Lance Storm says he's not physically able to compete in the ring at the level of ROH wrestlers, but he's looking forward to working with wrestlers during ROH's debut show in Canada on July 25.
"You would have to go full time to go the speed the ROH guys do," Storm told Scott Fishman in an interview for the Miami Herald. "I don't want to be the guy riding a name or reputation. If I can't be the best I can be, I don't want to be on the shows. I'll have some role on the show, but I'm just going to sit back and enjoy them wrestling."
Storm, who says his wrestling days are probably over due to recurring knee injuries, is concerned about the lack of experience wrestlers have before they reach national TV with WWE. He said he teaches psychology and working to a crowd at his training school, but he doesn't feel that's taught properly to most lower-level wrestlers.
"It's so hard for guys to get the experience level and the diversity to become stars by the time they get to the big time," he said. "It's really hard to get there and be confident and really on your game. It's hard to take guys who have two years in developmental and expect them to be stars."
Storm is also concerned about wrestlers not learning lessons from the Chris Benoit tragedy and new research on concussions and head injuries. He said he used to look at wrestlers putting their bodies through unnecessary punishment as them being idiots, but now he says it's simply wrong for wrestlers to continue working a style that includes stiff chair shots on a nightly basis.
"I thought what happened to Benoit would have a bigger impact," Storm said. "I think the biggest change I notice now is every time I see a really crazy dangerous bump or an unprotected chair shot to the head, anything that looks like it's unnecessarily dangerous or risky as far as head trauma, I just can't stomach it anymore."
Storm said he wouldn't be surprised if affects wrestling over time. "I cringe that this is really going to come back to haunt us in the long run," he said. He said WWE has put in effort to clean up wrestling, but it comes down to the wrestlers making the choice to wrestle a safer style.
"I think they (WWE) could do more to protect head trauma, but it's got to come from the talent, too," he said. "The office doesn't have the authority or makes you take an unsafe chair shot to the head."
Related to watching ROH tapes to get a feel for the product, Storm says Bryan Danielson stands out to him, but he would be concerned if Danielson moved to WWE.
"I would be very leery because they don't have a great track record pushing someone of his size and personality," Storm said. "It would be great if they did do something with him, because it would be a chance for him to make a decent living and a chance to make some serious money and gain some fame from it."
LATEST PRO WRESTLING TORCH NEWSLETTER #1039 (17 PAGES)
This issue begins with a cover story by Wade Keller who attended Brock Lesnar's first UFC victory on Saturday night in the semi-main event in front of a record-setting crowd in his hometown. Keller's BBL looks at Lesnar's place in MMA and in what ways he seems more comfortable than ever... Bruce Mitchell's Memo examines the dilemma of Chris Benoit and the Hall of Fame... Sean Radican reviews the two latest TNA DVD releases... In-depth coverage of the TNA Hard Justice PPV including Keller's match report with star ratings and the newsletter-exclusive Roundtable Reviews... Jason Powell's "Page 2 Buzz" with scoops and insider analysis... WWE Newswire, TNA Newswire, and ROH Newswire with insider news, big story analysis, and notebook tidbits... Plus Keller's reports on Raw, Smackdown, and Impact, the Top 5 Stories of the Week, and more....
