Hurricane Helms underutilized?

[The Madrid Slam]

As people can note by my little avatar...I am somewhat of a fan of Mr. Gregory Helms. I remember his little fued with The Rock very well and have watched the promos with both of them many times. I loved his mic work as "The Hurricane".

Don't get me wrong. I'm not blind, I know he's not main event material. I don't think he should be in contention for a World Title. He's not one of the best mid carders out there either. I personally think he was good on the mic, and should be fighting for the midcard titles.

Ever since his little "hurrapops" came, it seemed he was destined for a decent US title push, but that never really came to fruition. After more than a year off, he's been pretty much jobbing...wtf.

I think what would be best for his career and for the WWE, would be to send him over to ECW in the Draft. send him along with Rey Mysterio and another decent Mid-Carder...Shelton, MVP, Kennedy... and then with other ECW wrestlers such as Miz, Morrison, Swagger and Christian, you might not only make these guys relevant but make ECW relevant in the process.

Anyone else feel Mr. Helms is underutilzed?

 

[Baller]

i feel he is underutilized, as he is a good veteran who can work good on the mic and is a good wrestler. If they brought back the cruiserweight title he would get more airtime but until they do that he will remain a jobber.

 

[slimmshady]

Yeah I agree with you, since last weeks tag-team lumber jack match, I've not seen helms since his redebut.

 

[Lee]

I perosnally feel that his injury could have been great for him in the long run...at the time he was just in the cruiserweight division, but then he was out for over a year. In that time the division goes and this was a perfect opportunity for him to step back up. Then it happened; Hurra-pops. They went on for far too long and when Helms finally returned it was just bleugh. Carrying the hurricane name, but not the Superhero gimmick was annoying, but we can blame TNA and Super Eric for spoiling that return!

The guy is 35 and has another five years left in him at least, he's been European, Cruiserweight, tag and Hardcore champion, heck he even beat the rock in a one on one match (or beat the scorpion king!) and is very talented on the mic. How to sort him out? I'm holding out for a hero!

 

[Dr. Stinger A. Zoidberg]

I too am a fan of Hurricane and I am dissapointed at seeing him being used this way, The way Smackdown will look after the draft tonight will leave us all in question, and i feel that he will be used during or after the draft. I just hope to not see him on the Future Endeavors list soon

 

[Hardinhoff]

I totally agree with the ECW move, Madrid. It's almost as if the WWE doesn't realize what they have with a show like ECW. An hour to feature the athletic, under-utilized talent they have. I also still wonder if the idea is floating around to bring back WCW in the same way. That would be another good vehicle. Hurricane falls into that same category as Shelton, Noble, Burchill, maybe Kendrick...the list is so long...

 

[MikeKillam]

I want WWE to bring back the Cruiserweight Title, so that all those guys who don't really fit the mid-card package can have some decent feuds and title matches. The division could be awesome, and it would create something for Chavo Guerrero, The Brian Kendrick, Charlie Haas, Fu Naki, Jimmy Wang Yang, and Hurricane Helms to do. These are guys who I feel have a lot of talent, but have been reduced to jobbers because they A.) Aren't World title material and B.) Don't fit the mid-card package. I mean, MVP, Shelton, those are guys who are great mid guys.

Really, if they merge all the titles, there would be a fantastic place for the Cruiserweight Title in the mix.

Plus, I would love to see a feud between Hurricane and Chavo for the title.

 

[Jason Riptide]

Of course he's underutilized. I dont even need to defend that statement because everyone knows he is. Unless they do something with him really quickly, Helms will take his rightful place in the pantheon of underutilized WWE performers next to guys like Raven and Kane.

 

[klunderbunker]

How can he be underutilized when he's not talented enough to be fully utilized? The guy is too small to be taken seriously. Throw in his name which sounds like something you'd hear on the tiniest of indy feds and his ridiculous looking shorts and the guy is laughable. Helms isn't used because he's a glorified jobber. He had one short feud for the US Title that he didn't deserve and is now right where he belongs. He falls into the category slightly above Elijah Burke: ok, but nowhere near the praise he gets.

 

[Jason Riptide]

How can he be underutilized when he's not talented enough to be fully utilized? The guy is too small to be taken seriously. Throw in his name which sounds like something you'd hear on the tiniest of indy feds and his ridiculous looking shorts and the guy is laughable. Helms isn't used because he's a glorified jobber. He had one short feud for the US Title that he didn't deserve and is now right where he belongs. He falls into the category slightly above Elijah Burke: ok, but nowhere near the praise he gets.

Being 5'9, I hate the size argument.

Gregory Helms is 6 foot (Eddie was 5'8, Benoit was 5'11, Jericho is 6'0 just for perspective.) So he would need to put on some weight (hes 195), maybe 25 lbs or so, but even then, size is not a valid argument. I typed all this before even thinking of Mysterio, who is 5'6 and 175 lbs, and Mysterio is seen as a top guy. All Helms needs is the right push, and the right storyline and he could be taken seriously. Use a guy his size like Jericho or Mysterio to springboard him. He's got talent, and it's a shame that size (some of which is not within control) is what could possibly hold him back.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

The Hurricane's gimmick was old right after he was done with The Rock...and now, it's even MORE done. I praise the guy for coming back from a bad neck injury, but he's simply not as over as he was a few years ago. He's destined to be a jobber and eventually will be released.

TNA seems to be the better spot for him. X Division has Hurricane Helms written all over it. But who knows?

 

[Ty Burna]

Helms really got screwed when he came back. First when he came back, he wasn't nearly as over with the crowd as he had been before his neck injury, second when he came back, he wasn't a solid mid carder to begin with, and trying to break into the running for the U.S. title wasn't going to happen with the likes of R-Truth, Benjamin, and MVP already in the mix. Being gone a year he had no momentum coming in and I don't think creative really knew what to do with him.

I think the best thing for Helms right now is to go the route that every "underutilized superstar" has been suggested to take, is go to ECW. Why? Because it is there where he can work with the younger wrestlers more his size. Even if he may never reach the level he was once at (which I don't think really was that much anyways), he can still make the young talent better, and can even be a threat to the ECW title when need be. I think he would be a great fit for ECW and could work well with the likes of Tyson Kidd, Evan Bourne if he remains on ECW, and Swagger. Helms will be nothing more than a midcarder for his career, so why not send him to the show that uses nothing but midcard wrestlers?

At the very least ECW will give him a fresh start rather than trying to work his way back up the ladder on Smackdown, because right now he's just lost in the shuffle.

 

[bxbigshow]

Hurricane Helms will be released in May when the fiscal 2nd quarter starts. He will be wished well in his future endeavors. TNA will not touch him (although they should) because he is a WWE castoff as oppose to someone who left on his own terms. (Angle, and Foley asked for their releases, Christian didn't renew his contract).

A couple of Indy bookings, a few gimmick appearances for Vince, but he's done.

And I actually love the guy. But I've seen this movie too many times.

 

[Black Snow]

Helms is absolute underutilized. The most criminal thing about it is that the guy knows how to get over if he's given even a tiny opportunity to do so.

Fans were absolutely behind the Sugar Shane gimmick as WCW was closing it's doors. Then the WWE saddled him with the name Gregory. Gregory makes me want to bust out the pocket protector and suspenders; not watch a bunch of hot girls dancing while he enters the ring.

From there he went to the Hurricane gimmick and somehow he managed to be the only guy in the Alliance besides RVD that the fans would get behind. During his long run as the Hurricane he was always one of the top merchandise sellers in the company. People like to make arguments about the right guys being pushed based on merch sales. Well, if that's true then Helms should have won a few World titles during those years.

He goes back to Gregory Helms and is immediately one of the best talents SD! has to offer. Week in and week out he had great matches. JBL was putting him over on commentary like gangbusters. It belt like he was going to drop the Cruiserweight title and quickly gain the U.S. title.

He returns as a face hybrid of Gregory Helms/Hurricane which is perfect. Once again, he reinvented himself. He gets into the U.S. title hunt, loses and then is completely forgotten.

Helms has managed to survive in the WWE for EIGHT YEARS, have great matches on a consistent basis, go through enough gimmick changes to kill most people's career and yet he's still around not being appreciated despite fans digging him. How much more underutilized can a guy get? If Helms is quietly released sometime this year (which is sadly very possible) it'll be an absolute shame.

 

[powermonty]

TNA would deffinitly be the better option for Helms. I only started watching WWE back in the days of evalution and i thought his gregory helms gimmick when he held the cruiser wieght title for a year or so was awsome.

 

[RatedRCyCo]

I liked the Gregory Helms before the injury.. the heel, his matches with Matt and the others were great. However, after his return as Hurricane Helms I was disappointed, his ring attire makes him look like a joke and his style also... turn him heel again

 

[Cerebral_King_of_Kings]

Well, I would like to see him and Jeff tema together. Maybe not even for the titles, but just be really good buddies, Kinda like Hunter and Shawn. Watch eachothers backs. I would have also loved to see him and Shannon more as a tag team. they could have formed the "Newer Hardys" ina way. idk, but i agree he's not being used very well

 

[The Madrid Slam]

Well it seems they did the right thing by moving Hurricane Helms to ECW. I could see him posing as a ECW title "threat" in the future, but not dangerous enough to actually win it. I think his superhero gimmick could work on ECW, just because of the laughingstock ECW has become.

 

[The Madrid Slam]

Does anyone think he'll return the superhero gimmick on ECW. Anybody think he'll ever win Gold again in the WWE? Will he ever even be relevant, or will he be given the pink slip in the near future?