Gregory Shane Helms (born July 12, 1974) is an American professional wrestler best known for his work in WCW as Shane Helms and in WWE as The Hurricane and as Gregory Helms. He debuted in 1991 when he was only 17 working various Carolinas independent promotions, including the Hardys' OMEGA promotion. He signed with WCW in 1999 and was teamed with Shannon Moore and Evan Karagias as 3-Count, a wrestling Boy Band. They feuded with the Jung Dragons, and, after WCW died in 2001, WWE picked up Helms' contract. He debuted as part of the InVasion/Alliance angle and was repackaged as the Hurricane, a superhero parody gimmick. He stayed until 2010, when he went back to the independents. Among his in-ring achievements, he is a 3x WCW/WWE Cruiserweight Champion
, a former WCW Hardcore Champion, a former 2x WWE World Tag Team Champion, holding the belts 1x w/Kane and 1x w/Rosey, a former WWE Hardcore Champion and a former WWE European Champion.
"Eye of the Tropes":
- Alter-Ego Acting: As reporter Gregory Helms during the Hurricane gimmick.
- Arch-Enemy: Paul Burchill, who tried to prove that The Hurricane and Gregory Helms was one and the same.note
- Catchphrase: "Whazzup with that?"
- Cue the Flying Pigs: Had this reaction the moment he first managed to actually chokeslam someone, after months of failing to do so. Quickly went into "I knew I could do that!" mode, however.
- Determinator: Seeing his doctor after having trouble doing push ups it was determined Helms had a broken neck and had been that way for at least a week!
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Thanks to a distraction from "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, the young superhero upset The Rock!
- Evil Mentor: In 2016, he was this to TNA's Trevor Lee.
- Exact Words: Told Tigre Uno in 2016 that he had a challenge for him which would guarantee the taking of Tigre's X-Division Championship title the following week. He never said it was against him.
- Face–Heel Turn: After having enough of being funny for the crowd as The Hurricane.
- Finishing Move: Several.
- Nightmare on Helms Street/The Eye of the Hurricane
- Chokeslam
- Vertebreaker
- Friend to All Children: As the Hurricane, Helms would present a mask to a lucky young fan at ringside, a nod to Bret Hart's tradition of giving away his Cool Shades before a match.
- Full-Name Basis: Goes by this in TNA in 2016.
- Genre Savvy: How he manipulated the TNA X-Division Championship. He came out and put himself over as the greatest Cruiserweight Champion of all time while challenging X-Division Champion Tigre Uno to a match, telling him to get ready to lose his title next week, which got Tigre to accept the challenge as well as left everyone including Tigre expecting (and preparing for) a match with Helms. The following week, he came out for the match sporting a bright green leather jacket…as part of an ensemble of street clothes, and said he wasn't the challenger, instead introducing former OMEGA pupil Trevor Lee. Lee beat Tigre for the title.
- He's Back!: He's make a surprise return at Royal Rumble 2018. And then again at Royal Rumble 2021.
- I Am the Noun/Badass Boast: As he told Josh Matthews on the February 3, 2006 SmackDown!, "I AM the Cruiserweight Division!"
- Insistent Terminology: His "Shining Wizard" finisher is actually a running enzuigiri to the kneeling opponent's head without the use of the opponent's knee for leverage. An actual Shining Wizard consists of stepping off the opponent's raised knee with one foot, and the deliverer swings the other leg and strikes the opponent's head with either the side of the knee or shin.
- Lethal Joke Character: That seemingly wacky goof with the green cape and the mask? Beat The Rock and nearly upset Triple H if not for a timely distraction by Ric Flair
- Likes Older Women: Had an offscreen relationship with Ivory after he arrived in WWE, the year she turned 40 and he was 27.
- One-Steve Limit: The reason Shane Helms became Gregory Helms (so viewers wouldn't hear Shane and think of Shane McMahon). Became a moot point after he became Hurricane Helms and then simply The Hurricane. note
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Had moments where, in his role as 'Gregory Helms: Ace Reporter' during his WWE run as the Hurricane, he'd slip up & ask "Whassup wit dat?!" only to catch himself mid-sentance & go "I mean, what *is* up with that?"
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Gregory Helms became this when the Hurricane dyed his hair green, so that aspect of the gimmick was dropped.
- Plucky Comic Relief: As The Hurricane, which he got tired of and unmasked and went with his real name.
- Red Baron: "The Suicide Bomb," "The Show," "The Serial Thrilla," "Sugar"
- The Rival: His civilian guise has been on and off with Matt Hardy since childhood.
- Rule of Funny: His being a 200 lbs. cruiserweight who attempts to chokeslam The Big Show.
- Secret Identity: Sort of. The fans all know who he is, but go along with it anyway, and boo every Heel who doesn't.
- Superhero
- Badass Cape
- Chest Insignia: The "H" on his Hurricane outfit.
- Cool Bike: The Hurri-cycle
- Cool Mask: As The Hurricane.
- Super-Strength: Hurricane can halt any charge with the rise of his elbow, no man is too big to be chokeslammed!
- Tag Team:
- Assault and Battery/The Serial Thrillaz, with Mike Maverick.
- The Bad Street Boys, with Shannon Moore, Joey Matthews and Christian York.
- 3-Count with Moore and Evan Karagias.
- The fan-nicknamed duo of HurriKane.
- A Power Trio with Rosey and Super Stacy.
- Take That!: When WWE bought WCW, two of the wrestlers whose contracts they bought up were Helms' and Buff Bagwell's. Helms got into a real-life fight with Buff Bagwell at WWE's training facility. Helms came out without a scratch and Bagwell needed medical attention. Bagwell was gone from WWE shortly after putting on a notorious stinker of a match against Booker T on the July 2, 2001 Raw. Sometime after Helms adopted the Hurricane gimmick, he incorporated Bagwell's Finishing Move the Buff Blockbuster (top-rope somersault into a neckbreaker) into his offense, with the announcers calling it the "Overcast." Raised to the level of a
Genius Bonus for those fans who recognized the move, since Bagwell never got the chance to hit the move himself on WWE television. - Took a Level in Badass: Surprisingly, Hurricane's stock went up for a duration after jumping over to Raw, winning the Tag Titles with Kane, competing against established main-eventers like The Rock and Triple H (actually beating the former!) and main-eventing a Raw himself with the likes of Shawn Michaels and Kevin Nash as tag partners. He did slowly fall back into the midcard by mid-2003, but remained a mainstay of Raw until his unmasking in late 2005.
- Weaksauce Weakness: The Hurricane fears clones, identical twins and broccoli, according to WWE magazine.
