There comes a time where the planets align and everything comes together perfectly. Sometimes, the right idea with the right guy at the right time leads to magic. I like to call that THE PERFECT STORM.
In this case, for a two month span in the Summer of 2000, WCW found lightning-in-a-bottle and ran with it. One man found his way to win three singles championships in three consecutive weeks and become the hottest performer in the promotion.
That man would be Lance Storm.
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Prior to joining World Championship Wrestling, Lance Storm had a very steady career going for himself. Training out of the Hart Brothers Wrestling Camp in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Storm performed all across Canada, Germany, and WAR in Japan. In 1994, Storm and Chris Jericho, the Thrillseekers, competed for Jim Cornette’s Smoky Mountain Wrestling as a tag team. Storm also achieved a modicum of success as a singles competitor, winning the “Beat the Clock” Television Championship in August.
In 1997, Storm began a very successful three-year career in Extreme Championship Wrestling, winning three Tag Team Titles, and became a featured performer on programming, as a member of the hated Impact Players team with Justin Credible.
In fact, on Storm’s last night in ECW, he was in the main event of Hardcore Heaven on May 14, 2000 against Credible for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship.
However, once financial issues began to rise to the surface of the promotion, Storm left ECW after the pay-per-view and signed on with WCW in June 2000.
On June 19, Storm made a surprise debut on Nitro, taking out 3-Count after their match with the Jung Dragons. Over the next several episodes of WCW TV, Storm would take out Rey Mysterio, The Artist Formerly Known As Prince Iaukea, Lt. Loco, and Juventeud Guerrera. Then, after defeating Disco Inferno in his official debut, he made a short-lived alliance with Billy Kidman.
However, once Storm began to embrace his Canadian heritage, things quickly began to turn.
A few days after Bash At The Beach 2000, Storm started demanding all fans to stand up and respect the playing of the Canadian National Anthem. Many fans, remembering the American-Canadian War of 1999 (South Park reference), refused to oblige, infuriating the proud Canadian.
Six days later, he channeled his anger towards the fans and decided to make them pay, not with words, but with his actions.
THE PERFECT STORM had come to shore.
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On a special Tuesday edition of Nitro on July 18, 2000, Commissioner Ernest “the Cat” Miller announced that there was going to be a one-night tournament for the vacant WCW United States Championship.
Scott Steiner was stripped of the championship after using his banned Steiner Recliner in his match with Mike Awesome at Bash At The Beach. Eight men - Awesome, Vampiro, Great Muta, Kidman, “the Franchise” Shane Douglas, Buff Bagwell, “Positively” Kanyon, and Storm - would attempt to run the two hour gauntlet for the right to become champion.
In the first round, Storm, thanks to a distraction from MI Smooth and Kanyon, who were trying to assault Judy Bagwell in the parking lot, tapped out Buff with his rolling single-leg crab, now known as the Canadian Maple Leaf, for the submission victory.
The semi-finals had a battle between two dastardly villains with Storm and “the Franchise”. In a hard-hitting match, Storm survived Douglas’s onslaught, including his patented belly-to-belly suplex. After countering a roll-up, Storm, again, locked on the Maple Leaf. Douglas had no choice but to tap-out.
Storm would take on Awesome, who defeated Kanyon and Muta to advance, in the finals.
In a surprising result, after taking a fantastic beating, Storm countered a powerbomb, rolled through, and caught Awesome with a Maple Leaf. The monster Awesome, trapped in the center of the ring, had no other choice but to submit.
LANCE STORM WAS THE NEW UNITED STATES CHAMPION!
The next night, on Thunder, Storm took his Canadian patriotism to the next level. After naming all of the great performers that held the United States Title, he felt above them. The United States Title, in his eyes, was dead.
He then placed a sticker on front of the championship, with a Canadian flag blocking the United States logo on the championship, and redubbed it the WCW CANADIAN Championship.
A few nights later on the July 24, 2000 Nitro, Storm challenged anyone to an open challenge for the Canadian Heavyweight Championship. Out walked Big Vito to the top of the stage.
The current Hardcore Champion, after calling a “Canadian piece of $#!+”, wanted the smoke. However, Storm said that he’d only face Vito if he put the Hardcore Title on the line as well.
The fiery Italian accepted, and the match was underway.
It was an intense back-and-forth between both men. In the end, Storm countered an attempt of a German Suplex, rolled through, and locked on the Maple Leaf. Vito tried to get to the ropes, but Storm dragged him back to the center. Vito was forced to tap out.
LANCE STORM WAS NOW THE WCW HARDCORE CHAMPION!
On the following Thunder two days later, Vito demanded a chance to get back his Hardcore gold. Storm agreed, however, he had to defeat the double champion under “Canadian Rules”: a straight-up technical wrestling match.
During the fight, which began after Vito attacked Storm during the playing of the Canadian National Anthem, Vito accidentally knocked down the referee. Storm, very hypocritical, rolled out to the floor and leveled the Mamaluke with a steel chair. Although Vito kicked out, he was a sitting duck. Moments later, Storm hooked up the Maple Leaf, and similar to Nitro, as Vito went to the ropes, he was dragged back in, forced to tap out once again.
Having two championships wasn’t enough for the proud Canadian. On July 31, 2000, Lance Storm was about to etch his name into the record books.
First, he came out to the ring midway through Nitro and announced that he was renaming the Hardcore Championship the “Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title”. Just think of the acronym.
(FUN FACT: It was initially planned to call it the Stu Hart International Title, but the WCW Creative Team were unable to gain permission to do so.)
Then, Storm stated that he would continue his journey and rename WCW World CANADIAN Wrestling. After demanding that all rise for the Canadian National Anthem, Cruiserweight Champion Lt. Loco interrupted “O Canada” and ran down to the ring for his title defense.
This was a great back-and-forth match, with the speedy Loco giving Storm a run for his money. However, after Loco tried a hurricanrana, Storm countered into the dreaded Canadian Maple Leaf. Loco valiantly fought, but ultimately tapped out.
LANCE STORM WON THE WCW CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP!
For the first time in American pro wrestling history, Lance Storm was the first man to simultaneously hold three singles championships at the same time. For a guy not even in the company for two months, Storm truly had the rocket strapped on his back.
On the August 2 Thunder, Storm announced that he was renaming the Cruiserweight Championship the 100 KG & Under Championship, due to Canada’s usage of the metric system. Commissioner Cat finally had enough of Storm’s blatant disrespect to the prestigious championships of WCW. He then announced that Storm would be defending all three championships in three separate matches on the program.
Storm wouldn’t disappoint.
First, he defeated Juventeud to retain the 100 KG & Under Championship. Then, under Canadian Rules, he submitted Norman Smiley to retain the Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title. Finally, with help from the Great Muta, he upended the Cat to retain the Canadian Championship.
Not only did Lance run the gamut, he did it all by submitting them with the Canadian Maple Leaf.
The Nitro before New Blood Rising on August 7, 2000 almost had a moment many thought IMPOSSIBLE. Already WCW’s Triple Crown, Storm went to try to become a Grand Slam Champion, taking on Booker T for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Storm came ridiculously close to tapping out Booker with the Maple Leaf, including dragging him back to the center of the ring, but the World Heavyweight Champion would not be denied, making the ropes regardless. After a few more moments of a proverbial tug-of-war, Storm got caught with a Book End for a three-count and a loss.
So close to greatness, yet slipped through his fingers.
However, at New Blood Rising on August 13, 2000, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Storm would reach his zenith in WCW.
In front of his home country’s rabid fans, Lance Storm had the true superstar experience.
Flanked by security in the backstage area prior to entering through the curtain, which play-by-play Tony Schiavone called “his Goldberg entrance”, Storm entered the arena to a massive ovation.
Then, thanks to his own appointed referee Jacques Rougeau, as well as other nefarious “rules” in the Canadian Wrestling rule book, Storm retained the Canadian Championship against Mike Awesome.
Finally, while celebrating in the ring, Storm was surprised by Canadian wrestling hero and six-time World Champion Bret “Hit Man” Hart. Hart, who was forced to retire due to a massive concussion at Starrcade 1999, raised the hand of Storm, symbolically passing the torch.
Lance Storm was truly on top of the world.
It was also the last night of his Triple Crown.
After defeating Awesome in a rematch on Nitro the next night due to interference from Rougeau, Elix Skipper, and Carl Outlette, who you know now as the legendary PCO, Storm, during a backstage interview, formed his Team Canada faction. He then handed Skipper, a former player in the Canadian Football League, his 100KG & Under Championship, and Outlette his Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title, to keep his sole focus on being Canadian Champion
It was the true end of an era.
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Lance Storm would wind up becoming a three-time Canadian Champion by the end of WCW.
During a house show loop in September 2000 in Texas, Storm lost the title to “the Hardcore Legend” Terry Funk in his hometown of Amarillo on the 22nd, and regained it the next night in Lubbock. (FUN FACT: WCW did not recognize these championship changes; however, over a decade later, through WWE’s lineage of the belt, they ultimately were.)
Then, Storm lost the title in a handicap match to General Rection on October 29, 2000 at Halloween Havoc 2000, when “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Canadian sympathizer and Storm’s partner, took the pinfall after a No Laughing Matter moonsault.
Two weeks later, in London, England on the November 10 Nitro, Storm regained the Canadian Championship when Major Gunns, the eye-candy of the Misfits In Action, defected to Team Canada and cost Rection the gold. Two weeks later, at Mayhem 2000, the General FINALLY overcame Storm, ending the rivalry and Storm’s Canadian stranglehold on the United States Championship.
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In my opinion, Lance Storm might have had the best run during the final year in WCW. Being able to hold three singles championships at the same time less than two months after debuting is nothing short of remarkable.
And yet, in my opinion, it’s overlooked. With many fans harping on WCW’s final days with disdain, they tend to forget how white-hot Storm was in the Summer of 2000. I implore everyone to go back and watch Lance Storm from his June 19 debut to New Blood Rising on August 13, 2000. He might have been, in my opinion, the top wrestler in the company, and nothing came close.
It was the right idea with the right guy at the right time.
It was, in many words, THE PERFECT STORM.
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