James Storm Discusses What Triple H Told Him When He Left WWE, His Time In NXT And Backstage Changes At Impact Wrestling

Impact Wrestling Star James Storm recently sat down with Josh Barnett of USA Today's 'For The Win' section. Below are highlights from the interview

Backstage changes in Impact Wrestling with Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantel back:

“I think it’s very good and I’m not just saying that because of the new ownership. I always felt Impact Wrestling was the best when you had Dutch and Jeff. Even when had the crazy ideas of Vince Russo there, you always had Jeff and Dutch to pull him back from certain ideas that he was trying to throw out.

“They weren’t afraid to think outside of the bubble. People might label them as Southern wrestling stuff, but they were willing to listen to guys’ ideas and use them a lot of times. A lot of times people get in that position who wouldn’t use the guys’ ideas because it’s not their ideas. Because if it works then it might make look bad in certain people’s eyes. Jeff and Dutch aren’t afraid to listen to guys and that makes them feel good and try harder.”

His time in NXT:

“Everything is about timing. I didn’t think it was the right time. I was treated with respect when I went down there, Hunter (WWE executive vice president Paul ‘Triple’ Levesque and I talked about things. He just said, ‘At the end of the day, you have to do what’s best for you. If things don’t work out, you have my number. Give me a call.’ It was great for him to say that to me. At the time, I don’t think I was ready for it with some stuff with my family life and my personal life to take care of. He understood that. It had nothing to do with wrestling. But never say never is the wrestlers’ motto that we live by. If it presented itself, I would talk it over my family again and see what we could do.”