Pro-Wrestling Lance Storm Q & A Page Pro-Wrestling Lance Storm Q & A Page
Last updated 23 July 2007
May 12, 2007
Q:A few week's ago i asked about tag team's from the eighties...you called the bushwackers a comedy team ..but they had excellent double team moves ..the battering ram headbutt being my favorite ....they were more than a comedy team ...they could work
A: That battering Ram spot originated as a midget comedy spot!!!!! They were a brawling team as the Sheep Herders but the Bushwhackers were intended to be primarily a comedy duo to entertain kids.
Q:Having worked in many different types of rings for many different promotions over the years (WWE, WCW, ECW, Stampede Wrestling, FMW, CWA, SMW, ROH, and various other independent companies), was any one company's ring easier to work in, and was there any one company's ring that to this day that you would give your right leg to never have to work in again, because it was just that bad of a ring?
A: The only bad rings I worked in were just in disrepair, but as far as style goes I really didn't prefer one ring over the others much. Tony's 10-foot ring in Winnipeg was the worst.
Q:I was wondering if you thought WWE would ever put out a Best of Technical Wrestling DVD with matches including Benoit, Regal, Dean, You, Kurt and so forth.
A: I have no idea. I hope so, and if they do they add a match or two of mine.
Q:Did you ever take your wife with you while on the road in WWE or WCW? I was reading RVD talking about traveling with his wife and how he found it hard because you get in such a routine on the road, and having his wife along changed that routine, how would it effect you?
A: I had kids at the time, so no. Other than coming to WrestleMania a couple times she never traveled with me.
Q:Was there a certain moment in your career where you thought "wow, I made it to the big time?"
A: I did a commentary about this once. Before I did Nitro in Kitchener, ON I did some media before the event and getting driven around town in a limo after going to University there it felt like I had "made it".
Q:What is your proudest accomplishment in wrestling?
A: Remaining Drug free!!!!
Q:Why do you think some move just seem to disappear from the wrestling ring, you rarely see moves like a side Russian leg sweep, when 15 years ago, you saw them all the time?
A: Moves get bigger and crazier. I've actually started using the side Russian again when I do matches.
Q:Any idea why The Great Sasuki wore his mask around backstage, just a mark?
A: I don't understand it, maybe it's a tradition thing, or maybe he is a mark.
Q:What do you do about washing gear, when you are on the road for a long stretch?
A: I always brought enough gear to not have to wash stuff on the road.
Q:Did you ever do a lot of autograph signings or appearances while working; did you enjoy doing them or just a hassle?
A: There were cases where it felt like both.
Q:I just read your Q&A where you said that Great Susuki was the only wrestler to wear his mask backstage when planning a match and it offended you. Why did it offend you?
A: I felt like he was kayfabing me. Every other masked wrestler I worked with showed me his face (Even the original Tiger Mask). I am after all putting my body in his hands.
Q:Chris Benoit retires tomorrow. Hall of Fame? How soon?
A: There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how or when things get done, so who knows.
Q:I read a Kurt Angle interview recently where he compliminted Sabu by saying something along the lines of "that kid can go." Could the phrasing of this statement be interpreted as offensive? Yes, he was giving Sabu props, but refering to him as "that kid" implies a lack of respect. Is "kid" somewhat of a term of endearment in the locker room, or was that a backhanded compliment on Kurt's part?
A: I would say it is offensive but Kurt may not have intended it to be. Sabu has been in the business WAY longer than Kurt.
Q:On a scale for one to ten, how badly do you think management at TNA would like to see you catch a really bad stomach flu??
A: 11. Although me getting the flu isn't going to improve their damn product!!!!
Q:Recently you said that Chris Kanyon had slightly different ideas when it came to putting a match together...what exactly were those ideas?
A: He seemed to be more about the moves, I was about the match.
Q:What are your thoughts on Chavo Guerrero as a worker?
A: I loved working with Chavo.
Q:Has there ever been an angle that you refused to partake in? For instance if the Un-American angle where you guys threatened to burn the American flag, if that angle had called for you guys to actually burn the flag would you have been alright with that?
A: There never was any I said no to, but I likely would have said no if something offended me enough.
Q:I know you've answered this question in regards to the WWE, but I wonder, would you ever consider doing work as a booker for an independent promotion as long as it meant you could work from home?
A: I might consider booking if I could do it from home and it wouldn't take up too much of my time.
Q:In your most recent Q&A, someone asked you a question about you "being on the same level" as a group of wrestlers, one of who was Kurt Angle. You responded with "I think I'm safe in assuming all but perhaps Kurt would agree with me..." Why do you question if Angle would agree with you?
A: That was more a joke based on the fact that in most interviews now Kurt seems to state over and over again that he is the GREATEST workers EVER, so perhaps he doesn't think anyone is in his league anymore.
Q:Why was the hardcore title made defunct? (assuming you know of course)
A: Because they wanted to save violent weapons type matches for feuds, rather then having them just for the sake of having them.
Q:Did you train CM Punk or Kevin Thorn at OVW, and if so what did you think of them?
A: I've never met Punk, but I did work with Kevin Thorn in OVW.
Q:What do you think the odds are for the following making the WWE Hall of Fame: Dean Malenko, Paul Heyman, Eric Bischoff, Gordon Solie, Terry Funk, Sting, and Wendy Richter.
A:The HOF is so hard to figure out. There are so many that deserve to be there that aren't and some who are in are very questionable. At a guess Dean (no) Paul (never) Eric (no) Solie (maybe) Funk (eventually) Sting (doubt it) Richer (who knows)
Q:From a visual standpoint what do you think was the best looking belt in wrestling from any era. I can't claim to be a belt aficionado but my favorites were the Winged Eagle WWF Championship (Bret Hart Era), The Eagle World Title (The One during the HHH/Rock Era) and the intercontinental title (Mid nineties)
A:The Winged Eagle one was great as was the Old IC title belt. I hate the current IC belt.
Q:How old were you when you found out the Wrestling was pre determined when it came to its winners or did you get what was going on from the get go.
A:I never thought wrestling was legit. My Dad hated wrestling and wouldn't even let me watch it as a kid, because "It was Fake". Because of my Dad I always knew the nature of the business.
Q:Have you had any matches with someone so green it made you angry and worried about your own safety either during the match or before when you found out you had to wrestle someone who may have been called up too soon.
A:There was one guy who was so bad, I just pinned the guy, and even told the booker afterwards, "If that guy is even on another show, I quit!"
Q:Hey Lance! I've been a fan of yours for a long time and I have to ask you about something thats been bugging me why is that in tag team wrestling there seems to be a designated side of the ring for the heel team and another side for the face team and it never changes can you help me with this?
A:Generally the corner facing the hard camera is for the baby faces so we can see them better. The Face, faces the camera.
Q:You recently made a sly comment about on your last Q/A about Haku/ Meng when talking about getting into a physical fight and it got me wondering the following question. If you were to get into a bar fight for whatever reason, what 3 boys would you want backing you up. Also was Meng really feared by all backstage?
A:If I had Meng I wouldn't need the other 2. Meng isn't feared per say, because he is a really great guy, everyone knows you just don't mess with him.
Q:Who and what plays the entrance music for everybody? I would assume a CD player could skip on live tv so it must be a computer?
A:They have a digital music gimmick so they just have to push buttons.
Q:I was wondering if you could tell me what Raven was like, and how it was to work with him?
A:Surprisingly enough I got along great with Raven, and I enjoyed working with him.
Q:What are your thoughts on HHH, specifically if he never married Stephanie, would he still be where he is. It's clear he is amazingly talented, but gets a lot of bad press. Do you enjoy his matches, and how would you rank him among his peers in the WWE? His feuds with Jericho stick out in my mind as amazing. A case of two to tango?
A:HHH is obviously extremely talented, but with the nature of back stage politics in this business who knows exactly where he would be without the Stephanie connection. He would obviously still be a top guy but who knows exactly how many title reigns etc.
Q:Did you ever work with Disco Inferno and also, do you think he was a good wrestler?
A:My first official WCW match was against Disco. I liked Disco but to be honest found him somewhat limited.We used to joke in WCW, that if you could take a swinging neck breaker, you could work with Disco.
Q:Quick question Lance, you always talk about how all people ever saw on TV in the 80s were squash matches where guys got over by dominating no namers. Well if this is the case, how did they build successful feuds between main eventers? I grew up in the 90s with the birth of RAW so I didn't get to see 80s wrestling on tv.
A:In my day they had SNMEs or they would use promos or show clips from other events. This was one of the big selling points to Piper's Pits etc. They could have verbal confrontation to get feuds over.
Q:Have you ever wrestled DDP, what are your thoughts on him as a wrestler/person.
A:I worked with DDP a ton, but didn't know him all that well as a person to comment.
Q:What are your thoughts on TNA ruining yet another dream match featuring Sting and Kurt Angle? I'm sure that wrestling fans around the world would have paid good money to see both a Angle/Sting and Angle/AJ Styles match on PPV. You talked about buy rates, wouldn't these two matches have been a great way to draw in new fans?
A:They flush so much stuff down the toilet; I've given up keeping track.
Q:When you say that nobody will see your six pack unless you do cardio, is that because of the particular excercise you're doing or just because you're sweating a lot? For instance on days I have something physical to do (i.e. push mow the lawn) that has nothing to do with working out, I won't run that day.
A:The key to having abs is not having any abdominal fat covering them up. Cardio burns fat!!!!!
Q:What injuries have you sustained as a wrestler? Also, what injuries have you seen when you were in a match?
A:I've had a few minor ones. I broke a rib, a few minor shoulder separations, strained MCL a couple times, I've got 4 bulging discs in my lumbar, but that's wear and tear more than an injury.
Q:I believe you were the first guy to do the run-ins in the invasion angle, what was that like and how were you treated backstage?
A:I knew most of the guys already so I was treated well.
Q:Do you think Canada could ever have a national wrestling company? There are a lot of wrestling fans in Canada and I think if a promoter did it right they could create something that would strive here.
A:I doubt it. Geographically it's too spread out, and with the WWE dominance on TV it would be impossible to compete.
Q:I hate to ask you what if questions, but at the end of the WCW, do you know if you might have been in line for a main event push or world title run? Even if you didn't know of anything specific mentioned did you have the feeling you could have based on how they pushed you?
A:I believe Mike and I were going to win the Tag Titles the night of the last Nitro, which got killed because of the buy out.
Q:What were your impressions of Shane McMahon when you met him?
A:I've always gotten along well with Shane; he is a lot of fun, and loves this business so much.
Q:How many gimmick matches do you think is the maximum that should be on a card? I ask this since TNA has had a lot of gimmick matches in their PPVs as of late. Also, what do you think of lockdown were all the matches are in a cage, do you think it is a good or bad thing?
A:I would think 2 - 3 at the absolute most. Having every match a gimmick is BRUTAL in my opinion. To me it's a sign that they haven't booked anything interesting enough so they throw gimmicks at us.
Q:You've spoken of your work with Liger, Ultimo Dragon, and Great Sasuke. I was wondering if you've worked with the name among names in Japanese wrestling, the Original Tiger Mask. If so, what was your opinion of the man and his work?
A:I was lucky enough to work with The Original Tiger Mask at the Sumo arena in Tokyo. It was a true honour, and he was amazing. That guy was just unbelievably fast.
Q:If you had Zach Gowen in the Single Crab, how screwed is he, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest?
A:I guess it would depend on whether we were working in Mexico or not.
Q:What are your thoughts on Mick Foley as a person and a performer?
A:I genuinely like Mick as a person and think he was a very good to likely great performer.
Q:Does anyone who won a world title deserve to be in the HOF (aside from David Arquette and the like)?
A:I don't know what criteria they use. From a Kayfabe standpoint I think you could argue a World Title should be enough to get you in.
Q:What has Tito Santana done to warrant HOF status? I liked his wrestling but the same could be said for Val Venis.
A:This is what I mean about criteria. Tito was a great worker, who had several secondary title runs, who definitely deserves our respect but I think an argument could be made to exclude him. I would not put myself in the HOF and see myself as having a similar place in the business as Tito did.
Q:When you go to a wrestling school does the trainer tell you straight up whether your wasting your time or not?, couldn't he say you have a lot of potential just to get your money? I know it takes a lot of effort and hard work to become a wrestler but if you have two left feet and your a danger to yourself and those you work with surely you'd be told it's not for you kid. I'm writing this because I'M 23 and I want to give pro-wrestling a shot before i'm too old but I don't want to be conned out of a whole lot of money if i have not got the basic fundementals to progress.
A:I'm sure a lot of places will lie to you. I never say you have no chance, because there are those rare cases where people surprise you, but I have sat down with students and given them a serious talk about how far they are from where they need to be to even have a chance.
Q:With Ring of Honor's new venture into Pay-Per-View, would you want to go back and help them out if they called?
A:I've spoken with Gabe about the PPV situation, and this might be something that could happen.
Q:Even though Ring of Honor does not have a national TV deal, does Ring of Honor's new venture into Pay-Per-View make them the number 2 promotion in North America ahead of TNA, due to the fact that they turn a profit where TNA continues to lose millions a year?
A:Depends on how you want to rank companies. If you go on profitability they are MILES ahead of TNA, if you go by Company size and exposure, TNA is Still by FAR #2.
Q:What do you think of the performances so far of people you did train in OVW?
A:MNM all did AWESOME. Jillian Hall and Mickie James are doing great. The 4 members of the Spirit Squad that I worked with were doing real well until DX killed them. Lashley is doing well. Kennedy is doing fantastic. Just to name a few.
Q:Even though you only had a one-month reign, where do you rank winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship in your career? Also, in his autobiography, Edge (Adam Copeland) ranks his match with you at SummerSlam 2001 as one of his personal favourite career matches. What is your opinion regarding that match?
A:I never put much thought into Title reigns and what they meant, but I did love that match. It was likely the biggest singles match I had in WWE.It still bugs me to this day though that I worked Edge's midsection that whole match leading up to Christian's spear to Edge, and the announcers never once noticed or mentioned that i was focused on his midsection the entire match.
Q:Dancing with the Stars gave Stacy Kielber a chance to have a break out career. If you were asked to do the show would you?
A:I would depend a little on the schedule but I would likely do it if asked. I couldn't look any worse doing ballroom dancing than I did doing that stupid cabbage patch.
Q:Ever have someone notice u in public and want to fight you?
A:NO!
Q:I'm sure you've wrestled in New Orleans many times? What do you like about the city?
A:I like not being in that City. I know that sound harsh but I don't drink or like Cajun food, so I'm not sure that City offers me much.
Q:How long do you think it will be before Vince puts TNA out of business?
A:If they don't changes their ways, TNA will do that them selves; Vince doesn't need to do it.
Q:What was the S.H.I. Title about in WCW?
A:That was during the time where I was renaming the Title belts that I won, and since Vince Russo seemed to be a fan of toilet humour he wanted me to rename the Hardcore Title the "Stu Hart International Title" so that the acronym would be S.H.I.T. It was a lame attempt at humour. WCW couldn't get in touch with anyone in the Hart family in time to get permission to use Stu's name, so they went with the Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title. I'm quite sure they wouldn't have told them they were naming the S.H.I.T. title after Stu when they asked permission to use Stu's name.
Q:I read somewhere that you were the first Triple Crown champion in WCW history. How does/did that make you feel.
A:I guess it's a cool claim to fame, but to be honest I never really thought about it at the time.
Q:what was it like working for Genichiro Tenryu?
A:I'll cover this more in one of my Promoters commentaries, but in a word, TREMENDOUS!
Q:Have you ever charged money for an autograph?
A:I never have, but I did an appearance once where the company charged, and since they paid me a flat rate to show up and sign stuff it was their call not mine.
Q:Have you ever wrestled in Alaska?
A:It's the only State I haven't wrestled in. If there are any promoters out their planning on running Alaska I might be interested so I can round out all 50.
Q:Did you find any difference between the WCW and WWE rings? I remember the WCW ropes and ring looked like they had very little give compared to the WWE rings.
A:There were several differences but not enough to really matter much, when working. WCW used cables instead of ropes, and their rings were 18X18 rather than the 20X20 WWE uses.
Q:What is your opinion on mats that have printing on them? WCW would usually have the name of the PPV printed on the canvas and have sponsors and such printed on the mat as well. Is there a difference with getting footing with the printing?
A:I was actually the one who convinced WCW to stop printing the Nitro and Thunder logos on their canvases. The paint that they used would make the canvas very slippery and I used to slip quite often. I complained about it for a couple weeks and they finally gave in. I remember a great quote from Arn Anderson that drove the point home after a match I had with Chavo where I slipped quite badly. He said, "If that thing can make you look clumsy, it will make the rest of these guys look like a bunch of drunks chasing a hat in a wind storm."
Q:What is the average salary a wrestler makes?
A:Some Indy guys make nothing, some guys make millions. I think it would be impossible to find an average
Q:What was the finger poke of doom? wasn't that the same night bischoff gave away the results to foley's title win?
A:I don't remember which night it was but it was the match where I believe Hulk Hogan defeated Kevin Nash for the WCW title. They stood in the ring, Hogan poked Nash in the chest with his finger, Kev bumped, 1...2...3.
Q:Years ago in Stampede Wrestling, I remember a talent named Lethal Larry Cameron. He worked with Davey Boy Smith and Owen Hart. I thought he was a terrific heel. Years later, I found out he had died, but I know nothing about the circumstances of his death. Can you shed some light on this?
A:This hits really close to home for me because I was friends with Larry and should have been there when he died. Larry was working in CWA Catch (Europe) for Otto Wanz in 1993 when I was there. He was a great friend to me and really helped show me the ropes of life on the road. If not for him I'm not sure I would have survived the 5 months I spent in Europe or perhaps the rest of my career. We had a 4-week break between the Hanover and Bremen tournaments so I flew myself home for a short break. I injured my knee while home and did not return for the Bremen tournament. Larry was a big pancake fan and for some reason you could not get good maple syrup in Germany so he want me to bring him some back when I came. 2-days before I was scheduled to return I got a voice mail message from Larry, which I remember word for word to this day, because it was the last words I even heard him speak, "Storm, it's the Lethal One. Don't forget my Syrp!"(not a typo). A week or two later Larry had a heart attack in the ring during a match with Tony St. Clair. He died in the locker room waiting for the EMTs. Larry's death hit me very hard and if either of my daughters had been born sons, I was going to name him Cameron, after Larry.
Q:In a previous commentary you said that you've seen Tajiri knock guys out with his kicks before. Is there any specific moment(s) that you recall this happening?
A:I recall an ECW match where he knocked Guido out with a Super Kick.
Q:Do you have any fears, phobia's or afraid of anything?
A:I'm not a big fan of snakes, but that is about it.
Q:What was the backstage environment like at hardcore homecoming?
A:To be honest I found it kind of sad. It felt to me more like guys trying to live in the past than guys celebrating the past.
Q:Do you think Ron Simmons will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in 08?
A:I think it is certainly possible. Wasn't Ron the first ever Black World Champion? I can hear his acceptance speech now, "DAMN!"
Q:I am curious what you think of MVP? I have really started to like this guy, and his feuds with Benoit and Kane have been very entertaining. Now granted Benoit makes anyone look better, but he seems to actually be able to wrestle unlike a certain champ.
A:I was not a big fan when he first started but have to admit, he has improved a TON. Working with Benoit he certainly should, but he is obviously putting in a big effort also. Keep the questions coming, Lance Storm