Ric Flair Told Shane Helms He Was 'Too Good' For The Hurricane Gimmick

Back in the early 2000s, The Hurricane was one of WWE's most popular acts. So much so that Hurricane merchandise was reportedly one of the highest-selling in the company for a time, while The Hurricane himself famously scored a rare win over The Rock (on the March 10, 2003 episode of Raw). 

Despite the caped crusader's popularity, the man behind the mask - current WWE Producer Shane Helms - knew that a switch to something more serious was inevitable. 

During a recent appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Helms revealed that his decision to drop the act was inspired by a conversation he had with Ric Flair. 

"It wasn't difficult for me, because I mean, I knew there was going to come a time when it had to happen. You know, everything gets watered down to a degree or hits a low at some point. And Ric Flair really kind of jumpstarted it, because that was you know, doing a lot of stuff with him, And he just one time just pulled me aside and Ric has been so you know, such a mentor to me and in different ways. And, you know, he just pulled me to the side one day, and he's like, 'You're too good for this gimmick,'" Helms said. 

Continuing, the 49-year-old added: 

"And, you know, it wasn't about like, the gimmick was bad, but I can only go so far. And that company was only going to let me go so far with that gimmick. And I understood that too. So and I believed him and it's just like, you know, I need to go and remind him of who I was before I came here because Sugar Shane is one of the best light heavyweights in the world. And then, you know, that same guy was Hurricane you know, Tom Hanks that did Big. That's the same Tom Hanks that used to do Philadelphia. But in wrestling, that message wasn't coming across. You know, so until it was I mean, I did The Hurricane really good. You know, part of his, it was just because I did it really well. And I committed to it, and I got so good at being the funny guy that just became who I was. Yeah, you know, and I wasn't getting the opportunities to do serious stuff. So it wasn't it was kind of, it was time for it at that point". 

The Hurricane eventually transitioned into Gregory Helms in late 2005. 

Helms would move from Raw to SmackDown and recapture the WWE Cruiserweight Title at Royal Rumble 2006, going on to hold the belt for a record-setting 384 days. 

H/T WrestlingNews.co