While not every wrestler can be the top champion in a given promotion, that doesn’t mean that they’re bad or unmemorable. In fact, a wrestler like Shane Helms — sometimes known as Gregory Helms — is a perfect example of how a performer can be a memorable, beloved midcarder. A cruiserweight staple in both WCW and WWE, Helms struck gold when he adopted the comedic superhero gimmick of The Hurricane.
Helms still makes occasional guest appearances on pro wrestling television with a Royal Rumble entry or a nostalgic cameo appearance, so let’s take a look at what fans should know about him just in case The Hurricane resurfaces once more.
10 Wrestled For The Hardys’ Promotion, OMEGA
Hailing from North Caroline, Shane Helms got his start in pro wrestling as a teenager in 1991, wrestling in various promotions in the state but most notably in OMEGA, an outfit founded by Matt and Jeff Hardy. There, he’d not only capture the OMEGA Tag Team Championship a couple of times, but also form a stable called the Bad Street Boys with Joey Matthews (a.k.a. Joey Mercury), Christian York, and Shannon Moore. Besides featuring four recognizable names, the Bad Street Boys would be notable for its boy band gimmick, a concept that would carry on to the big leagues.
9 Member Of 3 Count In WCW
All four members of the Bad Street Boys ended up signing to WCW in 1999, but only Shane Helms and Shannon Moore would stick around along with the boy band shtick. Fellow cruiserweight Evan Karagias would be grouped with them, and they debuted at the end of the year as the villainous boy band group 3 Count, complete with music videos and pre-match performances. More than just a fun, timely gimmick, 3 Count proved to be a fun staple of the cruiserweight division, putting on some incredibly fun ladder matches against rival faction Jung Dragons.
8 WCW’s Final Cruiserweight Champion
However, 3 Count eventually disbanded, with Evan Karagias first being ousted from the group while Shane Helms and Shannon Moore later competed for a shot at the Cruiserweight Championship. Helms’ first shot at the belt would come at Sin in January 2001, where he failed to dethrone Chavo Guerrero Jr.
Shane Helms finally captured the Cruiserweight Champion at the WCW’s last pay-per-view ever, Greed, and remained champion by the end of the final episode of Monday Nitro. As a result, Helms was WCW’s last-ever Cruiserweight Champion.
7 Became The Hurricane In WWE
When Shane Helms initially showed up in WWE as part of the WCW/ECW invasion angle over the summer of 2001, he was a member of the Alliance Faction, working under the name Gregory Helms. After more than a month, however, Helms would roll out a new gimmick that would redefine his career, incorporating his love for superhero comics to become The Hurricane. Despite being a comedic superhero character, The Hurricane ended up capturing the European Championship from Matt Hardy on his first night.
6 Brought The Cruiserweight Championship To WWE
The aforementioned invasion angle didn’t just bring in loads of WCW talent into the world of WWE. Many of them also brought in their championships, including Shane Helms with his Cruiserweight Title. However, in July 2001, Helms would end up dropping the belt to fellow Alliance member and multi-time WCW Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman, ending his reign at 108 days including the time he had it in WCW. After the Invasion angle ended at Survivor Series 2001, the belt would become the WWE Cruiserweight Championship, making Shane Helms basically the first WWE Cruiserweight Champion.
5 Mighty Molly Was His First Sidekick
Given Shane Helms’ superhero gimmick, it was only natural that The Hurricane would end up with a sidekick for further shenanigans. That sidekick ended up being Molly Holly, who had moved on from her kayfabe cousins Hardcore and Crash to adopt the identity of Mighty Molly. However, betrayal was inevitable, and at WrestleMania 18 Hurricane won the Hardcore Title in a backstage segment only for Mighty Molly to turn on him via frying pan to the skull to take the belt for herself.
4 Had Rosey As His “Super Hero In Training”
Mighty Molly wasn’t The Hurricane’s only sidekick, however. In 2003, The Hurricane adopted a new ward in Rosey, brother to future WWE top star Roman Reigns who had previously been a member of the tag team 3-Minute Warning. As part of the superhero gimmick, Rosey was dubbed the Super Hero In Training, a moniker obviously chosen for its acronym. The two were also joined briefly by Stacy Keibler, who became Super Stacy.
After a failure to capture the World Tag Team Championship and a string of losses, The Hurricane eventually turned heel on Rosey, leaving him to fend for himself in a tag team match while he dropped the Hurricane gimmick to become Gregory Helms again.
3 Three-Time Cruiserweight Champion In WWE
As stated, Gregory Helms was the first WWE Cruiserweight Champion by virtue of bringing the WCW belt to WWE, but that wasn't the only time he held the title. On a mid-May 2002 episode of SmackDown, Helms won the belt as The Hurricane, holding it for 40 days before dropping it to Jamie Noble at King of the Ring the following month. Then, in a six-way match at Royal Rumble 2006, Gregory Helms won the Cruiserweight Title for a third time, kicking off a reign that would last a record 385 days, far exceeding that of any wrestler to hold the belt in WCW.
2 Took Over 18 Months Off Due To A Neck Injury
In May of 2007, Gregory Helms’ in-ring career was derailed by a neck injury that took him out of action for about 18 months. In the lead-up to his in-ring return, Helms, now going by Hurricane Helms, would appear on WWE television in “Hurrapops,” gags where Helms would pop up in the corner of the screen to make fun of bad guys during their matches. After finally making his in-ring return, Helms would show up in the revived ECW as a backstage interviewer, using The Hurricane as his secret identity whenever there was trouble, and even put his alter ego on the line against Paul Burchill’s career in one of Helms’ last major matches for WWE.
1 Formed The Helms Dynasty In Impact
Shane Helms was released from WWE in early 2010 and continued to wrestle on the indies until he signed with Impact Wrestling in the spring of 2015. Initially working backstage as a road agent, Helms ended up becoming an on-screen character, managing Trevor Lee (now known as NXT’s Cameron Grimes) and Andrew Everett as a faction called The Helms Dynasty. This union would last until the special “Total Nonstop Deletion” episode of Impact Wrestling, wherein Helms would enter the Lake of Reincarnation a couple of times, first reverting to his 3 Count persona before becoming The Hurricane and turning face again.