Lance Timothy Evers (; born April 3, 1969), known professionally by his ring name Lance Storm, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he works as a producer. Storm is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF)/World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where he held a combined 14 total championships.
Storm began his career in 1990, training with Chris Jericho. They worked together in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling and Smoky Mountain Wrestling, forming a tag team known as "Sudden Impact" or "the Thrillseekers". From 1995 to 1998, Storm wrestled in Japan for WAR. In 1997, he joined ECW, where he teamed with Chris Candido and Justin Credible, holding the ECW World Tag Team Championship twice. In 2000, he signed with WCW, where he held the WCW United States Championship, WCW Cruiserweight Championship, and WCW Hardcore Championship simultaneously and helmed the Team Canada faction. Upon the acquisition of WCW by the WWF in 2001, Storm's contract was acquired by the WWF (later WWE); he went on to be a member of the Alliance and the Un-Americans, and held the WWF Intercontinental Championship and World Tag Team Championship. After leaving the WWF in 2005, Storm wrestled sporadically on the independent circuit until retiring in 2016, as well as operating a professional wrestling school, the Storm Wrestling Academy. He joined TNA in 2022.
Lance Timothy Evers was born in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, on April 3, 1969. Evers graduated from West Ferris Secondary School in North Bay, Ontario, and attended Wilfrid Laurier University School of Business and Economics in Waterloo, playing volleyball throughout.
Lance Storm was trained by Ed Langley and Brad Young of the Hart Brothers Wrestling Camp at the Silver Dollar Action Centre in Calgary, where he became friends with fellow student Chris Jericho. Jericho has stated that despite the name of the school, the only involvement any of the Hart brothers had in their training was a "thirty-minute cameo" by Keith Hart to collect the student's fees.
Storm wrestled his debut match on October 2, 1990 in Ponoka, Alberta for the Canadian Wrestling Connection; wrestling "Lance T. Storm", he went to a time limit draw with Jericho. He spent the next year wrestling on the independent circuit in Canada, appearing with promotions such as Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling. In October 1991, Storm and Jericho toured Japan with Atsushi Onita's Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling promotion; teaming as "Sudden Impact".
Catch Wrestling Association (1993, 1995)
From June to October 1993, Storm wrestled in Austria and Germany for Otto Wanz's Catch Wrestling Association (CWA), holding the CWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship on two occasions.
He returned in September 1995 when he feuded with Fit Finlay and Danny Boy Collins. He left in October 1995.
Smoky Mountain Wrestling (1994)
In March 1994, Storm and Chris Jericho began wrestling for Jim Cornette's Appalachia-based Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) promotion as the Thrillseekers, a "pretty boy" babyface tag team. Over the following months, they faced teams such as the Masked Infernos, Well Dunn, and the Batten Twins. In August 1994 at "The Night of the Legends", the Thrillseekers defeated the Heavenly Bodies in a street fight. Prior to the match, Jericho had suffered a broken arm while practicing a shooting star press in the ring; following the match, he left SMW.
After Jericho's departure, Storm remained in SMW as a singles wrestler. In August 1994, he defeated Chris Candido for the vacant SMW Beat the Champ Television Championship. He lost the title to Boo Bradley the following month. In November 1994, he formed a short-lived tag team with Brian Lee. He left SMW later that month.
In November 1995, Storm began wrestling in Japan for Genichiro Tenryu's WAR promotion. Upon his debut, he formed a tag team with Yuji Yasuraoka. In January 1996, he unsuccessfully challenged Último Dragón for the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship in Tokyo's Korakuen Hall. In February 1996, Storm and Yasuraoka lost to Gedo and Lion Do in a bout for the vacant WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The following month, Storm and Yasuraoka defeated Gedo and Lion Do to win the titles. In June 1996, Storm and Yasuraoka defended the titles against El Samurai and Norio Honaga at New Japan Pro-Wrestling's The Skydiving-J event (a showcase of junior heavyweight wrestlers from various different promotions). They held the titles until July 1996, when they lost to El Samurai and Jushin Liger at the WAR 4th Anniversary Show in Tokyo's Ryōgoku Kokugikan. In November 1996, they defeated Liger and Samurai to regain the titles; their second reign ended in March 1997 when they lost to Choden Senshi Battle Ranger and Masaaki Mochizuki.
In June 1997 at the WAR 5th Anniversary Show in the Ryōgoku Kokugikan, Storm teamed with Koki Kitahara and Nobutaka Araya to defeat Mitsuharu Kitao, Nobukazu Hirai, and Tommy Dreamer for the vacant WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. They held the titles until October 1997, when they lost to Hirai, Kitao, and Masaaki Mochizuki. Storm made his final appearance with WAR in January 1998.
Extreme Championship Wrestling (1997–2000)
Teaming and feuding with Chris Candido (1997–1998)
In February 1997, Storm joined Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), making his debut at Crossing the Line Again against Balls Mahoney. Early in his ECW career, he took part in a match against Rob Van Dam at Barely Legal where he was booed by the crowd for two visibly "weak" chair shots to Van Dam. At Heat Wave, Storm faced Taz for the ECW World Television Championship but failed to win the title.
At November to Remember in November 1997, Storm and Chris Candido defeated Tommy Rogers and Jerry Lynn. The following month, at Better Than Ever, Storm and Candido won the ECW World Tag Team Championship from the Can-Am Express. Despite being the champions, the duo retained a rivalry and at CyberSlam in February 1998, Storm defeated Candido. At Living Dangerously in March 1998, Storm and Al Snow defeated Shane Douglas and Candido. At Wrestlepalooza in May 1998, Storm and Candido defeated Axl Rotten and Balls Mahoney to retain the ECW World Tag Team Championship. In June 1998, Storm and Candido lost the ECW World Tag Team Championship to Sabu and Rob Van Dam.
On the July 22, 1998 episode of ECW Hardcore TV, Storm walked out on Candido during a title match against Sabu and Van Dam, thus ending their team and beginning a feud between the two men. On the September 5, 1998 episode of Hardcore TV, Storm introduced his valet Tammy Lynn Bytch, a parody of Candido's girlfriend Tammy Lynn Sytch, who appeared in ECW to side with Candido and feuded with Bytch. Storm and Candido feuded until late 1998. At November to Remember, Storm defeated Jerry Lynn with Mikey Whipwreck as special guest referee.