Sheamus exploded on the scene in WWE by feuding with Cody Rhodes, and it began a fast paced opening to his career where he became the third fastest to win his first WWE Championship at 166 days on this day in wrestling history on December 13, 2009.
In many ways, the hard hitting Sheamus was the perfect choice for the WWE Championship, but it came with a lot of question marks, especially among fans.
It difficult for fans to buy into someone that’s so new unless they’re an imposing giant, like the Big Show as The Giant in WCW.
Many felt the same way when Chris Jericho won the Undisputed Championship. While Jericho wasn’t well known, there wasn’t a solid build for him to win.
Sheamus had the same problem on top of being new.
Proving himself
The biggest problem a new champion has, especially when there’s a single top championship and they’re the face of the company, is proving themselves worthy of the chance they’ve been given.
It’s something Sheamus understood, as he explained in an interview. Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the transcript.
“The first person I called was my closest friend. I was like, ‘This is mad!’ I just had the title in my hand at the hotel room and the whole thing was just crazy, it just didn’t register at the time. Everyone was like ‘What the f—’s going on?’ But when you win it, that’s great, it’s fantastic and you shock the world. But, then I had to go and prove to everybody including myself that this was not a fluke.” – Sheamus, PaddyPower interview October 9, 2019.
While their Tables Match may not go down as one to remember, the moment and opportunity it represented was a golden one.
Moving on
Sheamus didn’t hold onto the championship for as long as some may have wanted, and since he’s improved but the top title has avoided him for one reason or another.
He still puts on great matches, with some of his best with other physical wrestlers like Drew McIntyre, and he’d be a pretty fun matchup for Roman Reigns at some point, but we doubt that’ll happen any time soon.
We’d love to see Sheamus with another championship run. Who do you think he should face to add to his resume? Let us know in the comments below.
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