Lance Storm Talks Possible AEW Role
Filed to GERWECK.NET:
Conducted by Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman
Audio Link: https://audioboom.com/posts/7712249-aew-pulls-joey-janela-over-covid-concerns-pat-mcafee-returns-to-nxt-feat-lance-storm
Post Link: https://www.wrestlinginc.com/news/2020/10/lance-storm-gives-wwe-status-update-676150/
On his WWE status after being “furloughed” back in April:
Well, I was, again, they want to say furloughed, but with my visa and my contract, because I had to have different paperwork to enable me to get the work visa, they had to terminate my contract to not pay me. So I was straight up released. You can’t do it the same way because again, really the only difference between furloughed and fired is they don’t actually file the paperwork to terminate you and then they hope to bring you back, and I was told that basically, you’re furloughed or whatever.
We hope to bring you back at some point, but I had a different contract. To enable a visa, they have to terminate the contract to not continue to pay me, so they did, which is why I was able to do the cameo on AEW Dynamite for the Jericho 30-year anniversary celebration. I got to send in a video for that. So I’m really in a position where I’ve got a lot of things I could be doing and want to be doing, but to do them, I have to cross to the US, and as of right now, there is still a closed border.
There is some legal loopholing you can do if you’re willing to bend the rules and ignore quarantines, but that’s not something I’m willing to do. So until the border situation improves, I sit home and do a weekly podcast on the Wrestling Observer and watch ‘Corner Gas’ animated Monday nights on CTV comedy.
On if he has plans to reopen Storm Wrestling Academy:
Well, the school is closed because I closed it. I’m done with it. That was a major undertaking, and it ran its course. And it was a situation–I was looking to shut it down, and I reached out to see what my employment options were because I wanted to shut it down. And WWE made me a pretty quick offer to go, and I jumped at it. And it was going great, until March of this year when everything hit the fan so to speak.
On if he has interest in a role with AEW:
I’m interested in working anywhere and will entertain anyone that gives me a decent offer, but again, I’ve gotta wait for the damn border to open up. So I’m waiting to see what happens on November 3rd and then waiting to see what happens moving forward on that and see if the U.S. can get their stuff together and get this border opened up.
On how his upcoming role as Lance Fury, alongside WWE Hall of Famers Bret Hart and Trish Stratus, on Canada’s hit animated series Corner Gas came about:
Brent Butt is his real name, but Brent LeRoy is the character in the show, and I joke about it. It’s good that they don’t make me stretch too much for my character. I think both Seinfeld and Brent are in that boat too where it’s easier to just play yourself.
He was smart enough not to portray himself as a big Lance Storm fan, but he certainly knew who I was. He grew up in Saskatchewan, so he would have grown up on Stampede Wrestling. So he’s probably a bigger Bret Hart fan to be honest, but I got to know him a bit. So he got the idea for the podcasting deal. I talked to him not a fair bit but occasionally, and he had been doing ‘The Butt Pod’, the Brent Butt podcast.
And I was talking to him trying to coordinate getting on and doing that with him, which may have been what sparked the idea in the first place. It’s a really big deal for me. There’s wrestling references in the original series. So he was obviously a wrestling fan growing up in Canada as all prairie boys would be big fans of Stampede Wrestling.
