Lance Three Belts.
That was the scene in 2000 WCW when Lance Storm hit the scene. He quickly won the United States, Cruiserweight and Hardcore Titles, and renamed them the Canadian, 100 Kilos And Under and Saskatchewan Hardcore International Titles.
"I hated that name," Storm told us of the latter.
Less than two months after his WCW debut, Storm held all three titles. Though he'd give two of them away to Elix Skipper and the now-PCO, he had no idea coming in that he'd get the titles. In fact, just weeks prior he was losing three minute matches to Billy Kidman. He recalled the process
"Well, the thing is, that was never pitched to me. Because they were making it up as they went along. So, it’s, ‘Okay, you’re going to win the US title.’ ‘Okay, cool.’ That one I knew about several days ahead because Johnny Ace, who was the agent at the time for it, he called me with, ‘You’re getting a big push, you’re winning this tournament. We need to come up with what your finisher is going to be.’ ‘Cause I had been using the half-crab up until that and he was undecided or unsure whether he would be able to convince all of these guys to tap. So, he was thinking we should probably do a pinfall finisher. But, after several minutes of debate he was finally like, ‘Ah, screw it, I’ll just make them all tap out.’ I was like, ‘Okay.’
With the other titles, there was a little more to the political games. One of which actually ended up playing into Storm's favor.
"I think it the day before, because I know there was still argument going on. Because Big Vito, who I beat for the Hardcore title, he was really tight with Russo and he had talked to Russo the day before and at that point I was beating him in a US title match on Nitro and he was beating me in a Hardcore match on Thunder or vice versa. We were each going to defend our titles against each other and successfully retain. It was that day of that they decided, ‘No, let’s put two titles on Lance.’ Because he was arguing and complaining about having to lose the title at the show," Storm recalled.
Winning three championships seems wonderful, right? It is, until you have to fly home.
"So, it was last minute that they decided that and the other one I found out, again, an hour before it happened. So, I never had a chance for anything to sink in. It’s just boom-boom-boom. It’s like, ‘Oh, okay.’ So, you’re busy doing the job and you don’t really think about it until you have to go to the airport and realize you have three title belts in your carry-on and security is going to be a real nightmare," Storm stated.
These days, Lance Storm is behind the microphone for Wrestling Observer, and on the screen -- sort of. You can see him on CTV Comedy's Corner Gas Animated on Monday, October 26 when he portrays former wrestler-turned gardening enthusiast Lance Fury. The first two seasons of Corner Gas Animated are available on IMDBtv in the United States.
