In an interview with NewsDay to promote tonight’s TNA Live event in Long Island, New York, TNA Wrestling superstar James Storm discussed his short run with the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, Jeff Jarrett’s departure from the company, Vince Russo allowing him to go off script, his former tag partner Chris Harris not making it in the WWE, Road Dogg helping him with his promo work and much more.
Highlights of the interview are below:
On his short run as TNA World Heavyweight Champion: “I can always say that I was the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, even if it was for a week. At the end of the day, I don’t want to say that I don’t care about it, but my bills are still being paid without the belt. When I go to the bank, they don’t ask me if I’m a Champion, I still have a lot of years left in me and the opportunity will come, it’s one of those things that you have to wait your turn.”
On Jeff Jarrett’s departure from TNA Wrestling: “To me, Jeff Jarrett knows wrestling. They need somebody like that either in the production side or the creative side, because, let’s face it, he built this company. It was his hard work and his money that he put into it in the very beginning. I think TNA Wrestling needs Jeff Jarrett, whether it’s behind the scenes or in front of the camera or whatever, but they definitely need him, at least for his advice on the wrestling aspect of it.”
On Vince Russo allowing him to go off-script during Russo’s time with the company:” I told him, if you guys want to make this as real as possible, is it okay if I just kind of put it in my own words? And he was like, yeah, whatever you think is going to make it best is what I want you to do. It’s good for a lot of guys who can’t come up with their own material to have that script that they can go off and read the whole thing and memorize it and all that, but for me, I just want bullet points that I can put into my own words and make it me, make it true. People can spot a fake, they know when somebody’s trying too hard.”
On Chris Harris not making it during his time with WWE: “I believe Chris brought it onto himself. I talked to him while he was there. Anytime you go up there [to WWE], they’re going to test you to see if you have an attitude or whatever and I just heard that he failed miserably. He had an attitude while he was up there and you can’t do that. You just go up there and you do what they ask of you the best that you can and sooner or later, they’ll find a spot for you and do something with you. Just because he had a good run here, he expected to go up there and have a good run and that’s not so.”
The interview is available in full at this link.
