Tim Storm was 51 years old when he won the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.
On October 21, 2016, he defeated Jax Dane for the title, becoming the oldest wrestler to hold it. By that point, Storm had already been wrestling for more than 20 years and had built his career mostly away from national television.
That was part of what made his run interesting.
Storm, whose real name is Timothy Scoggins, grew up watching Memphis Wrestling, Georgia Championship Wrestling, and World Class Championship Wrestling on Saturdays in Arkansas. He did not start wrestling until his 30s. When he called the WCW Power Plant at 32, he was told the cutoff age was 30.
He kept going anyway.
Storm debuted in 1995 and spent years wrestling while also building a life outside the business. He later became a schoolteacher, teaching history and science while continuing to work shows.
That path eventually led to the NWA title.
Storm told Pro Wrestling Stories that winning the championship was his “Mountaintop.”
Billy Corgan took control of the NWA in October 2017 while Storm was still champion. Rather than move on from him immediately, the new NWA made Storm part of the foundation of what it was building.
The Ten Pounds of Gold series gave Storm’s title reign more visibility and helped make the championship feel important again.
Nick Aldis defeated Storm for the title on December 9, 2017, ending Storm’s 414-day reign.
Storm remained part of the NWA story.
When NWA Powerrr debuted in 2019, he was still wrestling and still connected to the world-title picture. On the first episode, Storm challenged Aldis with the stipulation that he could never challenge for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship again if he lost.
He lost the match, but by then Storm had already become more than a former champion.
He eventually moved into commentary, and that was another role where he stood out.
Storm sounded like someone who had actually spent decades in the ring. His commentary was straightforward, and he could explain what was happening without making it sound overproduced.
That mattered to me when I found the NWA.
I have written before about how Billy Corgan’s NWA reignited my love of professional wrestling. Nick Aldis was a major reason why, and Storm was another.
I liked Storm as both a wrestler and a commentator.
He did not come across like someone trying to hide his age or pretend he was something he was not. His age, experience, and history were part of what made him work. When he talked about the NWA championship, he treated it like it meant something.
That carried over to the broadcast table.
Storm also kept wrestling.
After spending more time on commentary, he returned to an NWA ring against Jax Dane at NWA 75 in August 2023. Three months later, the promotion announced that Storm was returning to wrestling full time.
He later returned in another form as Baron Von Storm, a more aggressive version of the character built around the Iron Claw.
Storm has remained part of the NWA in different roles for years now: world champion, veteran wrestler, commentator, and eventually Baron Von Storm.
His career could easily be reduced to the fact that he was the oldest man to win the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.
That does not really explain why he mattered.
Storm was part of the group that gave Corgan’s NWA credibility when it was trying to rebuild an audience. He helped make the title feel important, then stayed useful after losing it. He could wrestle, talk, and explain the product from the desk.
For me, he was one of the people who made Powerrr worth watching when I found the NWA in 2019.