What would you rate Lance Storm's WWE career?

[CM Steel]

Lance Storm: A proud canadian-wrestler who was trained at the Hart brothers wrestling school in Calgery with a young Chris Jericho. Who would later be known as the tag team "the Thrill Seekers". Soon after splitting up starting single's careers they both started wrestling in Mexico & Japan before signing with ECW. Then Lance Storm formed the tag team "the Impact Players" with Justin Credible with Dawn Marie as their valet. So after leaving ECW to join WCW. Lance Storm became the first pro wrestler in history to win & hold three championships at one time. The WCW United States title, the Crusierweight title, and their HARDCORE championship. Lance Storm's stock was high in WCW in where people and fans started to talk about Storm being a main eventer in the future. But with the fall of WCW, it never happened.

Then comes Lance Storm's WWE career. Where he won the WWE IC title along with the WWE world tag team title's with Sean Morley aka Val Venis. But after awhile in the WWE Lance Storm finally called it a career as he retired from the ring as we thought. We later saw Lance Storm at the ECW: One Night Stand pay per-view against his former tag team partner Chris Jericho. IF I COULD BE SERIOUS FOR A MOMENT? All in all, what would you rate the WWE career of Lance Storm? Could he have been a big as star as he was in WCW? Or was he just that BORING?

 

[B.Ware]

My first memories of Storm were from ECW with Justin Credible and I instantly became a fan. I was hugely into WCW at the time and was overjoyed when he made the move and instantly became successful winning three titles and forming Team Canada, who at the time were the best thing going in the sinking company in my eyes.

Remember, Storm was the first WCW personality to appear on WWF programming after the buyout. He must have been viewed highly by some, and it was probably his ability to always perform that got him this distinction.

I loved the Un-Americans gimmick with Christian and Regal, and thought at the time that it would become really big and propel Storm to the upper tier. The problem was that the roster was too crowded at the time and there were too many bona fide main eventers in the way of anyone 'new' reaching the top. He definitely wasn't legitimately boring as he was always able to garner good heat wherever he went (except Canada and in the UK where we adored him). Therefore, I believe that Storm had the potential to be one of the main guys, but never had the chance before he got just a bit too old to be propelled to the top.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Apparently he's done a lot of stuff backstage for the company so he's made some impact. I believe it was him and Finlay that helped the diva's with their in ring work during the mid 2000's.

As for his WWE Career on screen it was terrible. Sure he was never going to be a main event guy or even an upper mid carder but he was a very reliable talent that had a great work ethic and could have easily been used as a utility or supporting character in feuds. In 2003 he did that pretty well working with William Regal, Val Venis, and Chris Jericho. He could have been that guy to help put over younger talent, the role Hardcore Holly had in the company except Storm would have given them better matches and probably made the younger guys look good.

 

[Raiden46]

4/10

Seriously

OK, if I can be serious for a moment here, probably somewhere in that range is accurate. His wrestling acumen was phenomenal, but his lack of personality really hurt him in the long-run. Some people didn't care, but his lack of persona led to SCSA labeling him boring. It caught on and Storm was never able to eclipse it.

 

[Ytoojae]

He never got the chance to be as good as he could be. A prime example is the year that he was supposed to be on the main Wrestlemania card and he wasn't.

 

[SaveUsCMPunk]

Probably middle of the road. Maybe a six or seven at best. Like the OP said, he's a former IC and tag team champion. That's certainly a better career than what several other WCW stars had. Just look at the careers of Sean O 'Haire, Shawn Staskiak, Kanyon, Mike Awesome, Hugh Morrus and Ultimo Dragon compared to Lance Storm. Not only that, but he got to work with names like The Rock, Chris Jericho, Triple H, Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle and Stone Cold Steve Austin. His "If I can be serious for a minute" catchphrase was awesome and he was IC champion just a few months after debuting. He didn't do a lot when he was "Big" Lance Storm or "Dancing" Lance Storm, but "Dancing" Lance Storm was pretty entertaining.

 

[EastCoastFan]

Lance was a great wrestler, but he didn't have the personality WWE likes. To put it another way: he was a wrestler, not an entertainer, so WWE Creative could never figure out what to do with him. He had a lot of respect from the other wrestlers (especially Chris Jericho), but WWE Creative seemed more interested in making a fool out of him or using him as a straight man (like when he was with the Hurricane in 2001). Yes, he had a run with the IC title, but the most famous moment from his reign was when Edge & Christian pantsed him, revealing that he was wearing Power Rangers underwear.

And yes, he was supposed to be on the card for WrestleMania 19, when he and Chief Morley (Val Venis) were to defend the World tag team titles. Instead, they got bumped to the pre-game match in favor of: Stacy Keibler & Torrie Wilson vs. the Miller Lite Catfight Girls.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

He made a lot of money, nothing else really matters.

As far as rating his WWF career, I would say a solid six. He won two different titles and was relevant. Plus like shooter said he still does and did stuff backstage for the WWE. Not a bad time at all for him.

 

[Azane]

For WWE, I'd give him a 4. He had a couple good storylines, but the entire "Booooorrring" schtich is what the average fan will remember, that's pretty painful, but it's the most prevalent memory.

He wasn't relevant for very long, that I rate him below average

This is only rating his time in WWE, overall wrestling, I'd give him a 7, as he shined brighter in other organizations.

 

[thebarber]

could and should have been SO MUCH BETTER. He was white hot when he went to WCW, WWE dropped the ball with him. He was the first invader on Raw, they should have played that up. He was a hoot as the leader of the Un Americans, he was a hoot with his massively serious gimmick, instead of making him a comedy act, they should have pushed him hard as a technically brilliant mat wrestler, feuds with Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit should have been obvious, not buried in tag teams with Sean Morley and William Regal and Christian

 

[relentless1]

i would rate it a 5, he won the intercontinental and tag belts, not much other than that, his wcw run outshines his wwf one by a mile imo

 

[Judah's Lion]

i'm gonna go against the majority here and rate his wrestling career as an 8 or 9 and rate his WWE career alone as a 7 or 8.

definitely agree that WWE dropped the ball with him. the guy's talent is blatantly obvious. i understand that he's a wrestler more than he is an entertainer, but there should be room for wrestlers in a wrestling promotion. just my opinion, but i digress.

as many have stated, he was the first invader during the whole Invasion angle. he also won the IC Title, get this, when it still mattered!! he feuded with Chris Jericho and finally dropped the belt to Edge at Summerslam. he then formed a stable with Christian, Test and eventually William Regal that was very enjoyable. while in that stable, he won the Tag Team Titles, again now, while they still mattered!! he had a really enjoyable feud with the Dudley Boyz during this time. he was part of the 2002 Royal Rumble match and defended the Tag Team Titles at Rumble 2003.

and finally, he got to have his final match at One Night Stand, a tribute show to the company that really got him noticed and allowed him to shine for who he was. he's stated multiple times that it felt like the perfect scenario for his retirement match.

so all in all, given the titles he won, the stories he got, the ppv events he was a part of, the names he got to share a ring with and his final match being so special to him, i'd really give his WWE time a 7. it would have been much higher had WWE played him better to his strengths instead of leading the audience to believe that he was "boring".

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Lance Storm had an average WWE career, but it was one that could have been so much better had the company focused on his strengths more than emphasising that he was "boring"....which he wasn't.

Storm was an awesome athlete, steroid free and very technically sound. He was definitely one of the most talented WRESTLERS on the roster, and was very good at both singles competition and as a tag-team wrestler- The Impact Players were great in ECW.

He did achieve quite a bit of succes in WWE- being the first WCW "invader", winning the Intercontinental Championship and the Tag Team belts, but was pretty much forgotten about and given the gimmick of being "boring", which is sadly what alot of fans will remember him for. It saddened me to see him dancing when he was such a good wrestler.

I would have loved to see Storm is feuds with the likes of Jericho, Benoit, Angle and plenty more. Those matches could have been technical masterpieces, and when the opportunity was there to have him face these sorts of guys, WWE just ignored it. Idiots.

Another way Storm could have been utilised better was during the Invasion, he should have reformed The Impact Players tag-team with Justin Credible. I would have enjoyed seeing them face the likes of The Hardys, I think that could have been a really good feud.

There were many ways the Storm was underutilised in WWE. He had a more successful career than lots of other wrestlers, but he could and SHOULD have been used much more than he was. The fact that WWE had superstars as good as guys like Storm, Jerry Lynn, Mike Awesome etc and did very little with them shows the strength in depth the roster had back then. If Storm was in WWE now, he would be doing much more.

 

[HBsam31]

I would say his time in WWE was as bad as people think. He held some titles, and got a lot of tv time. He was never going to be WWE champ or hit the main event there. He just wasn't Vince's type of wrestler. He achieved a lot of success elsewhere, and I am sure he made his money in WWE so I think he is probably happy with that. Not everyone is going to be a main eventer, but he was a solid mid card guy and dis some work backstage so I would say his time was moderately successful.

 

[LascoX]

I have a lot of respect for Storm as a wrestler. In the ring he was as solid as you could ask for. Yes his personality was dry but he was still entertaining. He was smart to retire from the in ring action before WWE turned him into a permanent jobber just because the fans couldn't move past the boring label. I would give his time in WWE a 6 as he had a better than average run when compared to a worker like Stevie Richards who never got out of jobber land.

 

[dukes07]

I absolutely loved his WCW career. He was a bright spot during its decline. As for WWE: I think they dropped the ball. He did get some solid mid-card work but he also jobbed. A lot. Also, being smaller and being a WCW guy most likely hurt him. WCW always got a lot of shit for not knowing what to do with talent, and I would say WWF/E was and is just as guilty. A damn shame too because I thought Storm was actually fairly charismatic and entertaining. His promos in WCW were money.