Shane Helms on Rumble Appearance, His Chokeslam Spot, Roman Reigns

The Sporting News held a recent interview with Shane Helms discussing his surprise appearance at the Royal Rumble, duplicating the Stone Cold and Triple H chokeslam spot with John Cena, and sharing a heartfelt moment with Roman Reigns backstage.

On the topic of his surprise appearance at this year’s Royal Rumble, Helms stated he originally had a Macho Man inspired entrance planned for his appearance but had to cut it short due to a timing miscue. He was also in awe at the very loud crowd reaction he got for his surprise appearance.

“That reaction kind of caught me off guard. I had never worn that cape in WWE. That cape is kind of inspired by Randy Savage. I have it hooked to my wrist so that I have a full wing span. I planned to spin around in a full circle and let everybody see the whole cape and everything, but I couldn’t hear my music anymore. I heard ‘Stand back,’ and the crowd was so loud that I couldn’t hear my music. I thought they cut it off. In my mind, if they cut it off, that means I have to get my ass in the ring. So that’s why I cut my entrance short.”

On the topic of duplicating his memorable Royal Rumble chokeslam spot with John Cena, Helms stated Cena had some reservations about doing it because he did not want to be the one to eliminate him afterwards. After some talks, he managed to get Cena on board with the idea to do the spot.

“If I was going to duplicate that spot, it wouldn’t have worked with anybody else. It had to be him. He had some reservations about throwing me out. John Cena is still a babyface regardless of how people react to him, so he had some reservations about throwing out the superhero. But talking to him, I said my character thinks he’s King Kong, so he’s going after Godzilla. Then he shook his head and grinned. He was so gracious and went along with it. If he says no, there’s nothing I can do, so I give a lot of credit and respect to John.”

On the topic of the heartfelt moment he shared with Roman Reigns backstage, Helms stated they mainly talked about Rosey and their memories of him.

“He does favor Rosey a lot. Anytime I see him I’m always going to think of Rosey. He was a person I cared about a lot and was really saddened by his passing. I didn’t even see the photographer there. They captured that really good moment, and I just have to thank them for that.”