It took just one minute to define a 15-year career.

The Tennessee Cowboy James Storm beat Kurt Angle, one of the best ever, in about a minute to become the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling champion. The surprising result occurred in the main event of Oct. 20’s Impact Wrestling on SpikeTV.

With his Fortune friends (Kazarian, Robert Roode, A.J. Styles) congratulating him in the ring, Storm looked to the Heavens — wishing one other man was standing next to him.

“Me and my dad always watched wrestling when I was growing up, and he passed away,” Storm said. “When I won that world title, I thought of him and what he would think, if he was standing there with me holding that title belt up.”

Dad would be proud.

“My dad passed away when I was 12-years-old,” Storm, 34, said, “and my grandmother passed away when I was 19. She actually watched one of my local matches that I had just a couple of days before she passed away. She always wanted to go, but she was an older lady, so it was hard for her to go. It was a really good feeling to me that she got to go to one, before she passed on.”

Also, when he was 15, his two step brothers were killed by a drunk driver, and his step father died when he was 16.

“Being a young kid, I dealt with a lot growing up,” he said, “but it made me who I am. It made me a stronger person.”

• Storm persevered in life and through pro wrestling. He worked the Southeast indies, before inking a developmental deal with World Championship Wrestling in 2000. He became enhancement talent on WCW Worldwide and WCW Saturday Night, but WWE soon bought WCW, meaning a return to the indies for Storm, until Jeff and Jerry Jarrett developed TNA.

“We wanted to try to get to WWE once it bought WCW, but the problem for us was you had so many other guys, who were trying to get into WWE, and they were the more established stars, and we were just enhancement talent. So it was hard, but lucky for guys like me and Chris Harris and Abyss and A.J. Styles that TNA started up.”

A TNA original, Storm worked hard — an effective brawler who can adapt to any wrestling style. He proved his worth, leading to his big victory over Angle.

“Me and Kurt, we’re friends, and it’s just one of those things that you don’t believe it, until it happens to you,” Storm said. “So I was laying in the ring, and I looked at Kurt, and he was kind of laying there, and I said, ‘Did I just beat you for the world title?’ He said, ‘Yep,’ So, I said [with a smile], ‘Well, get the hell out of my ring.’

“It was one of those surreal moments, and it made a huge statement for me. Not only did I beat him, but I beat him in like 10 seconds. It was a great moment for me.”

Storm’s title reign ended almost as quickly as his match with Angle. It lasted about eight days as Roode turned on him, drilling Storm with his own Bud Light beer bottle to become the new TNA champion. Storm suffered a concussion in the process.

“To lose it the way that I did, I didn’t like that too well,” he said, “but it’s one of those things. What goes around comes around. Once I get cleared of my concussion, and I get back into the ring and work the rust off, I’ll be gunning for that heavyweight title.”