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TNA Legend Reveals Why He Never Signed With WWE After Tough Conversation With Triple H

Originally posted on Wrestling on SI | By Jon Alba | Last updated Jun 12, 2025 3:29 PM ET

Many wrestling fans of the 2000s are familiar with James Storm's lengthy TNA tenure, but he almost had his day in WWE about a decade ago.

Storm built a following as one-half of two of TNA's most memorable tag teams, Beer Money, Inc. and America's Most Wanted. He would eventually climb the ranks and win the promotion's world title, leading to his split with Bobby Roode in Beer Money, Inc. That seemed to put him on a path to WWE, and it almost came to fruition.

Storm debuted on NXT TV in October of 2015, and worked two tapings for the company. He was ultimately offered a WWE deal, but turned it down. He went into detail on why he did so on an appearance on Chris Van Vliet's podcast this week.

"Man, it was a lot. Mostly had to do with my family. Had a little bit to do with money, which is not like they didn't pay him a lot of money, so he's not coming. It wasn't like that at all. They gave me a contract, I went home and I got a call from Regal. He goes, 'Hey, we definitely want to sign you.' I was like, Oh, great. So I was going to sign the contract and all that stuff, and then he asked me, 'Can you tighten up a little bit? Lose a little weight?' I was like, 'Yeah'" he told Van Vliet.

"I busted my ass and I lost 20 lbs. I got in really good shape when I got back down there. Everybody's like, 'Oh, my God, you look totally different.' Because I always tell people, you give a man motivation, he'll work his ass off if. So I did it, and then when I got down there, the contract had changed."

Storm had recently departed TNA at the time and was looking to grow his family while also being able to provide for them. WWE had a rigorous house show schedule back then, and his new contract offer from the company reflected that.

"They added 25 more dates, but the money didn't move," Storm said. "I even told him TNA had offered me another contract to come back because they heard about me wanting to sign with WWE. I said, 'Look, this is what TNA is offering me. I'm not trying to hold this over your head at all, because you don't have to match this at all. I'm just saying this is what I'm willing to give up to come and work for this, but it has to be right.'"

"Because my wife, she wanted to have another child at the time, but she had to take the shots and all this stuff, so I was basically kind of giving that up as well, because I was going to be on the road a lot. We came to an agreement, and she was like, 'Well, if they can just give you this, then you have my blessing to sign.'"

It was at that point Storm got in contact with WWE management, specifically, Paul Levesque. Levesque was running the NXT developmental system, and wanted Storm to be a veteran presence before moving up to the main roster.

"Hunter is like, 'I just can't do it.' I was just like, 'All right, well, I'm sorry, my wife gave me permission not to sign, so I'm going home.' Three days later, Canyon Ceman called me. He goes, 'Hey, man. Paul wants to know if he can call you.' I was like, 'What? Hunter?' He goes, 'Yeah.' I go, 'He has my phone number. I just talked to him not too long ago.' He goes, 'Well, since you're not signed, we had to go through the proper channels, and I had to make sure, you're on a recorded line.' I was like, whatever, yeah, he can call me," Storm recalled.

The former TNA champion said his official call with Levesque did not go as planned, despite him getting a promise he would be called up in no time. That ultimately led to him passing on the contract.

"So he called me and I talked and he's like, 'Look, you're not gonna be here long, because Vince loves characters and you know how to work, so you'll probably be shipped off real quick.' I was like, 'Well, can you give what I was asking?' And like I said, it was not much at all, and he's like, 'No, I just don't have the authority to do that.' I was like, 'I'm sorry, man. I'm gonna have to say no.'"