Hack-Man Hurri-Shane Helms

Last updated 12 August 2007


Hurri-Shane Helms

By Lance Storm

May 24, 2007

I've had a lot of people sending me emails about Gregory/Shane Helms, and his recent neck injury, so I figured I could dedicate a commentary to my good buddy and both discuss and update you on his condition as well as perhaps tell a few good Hurri-Shane stories.

I use the name Hurri-Shane, because despite him not using the Hurricane gimmick anymore that is what I still tend to call him. I'm not sure why, generally I stick with whatever name a guy was using when I first meet him but Shane some how became Hurricane to me even though he was Shane Helms the first time we met. Perhaps it is due to the fact that we started traveling together and really became friends while he was the Hurricane character and that just stuck. I was after all part of the Hurri-league with him when we first joined the WWF, so to a certain extend Shane will always be The Hurricane to me.

Over the course of my career I've had the pleasure of both working with and tagging with The Hurricane. I made my WCW debut hitting a springboard drop kick to the back of his head, and we've been friends ever since.

As I mentioned before Hurricane and I became good friends when we started traveling together in WWE. Hurricane, Christian and I were travel partners during our time there so we spent a ton of time together. Everyone has heard about how hard life is on the road so good travel partners are important. Travel partners not only share the road expenses but the workload of the road. The road is tough; booking hotels, rental cars, getting directions, following maps, and doing all the driving is a lot of work, so the right travel partner, as I said is important. That being said, Hurricane did absolutely none of the above mentioned tasks, NONE. Christian booked hotels, he and I split booking the cars and doing all the driving, and I would print maps, directions, etc. Hurricane did NOTHING.

So why did we travel with him? The entertainment! Hurricane would always joke that we just kept him around for the entertainment value and that was absolutely true. Christian and I would arrive at the airport and Hurricane would be wandering around looking for us, with absolutely no clue where the shows were, how we were getting there, or where we would be staying. We'd meet him at baggage claim, he'd follow us to the car, climb into the back seat, and off we'd go. He always paid his share of the bills but that, apart from the entertainment, was the extent of his contribution. This may sound unfair on his part, but believe me the level of entertainment provided was well worth it. Hurricane is one of the funniest guys I know.

Since leaving WWE there have only been a small handful of guys I've kept in touch with. Hurricane is one of those select few. He more often than not has been the one to call me but we've managed to call each other every few months over that last 2 years. I first found out about his current neck injury when he text messaged me the day he got the MRI. It was short and sweet and just said, " I didn't want you to find out second hand but I've got a fractured vertebrae in my neck." I called him immediately and we've been talking to each other every day or two since.

With the amount of guys who have had broken necks, we get a little numb to the situation, but even with as common as this type of injury has become, I don't mind admitting I was a little worried for my friend. When he told me he was having surgery on Monday I told him I'd call him Tuesday or Wednesday to check up on him and plan to reach out as much as possible. For those of you, who are worried, let me assure you Hurricane does in fact have super powers and is doing quite well. He actually text messaged me a few hours after surgery. I was shocked. I expected him to be laid up for a few days but he was back on his phone the day of surgery.

He is in such good spirits he has already started ribbing me. Tuesday (the day after surgery), before I had called him, I get a text message from him asking me to call him and gave me his hospital room phone number. At first I was worried that something was wrong, so I called him back immediately, and guess what, the numbered he sent me was for a Gay Chat Line. I laughed so hard, and text messaged him back, this message, "You Bastard! I actually called that number." To this he replied, "LOL Yah but how long did you chat." Not to be out done, I returned his text with, "I'm actually still chatting, for some reason Christian answered the call."

So for those of you are concerned, he certainly seems to be doing fine. Not 24 hours, after having neck fusion surgery he's finding the time and motivation to rib his friends over the phone. I'm scared to death what the next year holds, because as he gets better and better he is going to have more and more time on his hands to rib and annoy me!!!

Get well my friend!!
Citizen Storm


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