So here we are, yet another blog, this time on my favourite wrestler 'Cowboy' James Storm, whom I had the fortune to meet at the first TNA tour to the UK, and will be meeting once again at the end of this month.Again we go back to when I started watching TNA and the back end of the run of the tag team America's Most Wanted. This was back when Chris 'Braden Walker' Harris was hit by a James Storm beer bottle to the eye. This set up a fued between the two and back when I was a mark I believed the storyline, and was actually a Harris mark for at least part of the fued. However as I became more of a fan of the heels, I started liking Storm more and more, leading me to name him as my favourite wrestler.
After this he started a fued with Rhino and the proof of how good he could be when doing promo's/vignettes on Rhino's 'alcoholism' and continued to impress with his in ring skills. This fued seemed to die out when Rhino was legitimately injured and then began the contests between Eric Young and James Storm to define who was the best drinker which was a great way to expose two of the company's top workers at their best and introduced his kayfabe fear of heights (which storylinewise was destroyed at the 2008 Lethal Lockdown match). After he had beaten Eric Young in the ladder match to regain his drinking title, Rhino unexpectedly returned and challenged him to an Elevation X match, which considering the potential for legit injuries shows how much the man is willing to sacrafice to work for the company he is involved with. The fear of heights that had previously been shown was completely gone by the time he reached Lockdown, where he was involved with several spots on top of the cage.
After Lockdown Storm was announced as one of Jim Cornette's 'Egotistical Eight' and the first hints of Beer Money being formed were shown, however Storm was placed with Sting whom he had attacked upon his return after healing from the 'injuries' he had suffered in the Elevation X match. It was just after this when TNA toured the UK for the first time, and I met him at Coventry's Skydome, and the, as yet unformed, Beer Money faced the MotorCity Machine Guns in a pretty decent match as far as I can remember.
Finally we come to the formation of Beer Money Inc., the most over tag team in the industry today. They started their push as heels against one of the most established teams in the company (LAX), and as they had Hector Guerrero was LAX's manager, coupled with the highjinx they got up to, it made them the most effective heels in the company at the time (in my opinion). This fued reestablished tag team wrestling to the fore as Beer Money were making a name for themselves and found themselves cheered to some degree by members of the crowd who had respect for their traditional style of wrestling (as well as James Storm's variety of Beer Drinking gadgets and I still want a beer cart).
It was January 2009 that I first saw Robert Roode and James Storm teamed up properly as Beer Money. Beer Money then faced Team 3D at Lockdown 2009 in one of the best tag team matches in the last decade where no one was sure if Team 3D would lose their IWGP titles to them or not. Ultimately Team 3D won the TNA Tag Titles and in the next few weeks Beer Money turned face. We enter the 'face' phrase of Beer Money and the fued with World Elite/The Main Event Mafia, which due to bad booking on the part of TNA didn't make them look the great tag team they had done previously (proof that they worked better as a heel tag team).
Finally we enter the Hogan era, where for some reason Beer Money have not been used, up until the last few weeks, and in the process have turned heel once more. Being used as Bischoff's lackeys initially seemed to be a good way to go, and sadly failed to pick up the tag team titles again. Due to Bischoff turning face the lackey's route has completely failed. Before Lockdown 2010 Beer Money were involved in great angles which, had their opponents sold the moves effectively, would have put them back right at the top of the tree, but this is not their fault. (Jeff Hardy really does piss me off, after he was hit with a 'fireball' from James Storm, but completely failed to sell that any damage had been done) Hogan/all other management have sadly proved though they don't care about building storylines with the tag team division, after the billed tag team match between the MotorCity Machine Guns and Beer Money was ruined by Team 3D being added to the mix for no reason, and then due to interference by 'The Band' the match was thrown out.
This is the proof that James Storm is one of the best men that TNA have on their roster today, a man who will put his neck on the line for the company he loves, but sadly due to the way TNA is at the moment will sadly stagnate unless there is new booking brought in for the tag division.
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