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Innovator
06-16-2004, 03:54 PM
On WWE.com, there is an article about Lance Storm's move from wrestler to OVW trainer. Theres a lot of quotes from Edge, Christian, DeMott, and Jericho. They really put over how much they all respect Lance and how genuinely (sp) great of a person he is.

DeMott said that if OVW students can absorb just one-third of what Storm teaches, “then we’ve got a hell of a roster coming up.”

http://www.wwe.com/news/headlines/1258111?page=1

HeartBreakMan2k
06-16-2004, 05:32 PM
Lance :love:

Londoner
06-16-2004, 05:35 PM
Just makes you wonder why he is always held back by the wwe.

Londoner
06-16-2004, 05:37 PM
Can you load that article onto this board? it wont come up on my comp through that link, dunno why.

Innovator
06-16-2004, 06:19 PM
As a rule, you never say never in the sports-entertainment business. But for now, at least, Lance Storm has walked away from his life as a WWE Superstar to become a trainer to the next generation of Superstars.

Storm, a well-respected mat technician, capitalized on an opportunity to become a teacher at Ohio Valley Wrestling, WWE’s developmental territory in Louisville, Ky.

The Calgary, Alberta, native gave up the adrenaline of performing in front of live crowds, but he gets a reprieve from the brutal travel schedule and physical toll of superstardom.

“I’d known for a little while that he’d been contemplating it because I’m one of Lance’s closest friends in the business,” said Edge, discussing Storm’s decision to leave WWE for OVW. “His lower back is in pain. It was starting to affect his way of life at home, and he loves his kids and wife to death. And he wants to be able to function normally.”

According to Storm and those close to him, his aching back was one of the two main factors in his decision to become a trainer. The other was that over the past several months, he wasn’t satisfied with the opportunities he was receiving in WWE. “I knew he’d been thinking about it for a while because he wasn’t happy with way his career was going,” Chris Jericho said.

Edge added, “It’s disappointing because I know how much he loves the business and I know he wanted to contribute, even as hurt as he was.”

But, Edge said, because Storm wasn’t contributing, he decided to stop wrestling before his back got so bad that surgery would have been required.

Another of Storm’s peers, The Hurricane, added, “It’s probably a little young for him to retire. I still think he had a lot to offer, but there wasn’t really a lot that he was doing on the show, per se, and that was how he felt. So he decided that his services were better utilized teaching OVW guys.”

WWE’s loss has become OVW’s gain. According to Jim Cornette – a longtime wrestling personality who is now a trainer and the voice of OVW – Storm is a great acquisition for the territory. Cornette would know; after all, he gave Storm his first job in the U.S. 10 years ago with Smoky Mountain Wrestling.

Cornette said that among himself, Storm, OVW owner and founder Danny Davis, and various WWE agents who visit the school, including Dr. Tom Prichard, students in Louisville now have the opportunity to learn a wide variety of styles and obtain a deep base of knowledge.

Cornette said: “Danny Davis is a great coach, and I sometimes tell guys, ‘You ought to being doing this. You ought to be doing that.’ But Lance can bring another perspective to it also. Guys get to learn that there are different ways of doing things, and they should form their own opinions.”

Regarding Storm, Cornette added, “This is a way for him to start a really nice career in another facet of the business, so he’s taking this very seriously.”

Storm already has a great deal of experience as a trainer, officially and unofficially.

“Lance is a great trainer,” Jericho said. “I remember after we trained with the Hart Brothers in 1990, in 1991 he was already teaching the class.”

More recently, Storm always seemed to be in the WWE ring long before arena doors opened, working out with younger competitors, showing them a new move or two. “Lance knows what he’s doing, and Lance is in the ring early training people anyway,” Edge said. “Why not get his hands on them earlier so he can mold them? I know he’ll be very strict on the little things – the little things are just so important -- but he’ll also be strict on the fundamentals.

“Lance is very good in the way he teaches too. He’s not condescending. … He’s trying to help, not hurt in any way. He’s a real intelligent guy. He just knows how to deal with people too.”

Another fellow Canadian, Christian, added: “What people don’t realize about wrestling is that a lot of times little things — small details – are very important. I think he’s very good at making people realize the small things that make you better all around. … He’s really good at holds and things like that too. Any time you have a question about something like that, a lot of people ask him because he’s really well schooled. … He’s very honest. I think he’s not just going to tell you want you want to hear.”

The Hurricane said, “From a technical standpoint, there aren’t going to be that many people who are better than Lance as far as knowledge or holds and application of holds, stuff like that. Nobody has ever questioned his wrestling ability or technique. He’s got a great amount of patience, which is good for a teacher to have. He’s got experience on a big-time level. Not just in the U.S. but in Europe and Asia. He’s been a TV star and pay-per-view star, so there’s a lot to offer.”

Jericho remembers meeting Storm the first day he went to wrestling school.

“I had this huge trunk that I was carrying all my stuff in, and we were staying in this hotel,” Jericho said. “He was the first guy I met that helped me carry all my stuff.

“We trained with everybody else, but mostly we trained with each other. If he wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have gotten as far as I did as quickly as I did. … I owe a lot of my early success to the fact that he was in the same class, because otherwise there would’ve been nobody there to push me.”

Storm’s a leader in and out of the ring, Superstars says.

“Ever since we came in from SmackDown! to RAW, we traveled together,” Christian said. “He became like the den mother to myself and (others in the car). He made sure we had all the directions. He was basically the father figure of the car. We used to actually call him ‘Dad.’”

Longtime competitor Bill DeMott, now an announcer on Velocity, said that over his 14-year career, his matches with Storm during their time in WCW stand out.

“It was a time when my head injuries were coming around, (and I was having) trouble with my vision and trouble speaking,” DeMott said. “To this day, not everybody knows about it. Lance Storm knew about, and he didn’t blow the whistle.”

DeMott admits that there were times during his matches that he literally could not see. But he says, “I knew when I worked with (Storm) that I didn’t need to see. He’s just a tremendous person as well as a great entertainer and athlete. I could go on for hours.

“There are certain guys who are leaders and certain guys who want to be led. I was lucky because I was with a group of guys who wanted to be ring generals. … Every time I see Lance, I get a tear in my eye because I will remember what we went through, and what he went through for me.”

DeMott said that if OVW students can absorb just one-third of what Storm teaches, “then we’ve got a hell of a roster coming up.”

Of Storm’s decision to become a trainer, DeMott said, “It’s a great gain for WWE development and Danny Davis to have Lance Storm in their corner. It’s a great loss on the RAW side, and I would have loved to have seen Lance traded over to SmackDown! I think he’s one of the best talents ever. And I think he had a lot to offer. I know he made the right move because he stayed in the business. I don’t think he could have ever walked away. He has too much to offer.”

Storm has been teaching in OVW for a few months now, and he says he’s enjoying it.

He spends 12-13 days in Louisville, and then he gets about nine days off at his home in Calgary.

“It’s nice because I get home on a Friday just in time to pick up my daughter from school, and then I’ve got two full days where they’re not at school and I don’t have anyplace to go,” Storm said.

He added that his back is feeling better, and that he especially likes having “basically normal-people hours” – meaning that he gets to sleep at night instead of driving 300 miles for the next night’s WWE event.

“Just on the whole, I’m nowhere near as tired and exhausted,” he said. “The travel schedule the guys go through is so exhausting … It just really burns you out and tires you. Now, I fly three days a month.”

Still, some of his peers speculate that if the right opportunity came along, Storm could return to WWE in the future. After all, you never say never.

“I don’t honestly know if that’s him actually retiring or if it’s just a thing to let his body heal and spend more time with his family,” Christian said. “If he is retired, great, more power to him. But it wouldn’t surprise me to see him come back to wrestling because I know how much he loves it.”

Londoner
06-16-2004, 07:03 PM
Thanks man, but damn, im just so amazed at the WWE writers, i say it everytime, Im glad Lance has left the WWE though, hopefully he can get some pride restored, soemthing WWE tried to take away from him i think.