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116-551: The championship was created in WCW in 1996, with Shinjiro Otani as the inaugural champion. However, following WCW's purchase, the WWF/E considered the title to be a continuation of the earlier WCW Light Heavyweight Championship , which had been created in 1991 with Brian Pillman as the inaugural champion. The World Cruiserweight Championship was retired in 2007 with Hornswoggle as its final holder. Another WWE Cruiserweight Championship

232-629: A WAR's Super Revolution event. He would once again enter the renamed Best of the Super Juniors tournament that summer and performed much better, defeating the likes of Taka Michinoku and Black Tiger , however also once again losing to Jushin Liger and failing to advance to the finals. In October, he partnered up with Wild Pegasus for the Super Grade Junior Heavyweight Tag League. The two would reach

348-465: A bar. A police report stated that Helms had punched Jericho and the other passengers in the cab they were sharing. Helms and Jericho were given tickets for public intoxication and released after each posted a $ 120 bail bond . On March 13, 2011, Helms was cited for affray following an altercation at a bar in Smithfield, North Carolina. On May 5, 2011, Helms and his girlfriend were involved in

464-787: A boy named Sebastian. Helms is a weekly guest on the podcast "Keepin it 100" on the Jericho network. In 2016 and 2017, he appeared on a weekly podcast for Fightful.com. On May 6, 2008, Helms was assaulted in a club in Johnston County, North Carolina , by an acquaintance, Dustin Narron. An argument between the two of them led to Narron hitting Helms in the face. Narron was later charged with assault and battery. On January 27, 2010, Helms and fellow WWE wrestler Chris Jericho were arrested in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky , after leaving

580-591: A broken nose. After complaining to Long about having to wrestle on the March 10 episode of SmackDown! , Long told Helms that he did not have to defend his title, but put Helms in a champion versus champion match against the United States Champion , Chris Benoit . During the match, Helms attempted to leave, but was blocked by other cruiserweights who threw Helms back into the ring, resulting in Helms losing

696-629: A contract with Lucha Libre USA . In the promotion, Helms allied himself with Marco Corleone , and in his debut for the promotion at the January 22 tapings, he defeated Corleone's rival and Lucha Libre USA Champion Lizmark Jr. via disqualification. On January 29, 2011, Helms made his debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), during the WrestleReunion 5 weekend, in a match, where he was defeated by Joey Ryan . He also took part in 20-Man Legends Battle Royale, making his second appearance of

812-662: A frequent tag team partner for the young Hashimoto during his early career in Zero1. Otani would unite with former rivals Koji Kanemoto and Osamu Nishimura in NJPW for one night only in October 2011, where they were defeated by the reunited Okami Gundan team of Hiroyoshi Tenzan , Masahiro Chono and Hiro Saito , in the main event of Tenzan's 20th anniversary event in Korakuen Hall . He would later reunite with Keiji Muto in

928-523: A futon to sleep on. At the time, the only wrestling school Otani knew of was Animal Hamaguchi 's dojo, where he would travel and introduce himself to Hamaguchi. Hamaguchi accepted Otani into his dojo where he began his training, in addition to feeding him and getting Otani a part-time job in a local liquor store, which allowed him to pay for better living quarters. Hamaguchi brought Otani to the NJPW dojo in February 1992 and he enrolled soon after, training in

1044-626: A heavyweight. After a largely lacklustre summer of 2000, Otani was sent on excursion by New Japan officials in August, with the intention of him gaining weight and returning as a heavyweight. Otani toured with All Star Wrestling (ASW) in the United Kingdom and spent time training under Tokyo Joe in Canada , where he developed his new King Cobra Clutch finishing move. Otani returned to New Japan on January 4, 2001, teaming with Keiji Muto as

1160-428: A losing streak, mainly caused by The Hurricane's on-screen injuries. During the October 17 episode of Raw , The Hurricane was assaulted by Kurt Angle at the request of Vince McMahon . After the beating, footage was shown of The Hurricane ripping off his mask and striking Rosey because he did not help him fend off Angle. The next week, The Hurricane no-showed a World Tag Team Championship match, leaving Rosey to face

1276-574: A match at New Year's Revolution . At the 2006 Royal Rumble , Helms participated in an Open Invitational match for the Cruiserweight Championship and won, even though he was a Raw superstar and the championship was defended solely on SmackDown! . As a result, he returned to the SmackDown! brand in February 2006 to start a feud with Nunzio , Kid Kash and the other cruiserweights. During this time, Helms defeated Nunzio in

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1392-834: A member of 3 Count . During his time there he won both the WCW Hardcore Championship and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship . When WCW was bought by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), Helms' contract was kept by WWF. Helms renamed himself "The Hurricane" and won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship . He later picked up a sidekick, Rosey , and they won the World Tag Team Championship together. He dropped

1508-674: A member of Muto's new Bad Ass Translate Trading stable, to convincingly defeat Manabu Nakanishi and Jushin Thunder Liger , who, like Otani, had also been converted into a heavyweight; Otani would submit Liger for the win with his new King Cobra Clutch. The following month, he would unsuccessfully challenge Kensuke Sasaki for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on February 16 in Ryogoku Kokugikan . This would go on to be Otani's last match signed to

1624-462: A modified version of his old ring name "The Hurricane", and mocked heel superstars including Shelton Benjamin and Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder . In the following weeks, he mocked several other superstars in the "Hurrapops", ending each promo with the phrase, "I'm just sayin'!". On the November 28 episode of SmackDown , a "Hurrapop" appeared in which Helms announced that he would make his return to

1740-480: A month before losing the titles to Chris Jericho and Christian on the October 14 episode of Raw . In early 2003, The Hurricane feuded with The Rock . In backstage segments, The Rock referred to The Hurricane as "The Hamburglar " (in part because his mask was similar to the Hamburglar's). The feud culminated in a match on the March 10 episode of Raw , in which The Rock dominated. The Hurricane, however,

1856-474: A motorbike accident in North Carolina, for which Helms was charged with driving under the influence . Helms suffered a broken leg, ankle, jaw and nose during the accident, as well as sustaining other fractures and receiving over 200 stitches, while his girlfriend sustained a broken neck. As a result of the accident, Helms' foot had to be reconstructed with four plates and 22 screws. Helms

1972-407: A one-on-one match. The next week, he was supposed to defend against Kid Kash, but Kash was away on a family emergency, so Scotty 2 Hotty took his place. Helms defeated him and declared that he was better than all the other cruiserweights. As a result, all the cruiserweights at the show invaded the ring and attacked Helms. It was later announced by SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long that at

2088-421: A professional wrestling dojo. Otani's dream was strongly opposed by his parents, which resulted in him running away from home in January 1992 at the age of 19, leaving for Tokyo with only between ¥50,000-¥60,000 of otoshidama money to his name. After being homeless for a brief period of time, Otani finally found a place to stay, a small tatami-like dwelling for ¥24,000, located next to a public toilet and without

2204-434: A reputation as a likeable underdog thanks to his sympathetic performances and his willingness to challenge senior wrestlers, in particular Jushin Thunder Liger . The two met for the first time on May 25, 1993, in a Top of the Super Juniors tournament match in Korakuen Hall , with Liger victorious. Otani would struggle throughout his first foray into the tournament, failing to advance past the first stage but managing to earn

2320-641: A result of this, Otani would enter his first G1 Climax in August 2008, where he earned 7 points, though a defeat against Hiroshi Tanahashi prevented him from advancing past the first stage. On February 27, 2009, at a Zero-One Max event in Korakuen Hall , he defeated former NJPW dojo classmate Yuji Nagata to become the new World Heavyweight Champion . Otani held the belt until March, successfully defending it against Steve Corino and Orlando Colón before dropping it to Ryoji Sai on March 29. On October 12, 2009, at Masahiro Chono 's 25th anniversary event in Ryogoku Kokugikan , Otani received his first opportunity at

2436-543: A result, Cade and Murdoch earned a title match at the Unforgiven pay-per-view. During the title match, Murdoch delivered an elevated DDT on The Hurricane to the outside. The DDT caused The Hurricane to suffer a storyline " stinger " and allowed Cade and Murdoch to beat The Hurricane and Rosey later in the match to win the World Tag Team Championship. During the next few weeks, the pair began

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2552-512: A six-man tag team match. Helms continued to defend his belt during pay-per-views, but he made more regular appearances on SmackDown!' s sister show, Velocity . Helms continued defending his title against other cruiserweights, while on occasion facing off against SmackDown!'s other title holders in champion versus champion matches. Helms faced World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio on June 16 and United States Champion Bobby Lashley on July 7 but lost both matches. Eventually, Helms became

2668-507: A sixty-minute, ten-man elimination cage death match on October 16 in Sapporo , as Otani's team of himself, Omori, Ikuto Hidaka , Minoru Fujita and Tomohiro Ishii defeated Tanaka, Sakata, Jun Kasai , Tetsuhiro Kuroda and Yoshihito Sasaki after Hidaka last eliminated Kuroda for the win. Upon Hashimoto's departure from Zero1 in late 2004, after which he retained the rights to the Zero1 name, Otani would take over Hashimoto's role as owner of

2784-620: A solitary defeat to Keiji Muto and Animal Warrior was enough to see them through to the final, where they were defeated by Satoshi Kojima and Taiyo Kea in the main event at Nippon Budokan on December 6. The two would also briefly tour with Mitsuharu Misawa 's Pro Wrestling Noah in January 2003, the highlight of their run being a memorable if unsuccessful GHC Tag Team Championship match against Jun Akiyama and Akitoshi Saito in Budokan. Back in Zero1, Otani looked to win his third successive Fire Festival tournament and again made it to

2900-534: A solitary win over Eddie Guerrero in Hamamatsu . He spent much of 1992 and 1993 trading wins and losses with fellow dojo classmates such as Tatsuhito Takaiwa , Tokimitsu Ishizawa and Yuji Nagata , customary for younger wrestlers in Japan as they develop and earn their place within the company. He represented NJPW during their feud with Wrestle Association-R (WAR) on January 16, 1994, losing to Masao Orihara at

3016-458: A tag team with Lance Storm who was now managed by Ivory and Hurricane later picked up a sidekick, in Molly Holly who began to call herself "Mighty Molly", and the two came to the arena in a custom "Hurri-Cycle" (with Molly in the sidecar). The team of The Hurricane and Storm began feuds with teams like The Hardy Boyz and Big Show and Spike Dudley . The Hurricane and Storm got a shot at

3132-492: A tournament for the OMEGA Championship. On November 16, 2013, Helms was defeated by Chris Hero at a Pro Wrestling Syndicate event. In March 2015, Helms received a tryout for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, now Impact Wrestling ) as an agent and began working for the company within that capacity that same month. At Bound for Glory , Helms made his on-screen debut under his full birth name to congratulate

3248-630: A tournament was announced to crown the inaugural champions in July, where Otani would partner dojo classmate Tatsuhito Takaiwa , with the two of them defeating Koji Kanemoto and Dr Wagner Jr in the finals to become the first ever holders of the belts. On December 11, Takaiwa and Otani travelled to Wrestle Association R where they defeated Masaaki Mochizuki and Masao Orihara to win the vacant International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship , making themselves double champions. Their days as double champions didn't last long, however, as they would lose

3364-485: Is also known for his time with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he wrestled as " Sugar " Shane Helms . Helms first began wrestling in 1991 at the age of 17, and wrestled in numerous independent promotions , including the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts , winning numerous light heavyweight and tag team championships . In 1999, he signed with WCW, and gained fame as "Sugar" Shane Helms,

3480-517: Is good friends with Jeff Hardy , Matt Hardy and Shannon Moore . He appears on The Hardy Show , The Hardys' internet show. He also performed as the stunt double of actor David Arquette in the movie Ready to Rumble . On March 19, 2007, Sports Illustrated posted on its website an article in its continuing series investigating a steroid and HGH ring used by a number of professional athletes in several sports. That article mentioned several current and former WWE wrestlers, including Helms who

3596-464: Is inspired by the Green Lantern. It was picked and inked the same days as his cousin, fellow pro wrestling trainee, and comic book fan Mike Helm had the symbol of his favorite character, Green Lantern, tattooed on his own bicep. In 2008, he got a tattoo of his last name on his upper back. Helms owns a motorcycle called "The Hurri-Cycle", which he got when he was using The Hurricane gimmick. Helms

WWE Cruiserweight Championship (1996–2007) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3712-505: The ECW brand where he reverted to his Gregory Helms name, and became a backstage interviewer. In mid-2009, he brought back The Hurricane character, and appeared as both Gregory Helms and The Hurricane on the ECW brand. After the ECW brand ended, Helms was released by WWE in February 2010, however he returned as a surprise entrant in the 2018 and 2021 Royal Rumble matches. Helms began wrestling at

3828-495: The IWGP Heavyweight Championship in over nine years, challenging Shinsuke Nakamura . Despite entering to a mixed reaction as an outsider, Otani's performance would prompt a loud reaction from the audience, who, by the end, were cheering for Otani, even though he was narrowly defeated by Nakamura. In late 2009, Otani formed a new partnership with former sumo wrestler Akebono , prior to the upcoming Furinkazan tag tournament, dubbing themselves "Kazan" (火山, volcano). The two reached

3944-572: The J-Crown , as well as forming a successful tag team with dojo classmate Tatsuhito Takaiwa , twice holding the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship . After jumping to the heavyweight division in 2001, Otani would leave New Japan the same year, joining Shinya Hashimoto as one of the founders of Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). Following the departure of Hashimoto in 2004, Otani was pushed as one of

4060-714: The NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship on July 12 in Tokyo . In September, Otani entered the inaugural Himatsuri (火祭り), "fire festival" tournament, remaining undefeated on his way to the final where he defeated Kohei Sato . As a result of winning, Otani was presented with the Fire Sword for the first time, an accessory that would go on to be commonly associated with his ring entrance. Otani and Ishikawa would vacate their championships in October 2001, after Ishikawa's departure from

4176-583: The New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) dojo, Otani is best known for his longtime association with Zero1, a promotion he founded in 2001 along with Shinya Hashimoto . Starting his career in NJPW as a junior heavyweight , Otani gained a reputation as a gutsy underdog and would go on to hold several championships during his nine-year run with the promotion, including the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and

4292-524: The No Way Out pay-per-view event, Helms would face all the cruiserweights in a match for the title. Helms was able to retain the championship. Later, Long mandated that Helms had to defend his title against a cruiserweight each week on SmackDown! to prove that he truly was better than all the cruiserweights. Helms' first defense under this new rule was against Psicosis of The Mexicools ; Helms retained by cheating. In early March 2006, Helms suffered

4408-470: The Raw or SmackDown! brand. The original design of the title has a blue with gold imprinting of the earth in the middle with the word world above it in the center plate that's gold squarely surrounded by the color black, It also has the word wrestling champions under the blue earth in that same way. It also has the word cruiserweight in the middle that's gold and the center with a circle-ish red surrounding it in

4524-808: The SCW Tag Team Championship , and Helms also won the SCW Heavyweight Championship . SCW would mark the end of the Serial Thrillaz, as Helms vacated both titles before moving on to NWA Worldwide. Once there, Helms joined the Bad Street Boys with Shannon Moore , Christian York , and Joey Matthews . Helms and his friend Shannon Moore signed with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in May 1999. In WCW, Helms, along with Moore and Evan Karagias , formed

4640-571: The TNA X Division Champion Tigre Uno . On the February 2, 2016 episode of Impact Wrestling , Helms assisted Trevor Lee in defeating Tigre Uno for the X Division Championship, turning villainous in the process. Helms would then soon bring in Andrew Everett to officially form The Helms Dynasty . On the December 15 episode of Impact Wrestling dubbed " Total Nonstop Deletion ", Helms

4756-634: The Tokyo Dome , at Wrestle Kingdom 7 , replacing the injured Daichi Hashimoto as the two were defeated by Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima ). Beginning in September 2015, Otani downgraded himself back to the junior heavyweight division, proclaiming that the division had "lost its way" and "needed more heart". On September 23, he reformed his junior heavyweight team with Tatsuhito Takaiwa and defeated NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Champions Takuya Sugawara and Brother Yasshi to win

WWE Cruiserweight Championship (1996–2007) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4872-615: The WCW Tag Team Championship against The Hardy Boyz at No Mercy in a losing effort. During 2002, The Hurricane won the WWF Hardcore Championship at WrestleMania X8 , but Molly betrayed him, hitting him in the back of the head with a frying pan, and defeating him for the championship. The Hurricane was later drafted to the SmackDown! brand following the brand extension , and he won

4988-457: The WWE 24/7 Championship from R-Truth whilst he was being interviewed by IGN , though he was unable to do so. On July 22, 2019, The Hurricane made an appearance for the special Raw Reunion episode of Monday Night Raw . On April 15, 2020, Helms was furloughed by WWE, but returned to the promotion on November 22. The Hurricane once again appeared at the 2021 Royal Rumble event on January 31 in

5104-459: The World Tag Team Championship . Not long after winning the championship, Stacy Keibler joined Rosey and The Hurricane as their sidekick, "Super Stacy". In August 2005, Rosey and The Hurricane lost Keibler as their sidekick when she and Christy Hemme were traded to the SmackDown! brand. On the September 5 episode of Raw , The Hurricane and Rosey were defeated by Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch during Cade and Murdoch's debut match on Raw . As

5220-485: The heel (villainous) stable (faction) 3 Count , and the trio debuted on the December 23 episode of WCW Thunder . The trio was a parody of the boy bands 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys , and their gimmick involved making music videos and performing songs before their matches. 3 Count collectively won the WCW Hardcore Championship on WCW Monday Nitro in February 2000. This win made 3 Count

5336-666: The 2000 Best of the Super Juniors. Later in the month after just under a year as champions, Otani and Takaiwa lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships to the Junior Stars (Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka ). After dropping the titles, both men would go their separate ways, with Takaiwa focusing on the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and Otani beginning to be groomed for a run as

5452-582: The 2000s and 2010s. As The Hurricane, Gregory Helms has been featured in several WWE video games , including WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It (2001), WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain (2003), WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 (2005), and WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 (2007) for the PlayStation 2 , WWE WrestleMania X8 (2002) for the Nintendo GameCube , and WWF Raw (2002) and WWE Raw 2 (2003)

5568-425: The August 11, 2009 episode of ECW , Helms was attacked by Paul Burchill after Helms denied being The Hurricane. The Hurricane later attacked Burchill in the ring dressed in his Hurricane attire, to save Yoshi Tatsu . The next week on ECW, he made his in-ring debut for the brand as The Hurricane, and defeated Burchill. He continued to feud with Burchill, who attempted to expose The Hurricane's true identity, until

5684-623: The Cruiserweight Championship after winning a match at SuperBrawl Revenge , but was attacked by Karagias and Moore afterwards. Despite the attack, Helms would go on to defeat Guerrero for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship at Greed and was the reigning Cruiserweight Champion immediately before WCW was bought out by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Helms' contract with WCW was one of twenty-five that were included in WWF's purchase of WCW. Helms made his WWF debut on

5800-461: The Dragons attempting to steal 3 Count's fictional recording contract. This led to a ladder match between the two teams at New Blood Rising , which 3 Count won due to Abbott's interference. As a result, Abbott claimed that he should be the lead singer of 3 Count, and was kicked out by the other three members, leading to a feud. 3 Count later disbanded as Moore and Helms kicked Karagias out of

5916-479: The Fire Sword for another year. After ten months and five successful defences as champions, Otani and Tanaka dropped their titles to John Heidenreich and Nathan Jones in Korakuen Hall on October 20. By this time, the two had established themselves as one of the best tag teams in Japan, and were invited by All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) to compete in its Real World Tag League in late 2002. Four wins and

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6032-570: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, and unsuccessfully challenged Jushin Thunder Liger for the title in the main event of a card in Amagasaki on March 17. Just days later on March 20, he defeated Wild Pegasus to become the inaugural WCW Cruiserweight Champion ; he held the title until May 2, when he was defeated by Dean Malenko in Orlando, Florida (the match would air on the May 18, 1996 edition of WCW Worldwide ). On June 17, he captured

6148-581: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Kendo Kashin and Dr Wagner Jr at Wrestling World 1999 . Later in the year they would regain the championships, defeating Jushin Thunder Liger and The Great Sasuke in July. In 2000, both Otani and Takaiwa took part in the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, with both men winning their blocks and reaching the final, where, on June 9, Takaiwa defeated Otani to win

6264-602: The J-Crown for himself, defeating El Samurai in Nagoya . After his third successful defence against Wild Pegasus in November, the World Wrestling Federation ordered its Light Heavyweight Championship to be returned to them; in the aftermath, Otani relinquished all belts except for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, returning all other titles to their respective promotions and effectively dissolving

6380-564: The J-Crown. Otani would continue to solely defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship until February 1998, when he dropped the title to Jushin Thunder Liger. After an unsuccessful Best of the Super Juniors tournament in the summer, Otani turned his attention to the emerging junior tag team division in New Japan; with the introduction of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships ,

6496-679: The July 5, 2001 episode of SmackDown! , using the name "Hollywood" Gregory Helms. He was part of the Invasion storyline as a member of The Alliance losing his Cruiserweight Championship in a one-on-one match to another Alliance member, Billy Kidman . Helms began wrestling as "The Hurricane" on August 27, and also began wearing a superhero costume. That night, he won the WWF European Championship from Matt Hardy with help from Ivory , but lost it to Bradshaw on October 22, 2001. In September 2001, The Hurricane formed

6612-590: The November 17 episode of ECW when The Hurricane defeated Burchill in a mask versus career match . He would then feud with Zack Ryder . On February 26, 2010, Helms was released from his WWE contract. Following his WWE release, Helms began wrestling on the independent circuit , including for the Canadian Wrestling's Elite as Hurricane Helms. On October 23, 2010, Helms made his debut for Jersey All Pro Wrestling , where he, under his Hurricane gimmick, defeated Azrieal. On January 10, 2011, Helms signed

6728-503: The November 7 episode of Raw , Helms and Rosey faced off in a singles match, which Helms won. Subsequently, Helms wrestled mostly on Raw' s sister show, Heat . On the January 2, 2006 episode of Raw , Helms confronted Jerry Lawler over jokes that Lawler had been making at Helms' expense, and Lawler said that when Helms was The Hurricane, he was entertaining and called Helms a joke. Helms responded by slapping Lawler, who hit Helms back. This confrontation led to Lawler defeating Helms in

6844-633: The WWE Cruiserweight Championship from Tajiri and Billy Kidman in a triple threat match on the May 16 episode of SmackDown! . He lost it to Jamie Noble at King of the Ring . Later in 2002, The Hurricane was traded to the Raw brand, won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Kane as they defeated The Un-Americans ( Christian and Lance Storm) on the September 23 episode of Raw , and held them for around

6960-574: The acquisition of World Championship Wrestling 's (WCW) assets by rival company World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), both lineages of the WCW Light Heavyweight Championship and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship were considered to be one and the same, with WWE referring to the holders of the Light Heavyweight Championship as former Cruiserweight Champions. During the existence of WCW,

7076-439: The age of 17 in 1991. He won his first championship shortly afterwards, by defeating "Playboy" T.C. Cruise to become the Southern Wrestling Alliance (SWA) Light Heavyweight Champion. Helms spent the majority of his early career in his home state of North Carolina , winning numerous light heavyweight championships. Helms began calling himself "The Show" Shane Helms, and teamed with "Big Daddy" Mike Maverick , initially using

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7192-413: The center of the earth and the side plates are a square-ish gold with the WCW Logos on the side that are a thick red with one extra side plate on the right side that's smaller than them all. All of the plates on the title are gold mainly with indented designs, colors & wordings. The 2002–2007 design of the title is similar to the first but with 4 side plates minus a earth in the middle and WWE Logos on

7308-420: The champions Cade and Murdoch alone. During the match, The Hurricane (out of costume) appeared at the top of the entrance ramp, reverting to his real name, Gregory Helms, and watched as Rosey was double teamed and defeated. After the match, Helms announced that he was fed up with being funny for the crowd, and that he was sick of carrying Rosey as a tag team partner, turning heel for the first time since 2001. On

7424-425: The company, as he would depart New Japan after nine years soon after to help Shinya Hashimoto found his new promotion, Pro Wrestling Zero-One . In November 2000, during Otani's time spent overseas, it was announced by longtime associate and former ace of NJPW Shinya Hashimoto , who had recently been fired by the company, that Otani was one of the names that would be joining him in his new promotion, Zero-One . At

7540-470: The entire Cruiserweight division on SmackDown! . During this feud, Helms' reign as Cruiserweight Champion came to an end at No Way Out , when he was unable to win a Cruiserweight open invitational, which saw Chavo Guerrero win the championship. Shortly after losing the championship, Helms formed a tag team with Guerrero, but they did not win any matches as a team. On May 18, 2007, WWE reported that Helms had broken two vertebrae in his neck, one of which

7656-444: The final on December 19, where they defeated Masaaki Mochizuki and Otani's former Emblem partner Masato Tanaka to win the tournament. A month later in Tokyo , they beat Ikuto Hidaka and Munenori Sawa to win the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship . In August 2010, he entered the Fire Festival tied with Masato Tanaka for the most tournament wins at three; Otani progressed to the final, where he defeated Tanaka to become

7772-417: The final, though, this time, he was defeated by AJPW representative Satoshi Kojima. Otani would get his revenge over in AJPW on September 6, when he defeated Kojima in the semi-final of the vacant Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship tournament, though he was later defeated by Toshiaki Kawada in the final. As 2004 progressed, Otani began to be pushed as one of Zero1's top stars, starting in April when he

7888-554: The first ever four-time winner of the tournament. Otani would try and once again capture the World Heavyweight Championship in November, but fell to champion Daisuke Sekimoto . On March 6, 2011, Otani competed in the main event of Zero1's special 10th anniversary card in Ryogoku Kokugikan , where he would lose to Yoshihiro Takayama . This event also saw the debut of Daichi Hashimoto , the son of Otani's since deceased longtime associate Shinya Hashimoto . Both Otani and Masahiro Chono handled his training, and Otani would go on to become

8004-426: The first trio to win the Hardcore Championship. At Uncensored , Brian Knobbs defeated all members of 3 Count to win the Hardcore Championship. During a match, Helms suffered a broken nose, and was sidelined while he recovered. Upon his return, Tank Abbott had been added to the group, as a fan, and was utilized in an enforcer role. 3 Count had a long-running feud (scripted rivalry) with The Jung Dragons , with

8120-563: The future. Otani competed on the inaugural Zero1 card on March 2, 2001, remaining a heavyweight and beginning his feud with MMA fighter turned pro-wrestler Kazunari Murakami . Otani lost their first meeting by referee's decision, a wild and scrappy brawl that lasted less than five minutes. As a result of Zero1's working relationship with Battlarts , Otani would have a brief run with the promotion around this time, where he formed an alliance with Yuki Ishikawa . The two would also team up in Zero1, defeating Steve Corino and Mike Rapada to win

8236-411: The group for attempting to steal the spotlight. At the same time, the Jung Dragons turned on Jamie Noble , who formed a team with Karagias. The three teams met in a Triangle match at Mayhem , which 3 Count won. They also wrestled each other in a number one contendership ladder match at Starrcade , to earn a WCW Cruiserweight Championship match, in which both Moore and Helms grabbed the contract at

8352-809: The heavyweight division. He held the title until June 2017, when he dropped it to Masakatsu Funaki , the man he initially defeated to win the title. On June 22, 2019, at 46 years old, he challenged Daisuke Sekimoto for the World Heavyweight Championship . Otani was defeated after a hard-fought 22 minute match, but earned plaudits from the crowd for the strong effort he displayed. He again returned to New Japan Pro Wrestling on January 4, 2020, taking part in one of Jushin Thunder Liger 's retirement matches, where he, Tatsuhito Takaiwa , Ryusuke Taguchi and Naoki Sano defeated Liger, Tatsumi Fujinami , The Great Sasuke and Tiger Mask . In December, Otani allied himself with Yumehito Imanari for

8468-460: The longest cruiserweight champion in WWE history, as well as the longest reigning champion of any kind in SmackDown! history. For much of late 2006, he feuded with Matt Hardy, with whom Helms exchanged several victories in matches on SmackDown! . In Helms' hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina , at No Mercy , Hardy beat Helms. The two rivals also joined opposing teams at Survivor Series , where Helms

8584-504: The match, Otani became unresponsive after taking a German suplex into the turnbuckles. Otani was transported to hospital, where he awoke, however, he was unable to move his limbs; he was diagnosed with a cervical spinal injury. It was later announced he would undergo surgery on April 13, which was successful, after which Otani was moved to another hospital to begin further treatment and rehabilitation for his injuries. Otani married his wife Eriko on February 16, 2014. The championship

8700-461: The match. Helms underwent successful surgery on his nose and was expected to miss five to six weeks. During this time SmackDown! announcers stated that Helms had a no-compete clause in his contract allowing him to waive the thirty-day title defense rule due to any injury. Helms returned to the ring on the April 28 episode of SmackDown! , teaming with MNM to face Super Crazy , London and Kendrick in

8816-648: The namesake match. He entered at number 23 and was quickly eliminated by Big E and Bobby Lashley . Helms announced on March 24, 2022, that he had signed a Legends deal with WWE. Helms made an appearance in All Elite Wrestling on November 7, 2020, during the Elite Deletion match under both The Hurricane and reporter Gregory Helms personas, in a supporting effort for Matt Hardy against Sammy Guevara . The Wrestling Figure Checklist records that Helms has had 20 different action figures released in

8932-433: The night. He eliminated Cruel Connection, but later was thrown out by Shane Douglas and Terry Funk . In April 2011, Helms wrestled at Carolina Wrestling Federation (Mid-Atlantic) where he defeated Ric Converse and won the vacant PWI International Heavyweight Championship. In 2013, Helms returned to the revived OMEGA, now called OMEGA Championship Wrestling, and on October 12, he defeated Shane Williams to advance in

9048-603: The only two events NJPW ran in Yamaguchi yearly and idolised Kengo Kimura . At one point during his childhood, he snuck into a hotel in a bid to try and meet Antonio Inoki; initially stopped by security, they allowed him in upon Inoki's instruction, who signed Otani's "闘魂" (fighting spirit) hachimaki , after which the young Otani vowed to Inoki that he would one day make it to NJPW. Otani was successful in amateur wrestling during high school, and upon graduation, he planned to move almost 600 miles from Yamaguchi to Tokyo to join

9164-536: The promotion in 2005 and re-introduced it in Korakuen Hall as Pro-Wrestling Zero-One Max. In August 2005, Otani would enter the fifth annual Fire Festival, again reaching the final where he defeated Kensuke Sasaki to win his third tournament. After taking over Zero1, he would establish a working partnership with Dream Stage Entertainment, which led to Otani making regular appearances in DSE's comedy wrestling promotion, Hustle . Initially appearing under his own name, Otani

9280-492: The promotion. Otani would instead form a new tag team with Masato Tanaka , collectively known as "Emblem". The duo won the vacant championships on January 6, 2002, defeating Samoa Joe and Tom Howard . In singles action, Otani entered the now round-robin Fire Festival once again in August, winning all but one of his matches and defeating Tetsuhiro Kuroda in the final to become a two-time Fire Festival winner, retaining

9396-548: The promotions top stars, becoming a six time Intercontinental Tag Team Champion , a one time World Heavyweight Champion and a four-time winner of the Fire Festival . In addition to his role as a wrestler, Otani has also served as acting company president since 2007. Otani was born in Yamaguchi and was a big pro wrestling fan during his youth, specifically Antonio Inoki 's New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). He attended

9512-611: The ring on the next episode of SmackDown . On the December 5 episode of SmackDown , Helms defeated Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in his ring return. Helms was quickly scripted into a feud with the United States Champion Shelton Benjamin , defeating him in two non-title matches on SmackDown , although he failed to win a championship match on December 26. In January 2009, Helms worked in house shows against Vladimir Kozlov and Umaga until February he became inactive. On April 15, 2009, Helms

9628-664: The same class as Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Yuji Nagata . As part of his rookie duties, Otani would also spend two years working closely with Shinya Hashimoto as his assistant, which led to the two developing a long-lasting friendship. Otani made his in-ring debut on June 25, 1992, losing to Hiroyoshi Yamamoto at a house show in Fukushima . His televised debut came a little under a month later, losing to Osamu Nishimura in Gifu . Early in his career, Otani became known for his springboard dropkick , his corner face wash , and developed

9744-601: The same time. As a result, they later wrestled for the opportunity to wrestle for the championship, which Helms won, although he lost the subsequent championship match to Chavo Guerrero Jr. at the Sin pay-per-view. Moore and Helms would leave WCW briefly in 2001 to wrestle in NWA Wildside, where they held the Wildside Tag Team Championship for one day. Helms became the number one contender for

9860-552: The same venue, re-igniting his feud with old rival and ally Koji Kanemoto where Otani was victorious in singles action. Back in Zero-One Max, Otani defeated Steve Corino on January 22 to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship , the first major heavyweight singles title of Otani's career. Otani held the title until April 1, when he dropped it to Takao Omori . On December 24, 2007, it

9976-411: The semi-finals on October 18, beating Dean Malenko and Tokimitsu Ishizawa to book their place in the final, where they defeated Black Tiger and The Great Sasuke in a highly acclaimed bout to win the tournament, giving Otani his first taste of success in the company. His strong performances throughout 1994 earned him his first IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship opportunity on October 30, however, he

10092-450: The side plates (On two only closest to the center plate minus the two out-ist) and in the middle plate at the top. Gregory Helms ' third reign was the longest reign at 385 days (384 days as recognized by WWE). Helms won the championship at the 2006 Royal Rumble in a Cruiserweight Open, despite originally being a member of the Raw brand; he transferred to SmackDown! in conjunction with winning

10208-462: The superhero gimmick in 2005, and began wrestling under his real name. He once again won the Cruiserweight Championship in early 2006, and held it for over a year, becoming the longest reigning Cruiserweight Champion and the longest reigning champion of any kind in SmackDown history. After being out of action for over a year after neck fusion surgery Helms returned to SmackDown in September 2008, referring to himself as Hurricane Helms, before moving to

10324-538: The team name Assault and Battery. They later dubbed themselves The Serial Thrillaz, and won several independent tag championships. The pair also began wrestling in the Organization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA), which was founded by The Hardy Boyz ( Matt and Jeff ). The Serial Thrillaz won the OMEGA Tag Team Championship twice between 1997 and 1998, before they began competing for Southern Championship Wrestling (SCW). They won

10440-440: The time, Otani had not yet agreed to join the promotion, and in 2019, he said that this premature announcement was what led to him leaving New Japan, the promotion he had loved since his childhood, so suddenly. Hashimoto would meet with Otani and apologise for using his name without permission upon his return to Japan, but said that he had only done so because Otani was the main person he wished to see compete in Zero1, and that Otani

10556-503: The title as the "Cruiserweight Championship of the World", but the official name of the title was not changed to reflect this. On September 28, 2007, the title was vacated after the final champion, Hornswoggle , was stripped of the championship by SmackDown! General Manager , Vickie Guerrero . Hornswoggle had won the championship in a Cruiserweight Open at that year's The Great American Bash pay-per-view event. The last match contested for

10672-496: The title due to injury on September 2, 1992, it became inactive. Then, on March 20, 1996, Shinjiro Otani defeated Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit) in a decision match to win what then became known as the WCW Cruiserweight Championship. In March 2001, the WWF purchased WCW. Soon after, " The Invasion " took place, in which The Alliance was ultimately dismantled. Following the Survivor Series pay-per-view in November 2001,

10788-467: The title occurred on the August 31, 2007, episode of SmackDown! , where Hornswoggle successfully defended the title against Jamie Noble . After a six-month absence, WWE removed the championship from the active championship web page to the defunct championship list. In this way, the title was quietly retired. WWE lists its retirement year as 2007. Following the introduction of the brand split on March 25, 2002, all titles in WWE became exclusive to either

10904-523: The title to IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Koji Kanemoto in a double title match on April 16 in Hiroshima . Otani would turn his attention to the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in June where he would have his best outing to date, making it all the way to the final where he was narrowly defeated by former partner Wild Pegasus. By 1996, Otani had firmly established himself as a serious contender for

11020-599: The title was renamed the WWF Cruiserweight Championship, replacing the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship . After the introduction of the brand extension in March 2002, the championship became exclusive to the SmackDown! brand . The title was then renamed as the WWE Cruiserweight Championship after the WWF was renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in May that same year. Around 2005, WWE began referring to

11136-465: The title. He lost it in a Cruiserweight Open at No Way Out in 2007, thirteen months later, to Chavo Guerrero Jr. Psicosis had the shortest title reign, holding it for approximately one hour. Rey Mysterio Jr. had the most reigns at eight, spread across both WCW and WWE (five reigns in WCW and three in WWE). Three women held the championship; Madusa and Daffney both had reigns in WCW, while Jacqueline

11252-618: The titles, the team's fourth tag team title overall and their first in 15 years. On October 11 Otani defeated Minoru Tanaka (who had defeated him and Takaiwa in 2000, along with Koji Kanemoto , to end their second IWGP junior tag reign) to win both the Zero1 International and NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championships . After three successful defenses, he lost the titles to Kotaro Suzuki on February 3, 2017. After Otani won Real Japan Pro Wrestling (RJPW)'s Legend Championship in 2016, he again began occasionally competing in

11368-415: The two titles were considered distinct and did not share a common lineage. Following the introduction of the Light Heavyweight Championship in 1991 (which WCW had considered to be a separate title), a tournament was held to determine the inaugural champion. On October 27, Brian Pillman defeated Richard Morton in the tournament final to win the title. However, when Brad Armstrong was forced to relinquish

11484-625: The upcoming Furinkazan , where the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship would be awarded to the winner. Otani and Imanari defeated the Kubota Brothers (Yasu and Hide) in the final to win the tournament and the titles. In August 2021 he entered what would be his last Fire Festival, reaching the final where he fell to Takuya Sugawara . On April 10, 2022, Otani was booked to challenge Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah)'s Takashi Sugiura for Zero1's World Heavyweight Championship at Zero1's anniversary event in Ryogoku Kokugikan . At one point in

11600-546: The vacant UWA World Junior Lightweight Championship , beating UWFi representative Kazushi Sakuraba . He held the title until August, when he was one of the wrestlers who entered their championship into the J-Crown ; his defeat to Ultimo Dragon in the semi-final of the inaugural J-Crown Champion tournament meant that he relinquished the UWA World Junior Lightweight Championship. Almost a year later on August 10, 1997, he would capture

11716-782: The video game for the Xbox . Additionally, he is featured in WWE 2K22 as a DLC character ( Stand Back Pack ) alongside A-Kid , Wes Lee , and Stacy Keibler . Helms was born in Smithfield, North Carolina , but he was raised in Wooster, Ohio . Helms is a comic book fan, and one of his favorite characters is the Green Lantern . He has a tattoo on his right shoulder which is the Lantern's logo and his original WWE character, The Hurricane,

11832-523: Was able to roll up The Rock from behind after The Rock was distracted by Stone Cold Steve Austin 's appearance on the ramp. In August 2003, The Hurricane "discovered" Rosey's potential as a superhero and christened him "Rosey, the Super Hero in Training" (the "S.H.I.T."). On May 1, at Backlash , The Hurricane and Rosey defeated La Résistance in the finals of a Tag Team Turmoil match to win

11948-667: Was alleged to have obtained HGH. WWE has since made a statement on this situation, mentioning that the allegations preceded the Talent Wellness program WWE launched in April 2006. On August 30, 2007, an article by Sports Illustrated named Helms and nine other wrestlers to be given growth hormone not in compliance with the WWE Talent Wellness program. He was said to have received testosterone , HGH and nandrolone between November 2003 and February 2007. In June 2012, Helms' girlfriend gave birth to his first child,

12064-413: Was announced by Zero-One Max's parent company, First On Stage, that Otani would solely take over from Yoshiyuki Nakamura as president of Zero-One Max, taking office on January 23, 2008, as Nakamura became the new director of First On Stage. After taking over as president, Otani further expanded the promotion's working deal with NJPW, which led to an inter-promotional feud between the two beginning in 2008. As

12180-530: Was announced that Helms signed with Ring of Honor . He worked as wrestler and producer, including a feud against Marty Scurll . On January 28, 2018, at the Royal Rumble , Helms, as The Hurricane, entered the titular match as a surprise entrant at number 21 but was quickly eliminated by John Cena . One year later on January 28, 2019, it was announced that he would return to WWE in a backstage producer role. On July 19, 2019, The Hurricane attempted to win

12296-463: Was created in 2016, and although both championships had shared the same name (before the newer title was renamed to NXT Cruiserweight Championship in 2019), the newer championship did not carry the lineage of the original. The newer title also had a different weight limit of 205 lbs (93 kg) before the championship was retired in 2022. The championship was originally created as the WCW Cruiserweight Championship on March 20, 1996. However, after

12412-420: Was drafted to the ECW brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft . Helms made his ECW debut as a backstage interviewer on April 28, 2009, reverting to his Gregory Helms ring name, interviewing Evan Bourne . He started a storyline where, while he was interviewing someone, a scripted accident would occur, leading to Helms leaving the interview seconds before the person in distress was saved by The Hurricane. On

12528-406: Was free to stay with New Japan if he wished. Otani, convinced by Hashimoto's words and concerned about Hashimoto feeling alone after his firing from New Japan, agreed to join Zero1 as one of the founders. Otani would relay his decision to New Japan officials soon after, who accepted his decision; he was also told by then head-booker Riki Choshu that the door was always open for a potential return in

12644-498: Was in Team Rated-RKO , and Hardy was a member of Team DX ; Team Rated-RKO lost the match. Helms went on to feud with Jimmy Wang Yang over the Cruiserweight Championship, after a tag team match in which Matt Hardy and Yang defeated Helms and Sylvan on the November 10 episode of SmackDown! . The feud ended after Helms defeated him to retain the title at Armageddon in December 2006. In 2007, Helms once again feuded with

12760-621: Was later renamed to Achichi Otani , a character that seemed to gain the power of fire, as Otani would seemingly burn opponents and partners with a single touch. Otani would also establish a working relationship between Zero-One Max and New Japan Pro Wrestling , which led to Otani appearing in a New Japan ring for the first time since February 2001 on October 8, 2005, in the Tokyo Dome . Otani and his Zero-One Max team of Kamikaze, Ryoji Sai and Kohei Sato were defeated by Hiroyoshi Tenzan , Takashi Iizuka , Naofumi Yamamoto and Yutaka Yoshie . He would again return to New Japan on January 4, 2006, in

12876-430: Was narrowly defeated by former partner and then-current NWA United National Heavyweight Champion Masato Tanaka , the beginning of a rivalry between the former partners. The two would have several steel cage matches against each other throughout the summer, as Otani formed an alliance with Takao Omori after he was betrayed by former ally Wataru Sakata , who instead formed a new tag team with Tanaka. This culminated in

12992-433: Was pressing on his spinal cord. He underwent surgery with Dr. Lloyd Youngblood to repair them approximately a week later. Following the surgery, Helms was announced to be out for a year and a half due to the injury. Helms returned on the September 19, 2008, episode of SmackDown in a non-wrestling role. Throughout the show, he appeared in short video promos, called "Hurrapops", referring to himself as "Hurricane Helms",

13108-405: Was the only woman to win it after it became a WWE championship. Shinjiro Otani Shinjiro Otani ( 大谷晋二郎 , Ōtani Shinjirō , born July 21, 1972) is a Japanese semi-retired professional wrestler and the current acting president of Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). He is currently inactive from pro-wrestling competition due to a cervical spine injury sustained in April 2022. A product of

13224-489: Was thrown into the "Lake of Reincarnation", and emerged as his 3 Count alter ego "Sugar" Shane Helms, and after insulting Lee and Everett's dance moves, was once again knocked into the lake by his teammates, Helms would later emerge from the lake as the Hurricane, where he would go on to assist Matt Hardy in defeating Lee and Everett. On June 19, 2017 Helms announced his departure from Impact Wrestling. In June 2018, it

13340-548: Was unable to overcome champion Norio Honaga and lost by referee's decision at Ryogoku Kokugikan . He received a big opportunity at the annual "Dream Win" card on October 30, where he was defeated by Keiji Muto , one of the top stars of New Japan in a singles match. Otani won the first championship of his career on December 13, 1994, beating Norio Honaga to win the UWA World Welterweight Championship . After two successful defences, he dropped

13456-472: Was won in Tokyo, Japan as part of an interpromotional card between New Japan Pro-Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling . Gregory Helms Gregory Shane Helms (born July 12, 1974) is an American professional wrestler . He is signed to WWE under a legends contract, as a wrestler and as a backstage producer. In WWE, Helms has wrestled as The Hurricane , Gregory Helms , and Hurricane Helms . He

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