Shane Helms Talks Backstage Incident With Buff Bagwell, Steve Austin's Response, Kidman Angle
On a recent episode of Sam Roberts' Wrestling Podcast, Shane 'The Hurricane' Helms talked about the infamous Booker T versus Marcus 'Buff' Bagwell match in the main event of WWE Monday Night RAW on July 2, 2001. Also, Helms talked about his behind-the-scenes altercation with Bagwell and the WWE roster's reaction to the incident.
According to Helms, when WCW folded and some of the WCW talents were brought over to WWE, Helms was originally set to feud with Chavo Guerrero over the WCW Cruiserweight Championship before dropping the title to Billy Kidman. Apparently, the Booker T match with Bagwell was so poorly received that Helms's angle with Kidman was hotshotted.
"[Booker T versus Bagwell on RAW] wasn't good at all and Booker is the last guy [who should] take the blame for that. It wasn't anything to do with Booker T. It had nothing to do with him. Everybody knows pretty much what happened. Booker T did everything he could do, but you can't get blood from a turnip." Helms added, "I was going to eventually drop the title to Billy Kidman in Atlanta [Georgia], which is where Billy's from. It was kind of the WCW home base, Atlanta, anyway. And then Billy was going to go on and unify the title with X-Pac, which is what they ended up doing. But that angle got hotshotted because Booker T [and] Bagwell had such a bad match."
As previously reported, Bagwell claimed to have had an altercation with Helms when they were initially brought over to WWE from WCW. During the podcast, Helms suggested that Bagwell's version of the events were exaggerated, as Helms threw a 10-ounce plastic water bottle at Bagwell, not a large frozen glass water bottle. Also, Helms pointed out that none of the other wrestlers who witnessed the incident substantiate Bagwell's account.
"He said something and I burned him really bad and he got like all offended by it." Helms continued, "and he came and hit me in the damn ear. He's like standing on the floor and he outweighs me by 50 pounds anyway. Everybody in there knows I banged my shoulder up, so then he comes and hits me from behind and I kind of just threw [a water bottle] at him like this and then I jumped out of the ring. And this was just kind of to distract him because now I'm going to go punch him in the face, but he f–king cracked his head open, and he was bleeding all over the place, and I'm like, 'oh, f–k'. I really didn't intend for it to do that and I didn't think it would. I don't know. I guess the water in it made it harder."
See Also: Buff Bagwell Reveals How Much He Lost To Join WWE In 2001
Helms stated that he gained the respect of the WWE locker room following his incident with Bagwell.
"When I got to WWE TV the next week, The Acolytes, APA, Ron [Simmons] and [John] Bradshaw [Layfield], took my bags and put them on the WWE side. The locker room was really segregated in those days, WWE on one side and WCW on the other." Helms added, "Steve Austin went and pat me on the back."
In addition to these topics, 'The Hurricane' discussed getting his start on the indies, his superhero gimmick, and more. Click here to listen to the podcast. If you use any of the quotes from this article, please credit Sam Roberts' Wrestling Podcast with an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
Source: Sam Roberts' Wrestling Podcast