Cox’s professional wrestling career began when he was trained by Wolfie D, a veteran tag team wrestler, in 1995. His training was hampered by a broken shoulder, and Cox eventually dropped out of Slash’s training school. He resumed training with Shane Morton after his shoulder had healed.

Cox toured the south-east independent circuit before being signed to a World Championship Wrestling (WCW) developmental deal in 2000. Cox made several appearances for World Championship Wrestling on WCW Worldwide and WCW Saturday Night in 2000 as an enhancement talent, where he assumed the ring name “James Storm”.

Storm returned to the independent circuit after WCW was sold to the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001.

Storm wrestled his future tag team partner, Chris Harris, on a “Legends Night” show on June 1, 2002. As a result of the match, both wrestlers were hired by the upstart Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion. The pair were expected to wrestle as singles wrestlers, but were instead placed into a tag team. They named themselves “America’s Most Wanted” (AMW) because, according to Storm the name was a reference to his “little trouble with the law”.

On the inaugural TNA pay-per-view on June 19, 2002, Storm and Harris were in two different matches in their TNA debuts (Storm teamed up with Psicosis against The Johnsons, while Harris took part in the Gauntlet for the Gold battle royal for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The pair wrestled together for the first time on the second ever TNA pay-per-view a week later. Storm and Harris quickly became mainstays of the promotion and teamed regularly over the next few years. Splits were teased in early 2003 and again in 2004, but nothing came of them.

America’s Most Wanted turned heel in late 2005 by helping Jeff Jarrett defeat Raven for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. They went on to join Jarrett’s Army, acquiring the managerial skills of Gail Kim in the process. At Bound for Glory, AMW successfully retained their titles against The Naturals. Storm’s penchant for wearing cowboy hats resulted in the team often being jeered as “Brokeback Mountain”, a reference to the movie about homosexual cowboys, during their heel run. In mid-2006, they again teased their split due to miscommunication during their matches, most notably when Harris accidentally hit Storm with a garbage can during a No Disqualification match against Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon). During their run as a team, the duo won the NWA World Tag Team Championship six times.

Cox has a daughter, Makayla born in 2005. He married Dani McEntee on March 30, 2011. Their first child together, Mason James, was born on January 20, 2012. On January 22, 2017, they welcomed their second child.

On the February 3 episode of Impact!, Fortune turned face by attacking Immortal, when they interfered in a TNA World Heavyweight Championship match between Mr. Anderson and Jeff Hardy. Ric Flair, who did not take part in Fortune’s turn due being out with a torn rotator cuff, returned at the February 14 tapings of the February 17 episode of Impact!, turning on Fortune and jumping to Immortal. On April 17 at Lockdown, Storm, Roode, Kazarian and Christopher Daniels, who replaced an injured A.J. Styles, defeated Immortal representatives Ric Flair, Abyss, Bully Ray and Matt Hardy in a Lethal Lockdown match. The following month at Sacrifice, Beer Money, Inc. successfully defended the TNA World Tag Team Championship against Immortal representatives Matt Hardy and Chris Harris, who had made his surprise return to TNA on the previous episode of Impact!. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Immortal assaulted Roode, sidelining him with a storyline shoulder injury. Two weeks later, Eric Bischoff attempted to strip Beer Money, Inc. of their TNA World Tag Team Championship due to Roode’s injury, but was interrupted by the champions’ former rival Alex Shelley, who agreed to take Roode’s spot in the title defense against the British Invasion at Slammiversary IX. At the pay-per-view, Storm and Shelley were successful in their title defense. Roode made his in-ring return on the June 23 episode of Impact Wrestling, in a tag team match, where he and Storm were defeated by Crimson and Matt Morgan. On July 13, Beer Money, Inc. became the longest reigning TNA World Tag Team Champions in the title’s history, breaking the previous record of 184 days set by A.J. Styles and Tomko in 2007. On August 7 at Hardcore Justice, Beer Money, Inc. successfully defended the TNA World Tag Team Championship against Mexican America (Anarquia and Hernandez). Two days later, at the tapings of the August 18 episode of Impact Wrestling, Mexican America defeated Beer Money, Inc. in a rematch, following interference from Jeff Jarrett, to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship, ending Storm’s and Roode’s record-setting reign at 212 days.

On May 15, 2009, Jeremy Borash announced that Cox had signed a new multi-year deal with TNA the previous day. That same month, Beer Money entered the Team 3D Invitational Tag Team Tournament, during which they turned face. At Sacrifice, Beer Money defeated The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams) to win the tournament and earn the right to challenge Team 3D for the TNA World Tag Team Championship. At Slammiversary, Beer Money defeated Team 3D to win the World Tag Team Title for the third time. The following month at Victory Road, Beer Money lost the titles to Booker T and Scott Steiner of The Main Event Mafia. The two teams would see their feud intervene with that of Team 3D and The British Invasion, causing a four-way war that would last the next three months. Beer Money would go on to lose to the British Invasion in an IWGP Tag Team Championship match at Hard Justice, win a Lethal Lockdown match at No Surrender (teaming with Team 3D against the Mafia and the Invasion), and lose a four-way Full Metal Mayhem match at Bound for Glory for both the TNA and IWGP Tag Team Championships, with Team 3D winning the IWGP Tag Team Title and the British Invasion winning the TNA World Tag Team Title. Beer Money were permitted one last title shot the following Impact!, where they fought the British Invasion in a Six Sides of Steel match. Brutus Magnus would have his team disqualified by punching the referee, causing him and Doug Williams to retain the championship. On the November 12 episode of Impact! Beer Money defeated the British Invasion in a non-title match to join the Motor City Machineguns in the Tag Team Title match at Turning Point. At the Pay-Per-View The British Invasion managed to retain their titles after Kevin Nash nailed Storm with the TNA Global Championship belt. At Genesis Storm and Roode scored an upset victory over The Band of Kevin Nash and Syxx-Pac.

Through TNA’s working relationships with various Japanese promotions, Storm has competed in Japan numerous times, beginning in 2009 when he and Roode, as Beer Money, debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), defeating Legend (Akira and Masahiro Chono). They returned to New Japan in October 2010, first defeating Bad Intentions (Karl Anderson and Giant Bernard), and then No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi). Storm and Roode made their debuts in the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2011, at Wrestle Kingdom V, taking part in a three-way tag team match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, won by Bad Intentions.

With Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff taking over TNA at the beginning of 2010, Beer Money’s TV time was significantly reduced. Upon their return to Impact!, Beer Money turned heel on the March 8 episode of Impact! by first volunteering to face Jeff Jarrett in a handicap match and then defeating him after a low blow and the DWI, claiming it was the only way they were going to get noticed by the new management. Storm and Roode have since acted as Bischoff’s henchmen, taking on wrestlers he’s had problems with, often in two-on-one situations. At Destination X Beer Money challenged Matt Morgan and Hernandez for the TNA World Tag Team Championship, but were unable to dethrone the defending champions. At Lockdown Beer Money, along with Sting and Desmond Wolfe, represented Team Flair in the annual Lethal Lockdown match, where they were defeated by Team Hogan (Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy). They then started a feud with the newly formed team of Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson, known collectively as The Enigmatic Assholes, who would go on to defeat them at Slammiversary VIII. On the following episode of Impact! Ric Flair, who had aligned himself with Storm, Roode, A.J. Styles, Desmond Wolfe and Kazarian, announced that he would reform the Four Horsemen under the new name Fourtune, stating that each of them would have to earn their spots in the group and that in order for Storm and Roode to earn their spots, they needed to become the Ole Anderson and Tully Blanchard of the group. After the TNA World Tag Team Championship was vacated in June, Beer Money entered a four–team, two–week-long tournament to decide who would get to face The Motor City Machine Guns for the titles at Victory Road. Beer Money advanced to the title match at the pay-per-view by defeating Team 3D and Ink Inc. (Jesse Neal and Shannon Moore). At Victory Road Beer Money was defeated by the Motor City Machine Guns in the match for the World Tag Team Championship. After Victory Road Beer Money entered a Best of Five Series with the Motor City Machine Guns, contested for the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Beer Money won the first two matches, a ladder match and a Street Fight, after knocking their opponents out with beer bottles. On the July 29 episode of Impact!, Ric Flair announced that Storm and Roode, who were just one victory away from becoming four–time TNA World Tag Team Champions, had earned the right to join himself, Styles and Kazarian to become the final two members of Fourtune. However, Shelley and Sabin came back to win the two following matches in the Best of Five Series, a steel cage match and an Ultimate X match, to even the score to 2–2 and set up a deciding match for the August 12 episode of Impact!. On the August 12 episode of Impact! Beer Money, Inc. was defeated in a Two Out of Three Falls match and as a result lost the Best of Five Series 2–3. Later that night Douglas Williams and Matt Morgan were added to Fourtune, as the stable attacked EV 2.0, a stable consisting of former Extreme Championship Wrestling performers. In the weeks leading to Bound for Glory, the stable’s name was tweaked to Fortune to represent the expansion in the number of members in the group. At Bound for Glory Storm, Roode, Styles, Kazarian and Morgan were defeated in a Lethal Lockdown match by EV 2.0 members Tommy Dreamer, Raven, Rhino, Sabu and Stevie Richards. On the following episode of Impact! Fortune formed an alliance with Hulk Hogan’s and Eric Bischoff’s new stable, Immortal. At Turning Point Fortune defeated EV 2.0 in a ten-man tag team match and, as a result, EV 2.0’s Sabu was released from TNA. The following month at Final Resolution, Storm and Roode returned to the TNA World Tag Team Championship picture by defeating Ink Inc. in a number one contender’s match. On January 9, 2011, at Genesis, Beer Money, Inc. defeated the Motor City Machine Guns to win the TNA World Tag Team Championship for the fourth time.

Cox starred in the 2011 horror film Death from Above, alongside fellow wrestlers Kurt Angle, Sid Eudy, Matt Morgan, Terry Gerin and Jessica Kresa.

In 2011, Cox starred in the music video for his theme “Longnecks & Rednecks,” which also featured country music duo Montgomery Gentry.

From June to September, Storm was one of the twelve participants in the Bound for Glory Series to determine the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. When the group stage of the tournament concluded, Storm finished in the top four and thus advanced to the finals at No Surrender along with Robert Roode, Bully Ray and Gunner. On September 11 at No Surrender, Storm was disqualified in his match against Bully Ray, eliminating him from the tournament. After Roode, who went on to win the tournament, had failed to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Kurt Angle at Bound for Glory, Storm received his shot at the title and on October 18 at the tapings of the October 20 episode of Impact Wrestling, defeated Angle to become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Just eight days later, at the tapings of the November 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, Storm lost the title to Bobby Roode, after he used Storm’s own beer bottle against him, turning heel in the process and effectively dissolving Beer Money, Inc. Storm and Roode had a rematch for the title the following week. As a result of a backstage attack, Storm came into the match bleeding and eventually lost, after passing out due to blood loss. On the November 17 episode of Impact Wrestling, Storm was attacked by the returning Kurt Angle, who in the process revealed that he had also attacked him prior to the previous week’s title match. On December 11 at Final Resolution, Storm defeated Angle in a singles match. On January 8, 2012, at Genesis, Storm was defeated by Angle in a rematch. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling, Storm defeated Angle to become the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. However, the following week Storm was entered into another number one contender’s match with Jeff Hardy, which ended in a no contest, following interference from Bully Ray and Bobby Roode. On February 12 at Against All Odds, Storm was unable to capture the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Roode in a four-way match, which also included Bully Ray and Jeff Hardy. On the February 16 episode of Impact Wrestling, Storm defeated Bully Ray to become the number one contender to Roode’s TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Lockdown. On March 18 at Victory Road, Storm defeated Bully Ray in a rematch to retain his spot as the number one contender. On April 15 at Lockdown, Storm failed to regain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a steel cage match, after accidentally superkicking Roode out of the cage for the win.

On December 9 at Final Resolution, Storm defeated Kazarian in a singles match, and again on the January 3, 2013, episode of Impact Wrestling, beginning a rivalry with him and Christopher Daniels. On January 13 at Genesis, Storm was defeated by Daniels in a number one contenders match for the World Heavyweight Championship. On March 10 at Lockdown, Team TNA, consisting of Storm, Eric Young, Magnus, Samoa Joe, and Sting defeated the Aces & Eights, consisting of Devon, DOC, Garett Bischoff, Mike Knox, and Mr. Anderson in a Lethal Lockdown match. On the March 14 episode of Impact Wrestling, Storm defeated former rival Christopher Daniels in a singles match. Afterwards, he was attacked by both Daniels and Kazarian before being saved and ultimately assaulted by the returning A. J. Styles. In the following weeks, Storm demanded Styles to explain his actions, but Styles remained mute. Storm finally faced Styles in singles competition on the April 18 episode of Impact Wrestling, where Styles won via submission. On April 26, 2013, Storm unsuccessfully challenged Devon for the TNA Television Championship during a house show in Erie, Pennsylvania.

On May 1, 2014, Storm started a feud with Mr. Anderson after he costed costing Anderson a World title opportunity when Storm tried to attack Anderson’s opponent Gunner and inadvertently hit Anderson, culimating at Slammiversary, Storm lost to Mr. Anderson. But in a rematch on June 26, 2014 on Impact Wrestling, Storm defeated Andreson after reversing the Mic Check in a Last Call.

In June 2014, Storm would begin a program where he would confront, and verbally run down Sanada. Following Sanada’s loss of the X Division Championship to Austin Aries, Storm would confront Sanada backstage, berate Sanada’s mentor The Great Muta, while slapping him in the face as a way to break Sanada down, multiple weeks in a row. On the July 24, 2014 edition of Impact, Storm would confront The Great Muta, calling him a fraud, and proclaim himself to be “The Legend” (which in the following weeks replaced his longtime nickname of “The Cowboy”). After spitting beer in Muta’s face, Sanada would run Storm out of the ring, before attacking Muta himself with a steel chair, and bowing to Storm, revealing an unknown alliance between them. The following week Storm would proclaim himself as Sanada’s new mentor, and master. In the following weeks, TNA would air vignettes of Storm having a cult like hold over Sanada, portraying Storm having him tied up, breaking him down physically and mentally, and proclaiming that “The Revolution is coming”. On the August 27 Impact Wrestling, Sanada accompanied by Storm debuted the new ring name “The Great Sanada” and a look inspired by The Great Muta, before defeating Austin Aries with help from Storm. On the September 3 episode of Impact Wrestling, Storm and Sanada abducted former X Division Champion Manik following his loss in a 6-man #1 Contendership match for the X Division Championship. On the following Impact, Storm was shown initiating Manik, much like he did Sanada into his new faction. On the September 17, 2014 edition of Impact Wrestling, Storm and The Great Sanada attacked X Division Champion Samoa Joe, and were joined by Manik, now sporting an all new look, joining Storm’s group. On the October 8, 2014 edition of Impact Wrestling it was announced that James Storm and The Great Sanada would battle The Great Muta and Tajiri in the main event of Bound for Glory. This marked James Storm’s first appearance in the Bound For Glory main event, as well as the first time in company history that the main event was not contested for the company’s World Heavyweight Championship. At Bound For Glory, Storm and The Great Sanada were defeated by Tajiri and The Great Muta. After the match Manik joined in attacking Muta until Team 3D made the save.

Following Bound For Glory, the stable, now known as The Revolution began to recruit members of the TNA roster, beginning with one half of the World Tag Team Champions Davey Richards. After teasing tension between Richards and his partner Eddie Edwards, on the November 12, 2014 edition of Impact Wrestling, The Revolution demanded Davey’s decision. When Davey turned down the Revolution’s offer to join, they would attack The Wolves, leaving them vulnerable for Storm to bring out his forgotten Feast or Fired Briefcase, guaranteeing him a Tag Team Championship opportunity, anytime, anyplace. In a further twist, Abyss would reveal himself as Storm’s partner, and the newest pledge to The Revolution, subsequently defeating The Wolves for the TNA World Tag Team Championships, making Storm a record six-time champion. At Lockdown, The Revolution successfully retained their titles against The Hardys. On January 30, 2015, The Revolution lost the titles against The Wolves. On April 3, 2015, Storm seemingly broke character and confronted Bram when he attempted to attack Mickie James with a steel chair during Bram’s match against Magnus, hinting a possible face turn. However, Magnus and Mickie James confronted Storm after the match, to which Storm replied he was merely looking out for an old friend, hinting he was still a heel. However, this all turned out to be a ruse, as Storm wanted Mickie James to join his Revolution stable. She refused, and security cameras recorded him nudging her onto train tracks, causing a concussion, and fully retaining his status as a heel. Storm defeated Magnus at Slammiversary in a non-sanctioned match. On the July 29 episode of Impact Wrestling, Storm revealed the new member of The Revolution, who was Serena Deeb. However, Storm and Serena were defeated by Magnus and Mickie James. Later, James Storm entered in a feud against his former partner Khoya, now known as Mahabali Shera, by attacking him after having failed him over and over. At No Surrender, Storm defeated Shera by disqualification. On the September 30 episode of Impact Wrestling, Storm was defeated by Shera in a No Disqualification match, after an interference of Abyss and Manik. Storm’s contract with TNA expired on June 30, but he continued making appearances for the promotion until September 30, 2015 under a pay-per-appearance deal. During October and November (taped in July, before his departure), he participated in the TNA World Title Series. Storm ended third of his block, failing into advance to the finals.

On January 5, 2016 episode of Impact Wrestling, Storm returned to TNA, helping his long-time tag team partner Bobby Roode fight off Eric Young and Bram, before reuniting as Beer Money, Inc, after Storm telling Roode that he wanted to “get back to having fun” and drink beer with him, turning Storm face in the process. At One Night Only: Live! event, Beer Money defeated Eric Young and Bram and once again at Lockdown in a Six Sides of Steel match, thus ending the feud. On the January 26 episode of Impact Wrestling, Storm grabbed the TNA World Tag Team Championship briefcase during the Feast or Fired match. On February 9 episode of Impact Wrestling Beer Money attempted to cash in their title shot against champions The Wolves, but in their attempt to cash in, Decay (Abyss, Crazzy Steve, Rosemary) stopped them and mysteriously asked them to join their path. They eventually challenged the group to a match, but it ended in disqualification when Abyss pulled the referee out of the ring and began choking him. Beer Money cashed in their Feast or Fired contract and defeated The Wolves to re-capture the titles on the March 8 episode of Impact Wrestling. They successfully retained their titles against The BroMans on the March 22 episode of Impact Wrestling and against Decay, The BroMans and Eric Young and Bram on the April 12 episode of Impact Wrestling. Their feud against Decay culminated at Sacrifice in a Valley of Shadow match, which Decay won, winning the TNA World Tag Team Championship. In late-March, Beer Money were disbanded upon Roode leaving TNA.

On March 12, 2017, Storm debuted in Pro Wrestling Noah, defeating Kaito Kiyomiya.

Storm would return on the September 21 episode of Impact Wrestling, by saving Eddie Edwards and Ethan Carter III from El Hijo del Fantasma, Pagano and Texano. Storm shook Eddie Edwards’s hand but refused to shake Carter’s hand. During the special Victory Road episode of Impact Wrestling on September 28, EC3 made the save for Storm after the latter was attacked by Fantasma and Texano. Storm offered to shake Carter’s hand, at first Carter refused and walked away, but soon returned to the ring and shook Storm’s hand. On the October 4 episode of Impact Wrestling, Storm and Ethan Carter III lost to El Hijo del Fantasma and Texano. At Bound for Glory, Storm, Edwards and Carter defeated Team AAA (El Hijo del Fantasma, Pagano and Texano) in a six-man tag team match. On the November 16 episode of Impact Wrestling, James Storm saved Moose from Lashley and the American Top Team and says that he is tired of Dan Lambert causing chaos on Impact and disrespecting professional wrestling. Two weeks later, after his victory against Texano, Storm was attacked and beaten down by Lashley and American Top Team, but he was saved by Moose. This led to a tag-team match the following week, which Storm and Moose were defeated by Lashley and Lambert. On the November 9 taping of Impact Wrestling which aired on January 4, 2018, Storm was defeated by Dan Lambert after being assaulted by the entire American Top Team and was forced to leave Impact Wrestling.

On July 9, 2018, Amazon Video released a series called Dojo Pro Wrestling which features a tournament of 12 pro wrestlers, including James Storm.

After Billy Corgan purchased National Wrestling Alliance, Storm became a regular member of the roster. He wrestled Nick Aldis for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship at NWA New Year Clash, but he was defeated. After Colt Cabana defeated Willie Mack and won the NWA National Heavyweight Championship, Storm challenged him to a title match. The match happened during the ROH television program on June 29, 2019, with Storm winning the title. However, he lost the title against Cabana on October 1, 2019, during the NWA Power television tapings. On January 24, 2020 at the Hard Times PPV Storm and his tag team partner Eli Drake won the NWA World Tag Team Championship.On September 18, 2020, Storm’s contract expired with NWA and he became a free agent. On November 10,2020, Storm and Drake lost the NWA World Tag Team Championships to Aron Stevens and JR Kratos at UWN Primetime Live.

On October 24, 2020, at Bound for Glory, Storm made an unannounced appearance as a participant in the Call Your Shot gauntlet match, which he failed to win as he was eliminated by Sami Callihan.