Early career (1991–1999) Helms began wrestling at the age of 17 in 1991. The trio was a
parody of the
boy bands
'N Sync and the
Backstreet Boys, and their
gimmick involved making
music videos and performing songs before their matches. 3 Count collectively won the
WCW Hardcore Championship on
WCW Monday Nitro in February 2000. During a match, Helms suffered a broken nose, and was sidelined while he recovered. As a result, Abbott claimed that he should be the lead singer of 3 Count, and was kicked out by the other three members, leading to a feud. 3 Count later disbanded as Moore and Helms kicked Karagias out of the group for attempting to steal the spotlight. They also wrestled each other in a number one contendership ladder match at
Starrcade, to earn a
WCW Cruiserweight Championship match, in which both Moore and Helms grabbed the contract at the same time. As a result, they later wrestled for the opportunity to wrestle for the championship, which Helms won, although he lost the subsequent championship match to
Chavo Guerrero Jr. at the
Sin pay-per-view. Moore and Helms would leave WCW briefly in 2001 to wrestle in NWA Wildside, where they held the Wildside Tag Team Championship for one day. Despite the attack, Helms would go on to defeat Guerrero for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship at
Greed and was the reigning Cruiserweight Champion immediately before WCW was bought out by the
World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Helms' contract with WCW was one of twenty-five that were included in WWF's purchase of WCW.
World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment (2001–2010) Early appearances (2001–2002) Helms made his WWF debut on the July 5, 2001 episode of
SmackDown!, using the name "Hollywood" Gregory Helms. Helms began wrestling as "The Hurricane" on the August 27 episode of
Raw is War, and also began wearing a
superhero costume. That night, he won the
WWF European Championship from
Matt Hardy with help from
Ivory, but lost it to
Bradshaw on the October 22 episode of
Raw. In September, The Hurricane formed a tag team with
Lance Storm who was now managed by Ivory and Hurricane later picked up a sidekick, in
Molly Holly who began to call herself "Mighty Molly", and the two came to the arena in a custom "Hurri-Cycle" (with Molly in the sidecar). The Hurricane won the
WWF Hardcore Championship at
WrestleMania X8 on March 17, 2002, but Molly
betrayed him, hitting him in the back of the head with a frying pan, and defeating him for the championship. The Hurricane was later
drafted to the
SmackDown! brand following the
brand extension, and he won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship from
Tajiri and Billy Kidman in a
triple threat match on the May 16 episode of
SmackDown!.
Teaming with Rosey (2003–2006) In early 2003, The Hurricane feuded with
The Rock. In backstage segments, The Rock referred to The Hurricane as "The
Hamburglar" (in part because his mask was similar to the Hamburglar's) and later retorted that anyone can beat The Rock, citing Brendan Fraser, whom The Rock worked with on the movie "The Mummy Returns". The feud culminated in a match on the March 10 episode of
Raw, in which The Rock dominated. The Hurricane, however, was able to
roll up The Rock from behind after The Rock was distracted by
Stone Cold Steve Austin's appearance on the ramp. In August, Rosey and The Hurricane lost Keibler as their sidekick when she and
Christy Hemme were traded to the SmackDown! brand. On the September 5 episode of
Raw, The Hurricane and Rosey were defeated by
Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch during Cade and Murdoch's debut match on
Raw. As a result, Cade and Murdoch earned a title match at
Unforgiven on September 18. During the title match, Murdoch delivered an
elevated DDT on The Hurricane to the outside. The DDT caused The Hurricane to suffer a
storyline "
stinger" and allowed Cade and Murdoch to beat The Hurricane and Rosey later in the match to win the World Tag Team Championship. During the next few weeks, the pair began a losing streak, mainly caused by The Hurricane's on-screen injuries. During the October 17 episode of
Raw, The Hurricane was assaulted by
Kurt Angle at the request of
Vince McMahon. After the beating, footage was shown of The Hurricane ripping off his mask and striking Rosey because he did not help him fend off Angle. The next week, The Hurricane
no-showed a World Tag Team Championship match, leaving Rosey to face the champions Cade and Murdoch alone. During the match, The Hurricane (out of costume) appeared at the top of the entrance ramp, reverting to his real name, Gregory Helms, and watched as Rosey was double teamed and defeated. After the match, Helms announced that he was fed up with being funny for the crowd, and that he was sick of carrying Rosey as a tag team partner, turning
heel for the first time since 2001. On the November 7 episode of
Raw, Helms and Rosey faced off in a singles match, which Helms won. Subsequently, Helms wrestled mostly on
Raw's sister show,
Heat. On the January 2, 2006 episode of
Raw, Helms confronted
Jerry Lawler over jokes that Lawler had been making at Helms' expense, and Lawler said that when Helms was The Hurricane, he was entertaining and called Helms a joke. Helms responded by slapping Lawler, who hit Helms back. This confrontation led to Lawler defeating Helms in a match at
New Year's Revolution on January 8.
Cruiserweight Champion (2006–2007) At the
Royal Rumble on January 29, Helms participated in an Open Invitational match for the Cruiserweight Championship and won, even though he was a
Raw superstar and the championship was defended solely on
SmackDown!. The next week, he was supposed to defend against Kid Kash, but Kash was away on a family emergency, so
Scotty 2 Hotty took his place. Helms defeated him and declared that he was better than all the other cruiserweights. As a result, all the cruiserweights at the show invaded the ring and attacked Helms. It was later announced by SmackDown!
General Manager Theodore Long that at
No Way Out on February 19, Helms would face all the cruiserweights in a match for the title. Helms was able to retain the championship. Later, Long mandated that Helms had to defend his title against a cruiserweight each week on
SmackDown! to prove that he truly was better than all the cruiserweights. Helms' first defense under this new rule was against
Psicosis of
The Mexicools; Helms retained by cheating. Helms underwent successful surgery on his nose and was expected to miss five to six weeks. During this time
SmackDown! announcers stated that Helms had a no-compete clause in his contract allowing him to waive the thirty-day title defense rule due to any injury. Helms returned to the ring on the April 28 episode of
SmackDown!, teaming with
MNM to face
Super Crazy,
London and Kendrick in a six-man tag team match. Helms continued to defend his belt during pay-per-views, but he made more regular appearances on
SmackDown!'s sister show,
Velocity. Helms continued defending his title against other cruiserweights, while on occasion facing off against SmackDown!'s other title holders in champion versus champion matches. Helms faced
World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio on June 16 and United States Champion
Bobby Lashley on July 7 but lost both matches. Eventually, Helms became the longest cruiserweight champion in WWE history, as well as the longest reigning champion of any kind in
SmackDown! history. In Helms' hometown of
Raleigh, North Carolina, at
No Mercy on October 8, Hardy beat Helms. The two rivals also joined opposing teams at
Survivor Series on November 26, where Helms was in
Team Rated-RKO, and Hardy was a member of
Team DX; Team Rated-RKO lost the match. The feud ended after Helms defeated him to retain the title at
Armageddon on December 17. Shortly after losing the championship, Helms formed a tag team with Guerrero, but they did not win any matches as a team. On May 18, WWE reported that Helms had broken two
vertebrae in his neck, one of which was pressing on his spinal cord. He underwent surgery with Dr.
Lloyd Youngblood to repair them approximately a week later. Following the surgery, Helms was announced to be out for a year and a half due to the injury.
The Hurricane's return (2008–2010) Helms returned on the September 19, 2008, episode of
SmackDown in a non-wrestling role. Throughout the show, he appeared in short video promos, called "Hurrapops", referring to himself as "Hurricane Helms", a modified version of his old ring name "The Hurricane", and mocked heel superstars including
Shelton Benjamin and
Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. In the following weeks, he mocked several other superstars in the "Hurrapops", ending each promo with the phrase, "I'm just sayin'!". On the November 28 episode of
SmackDown, a "Hurrapop" appeared in which Helms announced that he would make his return to the ring on the next episode of
SmackDown. On the December 5 episode of
SmackDown, Helms defeated
Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in his ring return. Helms was quickly scripted into a feud with the United States Champion
Shelton Benjamin, defeating him in two non-title matches on
SmackDown, although he failed to win a championship match on December 26. On April 15, 2009, Helms was drafted to the ECW brand as part of the
2009 Supplemental Draft. Helms made his ECW debut as a backstage interviewer on April 28, 2009, reverting to his Gregory Helms ring name, interviewing
Evan Bourne. He started a storyline where, while he was interviewing someone, a scripted accident would occur, leading to Helms leaving the interview seconds before the person in distress was saved by The Hurricane. On the August 11, 2009 episode of
ECW, Helms was attacked by
Paul Burchill after Helms denied being The Hurricane. The Hurricane later attacked Burchill in the ring dressed in his Hurricane attire, to save
Yoshi Tatsu. The next week on ECW, he made his in-ring debut for the brand as The Hurricane, and defeated Burchill. He continued to feud with Burchill, who attempted to expose The Hurricane's true identity, until the November 17 episode of
ECW when The Hurricane defeated Burchill in a
mask versus career match. He would then feud with
Zack Ryder. On February 26, 2010, Helms was released from his WWE contract.
Independent circuit (2010–2015) Following his WWE release, Helms began wrestling on the
independent circuit, including for the Canadian Wrestling's Elite as Hurricane Helms. On October 23, 2010, Helms made his debut for
Jersey All Pro Wrestling, where he, under his Hurricane gimmick, defeated Azrieal. On January 10, 2011, Helms signed a contract with
Lucha Libre USA. In the promotion, Helms allied himself with
Marco Corleone, and in his debut for the promotion at the January 22 tapings, he defeated Corleone's rival and
Lucha Libre USA Champion Lizmark Jr. via disqualification. On January 29, 2011, Helms made his debut for
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), during the
WrestleReunion 5 weekend, in a match, where he was defeated by
Joey Ryan. He also took part in 20-Man Legends Battle Royale, making his second appearance of the night. He eliminated Cruel Connection, but later was thrown out by
Shane Douglas and
Terry Funk. In April 2011, Helms wrestled at
Carolina Wrestling Federation (Mid-Atlantic) where he defeated
Ric Converse and won the vacant PWI International Heavyweight Championship. On November 16, 2013, Helms was defeated by
Chris Hero at a Pro Wrestling Syndicate event.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling / Impact Wrestling (2015–2017) In March 2015, Helms received a tryout for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, now
Impact Wrestling) as an
agent and began working for the company within that capacity that same month. At
Bound for Glory, Helms made his on-screen debut under his full birth name to congratulate the
TNA X Division Champion Tigre Uno. On the February 2, 2016 episode of
Impact Wrestling, Helms assisted
Trevor Lee in defeating Tigre Uno for the X Division Championship, turning
villainous in the process. Helms would then soon bring in
Andrew Everett to officially form
The Helms Dynasty. On the December 15 episode of
Impact Wrestling dubbed "
Total Nonstop Deletion", Helms was thrown into the "Lake of Reincarnation", and emerged as his
3 Count alter ego "Sugar" Shane Helms, and after insulting Lee and Everett's dance moves, was once again knocked into the lake by his teammates, Helms would later emerge from the lake as the Hurricane, where he would go on to assist
Matt Hardy in defeating Lee and Everett. On June 19, 2017 Helms announced his departure from Impact Wrestling.
Ring of Honor (2018–2019) In June 2018, it was announced that Helms signed with
Ring of Honor (ROH). He worked as wrestler and producer, including a feud against
Marty Scurll.
Return to WWE (2018–present) On January 28, 2018, at the
Royal Rumble, Helms, as The Hurricane, entered the
titular match as a surprise entrant at number 21 but was quickly eliminated by
John Cena. One year later on January 28, 2019, it was announced that he would return to WWE in a backstage producer role. On July 19, 2019, The Hurricane attempted to win the
WWE 24/7 Championship from
R-Truth whilst he was being interviewed by
IGN, though he was unable to do so. On July 22, 2019, The Hurricane made an appearance for the special
Raw Reunion episode of
Monday Night Raw. On April 15, 2020, Helms was furloughed by WWE, but returned to the promotion on November 22. The Hurricane once again appeared at the
2021 Royal Rumble event on January 31 in the namesake match. He entered at number 23 and was quickly eliminated by
Big E and
Bobby Lashley. Helms announced on March 24, 2022, that he had signed a Legends deal with WWE.
All Elite Wrestling (2020) Helms made an appearance in
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on November 7, 2020, during the Elite Deletion match under both The Hurricane and reporter Gregory Helms personas, in a supporting effort for Matt Hardy against
Sammy Guevara. == Other media ==