Shane Helms on Becoming The Hurricane, Beating The Rock, Producing Logan Paul's Matches

On being furloughed in the pandemic:

"Because I had like, originally, because I had a talent contract and they were working on the legends deal. Because of that and actually being an employee, as a producer, I was in a temporary phase. So when the pandemic hit, you know, just the temp workers are the ones that get the x kind of right away."

On what a WWE producer does:

"And I'm not going to fully tell. You can't have all my secrets. You know, we're kind of the go-between between creative and the talent we get with the talent. We get the assignment from creative to what we want to do for our segments that night. We get with the talents and between us and the talent, we go out and try to put out the segment that they've given us to the best we can."

On producing the Johnny Knoxville vs. Sami Zayn match:

"Yeah, and I knew going in there's gonna be some people they're gonna hate this. And so I just completely ignored those people from day one. I was like, there's a certain portion of the audience that is not gonna like this no matter what. So to hell with them. I'm aiming for you know, the audience that I thought would like it. I know being in Gorilla for that your own headset. Just the laughter in Gorilla is popping as loud as anything I've ever heard. It's the most pops I've ever seen in Gorilla."

On the Royal Rumble return:

"That hurt so bad. That was the first time and only time, this is a true story, that the referee came and asked me if was I Okay, and I said, No. I thought I broke my back. Like when I hit and I kind of landed on my [back] my heels hit first. It was Bobby Lashley and Big E gorilla pressed me and threw me over. And I kind of hit heels first. And they kind of shot out from underneath me. And I just went down on my tailbone. And I kind of had probably what would be described as a little bruise, you know, probably on my lower spine, something like that. Because like, everything hurt. That was one of the most painful bumps I've ever taken in my entire career."

On the Steve Austin and Triple H elimination at the Royal Rumble:

"Well, all I knew was that I was gonna go in and get thrown out. That's all I was told. Okay, and now I knew Triple H came out before me and this is his big return. So you got to think like, here's where the performer in me thinks like, okay, he's going to get this monster pop. So whoever comes, you know, whoever comes after, sometimes that pop is comparatively going to look diminished because of who goes before. And I'm like Mman, I gotta follow this monster pop, you're gonna have Triple H and Steve Austin, two of the biggest stars in the game going at it and here's my little green ass coming out there. So I was just trying to figure something out. So I came up with the idea it was, you know, 100% my idea. But I'm so new to this company. I don't know how to pitch this. How do I go to these two mega stars and go hey, I got an idea. I grab both of y'all by the neck and I'm gonna be running this thing for a hot second. I just didn't want to come across as you know big-headed or anything. So what happened was I knew Kurt Angle a little bit more than anybody else, any of the WWF regulars at the time, outside of Matt and Jeff of course. And I just wanted to Kurt and I was just hoping that somehow if I explained the idea to him that he would help me go pitch it. He loved the idea. And he goes, go run it by Steve. And I'm like, okay, so I go to Steve. I pitched the idea because he goes I love it go run it by Pat Patterson. You know, so I had to go run it to Pat back go love it go with it by Hunter. So I had to pitch it 4 times, each time just like such a nerve-wracking day but they were all just so gracious. And like yeah, I love it and understood the entertainment of what I was going for with the spot making the most out of that moment. And man to this day when somebody meets brings that up. I'll ask them who won and most of the time they can't even tell me who won. And to me, that's a perfect example of what making a moment means. I made you remember that. And you don't remember who won and then went on to Main Event WrestleMania that year. So of the two, I would have rather been the one that won and went on to Main Event Wrestlemania. But as it stood, that's a perfect example of making a moment."

On Kurt Angle being great at comedy and in-ring:

"Oh, does that mean we weren't? Oh, wow. See, Gregory Helms would be very upset. But that's actually why I had to. That's why I did the heel turn because everybody got so swept up in the comedy, creative and my company included, that they forgot I could wrestle. And that's why I had to turn heel and be Gregory Helms. You know, because there's still to this day, even when I worked with some talents if they only knew me as Hurricane, it's like, oh, this is just the funny guy. Not understanding how hard that character was compared to all the tough guy stuff anyway. You know, having a character with layers is way harder than a big mean tough guy cutting a promo and go win a match. That's the easiest thing in the business to do. You know, so that being that Gregory Helms, that was me having to remind them, hey, I can still do this other part of the business as well."

On transitioning from comedy to a more serious role:

"It wasn't difficult for me, because I mean, I knew there was going to come a time when it had to happen. You know, everything gets watered down to a degree or hits a low at some point. And Ric Flair really kind of jumpstarted did, because that was you know, doing a lot of stuff with him, And he just one time just pulled me aside and Ric has been so you know, such a mentor to me and in different ways. And, you know, he just pulled me to the side one day, and he's like, You're too good for this gimmick. And, you know, it wasn't about like, the gimmick was bad, but I can only go so far. And that company was only going to let me go so far with that gimmick. And I understood that too. So and I believed him and it's just like, you know, I need to go and remind him of who I was before I came here because Sugar Shane is one of the best light heavyweights in the world. And then, you know, that same guy was Hurricane you know, Tom Hanks that did Big. That's the same Tom Hanks that used to do Philadelphia. But in wrestling, that message wasn't coming across. You know, so until it was I mean, I did The Hurricane really good. You know, part of his, it was just because I did it really well. And I committed to it, and I got so good at being the funny guy that just became who I was. Yeah, you know, and I wasn't getting the opportunities to do serious stuff. So it wasn't it was kind of, it was time for it at that point."

On interacting with The Rock:

"It's not easy. And all the pressure was on me. You know, people don't realise that. Like, if I go out there and stink it up with The Rock, he's still gonna be The Rock. You're never gonna see me again. Even I mean, even going into the match, you know, people. You know, we were talking a little bit earlier about Logan and Ricochet. And who's the pressure on? Well, as a producer, yes, the pressure is on me I'm gonna get yelled at if this goes sideways. But um, yeah, with Rocky. I was like, we had all the pressures on me. Because if when we have that match, if this match sucks, he's still gonna be The Rock. He's still going to WrestleMania against Steve Austin. You won't see my little [ass] if go out there and blow it with Th Rock. Then it’s gonna be over for me."

On the origins of What’s Up With That?

"I don't really even remember the first time I said it or why. It was just one of those things that Brian [Gewirtz], like I said, Brian, would encourage me to go off into these comic book tangents you might have picked up that I'll go off on a tangent. So whatever the promo I beat and I was like, Yeah, it'd be you against Christian and just go off into one of your things. And I would just be talking normally, like when I was starting to introduce The Hurricane character, and then it would turn to me at the time. And I don't know even why I decided to do that. Because you know, you watch superhero movies, and none of them like that. I have no idea why I started doing that. And then just kind of getting lost in my own like, nonsense. Hey, what's up with that? You know, and but the cameraman was laughing and like we but we were bust takes with the camera. And so that's a good sign because they've seen everything. And you know, they're, you know, just so like I said, they've seen everything, so to pop them, that generally would always tell me something if I can pop the production crew."

On the additional superheroes: 

"Yeah, that's, that's a thing that I think when it's all said and done in my career is really examined by you know, people to do those things. The fact that I gave a new character to three other people like that's how strong that character was. Because between Molly, Rosey and Stacy Keibler and when she was Super Stacy, three other people came in and did my gimmick and became new versions of themselves. And that's pretty unique. I don't think That's happened a lot. Every now and then, but you know you don't want two Stone Colds, you don't want two Undertakers so when you do that you you got to be careful about not watering yourself down to a degree. So when I had Rosey first that one actually concerned me at first because I'd already done that with Molly. I turned Molly for Molly Holly into Mighty Molly. So when the Rosey thing was pitched to me, you know, I wasn't sure at first, but I like Matty so much as a friend. Because I've worked with him when he was in Three Minute Warning a couple of times and then he was when he was managed by Teddy Long. I think they were still doing a white boy challenge or something like that, him and, Rodney Mack. No, I worked with him then too. And we got along really well."

On a Hall of Fame induction:

"I think he should, you know, and I think if you know, Shane Helms’ story in terms of how, you know, I think I really helped light heavyweight wrestling as well as anybody, you know. Definitely, there are people you know, I think they did more than and definitely a lot of people did less. But, you know, the style I brought as Sugar Shane, I think that's the style you see on TV the most now. And, you know, I was definitely one of the first pioneers of that in terms of, I was studying Lucha, I was studying the European style and the Japanese style. And in the American style, both old school and the northeastern style, you know, the Philadelphia area style. So I really tried to like combine all of that into this, you know, to this hybrid thing. And if you look at that, and you look at what I did with Hurricane and what I did with the three count gimmick, and then what I did with Gregory Helms and as Gregor Helms, I think that was actually my best body of work in terms of You know, match structure and mechanical mechanics and technique that was probably my best body of work. But to go from a beloved character to where people want to absolutely loathe me, yeah, like, that's not as easy as one might think, as well. So I was very happy with that. And then to come back and just to stay around as long as I have, and I think my producing gimmick, I mean, my producing career, I think it is kind of a gimmick, I guess. You know, that's going well, you know, I still got so much to learn. So I'm looking for it. And I've done a lot of good stuff so far. But I think as the more I learn, and the more I grow as a producer, I think that's gonna get better. I might actually be known more for that. I think going forward."

On Nikki A.S.H. and discussing it with Shane Helms:

"She came to me and asked me what are thoughts on and they would at different times when I first came. And I've gotten this question a million times, would you ever consider letting somebody else be The Hurricane? Like, that’s an interesting thought, that I become the mentor to the new Hurricane. That was like, you know, hey, if you guys present me something interesting, I will do whatever. You know, I like producing but if you need to own screen character, if it helps another talent. Now, here's my thing with Nikki. And I will do something with you on screen. If it helps you. I don't need it to help me. And I don't want to detract from you. Because right now, one of the things against her was that everybody would think of me when they saw her. So now, if you're trying to fight that it's not going to help if I show up on screen with her, that's just going to reinforce it. So, you know, I was trying to help her figure out a way for her to do her own version of this thing that I had done so well. So it was a tough spot for her too. But I supported it from the very beginning. Like whatever you need, I will help you and I you know, I gave her advice whenever she asked for it, which, you know, she did a lot which was a good credit to her."

What is Shane Helms grateful for:

“My family, my health and the people who stuck with me.”