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WRESTLING COLUMNS
Ass Of The Storm!
November 15, 2005 by Sean Harrison
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Gregory Helms, where do I start..... there isn't really anywhere to start with him.
Hurricane Helms, where do I start..... anywhere.
My point is why change The Hurricane back to Gregory Helms"
If you think back to WCW, Gregory Helms used to wrestle under the name "Sugar" Shane Helms, and won the Cruiserweight Title on the last ever Nitro. When WCW was bought out by Vince McMahon, Shane Helms was one of the superstars to jump on the ship to WWF. His first role was to drop the Cruiserweight Championship to Billy Kidman on SmackDown! WHY" So he could start off in WWF with a new, fresh gimmick, and not fade off into the distant memories of all wrestling fans.
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The Hurricane Helms heel character was created in the late 2001 because Vince felt as though Gregory Helms had a boring gimmick that would struggle to gain a following, which is probably correct. Hurricane Helms was originally meant to last 4 months but ended up lasting 4 years! WHY" Because the fans loved The Hurricane entertaining them every week.
In late 2001 Hurricane Helms won the WWF European Championship, defeating Matt Hardy on RAW. He later dropped it to Bradshaw and disappeared from television (as those 4 months were up). What next"
At the start of 2002 The Hurricane returned as a babyface with a new name and a brighter outfit and quickly won the WWF Hardcore and the WWE Cruiserweight Championships in the following months.
He was then traded over to RAW in late 2002. This was a bit of a surprise to many because they were taking him away from the Cruiserweight division on SmackDown! (as they have done to Chavo..... I mean Kerwin White), and put him on a more physical show. I thought The Hurricane would have no future but on his first appearance he and Kane became the last holders of the WWE Tag Team Titles! This was also a shock for me but it was a shock that I liked!
Less than a month later they lost the straps to Christian and Chris Jericho (both of which i miss from the ring) on RAW. This surely must be the end of The Hurricane"
No. Possibly the greatest ever moment in The Hurricanes career, and one of the biggest upsets ever on RAW was when he defeated The Rock. He might have been aided by Stone Cold Steve Austin, but in the history books it will still read that The Hurricane defeated The Rock. Following this, The Hurricane was put into comedy sketches with The Rock. Who can forget The Hamburglar!
"Possibly the greatest ever moment in The Hurricanes career, and one of the biggest upsets ever on RAW was when he defeated The Rock."
The Hurricanes next angle was to find another tag team partner and defeat the evil French tag team La Resistance.
Over the following months The Hurricane would team up with superstars and legends such as Heidenreich. Spike Dudley and Sgt. Slaughter but never managed to beat La Resistance for the World Tag Team Titles! Who would The Hurricane eventually win the World Tag Team titles with"
Probably bottom of this list was Rosey (who is a very athletic wrestler for his size), a super heal left without left without a gimmick when Jamal was fired from WWE. Who better to team up with The Hurricane"!"!"!
The Hurricane told Rosey that he was a Super Hero in Training and named him S.H.I.T.! This tag team never really stood out from the rest, (not that there was many to stand out from!) and only rarely made it to Raw, every week wrestling on the main event of Sunday Night Heat. To underline where this team was going The Superheroes (as they were called) were defeated on Heat by Mark Jindrak and Garrison Cade for a spot at Wrestlemania xx, where they did actually make an appearance, in a comedy scene with The Rock!
For the most part of 2004 The Superheroes were on the losing side of matches. Rosey eventually made a proper "Super Hero", nearly a year after starting training. This was where this Tag Team broke through.
On May 1st 2005 at Backlash, WWE surprised everyone by handing the Tag Straps to The Superheroes! It a tag team gauntlet match The Hurricane and Rosey took the titles from William Regal and Tajiri. When Hurricane escalated to the top rope, stood on Roseys back, and performed a big splashed onto Rob Conway is just one of those moments when you are glad to watch wrestling!
The Superheroes held the Titles for 4 months defending them a disappointing
4 times and lost them at Unforgiven 2005 to Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch in their debut PPV match! Was this really the end of The Hurricane"
Yes. When The Hurricane was beaten to pieces by Kurt Angle on RAW in October, and Rosey failed to help him The Hurricane decided he was finished with carrying Rosey and entertaining the fans at his expense of acting like an idiot.
Gregory Helms, as he is now called, is just like all the other gimmicks that have come and gone, Mordacai for an example. The difference is that Gregory Helms is a gimmick that was dropped 4 years earlier for being too boring!
Unless Gregory finds a more entertaining persona he will be relegated to wrestling on Heat until his contract ends and will probably leave the WWE.
For those who are wondering, Gregory Helms real name is Shane Gregory Helms.
RIP Eddie Guerrero.
by Sean Harrison ..
Exaire Anderson wrote:
I take it from the title of your article that you are not a fan of The Hurricane. May I kindly remind you that Shane Helms was one of the most highly regarded cruiserweights not so many years ago. He has had classic matches with the likes of Jimmy Yang, Shannon Moore and countless others. The Hurricane was a gimmick doomed from the start (it was not meant to succeed) Shane Helms ....an ass"" Not quite, sure his backstage antics regarding his ability to gossip could translate poorly in the eyes of many but who are we to care. May I remind you Helms popularized a now often imitated move "The Vertabreaker" a highly devastating finisher. Regardless of who initiated this change, this provides Helms with a "fresh" start. Hurricane was a very stale character which more looked more like a light Breeze than a Hurricane. Helms now has a chance to take on a more serious role. A more serious persona may equate to a more serious push (not likely with the current writers) It's a shame you have to be so pessimistic, (can't really blame) lets look at this as a positive. Lets look at this as a new beginning and shed that pale green image of a cartoon character. Sure Helms is good on the mic. Given the comedic nature of his gimmick who would take him serious enough to invest money in" Funny skits like Hamburglar are good for a laugh ...not for putting butts in the seat. A gimmick should be designed to make money. To have longevity. To maintain a steady fan base. Hurricane did none of that. I welcome "Greg" Helms back with open arms. It's been a long time Greg ...........a long time!
Knight wrote:
I disagree. Gregory Helms has been going for four years with a gimmick that started to grow stale. Everybody knew it would happen eventually. It's very rare that someone improves their game and climbs the so-called ladder with a goofy gimmick like his. He hasn't won a match that matters in ages. Hell, the Rock may very well have been the last one. By switching him to Gregory Helms, the WWE is showing me that they like the man and they know he has a lot of talent, rather than keeping him in jobber hell for another four years or straight out firing him. He sold a ton of merchadise and people know who he is so they're attempting to build some heel heat into him. It's the same with any other wrestler they want in the public's eye. Whether this lasts or not, though, remains to be seen.
Stan The Mann wrote:
Sean, I totally agree with your article. As a huge fan of the Hurricane gimmick and of classic good vs. evil 80s style wrestling rather than the stupid grey area stars of the current wrestling generation, I was absolute distraught to see Hurricane betray Rosey and adopt the stupid Gregory Helms gimmick. How the hell would be afraid of Gregory Helms"""" Hurricanes have kicked the hell out two states this year... Everyone is a afraid of hurricanes.
Jesse Lee wrote:
I don't see why you're griping about a "forever midcard-at-best." Helms is cursed with that old saying, great with fans, but not enough to be a World/WWE champion. I loved the Hurricane gimmick because it was fun to watch. I bet every penny and dime I have that after the Hurricane showed up, backyard wrestling showed this "new" superheros (although there were "superheros" before.)
I think this is a new start for Helms. WWE needs someone like Helms to bring that "prickness" to the table. What better way to make a heel" Take a longtime favorite, have someone from the top beat him down with no partner in sight, then have him take his anger out on his former partner and the fans. With this new gimmick change, it's possible for him to gain an IC title reign, though that's still hoping. WWE never really gave a lot of its confidence on cruiserweights so I think this is just another way for WWE to have a "best friends" feud.
T.A. Xie wrote:
The Hurricane wasn't given the same chance Edge and
Christian had - a comedy act that got big wins. I will
hold judgement on whether Helms' repackaging is a
serious attempt to push him up the card, or a prelude
to pushing him out of WWE.
But it could have been worse. Yes, Helms is a jobber
for the majority of his WWE tenure, and he could very
well remain a jobber. But at least he is still
gainfully employed and performing to a worldwide
audience. Which is more than can be said for many of
the talent acquired by WWE when they bought WCW.
DLMD9 wrote:
I have to disagree with you people, I don't believe the Hurricane gimmick gotten stale, every time he came out to the ring the people gave him a strong ovation win or lose. By the way when you sell T-shirts, mask,and any other form of merchandise of a wrestler you are investing in that wrestler to those who think like wise and funny gimmicks and moments do put buts in those seat, why do you think people liked the Rock so much" His interviews segments where highly funny. However knowing wrestling and if the WWE doesn't release Helms, in a couple of years we might see the Hurricane again!
mike branch wrote:
The whole deal is that from the beginning Helms was misused. They didnt want to go with the Gregory thing so why now" The Hurricane character had a cult like following. He was one of those wrestlers that you can have him win or lose but will still have the crowd no matter what. Im pretty sure that Mr. Helms wont be around the WWE as far as long term. His gimmick now is what of Chavo's current Kerwin White run(no disrespect to the Guerrero Family). That character had no promise. On a personal note, the "Sugar" Shane gimmick was my favorite. He was innovative, fresh, had an incredible finisher (which has been outlawed as far as I know), also you cant forget about the dancers and that great vertibraker song(if anybody knows where I can get that song, please let me know).
Kevin Coles wrote:
I think you're right that the hurricane character was a success but probably not on the scale you have painted in your article. He was mostly a comedy character and was still a jobber for most of his time as the hurricane. I think he reached a level of success he wouldn't of otherwise acheived because of the character but if I was him or Vince I would of made the exact same decision. With all the recent hurricanes who the hell would want to be associated with one"... I certainly wouldn't, everytime he heard of one he must of though damn my character is going down the drain, why would anybody want to cheer for a hurricane"...and turning the character heel because of it would be in bad taste so I don't think they had anywhere to go with the character. I honestly believe had it not been for the hurricane disasters they would of kept his gimmick. I dont think its a big deal though as this gives him a chance to be taken seriously and see where he can take his new character. In reality though I agree, I can't see any way to repackage this guy to make him even a mid card success. So, no problem just give him a year or so trying out new things or take him off TV for a bit then in a year hopefully when there are less devestating hurricanes about in North America they will bring him back. After a break from the character im sure a return would breathe new life into it so I don't see this as a disaster for his career as at least he always has the option of brining the hurricane back.
Cowboys28790 wrote:
Hey Sean, I do agree with your Hurricane column. The Hurricane was a fan favorite, who should have been getting a bigger push. Now that Gregory Helms is here, there is really no way for Rosey to get a push, unless Jamal comes back. Not to mention, Hurricane was always a guy who would try to reason, but was a comedy type guy. Remember when Kane was yelling at that kid, saying "Did you parents ever tell you there was no such things as monsters" Well they lied!", and Kane was about to go out there" Who showed up" Hurricane! The Hurricane tried to reason with Kane, but Kane ignored him, so Hurricane ran down there and saved the kid. Now, if Kane turned heel (which he should), who shows up" Gregory Helms-boring! Gregory would run down there and trip and fall flat on his face. Gregory is just a stupuid heel, that should be released anway, because there is no use for him on RAW. The WWE needs more people like The Hurricane, because he was about the last, don't take him to seriously fan-favorite, that RAW had. Now, you have some guy that never even appears on RAW, but Gregory never will make any impact, because he has no gimmick, not to mention he will have no fan base to get his career going.
les campbells wrote:
from my eyes, Hurricane is an accomplished wrestler who always give a hell of a show, who have a very big potential, i have seen many of his match at WCW i was a fans ! The Hurricane is a way to tell: hey fans ! look what we do with your old favorite wrestler, we make them job ! that prove that WWE is better than WCW, that the thing that WWE want to past ! WWE isn't better than WCW, WCW had: very good wrestler with credible show, WCW know that cruiserweight is a good way to make money ! they just closed because they were too low on cash ! look at every superstar of WCW in the WWE none make it big ! Booker T is a great wrestler but we all know that he will never be a 6 TIME World Heavyweight champ, he is getting older and his intensity in the ring is not the same that before, look at Ultimo Dragon, a huge japan superstar, one of my favorite wrestler ! multiple belt owner (10 at WCW) ans what he become " a jobber, but only at the WWE ! WWE don't even know what to do with good wrestler when they have one in their hands take Psichosis and Super Crazy, nice wrestler, but only a tag team champ, but what i see is a Super Crazy or a Psochosis like cruiserweight champ or a U.S champ, Kid Kash has chance he is the cruiserweight champ and by the way a nice wrestler but when he will lose his cruiserweight belt, he will job ! i hate to admit it but our "sport" credibility decrease over the year, what was a huge sport become a pathetic one, i'd like a federation like WCW but i think that we will never have one like this again, or i'd like ECW back, but Paul Heyman don't want it ! the only alternative is the TNA if they have a push in cash and a bigger arena they can make it ! and Hurrican may have his chance there ! but for now he job, ans that the point...
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