Tim Storm On NWA’s Success, How Audience Reaction Changed Powerrr’s Direction
Tim Storm credits the NWA fanbase with making stars out of The Question Mark and his ‘mama’.
Former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Tim Storm recently spoke with Pollo Del Mar on the Arm Drag Takedown Podcast about the NWA’s success in spite of many people thinking it would fail today. Storm says the NWA fans not only helped the promotion succeed but helped shape many of the characters you’ve seen on screen since NWA Powerrr debuted last year.
Many expected the National Wrestling Alliance’s unique studio wrestling production to fail in the modern era, admits Tim Storm. Quite the opposite happened, according to the former Worlds Heavyweight champion. The NWA’s in house audience not only succeeded — it shaped the company’s product in unexpected ways!
“The studio audience at our TV tapings, they became part of our show,” Storm said. “From the very first promo Nick Aldis went out and cut, the fans were just… it was amazing,” said Storm. “Then every time going out, they very quickly chose sides — and sometimes the sides were surprising.”
Storm said the fans’ unexpected responses to odd gimmicks helped change the show’s dynamic and pointed to his ‘Mama Storm’ as a prime example of that.
“The fans grabbed onto that, and it changed the directions because [NWA producers] were willing to listen to the direction the fans were going,” Storm said. “The whole ‘Mama Storm’ thing was unplanned, accidental and I had no idea,” he told the podcast. “It’s not like I said, ‘Hey, watch this! I’m going to go out and get my mom over!’”
Storm said it was simply a throwaway line in a promo but the crowd fed into it and it resulted in seeing his “mother” appear in the storyline. Storm also noted the unexpected impact of The Question Mark and said it’s credit due to the performer under the mask as much as the people in the crowd.
“Did you see how careful I was to not say who it was? But you knew who I was talking about! That’s a testament to the person doing it, because they recognized what the crowd was reacting to, and it’s a testament to the people writing and booking the show. I don’t know what the original plan was necessarily,” Storm said, “but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t for that to be one of the premier characters, especially because it doesn’t embody necessarily that ‘old-school’ style of wrestling. But they recognized what was happening, kind of changed directions and rode the wave,” Storm went on to say. “And everybody’s glad they did!”
Listen to Arm Drag Takedown with Pollo Del Mar’s Exclusive Interview with NWA Superstar Tim Storm at this link.