The Hurricane On What Vince McMahon Told Him When He Won The Cruiserweight Title

Gregory Shane Helms is a remarkable high flyer who’s currently working for Impact Wrestling, but he’s also known to wrestling fans around the world as The Hurricane.

The former WWE Cruiserweight Champion was kind enough to speak with us recently on Still Real Radio, and he talked about a number of topics including Randy Orton’s infamous “dive” tweet, what Vince McMahon told him when he won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship and more.

Some feel that WWE’s cruiserweight division is in a bit of a rut right now, and when we asked Helms about his thoughts on the state of the division, the longest reigning WWE Cruiserweight Champion of all time named a few talents that he feels could be breakout stars.

“They got stars, but do they really have a superstar? And I’m not talking about superstar because that’s what we’re supposed to label them. But do they have a superstar yet? Not yet. But there’s somebody there. I definitely think Cedric Alexander has the capabilities. I think Austin Aries has everything they need. Rich Swann’s personality; he’s definitely one of the guys that could keep it going. They probably shoulda kept the belt on him. I remember thinking his run shoulda went a little longer but it didn’t. I like TJ more as a heel than a babyface. There’s a smugness about TJ that I think will translate a little bit better of a heel, and we’ll see what they can do with him on that. But I mean they got the talent, but like I said they just need that personality to really pop.”

“They just need that one personality to light fire. You just need that one personality to light the division up. I’m not saying that talent isn’t there yet, but if it is it’s not being capitalized on right now. It’s gonna take more than just guys having wrestling matches. It’s gonna take good stories and it’s gonna take personalities that stand out and people are attracted to. That’s what made The Hurricane work. People got attracted to my personality. They got attracted to the craziness of what I was.”

Helms is definitely no stranger to the cruiserweight division, and during his run with WWE he saw the division go through some good times, and some not so good times.

During his run as Gregory Helms, the former Cruiserweight Champion won the title at the 2006 Royal Rumble, and he noted that he received a big compliment from Vince McMahon after he became champion.

“I remember when I got that Cruiserweight Title as Gregory Helms and I was talking to Vince about it, and Vince goes, ‘to be honest with you, that belt ain’t meant s*** since the last time you held it.’ And that’s an unsolicited compliment from Vince, which you know, they’re few and far between sometimes so that’s one I’ll always remember.”

In the full episode Gregory Shane Helms also talks about his thoughts on Randy Orton’s independent wrestling comments, the future of the Broken Hardys, working on the “Ready To Rumble” set and more. You can subscribe to Still Real Radio on iTunes, and you can also check out the latest episode below.