James Storm Talks About AJ Styles Leaving TNA, Teaming With Gunner, Younger Talents, More

James Storm recently spoke with Ring Rust Radio. Here are highlights:

His Match with Gunner at Genesis:

"It's tough, you know, there's a lot of pressure going into it, anyone that says there isn't is a dog-faced liar, plain and simple. Any time you get a chance to go against the World Champion or even have the opportunity to be in the spotlight and the main event; that's something you want to fight for. Right now, Gunner is the number 1 contender with that briefcase, so I don't want to say I'm going to put all of my eggs into one basket but I'm definitely going to at least stick a case of beer in it."

Creative putting him with an up-and-comer like Gunner:

"A lot of people don't know that Gunner's been in the business for a long time. Just because he hasn't been in the national spotlight as long as I have in TNA doesn't mean he's somebody you can take lightly. With especially being in a tag team with him for the past couple of months I can definitely see how far he's come, how much he's grown and how much better he's gotten on the mic. He's a beast; he's one of the strongest guys I've even been in the ring with. He's an ex-marine so you know he don't take no s–t; he's looking to whoop somebody's ass, and that's just how it goes. So I definitely keep that in the back of my mind because I know how dangerous he's going to be but I hope that I can just kick him one time in the face and that'll knock him out."

Comparing Gunner to his past tag partners:

"It's hard to compare Gunner to either one of those guys just because I was in a tag team with those guys a much longer time. Me and Chris were basically unknowns coming up through the ranks trying to make a name for ourselves and as far as me and Bobby we were already established and we just kind of clicked together. It took us 6-8 months together to finally click but we did and we made a good run out of it. With me and Gunner, it's one of those things that I don't think we've been a tag team long enough to start describing us against my former partners."

Working in a tag team and working hurt:

"You definitely don't have to take as many bumps; it's easier on your body. If something happens, like if you get hurt during a match or something your partner is there and he can pick up the slack and when you're a singles guy you don't have that luck at all, you have to go in the ring day in and day out and just tough it out. When football players hurt their ankles or if something's wrong with a toe, they get 3-4 weeks off; as wrestlers we don't. I've been wrestling the past 3-4 weeks with a hairline fracture in my ankle but nobody knows that just because to us it's no big deal; just put a brace on it and let it go. Back when I was wearing the motorcycle boots for a long time it was because my ankle was pretty messed up and it kept my ankle immobilized."

Thoughts on AJ Styles' departure:

"I don't know the situation with the contracts and all that stuff, but you know for me to see a guy that I've been here since day one with is a dark day for TNA because he did help build TNA. Anytime somebody says TNA they automatically think of AJ Styles and the incredible matches he's had while he's been here. Hopefully him and TNA can come to an agreement and he can come back pretty soon."

Being a heel vs. face:

"Well 90% of my career here in TNA I've been a good guy but I love being the heel. It's so much fun and I always tell everyone: it's a lot easier to piss somebody off than it is to make somebody happy. You can say one word to piss somebody off but you can take all day or all night time to make them happy. So it's more fun to play heel and to be the dirty cheater and to me it's kind of a lost art in itself because today the heels want to be cool and that's not how I grew up watching wrestling. I always saw the heel as the dirty cheater who gets away with stuff here and there."

Touring vs. TNA having a home base:

"It's not my call how we tour and all that, that's Dixie and her team, but to me, I always enjoyed having the home base and traveling out for the pay-per views to make them feel special and to make people want to buy a pay-per view. If I see everything on TV, why should I buy the pay-per views? So you should always make the pay-per view worth people's money. A lot of the guys enjoy doing a show in a different town every night and that's all fine and dandy but with the cost situation and everything like that it's almost impossible to do because it just costs so much money to put a show on week in and week out. Right now I'm very content with having a home base and doing each one of our big pay-per views on the road."

A possible reality show for him:

"I'm not really sure when it's going to start airing. I head back out to LA next week to talk to a bunch of different networks who are very interested in it and hopefully real soon we can get that on TV."

Younger TNA talent stepping up:

"Yeah I definitely think it's something that the company needs. For the longest time it's been guys like myself, Daniels, Kazarian, AJ, Joe, and all the guys that have been there so long and having to carry the company when other guys came in and turned around and left real quick and it's really good to see the guys who TNA are investing in actually starting to step up now and take on bigger roles which takes some pressure off of us. It also puts pressure on us because it means we have to step up with these younger guys stepping up so I think it's a win-win situation."