Former WWE Star Shane Helms On What Led To Him Dropping His Hurricane Gimmick

Current WWE backstage producer Shane Helms, the former wrestler who played The Hurricane character in the Stamford-based promotion, recalled dropping the superhero gimmick in 2005 while appearing on the "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" podcast. 

"Ric Flair really kind of jumpstarted it," Helms said. "Because I was doing a lot of stuff with them and he just one time pulled me aside, and Ric's been such a mentor to me in different ways, and he just pulled me to the side one day and he's like, 'You're too good for this gimmick.' It wasn't [that] the gimmick was bad, but I could only go so far, and the company was only going to let me go so far with that gimmick."

Helms dropped his Hurricane gimmick after being attacked by Kurt Angle on the October 17, 2005, episode of "WWE Raw." Moments after that assault, the former WWE World Tag Team Champion slapped his tag team partner, the late Rosey, in the face and took off his Hurricane mask. 

Helms would briefly feud with Rosey and Jerry "The King" Lawler, respectively, as Gregory Helms before winning the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in an open invitational match at Royal Rumble 2006 — he held on to the gold for 384 days. A variation of The Hurricane character was introduced back in 2008 after Helms had spent some significant time on the sidelines through injury. 

If you use any quotes in this article, please credit "Insight with Chris Van Vliet" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.