 The Life and Times of Shane Helms Entry #39 Friday, November 9th, 2001. What's up Addicts? I dare the webmaster to update this damn site! Waitaminute, I am the webmaster! LOL I suck! Well, a lot has happened since my last Diary entry (now there's a bold statement) as you all know, so without further ado, let me address as best I can some of the things you've been wondering about as well as let you know what I've been up to. First of all, the name change! It was a mutual decision between myself and the WWF to change my name from Sugar Shane Helms to Gregory Helms. And a decision that I was in full agreement with. But why Gregory, some people asked. Simple, my full name is Gregory Shane Helms. I've never went by Gregory before but I liked using it despite concerns from some that it wasn't as cool as "Sugar." :) Which is funny because people used to say the same things about the name Sugar Shane when I first started using it! But I made that work for me and I have no doubt that I could have made Gregory Helms work as well. But that is a mute point now because as you all know, I have a new direction in my career now as "The Hurricane!" :) So, how did the name Hurricane come about? Well, I almost went by the name The Hurricane Kid back in 1992 when I formed a shortlived tag-team, The StormRiders, with a friend of mine who was gonna call himself Hail. That team was so shortlived in fact that we never even had one match together. LOL We did take some promo pics together though, which I would love to show you if not for the fact that we look absolutely ridiculous. LOL Then in 1997 when I formed The Serial Thrillaz with feline lover Mike Maverick, and the use of real names was made cool by Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, I decided to use Shane Helms but needed a nickname to go with it. I narrowed it down to two choices: "The Show" Shane Helms or Shane "Hurricane" Helms. Well, as my long time fans know, I went with "The Show." I ended up dropping that moniker however, when I signed with WCW out of respect for Paul Wight who had by that time signed with the WWF as The Big Show. Then, after coming to the WWF and using my first name Gregory I still felt that I needed a cool nickname. So, while on a plane ride, I wrote down several new names that I came up with but also included all the names that I have used in the past in the wonderful world of the indies! I showed the list to a few of my close friends and we all agreed that out of the names I had on the list, Hurricane was the standout. I gave the name to several people in the WWF, and that is how Hurricane Helms came to be! So where did The Hurricane, the superhero come from? Simple, my hobby and love of comic books as emphasized by the Green Lantern tattoo on my right shoulder! And do I like the new gimmick? Well let me just say that as a kid, on more than one occasion I imagined myself as a superhero, but never once did I fantasize about being in a "boy band!" LOL With that being said, let me assure every one that I love being "The Hurricane." I mean, the only thing I ever wanted to be when I was young was either a wrestler or a superhero and now I'm a superhero who wrestles! Whassup wid dat? LOL So rest assured that I'm having the time of my life right now! Next subject: The Message Board. It was simply becoming too time consuming for me to deal with. Truthfully I can blame "a little" of my lack of updates on that board! It may return one day, but for right now I need a break from it. The site itself has undergone a few changes as well. Some things were added, some things were changed, and some things were removed altogether! But I think it makes for a cleaner, more efficient site. Let me know what you think. I next want to thank everyone for all the birthday gifts that I got! All I can say is WOW! I got so many cool DVD's, check out the list, some cool comic related stuff, things that people created themselves, some sweeeeet clothes. Just so many things that I can't even begin to give enough thanks to everyone that sent something. You are all awesome and I loved everything! My beloved Redskins got off to a horrible start but seem to be trying to climb out of the gutters. Hingis is still my favorite tennis player, but Capriatti is rapidly moving up the list. Now that's a comeback! I want to wish my friend Kanyon a speedy recovery as he suffered a torn ACL recently. A stiff setback of course, but Kanyon is a hard worker, and I'm sure he will attack his rehab and be back as soon as he can. Get well wishes also go out to Bob Holly as he got a plate removed from his forearm. I have 2 plates and 12 screws in my right forearm that I was supposed to have removed the year after I received them but for various reasons decided against. The plates still cause me considerable pain from time to time and in retrospect I now realize that I should have had mine taken out when I had the chance. So I fully understand Bob's decision and wish him well in his return! Of the movies that I've seen lately Rush Hour 2 ranks above them all. Chris Tucker is definitely my favorite comedian. I loved Planet of the Apes but hated Jurassic Park 3. I thought that American Pie 2 was also good but was very disappointed in Pearl Harbor. Looking forward to seeing Spiderman, The Lord of the Rings, and of course The Iron Monkey. :) Comics to read lately are Powers [Image], Alias [Marvel MAX], ThunderBolts [Marvel], JSA [DC], and 100 Bullets [DC/Vertigo]. All are just "tremendous," as Raven would say. Speaking of 100 Bullets, I recently met Jill Thompson, the wife of Brian Azzarello, who writes 100 Bullets. Jill, as some of you know, is the artist behind Mick Foley's Halloween Hi-Jinx book as well as several other projects of her own, most notably "The Scary Godmother" series. Fans of DC's highly acclaimed "Sandman" series should also recognize Jill's name. Turns out, she was a huge Hurricane fan, but little did she know that I was a huge fan of her and her husbands work as well, so we had a great time telling each other how much we liked each others work. LOL A beautiful lady with loads of talent, check her and Brian out if you get a chance. Thanks go out to Team Extreme for including me in their magazine special. It was funny to see some of our old OMEGA clashes in a WWF magazine. It's a very cool book with a lot of insight into the minds and lives of both Matt and Jeff Hardy as well the lovely Lita, who isn't even close to being as good as she is going to be. Speaking of books, "Foley is Good" is another great read written by Mick Foley himself. The latter parts of the book should basically be referred to as the Bible of Pro Wrestling, in my opinion, as Foley stands up to some of the negativity that people spew about pro wrestling and wrestlers in general. Kurt Angle's book is also very good. I'm not finished with it yet, but what I've read so far has been very interesting. I especially love the introductory quote by Theodore Roosevelt which you can read here. On that subject, I want to let everyone know that some of the negative things that people say on the net on the various "news" sites or rumour boards about wrestling, other wrestlers, or myself shouldn't be taken personally. Whether right or wrong, everyone is entitled to their opinion and some people just feel the need to express their opinions more than others. I will admit to finding some of it annoying but only because I love wrestling and I dislike people who would bring negative things into the business I love. A very successful movie director once told me that movie critics were mainly people who tried to make it in the movie business and failed or never followed through on their dreams to make it and are settling for whatever little mark they can make. I don't know if the same holds true for all wrestling "critics" but I believe that it does for some. But I think that it speaks loads about a person if the only way they get attention is to criticize others! Besides what are the qualifications to be an "Internet Reporter" anyway? That you can type? That's it? LOL Wow! My 10 yr. niece, who is a big wrestling fan, can type. She even emails me after watching the shows to let me know what she liked. By that criteria, I suppose that she is an "Internet Reporter" too huh? LOL Now, please note that there are some good wrestling sites. Some very good ones in fact. Where people talk about wrestling and just have fun with it. Find one of those and don't let any of the negatives influence you. Wrestling is and always has been such a fun part of my life, and it can be the same for everyone, so don't let anyone take the fun out of it for you!!! And to the people that make the negative sites, it's obvious that you love or at least like wrestling, you can see that in the amount of work and dedication that goes into your site, so just try and consider some of the things I've said and help make wrestling (whatever your likes and dislikes) better and more popular than ever. Trust me, wrestling has enough outsiders trying to tear it down, we don't need to give them any help. :) Now, I hate to end on a sad note, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the WTC Terrorist Attack. September 11, 2001, a day that will never be forgotten by US citizens and a day that will probably haunt most of us for a good while. I will never forget my feelings as my best friend, Monkey, called and woke me up to tell me about what was happening. I turned on the TV just in time to see the 2nd Tower get hit. The anger, rage, hurt, sadness, and feelings of concern were enough to keep me in my hotel room for easily the next few hours. I made phone calls to my friends and family to assure them of where I was, Houston, TX, that I was fine, and that I wasn't in any danger. After that I just sat and stared at the TV wondering "Why?" Why would anyone do this? And even if we learn their motivations, will that explain their actions? I don't think so. What made Hitler do what he did? We think we know, but do we really? What made Stalin kill so many? We think we know, but do we really? The only consolation out of any of this is that the victims of the attack are in a far better place now than they were, a far better place than we are in now. And despite their pain and the fear they no doubt felt, and in pure spite of the cowards that committed these terrors, they, the innocent casualties of an unjust ambush, don't have any pain left to feel nor anything else left to fear! They won't have to look over their shoulder every time they go to an airport, they won't have to fear going to a public event, they won't have to wake up everyday afraid that World War 3 has begun. Knowing that they won't have to feel those things brings, at least, a little measure of relief to my heart. Being an American has a lot of privileges and freedoms that SO many of us take for granted. I haven't seen the whole world, but I've seen some of it, and out of what I've seen, nothing compares to the lifestyle that we (ALL OF US) enjoy here in the USA. And that's true. That's damn true! :) Although I will admit that Canada comes close. Right Lance? LOL So, I would like to ask everyone that reads this to just take a few minutes to think about that. Think about all the things, the little things, we take for granted that so many other people in various parts of the world will never even have the chance to enjoy, let alone experience. Because as we've all recently learned, it can be taken away in the briefest of moments. Well that's it for now, I do want to remind everyone to send in any questions for my next Q&A to shane@shanehelms.com, and please put Q&A in the subject line. Your Crime Fighting SuperHero, Shane Helms |