Hurricane Helms on beating The Rock, working as a WWE producer, 3 Count, the Vertebreaker

the first time I walked down that hall and that cheesy ass outfit the first one they gave me man the looks I got from some of the boys they're like I mean some of them were encouraging but it was one of those things like hello man well good for you and take a look for the team just want to take a quick second to say hello hope you're doing well and I'll sort of personally thank you because guys we did it 250,000 subscribers here on YouTube woo which means that goal of a million is just around the corner until then stand back there's a hover cane coming through well Shane thank you so much for joining me thanks for making the time oh man my pleasure man great to finally chit chat yeah it's about time right from one little podcaster over here myself to someone like you who's been doing very well with it yeah yeah I just realized I started podcasting for the very first time when I left WWE back in 2010 first brought Howie to Helms to iTunes and all of that kind of a platform so 10 years later released from WWE again you to be podcasting 10 years ago that makes you like one of the og wrestling podcasters oh yeah for sure in terms of like mainstream pro wrestlers uh you know I know Colt Cabana came out what he is around at the same time I started doing video podcasting I was live streaming it I would record the shows put them on DVDs sell them at my TV shows oh yeah I was kind of a hit a curb on a lot of stuff but also what I did to was I kept taking breaks because I'm podcasting is more difficult than people realize as you well know and I would just get kind of burnout you know especially because I would do a live video show I would have people in my home now we got all these you know up-to-date studio in studio you can stream it a lot easier and it wasn't quite as easy yeah internal traffic is the most unpredictable traffic of all time so um if I did something over Skype back in those days you know you would one day it would be great the next day would be awful and I just really drove me crazy so that's one of the reasons that kind of hiatus from it for a while I always tell people podcasting us and YouTube is such a labor of love because you put so much time into it so much effort into it and then you put this thing out there that you put sometimes weeks into and like you know a handful of people consume it you go ah is this really worth my time to do this yes the totally agree with everything single thing you just said this so the recent rendition of version of highway to hell just do my self 51 episodes in and it's just mean every week I try to keep it 30 to 45 minutes because there's a lot longer podcast out there that I listen to them sometimes I'm kindly come on she's get to the end of it so I kind of keep mine a little bit shorter than that and it's just me so sometimes I run out of [ __ ] to say so how are you holding up with everything that's going on not bad not bad at all man I mean a super fortunate situation you know I've been fortunate to make a lot of money in the progressive industry actually one of the few that saved some of it not all more couple of investments I wish I had to make it here and yeah but um I did okay you know in my family's kind of isolated anyway we're on a farm so when I'm not on the road I don't go anywhere anyway so this wasn't a big change for me um and because I was getting paid to sit at home and basically do nothing I was kind of preparing for the worst in terms of employment so I study I'm a proactive kind of guy so I kind of started making plans for that phone call or in this case the text to come through with the text for people out there that love to bad-mouth WWE the text was followed with a phone call and I had good conversations with the WWE and it's just a situational thing man the world is in a crazy place right now so and I'm a sometimes annoyingly positive guy you know sometimes you might get your man I look for the positive side of things so well that's just what I did I'm trying to stay positive and have fun and find a way to have make the best of a bad situation I guess so what's the what's the silver lining in this one Shane the silver lining is this a new challenge you know I mean anytime you get knocked down you have to get back up you know I've said a million times when you're walking through hell the only way to get out is to keep walking that's the only now so and I've always stayed busy no progress and although that is my main love it's not the only thing I do in pocket for years I've been involved in several different things throughout my life so I mean I got a couple other projects that are in the works right now and um nothing I really want to talk about until the ink dries but sure um I'm always going to be involved in pro wrestling that's that's my that's my number one love just my number one passion I know I still got a lot to offer so I'm always going to be involved ma'am but I'll stay busy you know and I got a family too so my boys you know they know they're the light of my life so if I hadn't have been furloughed this time has been really good for good for the family we've done a lot of stuff together you know being on the road with WWE that that schedule is rough you know so it was a small blessing to be a home with my family so you say you're getting paid to sit at home that was during these shows that without the fans up until then you were on the road every single week right oh yeah on the road every single week and you know the first half of a 2019 WWE had allowed me to complete all my indi obligations because that was a very active performer you know uh you know 2017 and 18 there was a big show hurricane was on it you know face it basically you know and that's because I love you know still love doing this crazy stuff had my first match in 1991 and all the way up to 2019 you know so that's a lot of years and a lot of banging on the body but WWE like I said in 2019 they will let me do on my Hindi so every weekend I'm doing it nd then I go to Monday Night Raw and then I have to do Smackdown and didn't a pay-per-view so it was rough you know the first one 2019 was pretty rough the last half got a little bit easier because I didn't have to do Indies but not easy compared it to not traveling you know so yeah yeah a lot of time on the road for those that might not know because they weren't seeing you in the ring you were working as a producer so with some of the segments that you kind of had your fingerprints all over before you were released oh man this kind of that's kind of hard to say whenever you started talking about that because I had a recent instant instant recently where I was talking about the winner-take-all you know I was the one that came up with that stipulation and then there were people ago when you took us kind of imagine no no the match we set I just came in you know so you need to time you mention something like that you really open a can of worms that really suck you know but I had my hands and a lot of good things but fortunately I was working with a lot of telling the people too so if I mention that what any segments I was involved in I don't want to take credit away from the talents because no matter what if I call it a play they had to run the play and they deserve the majority of the credit so how did you make the transition from you know almost a thirty year career in the ring to starting to do some stuff behind the scenes because you were working for TNA behind the scenes Ring of Honor and you know now almost recently WWE we I was a producer with TNA first and that really came in a good time because I had torn my ACL so I was really in active physically I could just actually couldn't perform so um that opportunity came along jungle board was the one that hired me gave me that opportunity and when they first offered me the job I said no I wasn't sure I'm not sure I want to do this I need to be because I seen some of the producers and agents in WWE that I had deal with in my career and it's a thankless job you know you didn't know credit you get chewed out by the boss for a [ __ ] you had nothing to do with after that so I wanted to make sure that I liked it and in TNA I fell in love with that position you know I was working with a lot of good people and and people trusted me too you know they trust in my opinion they trust in my vision and so I had a good had a good relationship there you know it kind of when the new owners came in with not necessarily anthem but when Jeff Jarrett and him came in he had a problem with the Hardys I got caught up and shrapnel heat there and that's that's kind of what happened with that story now me and Jeff have made amends and moved on but you know that's still what happened then I did a little stuff with Ring of Honor but that was all just entering talent with them and I started to do some coaching down at WWE while I was in America honor and WW knew that producing was what I wanted to do they wanted me to be a coach without a doubt I can do that I feel like my strength is more of a finishing coach not finisher maneuver but once you get to a certain level to keep you better um I think teaching basic moves up you got a lot of people that can do that but to get you to go from you know get you to go from good to great you need a finishing coach and so that was going to feel like I'm coaching would have been my stream but they knew I wanted to be a producer but I was going to have to move down to Orlando at one point and I was kind of wrestling with that because I got a good family situation here in North Carolina I got a situation set up in North Carolina that this this is a the last home I live in so to speak so I wasn't sure about the movement or Lander thing and I was wrestling with that and then I got a call from Triple H you know for me to go to the main roster as a producer without happened to be a coach and I wasn't without a doubt yes as I was doing that but also they gave me a talent contract you know if you've seen if you follow me on Instagram you know you put out a new action figure I mean actually to that we're doing really well so I kind of had a talent contract to UM what I love producing man is a coaching is some being a mentor is helping people out and you know if I can't be in there nothing makes me feel as good then coming up with an idea and it actually works right did you have someone in your career that was the finishing coach the one that took you kind of from good to that next level that you know we've seen you performing at for the last pretty much 20 years you had you had a lot of people manning that roster you know I was very fortunate you know we were the group of people that I got to work with and the people that I got to befriend you know the Undertaker was a huge help for me Ric Flair was a huge help for me guys like Chris Jericho a huge help for me you know you got to pick and choose you know I mean fine people that can really help you and believe it or not you'll get some advice from some some of the weirdest people you know and sometimes that really is going to work you know you can't close yourself off to any information but no there was a time in the business where you know if you watch Monday Night Raw if you own Monday Night Raw Tuesday when we would normally film Smackdown they would have a monitor and catering and everybody's around that monitor watching their matches from Monday night the night before having a veteran never side them or an agent going over their match watching and struggling that disappeared and that's a huge mistake does that all the things that in WWE helped me more than anything watching that because sometimes you're gonna think it's great you get lost up you get lost in the moment sometimes because the crown might react and what they might react just because they like you you know what that's the good thing about you know anything less is more about once you get over it yes that is true but there's and there's a flipside to do that too that fans sometimes would cheer for you even if it's not good if you know see be careful about that and you can very easily get stagnant when that happens so on though there was a huge benefit again just watch the match with somebody that's gonna give it to you not pat you on the ass just patting you on the ass isn't gonna help you get better you need somebody to go hey this sucks or hey you need to fix this you need to work on this that's the only way you get better if next year's gonna be your 30 year anniversary since you debuted are you gonna make you're gonna have some matches are you gonna work some Indies maybe yeah like I never actually said I was retired they never came Adam I never heard he can't say that when actually my last match happened in 2019 which your car was the company I was working for uh when that happened I really didn't even realize that this was coming up you know I'm sitting there I'm doing all the Debbie W stuff I'm doing my handies and sometimes it's just a signing sometimes it's just an appearance and then I realized oh man like two weeks before I think oh man this is gonna be the last match that I have on the books and that hit me like a ton of bricks they hit me all right because this is all I've ever wanted to do I went to my first live event in 1979 five years old you know I were involved in the industry with a first company in 1988 I was a referee at 15 in 1990 and in 1991 at 16 I had my first man she says Oh air wanted to do then all of a sudden I'm not going to do it anymore and that was real you know I'm an emotional guy players start grinding our heartbeat I'll cry right now I didn't call it to man Mike Quackenbush son of a [ __ ] they all come out there and they strike you know cheering for me and I have to do this speech and I want sappy as hell it was right and not only that then every week I had to go and look at a ring every single money you know I was just saying this yesterday on just a interview I was doing it's like it's like a drug addict but you're looking at the drug every single week going hey this is what's why would it be and I'm so yeah I'm definitely want to have more matches you know that everybody that knows me knows that so I want to have more matches in morning more than likely I will when the whole virus thing virus thing happened I immediately got back on a trip just got to be what I like to call spandex friendly cuz right now well I'm getting there now I'm getting there now something will come out tonight is I don't know witness is gonna air this Aaron laughs I know where to live right now don't worry okay said something that's going to come out tonight that you will see me in the spandex I'm back in a spandex that producer workout regiment wasn't strict looks like backstage I don't know how anyone stays in shape so yeah but I'm bagging snitching solo I think you soon you see me in the ring again I was so excited to see you in that the Royal Rumble in 2018 I feel like you know there was such a nice surprise that's what the Royal Rumble is all about is those nice surprises at what point did you get told that you are gonna be a surprise enter in the rumble it was only a couple weeks before maybe like a weekend have to into most um and that came across that came about and I've told this a few times but I shared with you I had put up a post on Instagram I got that book in because of Instagram some you know or at least partial I got to get partial credit Instagram because WWE has wanted me in the room before but I was either with a different company or I was injured I just wasn't a right time yeah now fast forward to 2018 and Enzo amore had gotten in trouble with something he got released or something and he was the cruiserweight champion and I remember if he was good was something that happened when a man died I want don't want speak bad about him because I don't know all the details on that situation so and he would be a perfect villain for the hurricane you still say um but something didn't happened with him so I had you know I had the WCW Cruiserweight check that was the last cruise with Jim so I still have that title and I put up a picture of that and a replica of the WWE cruiserweight title and I say hey I know a guy I know what guys been one of my sayings for a long long time so that just kind of went viral and it was at a time when WWE was like man we need to who do we get as a surprise this vile picture pops up it's like oh yeah we can finally get hurricane yeah we called and asked me about it and I was like yeah sure and what I loved the most about that that's how back was myself and my husband say bent over to keep it a secret we didn't tell nobody we flew to a different Airport she went in disguise because she's in a lot of pictures with me so wrestling fans they'll probably see her first he can blonde just jacks tag you think you can imagine sir they would see her first and they wait a minute as hurricanes woman hurricane woman's here then hurricanes here they would put it together all right so no wig and glasses I had a scarf wrapped around my face and you're hurt they flew us to actually Newark gate put us in a limo to take us to Philly and when we get to the arena they come out with the big umbrellas to hide us getting out of the limo at all nice and so we know we worked really hard to keep mr. secret so and I was so happy with their reaction because you you you know you got to have the confidence to think you're going to get a good reaction but you never know maybe a very good but that filly was very kind to me it was one of the pups of the night and I still say that without confidence it was it was a nice pop in a nice moment yeah John Cena going alone with the UH with the idea was it was a true professional man that was very cool Jim well that's still one of the pups that people have on like the top ten top twenty like biggest pops or biggest returns because they came out of nowhere yeah and I think um any kind of harkens back to something I had to struggle with and WW previously with that character they always underestimate as a popularity of the hurricane for whatever reason you know I was like I didn't never struck out at base you know every time you put me out there I'm either hitting a home run or at least have getting on base my veterinarian was immaculate so they really I think they still kind of underestimated it with you can tell with how quickly I was eliminated and not a choice that's not my decision and I wasn't going to show up and go I think I should be in there longer I'm not gonna do that I'm like hey I'll do it whatever you want you know I'm come back time pretty guy so what I do they did realize that I should have yeah I was a really really big fan of your work in WCW and I still am blown away whenever I watch clips at the vertebrae Kerr where did this idea come from because it looks terrifying to take yeah that's the kudo driver that's in Japanese that a female wrestler last name Kudo does you know so definitely gotten it from her 100% um another guy that I saw a girl was Mike modest he did it and I had experimented with it on the Indies but never had never did it on WCW and there's a especially at that time there wasn't a lot of guys because I would wrestle heavyweights on the Indies a lot there wasn't a lot of guys that I could actually pick up and fast forward to WWE when it got banned that was one of the reasons I didn't fight in the banning of it because it went but two or three guys and the whole roster I could pick up not in that particular move because you circle underneath them and you basically deadlift in their body before my Bimmer position is really you know if they're really heavy that's hard to do but there was a time in a three-count wind I was kind of the I was the glue of that team Shannon really Shannon's wrestling training wasn't where it would later come to be Shannon was a really good high flyer but he wasn't a chain West or any sort Evan was really new at that point in 1999 I mean I still got eight eight and a half years in the business so although everybody thought we were young you know I was the one putting two matches together okay we need you here we need you here we need you here but I was giving them the limelight hey Shannon you do a hot spot here didn't you do a hot spot here with in what was happening was they were getting all that spotlight and Sugar Shane is the one doing all the detail work which is the important work yeah I started to realize that as they okay I got to get it I got to stop stop worrying just above that I need to be a little selfish here and when I started doing the vertebrae Kerr immediately I became a threat you know and that's something I've tried to encourage other guys that if all you got is hop in flashing you know there's a difference rey mysterio when he started doing that six one nine and knocking people out all of a sudden rey mysterio was a little different you know he wasn't just a flip-flop flag guy now he can knock your ass out and I'm a psychological standpoint you're more of a threat so that's what the burger did for me too yeah I went from being just another high flyer to a guy who could [ __ ] your ass and it just changed my perception I'm so glad you brought up the three-count because I thought the theme song was so catchy do you still know the words the lyrics to thread to the three-count themes on oh yeah no man can't get it out of my heart I just can't and the other one get up on your feet yeah be honest I didn't like that one this much because we were making fun of ourselves the other one we took seriously and that was the heat once you start making fun of yourself the fans are gonna realize okay they think it's a joke and that's a slight difference like the first one we sung that like we really know they can't get you out of my heart that was the heat song they really hated that yeah there was one how should that we did and some reason Evan courageous was in a singles match with one of the balloons and so everyone out there and for whatever reason of Olano and her lack the WCW book it was there like upstate New York we need a strong bill on who wins and whatever we did some before the match and then after the match we did this um again even though he lost it that matter the heat was the song and people are just blowing like crazy when now after intermission because if that match was probably second or third of the night we go to intermission after intermission here comes out three counts for a special encore presentation these people are booing like hell and we start doing it we're all into it and they start throwing trash and this is end up your old level trash you know it looks like a snow falling is coming down and every courageous did when the coolest things ever because somebody threw um it was just a drink but it looked like a KFC chicken bucket coming it was huge ever even bent down and grabbed a circle and blocked it like Captain America and I remember thinking that was so damn close I picked up my circle and I started blocking so in a chair well what that did was invite people to throw no [ __ ] because now and now it's coming down even worse dude Manila a coins cigarette lighters shipping shoes saying and so we're still dancing meanwhile here comes Sid Vicious behind us and we don't know we're still in there doing that [ __ ] you know vicious is right behind Evan me and Shannon you're we on the outside we look and see see if we powder out of the ring we powder out of our respective size and we go around to the front of the ring when I haven't turned around and Evan is just doing fantabulous here he's just a fans are going crazy because there's there but every playing it like they're actually finally cheering for him and he's great I don't really enjoy each breaking the [ __ ] we turn around turn around he turns around and Sid Powell bombs in my church lands room or something and we're supposed to pull it over and out after the bump right but we said chokeslam is in pawn all the trash up in the air and it comes down and covers everything we can't even see so we're like swimming through this trash trying to find a hand to pull him out and it was so much heat and we get to the back and Arn Anderson is there and on as a kid he said I've been with the horsemen I've been with the NWO that's some of the most heat I've ever seen and you not gonna get a bigger compliment than that we like yeah we're so ecstatic here's the downside because they had to clean the ring and take a second intermission they never let us do it again no just because they had to take a second on a mission but so much heat so we had we had so much fun who actually pitched this idea of three counts here Jimmy Hart Jimmy Hart wound up saying me and Shannon now we were teaming in Nashville Tennessee we were with it was me Shannon joy mercury and Christian York who you might remember from Johnny called the Backstreet Boys now that was the brainchild of Bret Prentiss and Bill bearings they were the Booker's of Nashville so and we didn't actually go out there sing and dance but we were a boy band and you can actually YouTube bad street boys bad street like the michael hayes boys there's this music video that we did two walking in the Sun you remember our song yeah whatever it is she does and said he got this video bus and and it was really good and we knew that WCW got the tapes because Nashville Music City Wrestling was that was the company we knew that WCW got no TV and we knew that WWE got the TV as far as their tapes so we're me and Shannon would drive nine and a half hours every other week one way nineteen half hours one way not in half back for $40 guarantee just if you're on his TV in a slim chance that WCW and WWE sees that TV because we were told they did and in a slim chance to get noticed so um and - so now with a bad street boys mean Shannon Joey and Christian I found out through the grapevine somehow that Chris Kanyon my dude is helping hiring cruiserweights for some kind of secret project that WCW had and so I go to Shannon's a hey man we need to get the tape to Canyon you know we need to send the tape of my stuff cuz I I love tag team you know yes I just love it and I was kind of like hey let's imitate for bus and Shannon's like ooh well Shannon goes the sends the tape of just himself no I didn't mean it like that but this is what he did you know I didn't mean it back but I'm Kenyan if you saw Shannon's highlight reel tape you would have hired him right away because it's just it's all of this stuff especially at that time I'm talking with 1999 now everybody does a moonsault first native business back then wasn't quite as prevalent sure and they were looking for American cruise weights too you know because they had a lot of other Luchadors you know people from Japan and other country did the end they have a lot of Americans so they were looking for that to build that cruiserweight division even bigger and so Kanan had literally just came out of a meeting with Bischoff when Shane and caught him on the phone and Canyon Canyon he later told me the story because I just thought that was faked because I'd seen the kids tape I was blown away by it the second I get doing this meaning there he is on my phone because I just thought that was fake Shannon basically got hired over the phone because of that tape that's how good that's how cool Kenny was and how good that tape was and fate may have something to do with it I don't know and Kanyon asked him sir is there anybody you know any other crews later saying and Shannon here's what Shannon came through like a champ he goes yeah my boy Shane Jones you know he's a very experienced he's one of the more experienced guys we have talked about we Omega you know so he brought us in for trial and he brought us in for a tryout but that was the night after Owen fell so Bischoff wasn't there and that's the only reason I remember I remember that you know because everybody's all of course sad and should because of what happened to Owen but we did this dark match and Jimmy Hart immediately comes to me as pitching to me the three-count idea and Shannon headdress I always loved the story Shannon headdress kind of grungy just because no reason sure and Jimmy's like you know can you partner afford some new clothes like a just that was just his style for this weekend he's got a lot of new [ __ ] and he's like you guys can you guys can dance right now because can you sing like a bird I didn't give a [ __ ] what he asked me the answer was gonna be yes this other kid Emma courageous and uh thinking about putting you guys putting up you guys would hand them you know he'll be the heater and you guys be the workers look okay but that was a 100% gmail Wow I think that the story of how you then became the hurricane a few years later I think it's it's so serendipitous how is basically Austin and rock I mean you can fill in this story much better than me I'm sure but you were wearing the Green Hornet ring in Austin was like you know what's this and that's kind of came out on it you say Green Hornet Oh Green Lantern geez security the area's over we won't edit it but yes Green Lantern that is like a half right Green Hornet amita like so you know do you ever think about where your career would be now obviously hurricane was such a mega hit what an incredible gimmick that people could relate to in so many levels do you think about where your career would be if Austin and Rock hadn't see that if it hadn't turned into what it had with your character I mean yeah cuz it was such that wasn't anything I had planned on whatsoever you know I was uh I was a really good amateur wrestler I got 22 gold medals I never envisioned myself in a cape and a mask but I'm one of those guys that you know comics when I was a kid weren't that popular you know and neither was pro wrestling you know I didn't care that's what I love and I wore it on my sleeve I let everybody know about comic books and I love wrestling and so I didn't hide it you know and now you know when comics have dominated Hollywood for two decades straight now everybody is a superhero fan yeah where were you people where were you in 2001 when I was doing all right I want to know but yeah I would wear a comic book shirts to TV all the time you know we didn't have the dress code back then but I will come in with shirts all the time anyway I had the Green Lantern tattoo I guess I'll get a green horn etc at some point just no way I won't even had to deal with this anyway they just knew and Brian girl it's the head right of Raw he kind of always wanted to do a superhero again I mean you just never found the right guy if you remember this is one thing that I have tried to really get people to understand that roster at that time was the most stacked roster that has ever been assembled it was the Avengers in game stag roster that there's ever ever been I mean it's Austin right Triple H oh my girls the other taker came Kurt Angle but tag teams you had two Hardy's AG Christian the Dudley's and anybody's - yeah and when they're gone I mean W state was going ECW all under one roof and [ __ ] it's just insane the amount of talent that's in there and everybody's clamoring for TV time and there's not enough TV time to put everybody on there and so when they presented me with that idea you know for the superhero I was just like yeah well I wasn't sure would work nobody was you know the first time I walked down that hall and that cheesy ass outfit the first one they gave me man the looks I got from some of the boys they're like it means some of them were encouraging but it was one of those things like hello man well good for you and take a look for the team you know but as it started to get over here they come out of the woodwork know it would work I know every one of y'all shut the hell up y'all did not but it was so much fun just growing with that character and making me work with so you know it wasn't easy and that's the thing everybody things that carried was easy he was incredibly hard but it only worked because you put the effort in to make it work I think you give that gimmick to nine other guys and it fails and you're the tenth guy that not in you know they want to attend that actually makes that gimmick work yeah I had to present I definitely agree with that you know what you do is just perfect for me and I don't know why like I said well I mean I was a serious wrestler you saw me at Sugar Shane if you saw me as Gregory Helms like whoever went had my he'll run as Gregory Helms is that anything like how I rest on this hurricane and I don't think a lot of people have been able to do that in the business it's been people that have taken different identities but they still wrestle exactly the same I wrestled different I walk different I talk to different I look different you know now I'm very proud of being able to do that and I think that's one of the most understated elements of my career how's that power I was able to do that I think what's so great about the hurricane character is it was so over-the-top and I feel like there maybe was a point when you were starting out where you're like I really want to take it to that level of you know cheesiness did you did you struggle with that early on yeah yeah yeah whatever dealt because you know I mean if you go back and watch Sugar Shane that hybrid style that's so popular now yeah was one of the few guys doing that back then and you're looking at 2,000 like I started on TV in 99 2000 and 2001 was Sugar Shane what you know that style wasn't easy to convince people of what I was doing and I really didn't understand what I was doing I was just I knew I liked the European style I like the Japanese style I like the lucha style I like the American style I was combining you know but it wasn't like a route that wrote it down on paper that that was my plan that's just I took a lot of stuff I liked and combined it to work for me well everybody does that no but at that time no you know especially when I came out with the little trucks and kick pads there one another lightweight in America doing that yes um but I was serious and I wanted to be that serious right so I grew up on Ric Flair in the horsemen that was what I wanted you know that was the goal so now fast forward to this fantastic character I wasn't quite sure on how to pull that off there was a lot of experimentation a lot of stuff on the house shows that just slowly developed and listening to the crowd and pat paterson really helped me out a lot and he was just like just listen to the crowd listen to the people he goes well these well I can't really do his acts name I won't be able to do it justice because you try everything in the world and what they pump for you keep and what they don't [ __ ] it and something that's really interesting and I count some heat with this one two wrestling experts in the journalists because I started to wrestle differently and as it may just doesn't wrestle as good anymore I'm like it's a performance have you guys ever stepped on a wrestling mat I'm I was an amateur for seven years I never did a Collin elbow tie-up yeah I never read et never been afraid before you know this is there's a performance art to this so I actually kind of had to wrestle down them went out there and at caping mass and I wrestled like Sugar Shane or what later became to be Gregory Helms they wouldn't be being care they getting react I tried this I experiment with this I would go out there and have those type of matches all this technical wrestling that I can do they didn't care but when I had to hit him with that yeah you're they come on my hitting one of these here they comment tried to choke slam some guy 300 pounds here they came yeah I was doing and then you started getting the chokeslam which I thought was a nice addition and I saw another interview we talked about you actually asked permission from the Undertaker to make sure he was okay with you doing it yeah yeah well the eat it came down from Vince Vince wanted to finish that match it was when I won the cruiserweight title from Tajiri it was a three-way I believe surgery was a champ the match was me to Julian really kid myself one of them was the champ I live with yeah Anna vanished and the finish was hurricane with the chokeslam that comes from Vince Li and I'd never before yeah me I just wanted to and that was something I did early on city like I would try to do everybody's finish against them and fail miserably that was just a comedian I had added to the character I feel like a lot of people started doing that later too but hey you still [ __ ] that works nobody still [ __ ] it doesn't work sure so yeah I finally get to hit it but now I'm like man I came up from a time where you just don't steal somebody [ __ ] you know where especially that's on the show you know if you're stealing something from Mexico alright that's that's always been open you know but if somebody's on the show you know you're one of your teammates yeah you don't go do this [ __ ] I still believe that I think it's one of the things that is definitely hurting the business you know it isn't a death nothing that's gonna kill it but it's definitely hurting and I think if you're creative enough you should be able to come up with your own [ __ ] so bucks a little soapbox there but I was but you know out of respect I wanted to go to the Undertaker and I did I asked him about it and he was he didn't give a [ __ ] I had to go to clean same thing I showed Kane that respect Big Show wasn't there that day but when I finally did do a show with big show out explain my situation to him he didn't care every one of those guys were super cool but but I mean basically you can say Vince wants me to do this I mean even if one of those guys didn't agree they're gonna have to do it anyway I would guess yeah you know it's so like if Undertaker would have not been cool with it I would I would have had to go I would had to go to Vince and say I just want you to know that's the Undertaker's finish and he wants you know whatever one of his finishes yeah I would have had to do that but Undertaker was cool he goes actually he was joking he goes just do it better than big showing you okay definitely too like a lot of times I would go down to my knees yeah go bomb and I would get this big ricochet if I do it the guys like Jamie Knoble I might stay up on my feet or guys that were my size but when I would do it that it would take a lot of effort I would kind of go down with so I tried to like at least spin it to make it a little bit of all I think the match that really put you on the radar for a lot of people at least on that next tier is the work you did with the rock what was it about Duane that he really gave you the rub what was it about him that what did he see in you that he wanted to put you to the next level I mean you know DJ just likes entertainment he's an entertaining guy he sees again you can be the best wrestler in the world but is it entertaining these people like I mean you have to be honest about what pro wrestling is at some point if we're just interested in the wrestling then the Olympics will be having pay-per-views yeah that's a hard pill for some people to swallow moment you wrestler I love that I'm not knocking it but once you get to a higher degree level of that amateur estimate it's really only cool when you get somebody that's really good and they're slinging the [ __ ] out of somebody that sucks what we call a fish in there mature wrestling it's really cool you know we ones are really good sometimes it's such a stalemate and all these little nuances that if you have to train die you enjoy because I still enjoyed it I go watch the NC State Wolfpack all the time I still love amateur wrestlers but Pro Wrestling adds a huge degree of entertainment tour and DJ love that you know he loved the craziness of the character and he loved my commitment to it you know we talked about earlier with I've seen guys that had gimmicks and the reason they didn't work was because I didn't commit to it you know I didn't believe in the hurricane then the fans wouldn't believed in me so I had to commit to it and I'm into like we were only supposed to do one pre-tape that whole feud that Mina Rock had was only gonna be one protect but it went so well so good that it snowboard you know luckily the office they felt it when because we touched later on in the ring and there's a battle royal we did the one the first pre-tape the one we call me the Hamburglar which was fantastic and that's lie to everyone all my reactions is just me being an idiot I found you don't see superheroes do that even the way the hurricane Todd there's no superheroes like that I don't know why I didn't eat it [ __ ] you know gotta be funny and but we played off each other really well as so uh later that night just that bad Arroyo he's laying the smackdown on this guy and he goes amazing smackdown on this guy and then he comes to the hurricane in our pocket and I start firing back and you can just feel it in that crowd that crowd starts rumbling and it's a really good moment and you know I hope the audience I mean I hope the office I should say I hope the office heard that and I hope that they felt it too but I don't know sometimes they miss it you know they're back maybe headphones on it sometimes with his headphones on you miss the actual reaction of the audience but they did they like Dwayne liked it and you just snowboard after that and we kept having a couple good promos until we had a what would be his last match on Monday night Raw's with me and Cleveland and you won I didn't want to say and I say or you got wins over the rock you got wins over Ric Flair I mean that's pretty impressive yeah not mad not mad at all hey what point did Rosie come into the fool because you know did your character really need a sidekick and when they presented that to you what was your first reaction to that no I didn't need at all whenever they gave me sidekicks you know they always owned a lot of super heroes half sidekicks but a lot don't I definitely didn't need it you know you don't need to Undertaker's you don't need to Stone Cold's anytime you got somebody you know duplicating your gimmick and your character they water it down a little bit so no I definitely didn't need it but in the case of Molly in the case of Rosie in the case of Stacy Keibler they had these and before that it was ivory and no they had these talents that they were very talented and he wanted to do something witness and then he had the hurricane and the strength of that character they could add a layer to these other talents so it gave something from Molly Holly to show a little bit different side of herself a little bit more personality than she had been able to show as Molly Holly same thing with Rosie that he wanted to do something with Rosie and this super talented huge Samoan who believe it or not we were patterned off a bike you've ever seen the TV show la we were patterned off of Hurley and whoever the little guy was I was little guy that's who we were actually packing enough of mine so when he came with me to the idea I was just like initially at first I was like I've already done this I've already had sidekicks before we're gonna do this same [ __ ] again you know but this was when we won't Spike TV we're all had moved to Spike TV and Spike TV was gonna be you know it was gonna be the network for me and it was gonna be cutting edge and we were gonna be able to push that envelope and the hurricane was gonna be able to say holy [ __ ] every week rosie was the superhero in training um but as it turned out Spike TV wasn't it quite as cutting edge just a little even then I wasn't allowed to say holy [ __ ] no more time now I got a 400-pound Samoan with sh t on his chest yeah but um I like me as a human being you know Maddie I fell in love with him as human being right away super nice guy just he would take up for me like if anybody was talking [ __ ] to me he'd be right there he's like that's my buddy don't coach it and so uh yeah and we worked really hard I actually got where the artist Mike Borkowski out of Syracuse and we designed Rosie's outfit because I wanted him out of that shi t talking back to what I was talking about three-count you know you have to believe in yourself if you laughing at yourself the audience is gonna know you don't take it seriously right now I knew I needed him out of that and although he wouldn't say it I mean he laughed at the joke once or twice but you don't want to walk on their way to say chachi on your chest all the time right so I wanted him out of there so out of that outfit so we designed his outfits to get him a more superhero look and dude we just we just worked we put in the work to get over I mean they gave us that wasn't a push that was a patch you know I can't really say I got a super push I got a couple Pat's here and there you have to make the most out of them and we got we had the patch but we just worked so hard to the point where we were the the most over team they had we were selling merch the crowd the reactions are there the crowd loves us and they do had no choice but to give us those tag team titles even though they were trying bending over backwards to push this team when I team managed him we were the ones that were getting the reactions and selling the merch so he almost had no choice I mean they do always have a choice play that was my favorite championship win of all you know the cruiserweight title is what I'm most known for I guess yeah in terms of Championships well my favorite isn't me and Rosie because we worked so damn hard to get to that position where they would make us champs and when we came through the back 90% of the locker rooms their weight force standing ovations just because they knew they knew how hard we worked in and that we deserved it and that doesn't always happen in the business and it's one of my favorite moments in my career so so many of these moments you've talked about are with the crowd basically puts you over or gives you a certain reaction and makes the back see like oh these guys you know deserve this push what happens now when there's no crowd in these shows to drive that narrative you get no one-sided story you know most stories have two sides okay tell me what's that of it's that Pro Wrestling needs an audience more than any form of entertainment that exists out there except stand-up comedy that's what this is right now if you go to a stand-up comedy show I don't care how hilarious this guy is if you're the only one in the audience it's not gonna be this funny it's just not that's what we're dealing with right now with Dia in the cogut era of watching wrestling without we're not fans fans are a huge point I've always known that you know and I think a lot of people that might have taken a the audience for granted I'm thinking that they're good no matter what they're learning they're learning a hard lesson right now you know that audience is super important they're a powerful part of the equation of what makes pro wrestling what it is the powerful part I don't know what the alternative is though cuz I'm happy there's at least still some sort of tiny little bit of normality in the world because pro wrestling's live every week yeah if that wasn't there it'd be even more strange reggae is definitely better than went out of mine in my hat's off my collar and elbow head very nice so a big collar and I will fan myself I'd like to do everyone your coupon code but they can get 10% off is generally uh hashtag Helms is when I try to make it for everything what brand calm slashed I believe it's Shane Helms calm we just search for Helms organza I should come up so and they actually are working on a new show for me too oh but I don't know what I was talking about you take my hair yeah all these are companies and he's talents that are going out there and working to give us some form of entertainment in the form of caressing and my hats off to him so I it's like I say it's better than nothing and it is brave you know because it is a weird time that we live in and nobody has all the answers whether you agree with it or disagree with it nobody on either side of that argument has all the answers yeah are you hopeful that when stuff does start getting back to normal that your job will be there waiting for you yeah yeah I did like feeding my family I was very fond at Erica and I'm definitely hopeful you know I love being a producer and I love working in wrestling you know but I love TNA I love Ring of Honor I loved every company I work for and I love WWE so if that's there I hope that it is if it's not I'll find something you know I still have a lot to offer I'm pretty diverse and my skill said you know so um I'm definitely hopeful but at the same time I'm not counting on that I think it would be a mistake for me to sit back and do nothing and wait on this one-minute call I have never done that in my career and it's not going to start in 2020 so yeah I've always wondered how many hurricane masks do you own now that may need those leather masks would last for a while I would make them last for a couple years so how many do you have in your house right now oh you have them there this is a plastic replica one okay yeah he made that for me to UM to when I do like promos and videos and stuff buddy I still have to do the eye makeup so I normally just put on my real one this is kind of a decoration piece I don't know if you can see this Pro Wrestling tease to my little right yeah um but probably overall only got like five or six I don't have as many as you think definitely not rey mysterio you know the hundreds and probably thousands of them at all my leather masks cuz they were really expensive no baby when the solid leather ones were probably five six hundred bucks apiece to make and when I went to the ones when I came back after the neck injury in WWE and I had to long hair and I had to move it evil-looking mask that was a leather and latex combination that was made by special effects studio out of Atlanta and that thing was really expensive so only had like two or three of those because I think the two made the mold was like 1,200 bucks to get the mold in to mask of that first one so I'm not gonna run around and spend $1,200 a week on a manageable for the first time you it was a mask of his face paint that you had on yeah yeah and there's a funny story with that if you've never heard because when they presented the idea to me about wearing the mask I'm like yeah sure so they bring to me this is no lie a lone ranger mask that they got from like Party City or somewhere like that her family dollars the cheapest 99-cent looking [ __ ] you've ever seen I had a very thin strain on the back like on this cheap Halloween mask yeah what is this this ain't gonna work at all but I don't want to be a problem child I never want to be one of those guys that complains to the office and creative about the deal I will but I don't want to you know yester I see Vince McMahon he looks halfway in a good mood so that's how I what I always did when I wanted to talk to Vince I would gauge his mood if he was happy I go over if he was ill that she could wait the next week remember we lived in a good mood so I went over and I haven't had one creative conversation with Vince at this point whatsoever this is early on in the career it's always just been hey sir how you doing that's oh [ __ ] I saw I went over to him unless I can sir I don't think this mask is gonna work because you don't want to wear a mask he immediately thinks I'm trying to back out or something you don't want to wear a mask I was like no I don't want to wear this mask his masterpiece [ __ ] it's gonna follow off in like 10 seconds and I'm going to look like I don't even care I'm gonna look like I'm not committed to the gimmick and he he loved he immediately caught on when I was saying and loved what I was where I was coming from he goes what about makeup right off his hand he goes that guy go this is the best one in story I go like the roadworks he was the ultimate warrior I knew the difference in husband [Laughter] yeah a makeup lady Jan go to her and tell her I want a mask and I go okay as I make it lady and on TV she would do it at TV and it'd be all these nice little swirls and [ __ ] and then at the half shares I had to do it myself and it look like how long after were in the face paint did you finally go you know what I think we need something more permanent than this oh we immediately started working on something but it was oh no I think I only had to make it for a month or two whatever we got Terry Anderson who's one of the seamstress she had a friend that made Kane's mask so I went to his house he did the mode of my face which is [ __ ] terrifying if you've never done that they just merger and they put this [ __ ] all over your face they gotta like put like little straws in your nose so you can breathe Wow maybe just some birds they're like I don't know this guy I don't know this could be you murder me right here and that would just be I could be the gift from [ __ ] fake I don't know what's gonna happen yeah you're not making that mask but I couldn't see for [ __ ] out of that mask man like if you if you were like if you were this close to me trying to shake my hand I wouldn't be able to see down it black so much of my downward vision and that's part of the reason I kind of developed that bent over a hurricane walk because I couldn't see for [ __ ] in that mask reasons I took out like spring boards like I would do them sometimes on a lot of events but I was like I can't see that rope I'm just I can't feel it and I hope it's there but you like me to a spring boy you're not necessarily looking at the world but through your peripheral you can kind of see the pads and you know where sac my vision was so obscured I had to kind of tone down a lot of my stuff I think that I can't believe we talked this long without mentioning how awesome this shirt is I'm sorry for anyone who's just listening you're not watching this but what a design yeah this is a no Maj to Gimli that's not know much to Jim Lee's all you can find this'll pro-wrestling t's comm slash Shane Helms we got a bunch of different ones I did this and I'm gonna be honest I love that site my shirts are better than anybody especially Catholic blue you got a little caliber and who and let's be honest I've been wearing a mask telling people to stand back for 20 years hmm now everybody's doing way ahead of the curve here yeah yeah that's a grave I wish I wouldn't have this has been such an honor and such a privilege to be able to speak with you and I've heard so many great things from so many people about you but so amazing to be able to spend this last hour with you Shane how long man don't sing long not well thank you and I just I super appreciate your time and you know I know it's a weird time in the world right now but I'm really stoked to see you know where you REBOUND from here because I know it's only gonna be bigger and better things for you yeah yeah I definitely uh I'm looking at looking forward to the challenge you know like I said earlier that's the only way you get through stuff like this man you got to come out swinging so I was prepared and to our I definitely want to reiterate I'm in a blessed place very fortunate is way more people with you know in more difficult situations than I man so but I'm in no position to complain I don't want to complain I'm very fortunate and I'm aware of that I mean as we wrap things up here what if there is you know a cop coming wrestler that's watching this right now that's been handed a gimmick that maybe they don't think is great or they have an idea for a gimmick and they're not quite sure where to go with this what what kind of advice would you have for them commitment you have to commit you know that meanness you can't imagine every actor in Hollywood has wanted to do you think Captain Kangaroo wanted to be captain kangaroo for 34 years what that's what I'm actually still in the Sam Kinison bit there but um she got a permit and everything has to match your music has to match like they had a little hip-hop beat for me when I was first a hurricane and I'm a hip-hop kid that's what I grew up on I was actually just on an MC searches podcast which blew my mind cuz I came out into third base in 1991 um but the hip hop beat didn't match you didn't match the superhero my style matched you know there's guys that in the back they're doing a character and then in the ring they're just a wrestler again how do you make it match you know you'd make everything complement every other element of the gimmick so that sounds complicated but it's really not I was a superhero through and through a guy that believed he was a superhero through and through this has been so enlightening what a conversation so Shane again thank you so much for this my pleasure my pleasure man I appreciate you and I want to encourage everybody uh keep listening to this podcast but also check my Highway the number two Helms also when I turns you can find me there it's just me I don't have any guests just my lonely ass actually I got that from bill burr bill burr is one of my favorite comedians are listening his podcast it's just him and I'm like I can do that I'm gonna try to do that and strangely enough people have liked this version more than a person that I actually had yes yeah thanks again man my pleasure man let's do it again what to sign me up sounds great well do the next person alright sounds good sounds good what do that I won't copy thank you I my chest is very tender after that well what a guy what a conversation thanks for hanging out with hurricane and I for this last hour and if you've watched this whole time and you haven't subscribed yet what's up with that no but seriously maybe you thought you were subscribed but if you look down right now oh my gosh I can't believe I wasn't this whole time hopefully you can write that wrong as we head towards that goal of a million subscribers I love hurricanes attitude through everything you know I love to be staying positive and he's staying busy through this and July 18th is date for him and for anyone else released on April 15th to sign somewhere else or to start working somewhere else so I'm super excited to see what happens for him but I do know this in his future he is for sure a WWE Hall of Famer the only question is who's going to induct him in the WWE Hall of Fame who do you think it should be it's actually a great question wonder who I think it should be I don't know I'm gonna have to chew on that highway 2 Helms is the name of his podcast you can find that anywhere you listen to podcast anywhere you find my podcast which is called the Chris Van Vleet show what an original name I wonder who hosts that show I will leave a link to my podcast down below in the pin comments so you can find it super easily I hope that you and your family are doing well and we have many more big interviews coming up in the next few weeks including Aiden English including curt hawkins and including a great sit-down interview with Bubba ray Dudley aka bully rain he hasn't really done one of these full introspective interviews about his career so I'm super excited for you to be part of that make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss out

Channel: Chris Van Vliet

Views: 68,573

Rating: 4.9392586 out of 5

Keywords: hurricane helms, the hurricane wwe, the hurricane vs the rock, the hurricane rosey, the hurricane ric flari, the hurricane promo, the hurricane interview, shane helms interview, highway2helms, shane helms vertebreaker, the hurricane royal rumble, chris van vliet, chris van vliet interview, chris van vliet wrestling, shane helms podcast, the hurricane wwe return, the hurricane wwe release, shane helms 3 count, 3 count entrance theme, gregory shane helms, shane helms tna

Id: UvkuTzOmpkI

Length: 61min 16sec (3676 seconds)

Published: Tue May 12 2020