WWE Is Losing More Than Just Sheamus
- Thomas Hall
- 16 hours ago
- 6 min read
There have been a lot of wrestlers throughout WWE’s history. I can’t imagine how high the number goes, but it is likely in the thousands when you add up all of those names over all of those decades. Only a handful of them have become the biggest names in the company’s history, with the majority of them in the middle. One of the latter announced his departure from WWE this week and we’re going to take a special look at him here.
Earlier this week, Sheamus of all people announced that he would be leaving WWE after about twenty years (counting his time in developmental). This was one of those ideas that was almost hard to fathom, as there are very few stars with the resume like Sheamus. He has been such a standard for WWE for so long that it would be hard to imagine him actually leaving. Sheamus has been around for such a long time and it’s fascinating to look back at what he accomplished in the company.
Sheamus Is A Future WWE Hall Of Famer
Sheamus' WWE Championship Wins | Number Of Reigns | Won From |
|---|---|---|
WWE Championship | 3 |
|
King Of The Ring 2010  | N/A |
|
WWE United States Championship | 3 |
|
Royal Rumble 2012  | N/A | 3 Eliminations:
|
World Heavyweight Championship | 1 | Daniel Bryan (WrestleMania XXVIII)  |
Money In The Bank 2015  | N/A | Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Neville, Kofi Kingston, Kane & Dolph Ziggler |
WWE Raw Tag Team Championship | 4 |
|
WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship | 1 | The New Day (SmackDown #1000, October 16, 2018)  |
While Sheamus has an absolute Hall Of Fame resume (four World Titles, three US Titles, five Tag Team Titles and winner of the King Of The Ring, Money In The Bank and the Royal Rumble (Edge is the only other person to win all three)), but that’s not what we’re going to look at here. Instead, we’re going to look at what Sheamus became over the years and how valuable of a spot he filled.
Sheamus represents something you do not often see: the reliable, middle of the pack star who can do just about anything. If you needed a World Title challenger, he could easily be slotted in. He was solid in the midcard (missing only that pesky Intercontinental Title reign) and as a tag wrestler, as you could have him be a partner for a smaller wrestler or as part of a big bruising team. There are a lot of talented stars on the WWE roster, but how many of them can be put into that many spots?
That’s where Sheamus tended to shine, as he was the definition of a star who could be put into almost any role on the roster and fit in perfectly. He might not have been locked into the main event scene (though he was there occasionally) but he was a perennial upper midcard guy who always felt like something of a threat. You do not get that kind of an option available most of the time and it is something incredibly valuable.
Why Sheamus Was So Valuable To WWE
That concept is something that is so often missing in wrestling today. It feels like so many wrestlers have to be elevated to the main event picture most of the time. That might be a good idea in principle, but there are some wrestlers who are just not cut out to be that high on the card.
That’s not a bad thing, as people like Sheamus, Tito Santana and the Miz (among others) have had some outstanding careers doing just that in WWE. You might see them in the main event scene from time to time, but it’s not like it lasts very long (aside from his one World Heavyweight Championship reign, Sheamus’ longest time as World Champion was about three months). The thing is, look how easy it was to build Sheamus up into a World Title contender. A few Brogue Kicks and there he is, ready to challenge any champion you need. That’s hard to do, but Sheamus was a perfect choice for the role.
How Sheamus' Wrestling Style Evolved
In addition to his past accolades, one of the things that made Sheamus so easy to reheat was how basic (not a bad thing) he eventually became in the ring. He became a great example of “you know what you’re going to get, but he’s going to do it really well”. Sheamus was not a complex character. He was a big, strong guy who was going to hit you really hard.
Look at his signature moves: some forearms to the chest, an Air Raid Crash and a pump kick. It’s not like this is someone out there doing complicated, intricate offense. Sheamus was out there to hit you really hard and pin you, often after a heck of a match (you could always tell how hard he was working based on how matted down his hair was with sweat). That worked so well for him and it shouldn’t be a shock that his work got that much better when he stopped doing everything else and stuck to his basics.
It’s a combination that worked very well, because anyone can understand the idea of some big strong guy kicking someone in the face to knock them senseless. That makes Sheamus someone who can be put into so many programs against pretty much anyone. Let him go out there and do his thing against anyone, either as a bully (which might be his best work), or as a hero standing up for the right thing.
Sheamus Vs. Mark Henry's Hall Of Pain
That brings me to what might have been my favorite moment of Sheamus’ career. Mark Henry was the new monster force on the SmackDown roster and was riding high with the Hall Of Pain. Henry was saying he wanted anyone to come face him but no one was crazy enough to actually want to try that. It was a moment for someone to step up, which brought out Sheamus.
With General Manager Teddy Long in the ring, Sheamus got right to the point, saying “If you’re looking for a fella to fight him, I’ll fight him.” A quick skirmish led to Henry being sent outside and Sheamus grabbing a chair to tell him to come on. If you ignore Sheamus telling an Irish story about a king turning someone into a bag of human waste, that was a perfect segment, with Sheamus turning good in the process.
So why did this work? It’s a couple of reasons, with one of them being that anyone can get behind the idea of standing up to a bully. Henry was out there hurting people who were no threat to him and then he had someone out there fighting against him who could stand up for himself. That has worked in every form of media everywhere for the better part of ever and it worked for Sheamus against Henry here.
Second, it’s something people wanted to see. You knew what you were going to get with Sheamus and now he was fighting for the other side. Could Henry crush Sheamus like everyone else? Maybe, but Sheamus could kick Henry’s head off just as fast. That makes for an interesting situation and that’s what they had, leading to a hard hitting fight at Summerslam (where Sheamus lost, albeit by countout so he was at least protected a little bit).
Sheamus' Lasting Legacy In WWE
WWE had something rather valuable in Sheamus, as you do not often get you hands on such a jack of all trades. Sheamus was incredibly versatile and was used in several different spots over the course of his career (I didn’t even get into his time with Cesaro as the rather good Bar). Wrestlers who can be put out there as a solid midcard to upper midcard (and occasionally higher) hand are incredibly valuable and WWE seemed to understand that.
Sheamus was never going to be some all time star or the face of the company. The catch is that is just fine, as there is always a spot for someone like Sheamus who can go out there and wreck some people. Rather than having him be some disaster in the main event scene (ala Jack Swagger), Sheamus never felt like he was pushed too hard for too long and he did some great stuff for about twenty years.