It was rumored last week, then again this week. Former TNA World Heavyweight Champion James Storm was potentially going to be part of WWE NXT. There were ramblings of an appearance at WWE NXT Takeover: Respect . However, those rumors turned out to be both true and false. He was at the event, even backstage for the entire course of the show. He never appeared sadly.
Then the NXT Tapings happened.
James Storm ended up appearing on a the latest batch of them, and his official debut with NXT will take place in a few weeks.
This was a big deal for Storm and WWE. Storm is attempting to make a deal with WWE where he could be a player/coach. The idea is that he would wrestle off and on, similar to Rhyno. On top of this, he would help train the up and coming performers out of the WWE Performance Center each week. Since WWE is bringing in so many new faces, there does seem to be an opening for a new trainer. Storm fits this role pretty well.
According to Pro Wrestling Sheet , James Storm has yet to sign an official contract with WWE. While he and the WWE are discussing terms, TNA has also attempted to re-sign him. They planned to not only bring him back, but increase his pay if he were to sign with them. They actually ended up offering him a contract Thursday morning once they caught wind of him being at the NXT Takeover event.
While WWE brought him to the Takeover event to further discuss working together, there was nothing official but it does seem that they are close. It is doubtful WWE would have put him on NXT if they didn’t plan to sign him soon. Triple H is said to be interested in bringing him back for the next set of tapings. Storm is said to be weighing both options and considering which to take. Many believe he will end up working with WWE as there seems to be more of a future there than with TNA. However, TNA is offering more money. To some, that is enough.
WWE is also very close to signing a lot of top Indy women. They held try-outs recently and were said to have been impressed by several girls. There have also been a great deal of new faces on NXT programming which were more enhancement talent than anything else.
The Wrestling Observer noted that the girls who worked the recent NXT tapings from the SHINE promotion have not yet been signed by WWE. They are said to be on WWE’s radar and that is always a good sign. In addition, noted Indy worker Athena is said to be coming into WWE for the NXT tapings relatively soon.
Another note comes from the WWE NXT Takeover: Respect show. Bayley superfan Izzy was used as a part of the main event to help drive the story of Sasha Banks as a heel. Izzy has become quite popular with the NXT crowd and they are said to love her being there each time. Banks is well liked by seemingly every NXT fan, so the idea made sense for her to mess with Izzy during the match against her favorite WWE NXT Diva. According to Cageside Seats , her father got in touch with them and told them that Izzy was not in on anything Banks was going to do before the match happened.
He went on to say that he was “all real” in regards to her reaction to it all.
Sasha was said to have been good to Izzy after the show where she apologized to her and even gave her the flowers that she was handed at the end of the show. She was at the recent batch of WWE NXT shows where she held up a sign for Banks telling her to ask next time she wanted to borrow her hairband. However, Sasha apparently did not work them.
[IMG Credits: ubertopic.com, Facebook-Wrestling News Hub]