10 Wrestlers That Were Better Off Without The Mask

9. Gregory Helms

Juventud Guerrera Mask No Mask
WWE.com

The Hurricane may be one of the most beloved WWE characters of all time, but it was difficult to ever take him serious inside the ring. The masked superhero gave us many moments to remember, but despite the fun it always felt like something of a waste of the talents of Gregory Helms.

The superhero gimmick was dropped in 2005, and Helms certainly made the most of the change.

Wrestling under his real name and without the mask, Helms went on to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship and he managed to hold onto the belt for over a year, becoming the longest-reigning champion of any kind in SmackDown history. Helms was also treated as a serious competitor outside of the division, something of a novelty for any cruiserweight in WWE that wasn't called Rey Mysterio.

The Hurricane was fun, but once the mask was shed Gregory Helms could truly flourish.

 
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Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.