James Storm talks NXT debut & future

WWE’s website released an interview with James Storm discussing his NXT debut and decision to venture to WWE after becoming “free and clear of all contracts.”

The interview also managed to avoid the letters “TNA,” where Storm is most associated with. WWE labeled his background as “18 years of hard-fought ring experience, much of it on an international stage.”

Storm also confirmed that he was at the NXT: Nashville house show earlier this month, where he denied being spotted on the front row. Instead, Storm says he was backstage in the locker room testing the waters on whether he wanted to join NXT.

“(NXT head trainer) Matt Bloom pulled me aside and asked if I was available to come down that Wednesday and Thursday to Orlando. I went down and talked to Triple H at the NXT ‘Takeover: Respect’ special. Then the next night, he asked if I was willing to appear, and I said yes,” Storm said.

Storm said when he walked out in front of the NXT crowd at the previous TV taping, Storm said it was “fun again.”

“To me, wrestling should always be fun. If it’s not, then that’s when you need to get out. At first, when I came out, I don’t think the NXT crowd at Full Sail really thought that it was me until the name flashed up on the screen, and then they recognized the hat and it was off to the races. It was unreal how they welcomed me to Full Sail. The NXT crowd was pretty rowdy and loud for me,” Storm said.

WWE noted that Storm has crossed paths with various NXT stars, such as Samoa Joe, tip-toeing around their TNA connection. But, Storm pointed to Finn Balor as who he is most interested in facing because he’s watched Balor grow from a young boy to the NXT champion.

As for his future in WWE, Storm was non-committal about whether he will return to NXT.

“That’s the million-dollar question. That’s not really up to me. My job is to go out and get myself over, as they say. And it’s up to what we call ‘the suits’ to make the decision of whether to bring me back to NXT or the WWE main roster. I get so many people all the time saying, ‘We want to see you and Bray Wyatt go at it on the microphone.’ I always say that you never know what’s going to happen in wrestling. And I just take one day at a time,” Storm said.