Gregory Helms
Gregory Shane Helms is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE under a legends contract, and works as a producer for WWE programming. In WWE, Helms has wrestled as The Hurricane, Gregory Helms, and Hurricane Helms. He is also known for his time with World Championship Wrestling, where he wrestled as "Sugar" Shane Helms.
Helms first began wrestling in 1991 at the age of 17, and wrestled in numerous independent promotions, including the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts, winning numerous light heavyweight and tag team championships. In 1999, he signed with WCW, and gained fame as "Sugar" Shane Helms, a member of 3 Count. During his time there he won both the WCW Hardcore Championship and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. When WCW was bought by the World Wrestling Federation, 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. He once again won the Cruiserweight Championship in early 2006, and held it for over a year, becoming the longest reigning Cruiserweight Champion and the longest reigning champion of any kind in SmackDown history. After being out of action for over a year after neck fusion surgery Helms 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 a backstage interviewer. In mid-2009, he brought back The Hurricane character, and appeared as both Gregory Helms and The Hurricane on the ECW brand. After the ECW brand ended, Helms was released by WWE in February 2010, however he returned as a surprise entrant in the 2018 and 2021 Royal Rumble matches.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1991–1999)
Helms began wrestling at the age of 17 in 1991. He won his first championship shortly afterwards, by defeating "Playboy" T.C. Cruise to become the Southern Wrestling Alliance Light Heavyweight Champion. Helms spent the majority of his early career in his home state of North Carolina, winning numerous light heavyweight championships.Helms 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 Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts, which was founded by The Hardy Boyz. The Serial Thrillaz won the OMEGA Tag Team Championship twice between 1997 and 1998, before they began competing for Southern Championship Wrestling. 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.
World Championship Wrestling (1999–2001)
Helms and his friend Shannon Moore signed with World Championship Wrestling in May 1999. In WCW, Helms, along with Moore and Evan Karagias, formed the heel stable 3 Count, and the trio debuted on the December 23 episode of WCW Thunder. The trio was a parody of the boy bands 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys, and their gimmick involved making music videos and performing songs before their matches.3 Count collectively won the WCW Hardcore Championship on WCW Monday Nitro in February 2000. This win made 3 Count the first trio to win the Hardcore Championship. At Uncensored, Brian Knobbs defeated all members of 3 Count to win the Hardcore Championship. During a match, Helms suffered a broken nose, and was sidelined while he recovered. Upon his return, Tank Abbott had been added to the group, as a fan, and was utilized in an enforcer role. 3 Count had a long-running feud with The Jung Dragons, with the Dragons attempting to steal 3 Count's fictional recording contract. This led to a ladder match between the two teams at New Blood Rising, which 3 Count won due to Abbott's interference. As a result, Abbott claimed that he should be the lead singer of 3 Count, and was kicked out by the other three members, leading to a feud.
3 Count later disbanded as Moore and Helms kicked Karagias out of the group for attempting to steal the spotlight. At the same time, the Jung Dragons turned on Jamie Noble, who formed a team with Karagias. The three teams met in a Triangle match at Mayhem, which 3 Count won. They also wrestled each other in a number one contendership ladder match at Starrcade, to earn a WCW Cruiserweight Championship match, in which both Moore and Helms grabbed the contract at the same time. As a result, they later wrestled for the opportunity to wrestle for the championship, which Helms won, although he lost the subsequent championship match to Chavo Guerrero Jr. at the Sin pay-per-view.
Moore and Helms would leave WCW briefly in 2001 to wrestle in NWA Wildside, where they held the Wildside Tag Team Championship for one day. Helms became the number one contender for the Cruiserweight Championship after winning a match at SuperBrawl Revenge, but was attacked by Karagias and Moore afterwards. Despite the attack, Helms would 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. Helms' contract with WCW was one of twenty-five that were included in WWF's purchase of WCW.
World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (2001–2010)
Early appearances (2001–2002)
Helms made his WWF debut on the July 5, 2001 episode of SmackDown!, using the name "Hollywood" Gregory Helms. He 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 the August 27 episode of Raw is War, and also began wearing a superhero costume. That night, he won the WWF European Championship from Matt Hardy with help from Ivory, but lost it to Bradshaw on the October 22 episode of Raw. In September, The Hurricane formed a tag team with Lance Storm who was now managed by Ivory and Hurricane 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". The team of The Hurricane and Storm began feuds with teams like The Hardy Boyz and Big Show and Spike Dudley. The Hurricane and Storm got a shot at the WCW Tag Team Championship against The Hardy Boyz at No Mercy on October 21 in a losing effort.
The Hurricane won the WWF Hardcore Championship at WrestleMania X8 on March 17, 2002, but Molly betrayed him, hitting him in the back of the head with a frying pan, and defeating him for the championship. The Hurricane was later drafted to the SmackDown! brand following the brand extension, and he won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship from Tajiri and Billy Kidman in a triple threat match on the May 16 episode of SmackDown!. He lost it to Jamie Noble at King of the Ring on June 23. The Hurricane was traded to the Raw brand, won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Kane as they defeated The Un-Americans on the September 23 episode of Raw, and held them for around a month before losing the titles to Chris Jericho and Christian on the October 14 episode of Raw.
Teaming with Rosey (2003–2006)
In early 2003, The Hurricane feuded with The Rock. In backstage segments, The Rock referred to The Hurricane as "The Hamburglar" and latter retorted that anyone can beat The Rock, citing Brendan Fraser, whom The Rock worked with on the movie "The Mummy Returns". The feud culminated in a match on the March 10 episode of Raw, in which The Rock dominated. The Hurricane, however, was able to roll up The Rock from behind after The Rock was distracted by Stone Cold Steve Austin's appearance on the ramp.In August, The Hurricane "discovered" Rosey's potential as a superhero and christened him "Rosey, the Super Hero in Training". On May 1, 2005, at Backlash, The Hurricane and Rosey 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, Rosey and The Hurricane lost Keibler as their sidekick when she and Christy Hemme were traded to the SmackDown! brand. On the September 5 episode of Raw, The 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 Unforgiven on September 18. During the title match, Murdoch delivered an elevated DDT on The Hurricane to the outside. The DDT caused The Hurricane to suffer a storyline "stinger" and allowed Cade and Murdoch to beat The Hurricane and Rosey later in the match to win the World Tag Team Championship.
During the next few weeks, the pair began a losing streak, mainly caused by The 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 Championship match, leaving Rosey to face the champions Cade and Murdoch alone. During the match, The Hurricane appeared at the top of the entrance ramp, reverting 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, turning heel for the first time since 2001. 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 on January 8.