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Lance Storm
Lance Timothy Evers[1] (/ˈɛvərs/; born April 3, 1969), known professionally by his ring name Lance Storm, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler.[2] He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, where he works as a producer. He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWF/WWE), where he held a combined 14 total championships (including holding three titles simultaneously in WCW). Storm began his career in 1990, training with Chris Jericho. They worked together in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), forming a tag team known as the Thrillseekers. In 1997, Storm joined ECW, where he worked with Justin Credible as the Impact Players. He stayed with ECW until 2000, then signed with World Championship Wrestling. In WCW, Storm won the United States, Cruiserweight and Hardcore Championships at the same time, renaming them as Canadian, 100 kg and Under Championship, and Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title. When WCW closed, his contract was bought by World Wrestling Federation (WWF), being involved in The Invasion storyline. He kept wrestling with WWF (later WWE) until 2005, when he left. Since then, Storm focused on the independent circuit as well as his training school, the Storm Wrestling Academy, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.[7][8] Early lifeLance Timothy Evers was born in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, on April 3, 1969.[1][2][3] Evers graduated from West Ferris Secondary School in North Bay, Ontario, and attended Wilfrid Laurier University School of Business and Economics in Waterloo, playing volleyball throughout.[9] Professional wrestling careerTraining, various promotions and Japan (1990–1996)Lance Storm was trained by Ed Langley and Brad Young of the Hart Brothers Wrestling Camp at the Silver Dollar Action Centre in Calgary, where he became friends with fellow student Chris Jericho.[10] Jericho has stated that despite the name of the school, the only involvement any of the Hart brothers had in their training was a "thirty-minute cameo" by Keith Hart to collect the student's fees.[10] Lance would later debut against Jericho in 1990 as "Lance T. Storm".[3][11] Early on, he mainly wrestled in Calgary but also spent time in Japan in Wrestling Association "R". Along with Jericho, Storm debuted in Smoky Mountain Wrestling in 1994, forming a tag team known as the Thrillseekers. After Jericho was injured, Storm continued to compete in singles competition for a few months, even winning the "Beat the Champ" TV Title.[12] He then left SMW and moved on to a Winnipeg-based West Four Wrestling Alliance, where he teamed once again with Jericho. In 1995, he began wrestling in Japan for WAR. He formed a tag team with Yuji Yasuraoka (with whom he held the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship numerous times), as well as forming a trio with Nobutaka Araya and Koki Kitahara, with whom he held the WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. Extreme Championship Wrestling (1997–2000)Teaming and feuding with Chris Candido (1997–1998)In 1997, Storm joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), making his debut at Crossing the Line Again against Balls Mahoney. Early in his ECW career, he took part in a match against Rob Van Dam at Barely Legal where he was booed by the crowd for two visibly "weak" chair shots to Van Dam. At Heat Wave, Storm faced Taz for the ECW World Television Championship but failed to win the title. At November to Remember in November 1997, Storm and Chris Candido defeated Tommy Rogers and Jerry Lynn. The following month, at Better Than Ever, Storm and Candido won the ECW World Tag Team Championship from the Can-Am Express. Despite being the champions, the duo retained a rivalry and at CyberSlam in February 1998, Storm defeated Candido. At Living Dangerously in March 1998, Storm and Al Snow defeated Shane Douglas and Candido. At Wrestlepalooza in May 1998, Storm and Candido defeated the Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freaks (Balls Mahoney and Axl Rotten) to retain the ECW World Tag Team Championship. In June 1998, Storm and Candido lost the ECW World Tag Team Championship to Sabu and Rob Van Dam. On the July 22, 1998 episode of ECW Hardcore TV, Storm walked out on Candido during a title match against Sabu and Van Dam, thus ending their team and beginning a feud between the two men. On the September 5, 1998 episode of Hardcore TV, Storm introduced his valet Tammy Lynn Bytch, a parody of Candido's real life girlfriend Tammy Lynn Sytch, who appeared in ECW to side with Candido and feuded with Bytch. Storm and Candido feuded until late 1998. At November to Remember, Storm defeated Jerry Lynn with Mikey Whipwreck as special guest referee. Impact Players (1999–2000)Following his feud with Candido, Storm joined forces with his trainee Justin Credible in February 1999 at Crossing the Line '99. The duo formed a tag team named The Impact Players. At Living Dangerously, The Impact Players faced Tommy Dreamer and Shane Douglas in a losing effort. The stable joined Storm and his valet (now renamed Dawn Marie) with Credible and his manager Jason. They first feuded with Jerry Lynn and Sabu in singles matches and by late 1999, they had begun a violent feud with Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman. The team brutalized many singles stars during this period as well. At Hardcore Heaven, Storm defeated Tommy Dreamer. At Heat Wave, The Impact Players faced Rob Van Dam and Jerry Lynn in a losing effort. At Anarchy Rulz, Storm defeated Jerry Lynn. At November to Remember, The Impact Players and Rhino defeated Raven, Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman in the night's main event. At Guilty as Charged, The Impact Players defeated Tommy Dreamer and Raven for their first of two ECW World Tag Team Championship reigns.[13] After losing the titles to Tommy Dreamer and Masato Tanaka they won them back at Living Dangerously where The Impact Players defeated Raven and Mike Awesome and Tommy Dreamer and Masato Tanaka in a Three-Way Dance. However they lost the titles to Tommy Dreamer and Masato Tanaka on February 26, 2000. During this time, Storm also gained a position as a booker in ECW and had a hand in much of the product content on television and pay-per-view.[11] At Hardcore Heaven, Storm challenged his former tag team partner Justin Credible for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship but failed to win the title. After the company began to suffer financial hardships, Storm left ECW for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in order to support his family.[11]  World Championship Wrestling (2000–2001)Storm left ECW in May 2000 to join WCW, where he became a singles wrestler. He made his first appearance on the June 19, 2000 episode of Nitro and quickly became one of WCW's most prominent stars, winning the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship,[14] the Cruiserweight Championship,[15] and the WCW Hardcore Championship[5] in rapid succession, resulting in Storm becoming the first and only wrestler in WCW history to hold three titles simultaneously.[11] As an affront to the fans, he renamed the titles to the Canadian Heavyweight Championship,[3] 100 kg and Under Championship,[3] and Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title (S.H.I.T.),[3] respectively, complete with large Canadian flag stickers that covered the belts' faceplates.[3] Storm then formed the group called Team Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada during New Blood Rising on August 13, where he defended the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship in a match with Mike Awesome. The match was refereed by the Canadian Jacques Rougeau, who enabled Storm to defeat Awesome and retain his title by constantly changing the rules. Following the match, the semi-retired Canadian wrestler Bret Hart came to the ring and hugged Storm and Rougeau. At Fall Brawl on September 17, Storm defeated General Rection with Jim Duggan as the referee, with Duggan turning on M.I.A and joining Team Canada. He also attempted to win the World Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated by champion Booker T on each occasion. Storm eventually awarded the Cruiserweight and Hardcore titles by presenting them to his Team Canada stablemates Elix Skipper and Carl Ouellet, respectively. At Halloween Havoc on October 29, Storm and Jim Duggan lost to General Rection in a Handicap match losing the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship and to free Major Gunns from Team Canada. On the November 13 edition of Nitro, Storm defeated General Rection to win the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship back. At Mayhem on November 26, General Rection defeated Storm for the title. At Starrcade on December 17, Storm defeated Ernest Miller. Storm's stable Team Canada feuded with General Rection's stable, the Misfits In Action, for several months. At Sin on January 14, 2001, Team Canada (Lance Storm, Mike Awesome and Elix Skipper) (with Major Gunns) defeated The Filthy Animals (Konnan, Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Billy Kidman) (with Tygress) in a Penalty Box match with Jim Duggan as special guest referee, In particular, Storm and Rection feuded with each other over Storm's "Canadian" Heavyweight Title, which Rection finally won and promptly returned to the United States Heavyweight Title name. At SuperBrawl Revenge on February 18, Storm faced The Cat where he lost and The Cat became the new Commissioner of WCW. At WCW's final PPV Greed on March 18, Team Canada (Lance Storm and Mike Awesome) defeated Konnan and Hugh Morrus. The pay-per-view event took place eight days before the final episode of Nitro and three days before the final episode of Thunder. On the final episode of Nitro, Team Canada (Lance Storm and Mike Awesome) challenged for the WCW World Tag Team Championship against Sean O'Haire and Chuck Palumbo but failed to win the titles. World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (2001–2005)The Alliance (2001–2002)When WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 2001, Storm's contract was kept and he became a WWF employee.[11] Storm, portrayed as a serious, humourless heel, was in The Alliance and was the first WCW superstar to ever invade a WWF program, where he debuted on the May 28, 2001 episode of WWF Raw is War.[11] At Invasion on July 22, Storm and Mike Awesome faced Edge and Christian in a losing effort. Storm received a modest push during the Invasion angle, as he would go on to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship[16] from Albert on the July 23 episode of Raw is War. He lost the title a month later to Edge at SummerSlam on August 19. Storm formed a tag team with The Hurricane and feuded with the Hardy Boyz over the WWF and WCW Tag Team Titles for the next few months; at Unforgiven on September 23, Storm and The Hurricane competed in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination match for the WWF Tag Team Championship but failed to win, this later included a match for the WCW Tag Team Championship against the Hardy Boyz at No Mercy on October 21, which Storm and The Hurricane lost. Eventually, at Rebellion on November 3, Storm and Justin Credible faced Billy and Chuck in a losing effort. At Survivor Series on November 18, Storm competed in an Immunity Battle Royal that was won by Test, where the winner could not be fired for a year. However, Team Alliance lost in the main event and Storm was fired (in storyline) along with the rest of the Alliance roster by Vince McMahon. Storm eventually got his job back officially on the December 17 edition of Raw when he defeated The Rock with help from Test in a match that earned him a WWF contract. On the December 27 episode of SmackDown!, Storm and Kurt Angle lost to The Rock and Rob Van Dam. Storm remained a heel and on the January 17, 2002 edition of SmackDown!, Storm and Christian faced Rikishi in a 2 on 1 Over The Top Rope Challenge which Rikishi won. At the Royal Rumble on January 20, Storm competed in the Royal Rumble match where he was eliminated by Al Snow. At No Way Out on February 17, Storm and Christian competed in a Tag Team Turmoil match which was won by The APA. On the Sunday Night Heat before WrestleMania X8, Storm, Mr. Perfect and Test lost to Rikishi, Scotty 2 Hotty and Albert in six-man tag team match. The Un-Americans (2002) In June 2002 he formed The Un-Americans along with Christian, Test, and later William Regal.[11] During this angle, Storm and Christian won the WWE Tag Team Championship on July 21 at Vengeance by defeating Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Edge.[17] On the August 5 edition of Raw, Storm and Christian retained the WWE Tag Team Championship against The Hardy Boyz by disqualification. On the August 12 edition of Raw, The Un-Americans and Triple H defeated Booker T, The Undertaker, Goldust and The Rock in an 8-man tag team match. At SummerSlam on August 25, Storm and Christian defeated Booker T and Goldust to retain the titles. On the September 9 edition of Raw, Storm and Christian defeated Kane and Bradshaw when Regal hit Bradshaw with a pair of brass knuckles and joined the group. At Unforgiven on September 22, The Un-Americans (Storm, Christian, Regal, and Test) faced Kane, Goldust, Booker T, and Bubba Ray Dudley in a losing effort. Storm and Christian lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to Kane and The Hurricane on the September 23 episode of Raw. Eventually, the Un-Americans broke apart on the September 30 episode of Raw after they each lost their respective matches, leading to a brawl involving all the members of the group. Various feuds (2002–2005)Storm continued teaming with Regal as a regular tag team with the same anti-American gimmick; Storm would represent Canada and Regal represented England. At Armageddon on December 15, Storm and Regal competed in a fatal-four-way tag team elimination match for the World Tag Team Championship but failed to win the titles. The next month, the duo won the World Tag Team Championship on two separate occasions.[17] The first was by defeating Booker T and Goldust on the January 6, 2003 episode of Raw with help from Chief Morley, who was appointed "Raw Chief of Staff", but they lost the title at the Royal Rumble on January 19 to The Dudley Boyz. Storm and Regal began their second reign as World Tag Team Champions the next night on Raw by defeating the Dudley Boyz with help from Morley again. At No Way Out on February 23, Storm and Regal defeated Kane and Rob Van Dam to retain the titles. On the March 24 episode of Raw, Morley announced that since the belts had not been defended in 30 days due to Regal's legitimate health problems, the duo would be stripped of the title. Morley immediately named himself and Lance Storm the new World Tag Team Champions starting Storm's fourth tag team title reign.[17] The following week on the March 31 episode of Raw, Storm and Morley faced Kane and Rob Van Dam and The Dudley Boyz in a 3-Way Elimination match, dropping the titles to Kane and Van Dam. At Judgment Day on May 18, Storm competed in a Battle Royal for the vacant WWE Intercontinental Championship which was won by Christian. From there, Storm was briefly involved in a storyline in which Stone Cold Steve Austin, an authority figure, encouraged the fans to chant "boring" during Storm's matches including one with Storm losing to newcomer Garrison Cade on the June 16 episode of Raw thanks to Austin bringing out a pillow and blanket and snoring loudly into the microphone, and other distracting antics. Storm eventually found help from Goldust who helped improve Storm's charisma, which eventually turned Storm into a face and Storm started dancing. He soon rejoined Morley, who had also become a face and reverted to his Val Venis character. Their reformed team began entering the ring with very attractive women but this time their tag team never got a push. Storm and Goldust then began teaming together for a short period of time. At Armageddon on December 14, Storm and Val Venis competed in a Tag Team Turmoil match for the World Tag Team Championship which was won by Ric Flair and Batista. From December 2003 to March 2004, Storm mainly competed on Sunday Night Heat. Storm eventually turned heel once again by betraying the fans. This happened when he told them of how he was sick and tired of pleasing them with his dancing and how it was just a waste of his time on an episode of Raw following the 2004 WWE draft lottery, only to be squashed by Rhyno immediately thereafter, thus turning Rhyno into a face once again. This would turn out to be Storm's last appearance on Raw. In April 2004, Storm chose to retire from in-ring action. His last match was on April 19, 2004, and he faced Steven Richards at the Calgary Saddledome. He then accepted a position backstage with WWE, working as a wrestling trainer in Ohio Valley Wrestling, WWE's main developmental territory. On March 23, 2005, Storm came out of retirement to participate in a six-man tag team match with Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro against fellow ECW alumni Tommy Dreamer and the Dudley Boyz. On April 9, 2005, in Cloverport, Kentucky, Storm teamed with Matt Cappotelli to face Mercury and Nitro. Storm resigned from WWE in May 2005 and announced that he intended to open his own training school in his hometown of Calgary, the Storm Wrestling Academy, with the first semester beginning in September 2005. He returned to WWE for one night on May 30, 2005, and faced Maven on Sunday Night Heat. Storm wrestled one last time on a WWE-promoted show at ECW One Night Stand on June 12, 2005, where he defeated his close friend and former tag team partner Chris Jericho with the help of Justin Credible. Late career (2005–2016) Since leaving WWE, Storm has made several appearances on the independent circuit. At Hardcore Homecoming on November 4, 2005, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Storm interfered in a steel cage match between Justin Credible and Jerry Lynn, helping Credible defeat Lynn. At the December 3, 2005 Ring of Honor show Steel Cage Warfare in New York, New York, Storm congratulated World Champion Bryan Danielson following a successful title defense against Rocky Romero. On April 1, 2006, at Better Than Our Best, Storm returned to Ring of Honor to face Danielson for the World Championship in Chicago, Illinois. Prior to the event, Storm commended Bryan Danielson and said that he is the one person to make him come out of retirement. Danielson defeated Storm by submission to retain the championship.[18] ROH fans were appreciative of Storm's efforts and chanted "You've still got it" as a tribute. May 26 and 27 saw Storm work for the United Kingdom-based wrestling promotion One Pro Wrestling (1PW). On May 26, he teamed with Andy Boy Simmonz, who substituted for Justin Credible due to Credible missing a flight, in a first round match of the Tag Team Championship tournament. Storm and Simmonz lost to eventual finalists A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels. The next night, Storm lost to Doug Williams in a singles match. Storm has made rare indy appearances for Northern Ontario-based promotion Blood, Sweat & Ears. On December 3, 2006, in Mississauga, Ontario, he lost to Christian Cage and suffered a throat injury due to a stiff clothesline. On July 21, 2007, he defeated Christopher Daniels before defeating Robert Roode on August 11, 2007. On July 3, 2009, it was announced that Storm would be coming out of retirement to perform at two Ring of Honor shows on July 24 and 25, Death Before Dishonor VII: Nights 1 and 2 respectively.[19] On July 24, Storm and fellow Canadian Kevin Steen defeated Chris Hero and Davey Richards and on July 25, Storm was defeated by Hero in a one-on-one grudge match. Following the match, Storm cut an emotional promo, and later announced his belief that this would be his last match, saying "I shared this match with people who share my love and respect for this business, and I am now home being Lance Evers with the family I will share the rest of my life with. I still have my school, and I will always be a part of this business, but I truly believe I am now done as a performer. They say, never say never in this business, and because of that I won’t, but I think I left it all in the ring that night and I believe I wrote the final page in the 19-year long book that was the career of Lance Storm."[20] In November 2009, Lance Storm announced he had accepted the position as the head booker of the Prairie Wrestling Alliance, a promotion that operates out of Edmonton.[7] PWA and the Storm Wrestling Academy had also begun working together very closely. On April 3, 2010, Storm came out of retirement to wrestle his friend Bryan Alvarez at a Tulalip Championship Wrestling event. Storm was defeated in the match, which he wrestled under a mask as The Ideal Canadian.[2] On March 19, 2011, Storm made a return to the ring at PWA's 10th anniversary show, teaming with Brother Devon in a tag team match, where they defeated Bully Ray and Dylan Knight.[21] On August 27, 2011, Storm came out of retirement to work a short match with Tommy Dreamer. Storm returned to ROH again on March 30, 2012, for the Showdown in the Sun pay-per-view, losing to Mike Bennett when Maria Kanellis interfered.[22] He wrestled Bennett again at the following ROH PPV, Border Wars, this time coming out victorious.[23] At the June 29 tapings of Ring of Honor Wrestling, Bennett defeated Storm following interference from "Brutal" Bob and Maria in the final match of their trilogy.[24] On January 18, 2013, Storm worked for the Hart Legacy promotion in Calgary, taking part in a six-man tag team match, where Storm and the Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith, Jr. and Lance Archer) defeated Bobby Lashley, Chris Masters and Johnny Devine.[25][26] On June 22, Storm worked for the House of Hardcore promotion, losing to its founder Tommy Dreamer in a main event singles match.[27] On November 9, 2013, Storm and Sean Waltman were defeated by Dreamer and Terry Funk at House of Hardcore 3. On June 14, 2014, Storm faced Mike Bennett in a losing effort at House of Hardcore 6. On December 15, 2013, Storm was defeated by Chris Hero at a Smash Wrestling event.[28] On December 21, 2013, Storm defeated Dan Collins at an EWP Wrestling event. on September 20, 2014, Storm and Justin Credible faced Alex and Kyle Reynolds for the PWS tag team championship but failed to win the titles. On October 3, 2015, at WWE's Live from MSG special event, Storm was acknowledged in the crowd by Chris Jericho, thus making his first WWE appearance since 2005.[29] On March 16, 2016, Storm challenged Jay Lethal for the ROH World Championship in a losing effort for the Prairie Wrestling Alliance (PWA) 15th Anniversary Show.[30] On April 2, 2016, Storm, managed by Missy Hyatt, took part in the 2016 WrestleCon, losing to Matt Hardy, in what would be his final match.[31] Impact Wrestling (2019)In March 2019, Storm revealed he was working with Impact Wrestling as a producer. He was also part of the Rebellion PPV where he was chosen to be the special guest referee for the World Championship match involving Johnny Impact and Brian Cage. The latter won the match and became the champion. Return to WWE (2019–2020)On November 2, 2019, Storm announced that he was returning to WWE to work as a producer. On the February 7, 2020 episode of SmackDown he appeared in a prerecorded video shown during "The Dirt Sheet". Storm was suspended from the company on April 15, 2020, due to COVID-19 cutbacks.[32] Return to Impact / Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2022–present)In February 2022, it was announced that Storm would be returning to Impact Wrestling as a producer.[33] Other mediaStorm writes a monthly column for British wrestling and MMA publication Fighting Spirit magazine.[34] Since 2005, Lance has been a regular guest on podcasts available through the Figure Four Weekly / Wrestling Observer web site, as well as a frequent guest on the nationally airing Wrestling Observer Live radio show.[35] In 2011, Storm and ten of his Storm Wrestling Academy students were featured in a ten-part reality television show, World of Hurt, which premiered on The Cave on May 1.[21] In 2011, Storm published an E-book for the Amazon Kindle, titled Storm Warning, which is a collection of columns from his website.[36] He later released a second volume, titled Storm Front which covers stories from his WWE career from 2001 to 2004.[37] Storm has made appearances on the WWE Network original The Edge and Christian Show, first playing the role of representative of WWE's PG department, then appearing briefly on the season finale. Storm has appeared two WWE video games in WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth and WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain during the final and second run with WWE.[38] On October 18, 2016, Storm debuted a new podcast with longtime friend Don Callis called Killing the Town with Storm and Cyrus. The show is part of The Jericho Network on PodcastOne.[39] Filmography
Video games
Personal lifeHe married his wife Tina in 1994, and they have two daughters, Rachel and Rebecca.[40][41] Championships and accomplishments
References
External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lance Storm.
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