During one of their topic-based Fightful Podcasts in 2017, Shane Helms reveaą¼ŗled to Sean Ross Sapp how a classic Royal Rš§øumble moments came about.
His most famoš§us turn in the Rumble came in 2002, when he was involved in a spot that came iź¦n at number 6 in this WWE Countdown of the Top 10 Royal Rumble Fails.
Helms, portraying the misguided, delusional superhero gimmick of "The Hurricane," entered at number 23. Only two men were currently still in the ring: Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H. By the time Hurricane got to the ring, Austin and H were both down, having hit a double clothesline spot seconds earlier. Hurricane waited for Triple H to start to get back to hisā¦ feet and grabbed him by the throat, then did the same to Austin. He was going to try to chokeslam them both. Unfortunately for the Hurricane, Austin and H looked at each other, decided they'd had enough of this goofball, grabbed him by the back of the neck and tossed him over the top rope together, eliminating him.
This spot has remained one ofā the most talked about moments in Royal Rumble history, and Sapp asked Helms about it on the podcast.
First Sapp asked him who came up with the idea.
"Oh that was 100% me. As short as it was, that was all my idea," said Helms.
It was unusual at the time for a young perš °former to call the shots when interacting with two huge stars like Stone Cold and Triple H, so Sapp knew there must be a story behind how this all got set up.
He wasn't wrong.
Helms explained:
"Now I know Iām going to be in there with two top guys. THE two top guys in the company. Not just any two, THE two. ā¦ Now, also, keep in mind that Iām still a new guy in the company, still fresh-faced ā¦ You gotta be tactful when youāre going up and suggested spots with the top two guys in the company, with your monkey ass still a new guy in the company, but I knew it was a good idea.
"I talked to Kurt quite a bit; Kurt Angle was the first guy I went to, because I had an amateur background, nowhere near as extensive as his, but we had that in common and he was a cool guy and he was someone I went to (for advice.) I told him the idea and he popped huge; he was like 'Yeah! Go tell Steve!' I think in my mind I just wanted him to offer to go tell Steve for me, to suggest it for me, and I was like 'dammit.'
"So I go to Austin, and I tell him and he goes 'HAHAHAHA', big pop from him, and he goes āyeah, go run it by Pat (Patterson),ā and Iām like DAMN, so now I gotta go tell Pat. ā¦ So then I go to Pat Patterson and run it by him. āOh my god, I love it! Crowd go banana!ā
"So now I gotta go tell Triple H too. So I go run it for the fourth time, like āyeah, hereās the idea, I wanna see what you think,' heās like 'aw, thatās great, thatās perfect.'
"And thatās over the course of like two hours, because everyone was always busy every time I went to them, they were never just free, so thereās all this anguish, because you donāt want someone to go āWho the f*ck do you think you are suggesting such a thing to me?ā, you know what I mean? You donāt want it to come off like that.ā
When it caš§øme time for the Rumble match itself, Helms was nervous. Not about the spot, but about the reaction his still-relatively-new character would get from the cš§rowd.
āAll I remember was being at the curtain and being like (prayer hands) 'Please pop when they play my music.'"
And how did Vince McMahon like the spot?
āI came to the back, got the big thumbs up, but even better, the next day, they were watching in catering ā¦ and that spot unfolded again, and (Vince) was like 'HAHAHAHA, now thatās good shit!ā But Iāll tell you what I said when I came through the curtain, (after the spot in the Rumble) I looked at him and I said 'I almost had those motherf*ckers.'ā
Helms would go on to participate in the 2018 Royal Rumble as well, which you can hear about at this link.
You can watch the full podcast in the video at the top of the page, or click to go right to Helms telling the story.
