Did you know James Storm’s WWE entrance music was meant to be the song now used by AJ Styles?
James Storm’s WWE career was short, with only a brief pair of NXT appearances to show for his time in the company. The former TNA World Champion made a shock debut on NXT in 2015, defeating Danny Burch in a short match to showcase Cowboy James Storm to the passionate Full Sail Arena crowd.
Being that he was a former TNA talent, the Florida crowd were well aware of James Storm’s work and he looked set for a big push in the future in NXT. He would appear again almost a month later with another short victory, this time over NXT alumni Adam Rose.
Fans expected to see even more of James Storm in NXT, but that would be it for the Cowboy. He never made another appearance in the promotion, despite his Beer Money Inc partner signing for WWE shortly after. He instead re-signed a deal with TNA (now Impact Wrestling), due to the money and travel involved with WWE not being as good as the deal with TNA.
Speaking to Busted Open Radio, James Storm said about not joining NXT;
“I went down to NXT and talked to [Triple H] and then I went back again and had another match with them and Impact had put an offer out on me and so did NXT,” said Storm. “But you know I even actually sat down with Hunter and had the contract with me and was like you know ‘this is what Impact is offering and everything.’
“And tell you the truth it wasn’t even about the money because I told him the situation that a lot of people don’t know about is that me and my wife was trying to have another kid, and it was just one of those deals where if you’re with WWE you might as well forget it, you’re on the road so much.”
Despite not signing for WWE, they still had big plans for James Storm in NXT. WWE wanted to push him as a top star in their developmental promotion, alongside main event players like Finn Balor, Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
AJ Styles also revealed that his now-famous theme song was originally meant to for James Storm. His WWE run started just two months prior to the debut of AJ Styles, who made his first appearance at the 2016 Royal Rumble as a surprise entrant in the famous Royal Rumble match.
In a recent interview with with “Inside The Ropes“, AJ Styles spoke about his debut in WWE and how his famous “Phenomenal” entrance theme (composed by CFO$) wasn’t originally created for him, but instead for built to be used by James Storm in WWE. The song was long rumoured to have been created for the Briscoe Brothers (former ROH Tag Team Champions’ Jay and Mark Briscoe), although their WWE signing was cancelled due to homophobic comments. of which they have since apologised.
Speaking to Inside the Ropes, AJ Styles said;
“It wasn’t made for me. It was made for [James Storm]. And then I kind of explained what I’d like to [hear for my theme song], and it was that song that they presented.”
His song was not the first one created for one star, then repurposed for another. Bobby Roode’s entrance music “Glorious” was originally a creation for Shinsuke Nakamura. However, Nakamura was instead given the superior music “The Rising Sun”, and Roode made Glorious his own in the best way possible.
Other songs have been used by multiple wrestlers. Kurt Angle’s famous theme song was originally used by The Patriot, whilst Brodus Clays’ “Somebody Call My Momma” was first used by Ernest “The Cat” Millet in the WWE.
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