Former multi-division WCW champion inducted into Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame
During Thursday’s GCW event celebrating 20 years of Joey Janela, Janela informed Crowbar (the former Devon Storm) that he has been inducted into the Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame.
He is part of a rare class to have worked for WWE, WCW, ECW, AEW, TNA, NJPW, Ring of Honor and GCW.
The 52-year-old New Jersey native’s career began in 1993 as Storm, later appearing in squash matches for ECW in 1994. He continued to compete on the indies in the Mid-Atlantic area, getting an opportunity with WWF in 1994 on a house show.
In 1996, Storm got his first shot at WCW, working both a Nitro dark match and then a match against then-U.S. Champion Konnan on Nitro a week later. He returned to ECW where he was a regular throughout the year with plenty of indie stops in between.
It was in 1997 that Storm got another opportunity in WCW, competing against the likes of Eddie Guerrero, Diamond Dallas Page, and even a shot at the WCW Tag Team Champions Kevin Nash & Scott Hall on Nitro. Later that year, he worked some WWE dates including a quarterfinal bout against Taka Michinoku in the Light Heavyweight title tournament on Raw.
He frequently continued to wrestle on the indies, getting a reputation as a top light heavyweight in an era that didn’t fully embrace them on the biggest stages.
After returning to WCW and following a run on WCW Saturday Night in late-1999, he changed his name to Crowbar and won the WCW Tag Team titles alongside David Flair, defeating Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner in January 2000. He remained a regular in the promotion through its sale to WWE where he got two opportunities in dark matches under his old name.
During his WCW stay, he also held the Hardcore title and the Cruiserweight title. He wrestled a total of 111 matches for the promotion in his various runs.
In the 25 years since, he has kept wrestling on the indies with one-off matches in AEW, NJPW, and TNA along the way in addition to six Ring of Honor bouts.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.