkyrie, and Tyler Breeze. While the school initially closed down in fall of 2019 due to new WWE commitments, Storm re-opened it in 2020, offering online video conference-based coaching rather than in-person training sessions.
1 Backstage Producer
While he hasn’t wrestled a match since 2016, Lance Storm remains active in the wrestling business not only as a trainer, but also as a backstage producer, starting with Impact Wrestling in 2019. Later that year, he took a full-time producer job with WWE, closing his wrestling school in the process, but was released from the company amid WWE’s COVID-19-related budget cuts in 2020. In early 2022, Storm returned to Impact Wrestling, working as both a producer and a coach.