Lance Storm is one of those wrestlers who is almost impossible to praise without sounding patronising. He was never a world champion, but he had a handful of mid-card title runs, several if you count tag team championships as mid-card titles (you should.) Lance Storm's genius, however, was that he made every single one of his many, many opponents look better than they were. Every single one. Put him in the ring with a big monster heel, and he makes them look terrifying. Have him wrestle a cruiserweight and he makes them look unstoppable. He was smart enough in the ring to put over anybody. See? Wasn't that just so crushingly patronising? Storm left WWE in 2005 when he was 36 years old. He left to open his own training school, which is absolutely what he should be doing. For sure. Actually, it should be a rule that you're not allowed to become a professional wrestler without having had at least one conversation with Lance Storm. He can't train everyone, that would be absurd. But surely it's not too much to ask that everyone at least talk to the guy once about wrestling. But, wouldn't it be cool if he kept wrestling in WWE just a little bit longer? He continued wrestling at indie shows sporadically, including as recently as last December when he lost to Chris Hero at a Smash Wrestling show. His wresting mind is second-to-none and he could have continued his great career as a mid-card stepping stone for at least a few more years. Think about all the WWE Superstars who were tipped for greatness from 2005 onwards who never quite made it. Each one of them would look better than they do now had they only wrestled Lance Storm.
Michael Palmer is a contributor at whatculture.com and thelineofbestfit.com, and he probably likes WWE slightly more than most people would call "healthy".
