Gregory Shane Helms (born July, 12, 1974) is a CAW of a non-fictional professional wrestler, better known by his ring names "Hurricane Helms" and "The Hurricane". Helms hass wrestled under the "ECW brand," but after February 16, 2010, Helms will become a free agent. It has yet to be confirmed whether he will be on "SmackDown!" or "RAW!".
Helms originally began wrestling in 1991 when he was 16, and wrestled in numerous independent promotions, including the OMEGA, winning multiple Light Heavyweight and Tag team championships. In 1999, Helms signed with World Championship Wrestling, and gained recognition as Sugar "Shane" Helms, a member of 3 Count. During his time there, he won both the WCW Hardcore Championship and the WCW Cruiserweight title. When WCW was bought by the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment), Helms' contract was kept by WWF. Helms renamed himself "The Hurricane" and won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. He later picked up a sidekick, Rosey, and they won the World Tag Team Championship together.
He dropped the superhero gimmick in 2005, and began wrestling under his real name, "Gregory Helms". He once again won the Cruiserweight Championship in early 2006, and held it for over a year, becoming the longest reigning Cruiserweight Champion in history (385 days) and the longest reigning champion of any kind in SmackDown! history. After being out of action for over a year after neck fusion surgery, he returned to SmackDown! in September 2008, referring to himself as "Hurricane Helms", before moving to the "ECW" brand where he reverted to his Gregory Helms name, and became the backstage interviewer, in which doing those interview he would continue using the catchphrase he used as Hurricane Helms, which was "What's up wit' 'dis!". In mid-2009, he brought back "The Hurricane" character, with a brand new outfit and currently appears as both Gregory Helms and The Hurricane on ECW.
| Gregory Shane Helms | |
|---|---|
| |
| Statistics | |
| Names | Gregory Hanes Gregory Helms The Hurricane Hurricane Helms Shane Helms |
| Creator | {{{creator}}} |
| Height | 6ft 0in (billed), 5ft 10in (actual) |
| Weight | 215 lbs (billed), 191 lb (actual) |
| Born | July 12, 1974 |
| Birthplace | |
| Died | |
| Resides | Smithfield, North Carolina |
| Billed from | Raleigh, North Carolina Smithfield, North Carolina |
| Trained by | WCW Power Plant The Hardy Boyz |
| Debut | 1991 |
| Retired | |
Professional Wrestling Career[]
Early Career (1991-1999)[]
Helms began wrestling at the age of 16 in 1991. He won his first championship shortly afterwards, by defeating "Playboy" T.C. Cruise to become the Southern Wrestling Alliance (SWA) Light Heavyweight Champion. Helms spent the majority of his early career in his home state of North Carolina, winning numerous Light Heavyweight championships.
He began calling himself "The Show" Shane Helms, and teamed with "Big Daddy" Mike Maverick, initially using the team name Assault and Battery. They later dubbed themselves The Serial Thrillaz, and won several independent tag championships. The pair also began wrestling in the OMEGA, which was founded by The Hardy Boyz (Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy). The Serial Thrillaz won the OMEGA Tag Team Championship twice between 1997 and 1998, before they began competing for SCW. They won the SCW Tag Team Championship, and Helms also won the SCW Heavyweight Championship. SCW would mark the end of the Serial Thrillaz, as Helms vacated both titles before moving on to NWA Worldwide. Once there, Helms joined the Bad Street Boys with Shannon Moore, Christian York and Joey Matthews (who is popularly known as "Joey Mercury").
WCW (1999-2001)[]
Helms and his friend Shannon Moore signed with WCW in May 1999. In WCW, Helms, along with Shannon Moore, Evan Karagias, formed the heel stable, 3 Count and they debuted on the December 23 of WCW Thunder. The stable was a parody of boy bands, 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys. Their gimmick involved making music videos and performing their song before their matches.
Together, they won the WCW Hardcore Championship on WCW Monday Nitro in February 2000. This victory made 3 Count the first stable to win the Hardcore Championship. At Uncensored 2000, Brian Knobbs defeated Helms, Moore, and Karagias for the Hardcore Championship. During one of his matches, Helms suffered a broken nose, and he was sidelined while he recovered. Upon Helms' return, Tank Abbott had been added to the group, as a fan, and Abbott was utilized as an enforcer. They had a long-running feud with the Jung Dragons with them [Jung Dragons] attempting to steal the group's fictional recording contract. This led to a ladder match between 3 Count and Jung Dragons at New Blood Rising, which 3 Count had won due to Abbot's interference. As a result, Tank Abbott claimed that he should be the "lead singer" of 3 Count, and Abbott was kicked out by the other members, leading into a feud.
The group later disbanded later as Shannon Moore and Helms kicked Karagias out of 3 Count for "attempting to steal the spotlight". At the same time, the Jung Dragons betrayed Jamie Noble, who had formed a team with Karagias. These three teams met in a Triangle match at Mayhem, which the winner was 3 Count. They had also wrestled each other in a "number one contendership" Ladder match at Starrcade, in order to earn a WCW Cruiserweight Championship match, which both Shannon and Helms grabbed the contract at the same time. As a result, they had later wrestled for the oppurtunity to wrestle for the championship, which Helms had won, although he had lost the subsequent championship match to {w|Chavo Guerrero, Jr.|Chavo Guerrero}} at the Sin pay-per-view.
Shannon Moore and Helms would briefly leave WCW in 2001 to wrestle in NWA Wildside, where they held the Wildside Tag Team Tag Team Championship for one day. Helms had became the number one contender for the Cruiserweight Championship after winning a match at SuperBrawl Revenge, but he was attacked by Karagias and Moore afterwards. Despite this attack, Helms would later go on to defeat Guerrero for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship at Greed and was the reigning Cruiserweight Champion immediately before WCW was bought out by the World Wrestling Federation (now World Wrestling Entertainment). Helms' contract with WCW was one of twenty-five that were included in WWF's purchase of WCW.
WWF/E (2001-present)[]
2001-2002[]
Helms made his WWF debut on the July 5, 2001 edition of SmackDown!, using the name "Hollywood" Gregory Helms. Helms was part of the Invasion storyline as a member of The Alliance losing his Cruiserweight Championship in a one-on-one match to another Alliance member, Billy Kidman.
Helms began wrestling as "The Hurricane" on August 27, and also began wearing a superhero costume. That night, he had won the European Championship from Matt Hardy with help from Ivory, but lost it to Bradshaw on October 22, 2001.[18][19] In September 2001, Helms formed a tag team with Lance Storm who was now managed by Ivory and Helms later picked up a sidekick, in Molly Holly who began to call herself "Mighty Molly", and the two came to the arena in a custom "Hurri-Cycle" (with Molly in the sidecar). The team of Helms and Storm began feuds with teams like The Hardy Boyz and Big Show and Spike Dudley. Helms and Storm got a shot at the WCW Tag Team Championship against The Hardy Boyz at No Mercy 2001 in a losing effort.
During 2002, The Hurricane won the WWE Hardcore Championship at WrestleMania X8, but Molly betrayed him, hitting him in the back of the head with a frying pan, and defeating him for the championship. Helms was later drafted to the SmackDown! brand following the brand extension, and he won the Cruiserweight Championship from Tajiri and Billy Kidman in a triple threat match. He lost it to Jamie Noble at King of the Ring. Later in 2002, he was traded to Raw, won the World Tag Team Titles with Kane, and held them for around a month in an alliance known as Hurri-Kane.
The Hurricane and Rosey (2003-2005)[]
In 2003, Hurricane feuded with The Rock. In backstage segments, The Rock referred to The Hurricane as "The Hamburglar" (in part because his mask was similar to the Hamburglar's). The feud culminated in a match on Raw, in which The Rock dominated. Hurricane, however, was able to perform a schoolboy on The Rock from behind after The Rock was distracted by Stone Cold Steve Austin's appearance on the ramp.
In late 2003, Hurricane "discovered" Rosey's potential as a superhero and christened him "Rosey, the Super Hero in Training". On May 1, at Backlash, Rosey and The Hurricane defeated La Résistance in the finals of a Tag Team Turmoil match to win the World Tag Team Championship. Not long after winning the championship, Stacy Keibler joined Rosey and The Hurricane as their sidekick, "Super Stacy". In August 2005, Rosey and The Hurricane lost Keibler as their sidekick when she and Christy Hemme were traded to the SmackDown! brand. On September 5, 2005 Hurricane and Rosey were defeated by Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch during Cade and Murdoch's debut match on Raw. As a result, Cade and Murdoch earned a title match at the Unforgiven pay-per-view. During the title match, Murdoch delivered an elevated DDT on The Hurricane to the outside. The DDT caused Hurricane to suffer a storyline "stinger" and allowed Cade and Murdoch to beat the injured Hurricane later in the match to win the World Tag Team Titles.
During the next few weeks, the pair began a losing streak, mainly caused by Hurricane's on-screen injuries. During the October 17 episode of Raw, The Hurricane was assaulted by Kurt Angle at the request of Vince McMahon. After the beating, footage was shown of The Hurricane ripping off his mask and striking Rosey because he did not help him fend off Angle. The next week, The Hurricane no-showed a World Tag Team Title match, leaving Rosey to face the champions alone. During the match, The Hurricane (out of costume) appeared at the top of the entrance ramp, reverting back to his real name, Gregory Helms, and watched as Rosey was double teamed and defeated. After the match, Helms announced that he was fed up with being funny for the crowd, and that he was sick of carrying Rosey as a tag team partner. This turned him into a heel in the process. On the November 7 episode of RAW, Helms and Rosey faced off in a singles match, which Helms won. Subsequently, Helms wrestled mostly on RAW's sister show, Heat. On the January 2, 2006 episode of Raw Helms confronted Jerry Lawler over jokes that Lawler had been making at Helms' expense, and Lawler said that when Helms was The Hurricane, he was entertaining and called Helms a joke. Helms responded by slapping Lawler, who hit Helms back. This confrontation led to Lawler defeating Helms in a match at New Year's Revolution.
Cruiserweight Champion and Injury (2006-2007)[]
At the 2006 Royal Rumble, participated in an Open Invitational match for the Cruiserweight Championship and won, even though he was a RAW superstar and the championship was defended solely on SmackDown!. As a result, he returned to the SmackDown! brand in February 2006 to start a feud with Nunzio, Kid Kash and the other cruiserweights. During this time, Helms defeated Nunzio in a one-on-one match. The next week, he was supposed to defend against Kid Kash, but Kash was away on a family emergency, so Scotty 2 Hotty took his place. Helms defeated him and declared that he was better than all the other cruiserweights. As a result, all the cruiserweights at the show invaded the ring and attacked Helms. It was later announced by SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long that at the No Way Out pay-per-view event, Helms would face all the cruiserweights in a match for the title. Helms was able to retain the championship. Later, Long mandated that Helms had to defend his title against a cruiserweight each week on SmackDown! to prove that he truly was better than all the cruiserweights. Helm's first defense under this new rule was against Psicosis of The Mexicools; Helms retained by cheating.
In early March 2006, Helms suffered a broken nose. After complaining to Long about having to wrestle on the March 10 episode of SmackDown!, Long told Helms that he did not have to defend his title, but put Helms in a champion versus champion match against the United States Champion, Chris Benoit. During the match, Helms attempted to leave, but was blocked by other cruiserweights who threw Helms back into the ring, resulting in Helms losing the match. Helms underwent successful surgery on his nose and was expected to miss five to six weeks. During this time SmackDown! announcers stated that Helms had a no-compete clause in his contract allowing him to waive the thirty day title defense rule due to any injury. Helms returned to the ring on the April 28 edition of SmackDown!, teaming with MNM to face Super Crazy, London and Kendrick in a six-man tag team match. Helms continued to defend his belt during pay-per-views, but he made more regular appearances on SmackDown!'s sister show, Velocity.
Helms continued defending his title against other cruiserweights, while on occasion facing off against SmackDown!'s other title holders in champion versus champion matches. Helms faced World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio on June 16 and United States Champion Bobby Lashley on July 7 but lost both matches. Eventually, Helms became the longest cruiserweight champion in WWE history, as well as the longest reigning champion of any kind in SmackDown! history. For much of late 2006, he feuded with Matt Hardy, with whom Helms exchanged several victories in matches on SmackDown!. In Helms' hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina, at the 2006 No Mercy pay-per-view, Hardy beat Helms. The two rivals also joined opposing teams at Survivor Series, where Helms was in team Rated-RKO, and Hardy was a member of team DX; DX won the match.
Helms went on to feud with Jimmy Wang Yang over the Cruiserweight Title, after a tag team match in which Matt Hardy and Yang defeated Helms and Sylvan. The feud ended after Helms defeated him to retain the title at Armageddon in December 2006.
In 2007, Helms once again feuded with the entire Cruiserweight division on SmackDown!. During this feud, Helms' reign as Cruiserweight Champion came to an end at No Way Out, when he was unable to win a Cruiserweight open invitational, which saw Chavo Guerrero win the championship. Shortly after losing the championship, Helms formed a tag team with Guerrero, but they didn't win any matches as a team.
On May 18, 2007 WWE reported that Helms had broken two vertebrae in his neck, one of which was pressing on his spinal cord. He underwent surgery with Dr. Lloyd Youngblood to repair them approximately one week later. A few weeks later Helms was announced to be out for a year due to his neck injury.
Interviewer and The Hurricane's Return (2008–present)[]
Helms returned on the September 19, 2008, episode of SmackDown in a non-wrestling role. Throughout the show, he appeared in short video promos, called "Hurrapops", referring to himself as "Hurricane Helms", a modified version of his old ring name "The Hurricane", and mocked heel superstars including Shelton Benjamin and Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. On following weeks, he mocked several other superstars in the "Hurrapops", ending each promo with the phrase, "I'm just sayin'!" On the November 28 episode of SmackDown, a "Hurrapop" appeared in which Helms announced that he would make his return to the ring on the next episode of SmackDown. On the December 5 episode of SmackDown, Helms defeated Montel Vontavious Porter in his ring return. Helms was quickly scripted into a feud with the United States Champion Shelton Benjamin, defeating him in two non-title matches on SmackDown, although he failed to win a championship match on December 26.
On April 15, 2009, Helms was drafted to the ECW brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft. Helms made his ECW debut as a backstage interviewer on April 28, 2009, reverting back to his Gregory Helms ring name, interviewing Evan Bourne. He started a storyline where, while he was interviewing someone, a scripted accident would occur, leading to Helms leaving the interview seconds before the person in distress was saved by The Hurricane. On the August 11, 2009 episode of ECW, Helms was attacked by Paul Burchill after Helms denied being The Hurricane. The Hurricane later attacked Burchill in the ring dressed in his Hurricane attire, to save Yoshi Tatsu. The next week on ECW, he made his in-ring debut for the brand as The Hurricane, and defeated Burchill. He continued to feud with Burchill, who attempted to expose The Hurricane's true identity, until the November 17 episode of ECW when The Hurricane defeated Burchill in a mask versus career match.
On February 26, 2010. he was released of his WWE contract.
CAW Background[]
Helms first appeared in WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw ?????. He appeared in SVR 2006 as "The Hurricane", and as Gregory Helms (the one known as "Heel Helms") in SVR 2007 and SVR 2008. Though he did not appear in SVR 2009, his entrance can be used for the wrestlers, which the entrance was the exact same as in SVR 2008. In SVR 2010, he once again did not appear in the game, but once more his entrance can be used for the wrestlers, but is exactly the same as in SVR 2008 and SVR 2009.
Taunts[]
The taunts in the games, he started out with only two taunts, one, was The Hurricane's pose where he has his left arm behind his back and his right and bended.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves:
- Eye of the Hurricane (WWF/WWE) / Nightmare on Helms Street / Ultimate Shagger ([[Wrestling attacks#Spinning headlock elbow drop|Spinning inverted facelock elbow drop) - 2002-present {Neckbreaker ? in WWE SVR 2010}
- Hurrichokeslam / Thumbs-Up Chokeslam (Chokeslam) - 2002-2003; 2009-present
- Shining Black / Glimmering Warlock / No Mercy (Shining Apprentice) - late 2005-present; used as a regular move 2001-2005
- Super swinging neckbreaker - 2007
- Vertebreaker (Back to back sitout double underhook piledriver) - 2000-2002
- Signature Moves:
- A Double leg takedown transitioned into a high speed stomp to the gut
- Back Snap (Modified double knee backbreaker)
- CrossFace Halo (Straight jacket sitout sleeperslam) {Cobra Clutch Bomb in WWE SVR 2010}
- European uppercut from out of the corner, as a counter to an oncoming opponent
- Flying clothesline, sometimes to an oncoming opponent
- Frankensteiner, usually to an opponent sitting on the top turnbuckle, or from the top rope
- Frog splash into a diving high-angle crossbody, sometimes to the outside
- Front dropkick, sometimes from the top rope
- Hurricane Press (Lou Thesz Press followed by multiple punches to the opponent's face)
- Inverted Side Suplex (Inverted side slam)
- Knee Drop - 2007; used rarely thereafter
- Leg Drop, sometimes onto the opponent's arm after an arm drag
- Russian Legsweep, sometimes while applying a hammerlock
- Snap suplex, sometimes with theatrics
- StrangeHold Legsweep (Straight jacket Russian Legsweep)
- Sugarsmack / Hurrikick (Superkick) - 2000-2001
- Super sunset flip, sometimes as a counter to a Running turnbuckle thrust
- The Best Kept Finish / The Helms Buster (WWE) (Single knee facebreaker)- 2006-2007, 2009; used rarely thereafter
- The Overcast (Diving neckbreaker)
- The Shoulder Wrecker (Inverted facelock shoulderbreaker)
- Triple Facebuster / Trifecta Facebuster (Triple repeated sitout facebuster)
- Top Spin Facebuster (Spinning Fireman's Carry dropped into a facebreaker knee smash)
- Underdog Drop / The Calm Before The Storm / Death Wish(Double Underhook Mat Slam)
- X-Plex - 2000-2001
- With Shannon Moore
- Count Down (Samoan drop (Moore) / Nightmare on Helms Street (Helms) combination)
- With Rosey
- Simultaneous Samoan drop (Rosey) / The Overcast (The Hurricane) combination
- Super Hero Splash / Falling Star Bomb (Elevated splash)
- With Kane
- Common Moves
- {Arm Drag Leg Drop in WWE SVR 2010}
- {Oklahoma Roll Pin 1 in WWE SVR 2010}
- {Clothesline 23 in WWE SVR 2010}
Trivia[]
- In The Squid and the Whale, a poster of The Hurricane is seen, even thought he film is set in the 1980s.
- Gregory Helms has had a different gimmick in each of his three Cruiserweight Championship reigns.
- Helms is a comic book fan, one of his favorites is the Green Lantern. He has a tattoo on his bicep which is the Latern's logo and his orginal WWE character The Hurricane was based on The Green Lantern.
- Helms is a fan of the band Pearl Jam, Eminem, Linkin Park, Insane Clown Posse, Everlast, and Rob Zombie.
- Helms is friends with The Hardy Boyz, Shannon Moore, "Joey Mercury" and "Christian Cage" in real life.