The inside story of Hurricane Helms' short, sweet Royal Rumble return

Kevin Eck

The inside story of Hurricane Helms' short, sweet Royal Rumble return image

Like every superhero, The Hurricane knows he must go to great lengths to protect his secret identity. That’s especially true when said superhero is going to be a surprise entrant in the men’s Royal Rumble match.

In the era of social media and spoilers, pulling off a surprise in pro wrestling is more difficult than leaping tall buildings in a single bound. So when The Hurricane (aka Shane Helms) made his way through airports to travel from North Carolina to Philadelphia for his appearance on WWE’s “Royal Rumble” pay-per-view Jan. 28, he did so incognito.

Helms traveled wearing a hat and hoodie and a collar pulled up to conceal most of his face. Even his fiancee, figure competitor Karen Blalock was in disguise  as she wore a black wig to hide her blonde hair.

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“She stands out in a crowd,” Helms said. “She’s 5-10, a beautiful blonde. Sometimes people will see her before they recognize me. She stands out, especially in a male crowd.”

Once they arrived at the Wells Fargo Center, Helms and Blalock were kept hidden all day on a luxury bus outside the arena until it was time for The Hurricane to make his dramatic entrance in the Rumble match.

When The Hurricane’s familiar theme music hit and the masked superstar in the lime green bodysuit emerged from backstage, the crowd erupted. For Helms, who had not been on a WWE show in eight years, the pop was much louder than anything he could’ve imagined.

“That reaction kind of caught me off guard,” Helms said. “I had never worn that cape in WWE. That cape is kind of inspired by Randy Savage. I have it hooked to my wrist so that I have a full wing span. I planned to spin around in a full circle and let everybody see the whole cape and everything, but I couldn’t hear my music anymore.

"I heard ‘Stand back,’ and the crowd was so loud that I couldn’t hear my music. I thought they cut it off. In my mind, if they cut it off, that means I have to get my ass in the ring. So that’s why I cut my entrance short.”

Upon entering the ring, Hurricane immediately grabbed John Cena by the throat. The spot was a callback to the 2002 Rumble match, when Hurricane attempted a double chokeslam on “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Triple H. It didn’t work out any better for Hurricane in 2018 than it did 16 years ago, as Cena quickly tossed him over the top rope in less than 30 seconds.

Just like the spot with Austin and Triple H, the spot with Cena was Helms’ idea.

“If I was going to duplicate that spot, it wouldn’t have worked with anybody else. It had to be him,” Helms said. “He had some reservations about throwing me out. John Cena is still a babyface regardless of how people react to him, so he had some reservations about throwing out the superhero. But talking to him, I said my character thinks he’s King Kong, so he’s going after Godzilla.

Then he shook his head and grinned. He was so gracious and went along with it. If he says no, there’s nothing I can do, so I give a lot of credit and respect to John.”

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The homecoming was extra special for Helms, 43, who has experienced his share of ups and downs since being released by WWE in 2010 after a nine-year run with the company. In 2011, Helms and Blalock were both seriously injured in a motorcycle accident. Helms suffered a broken ankle, jaw and nose and received over 200 stitches, while Blalock suffered a broken neck.

Helms, who already had four screws and a plate in his neck from spinal fusion surgery in 2007, underwent ankle reconstruction surgery as a result of the accident. He has four plates and 22 screws in his ankle.

“The pain is daily,” he said. “They almost had to amputate my foot.The doctor told me flat out, ‘You’re going to be in pain for the rest of your life.’ … But the only thing I take for the pain is Ibuprofen. I’ve just seen too many people get addicted to pain medicine.”

While recovering from their injuries, Helms said he and Blalock grew closer than ever. In June 2012, the couple’s son, Sebastian, was born.

“I was laid up for six months, and that’s when she got pregnant,” he said. “So out of this terrible tragedy came the greatest thing of my life.”

Helms eventually returned to the ring on the independent circuit. In 2015, he began working for TNA behind the scenes as an agent and in front of the camera as the manager of Trevor Lee and Andrew Everett. He left the company when his contract expired last June after Jeff Jarrett took over creative and brought in his own agents.

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Helms maintained a good relationship with WWE during his time away from the company, so it wasn’t a surprise to him when he got the call about the Rumble.

“I had heard through rumor and innuendo that I was on the short list [for the Royal Rumble match] for a couple years,” he said, ‘but being under contract with a different company or injuries prevented it in the past. Confirmation came the week of.”

Helms said it was a great feeling to be back on the grand stage of one of WWE’s biggest shows of the year and to interact with the talent backstage.

“Once we were inside the building, the whole roster just ran up to me with open arms,” he said. “So many people were glad to see me. So many old friends, so many new talents that I’d never met but who were Hurricane fans. It was really cool to get that respect from the newer guys. Sometimes it seems like there’s a rift between the old school and the new, and I’ve always been a bridge between the old school and the new. It means a lot to me that I still get that respect from both sides.”

One of the current stars Helms chatted with that night was Roman Reigns. Helms was a close friend and tag team partner of Reigns’ brother, Matthew Anoa’i, who performed as Rosey in WWE. Anoa’i died of congestive heart failure last April at 47. Helms and Reigns shared an emotional moment backstage, which was captured by a WWE photographer and posted on WWE.com.

“He does favor Rosey a lot,” Helms said of Reigns. “Anytime I see him I’m always going to think of Rosey. He was a person I cared about a lot and was really saddened by his passing. I didn’t even see the photographer there. They captured that really good moment, and I just have to thank them for that.”

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Helms is plenty busy both in and out of the ring these days. He and Blalock live on a farm in Willow Spring, N.C., with 5-year-old Sebastian and 11-year-old Braxton, Blalock’s son from a previous relationship whom Helms refers to as his “bonus son.”

Helms also continues to wrestle all over the world. He’s been to Canada and Malaysia the past couple months and just agreed to do a tour of New Zealand. In addition, he’s involved with Aro Lucha, a U.S.-based touring Lucha Libre promotion.

“I’m booked solid,” he said. “I’ve already got 43 dates in 2018 that I’ve agreed to with various companies all over the world, so this is a pretty exciting time.”

Helms said he recently participated in a couple projects for the WWE Network and added that he could be doing more things with WWE in the future. But if he never performs in WWE again, he said he’ll always savor his return in the Rumble match.

“If that was my last time in a WWE ring, and I don’t think it will be,” he said, “to have probably the loudest pop of my career, what a way to come full circle.”

Kevin Eck