Sheamus discusses his current run in WWE.
"The Celtic Warrior" is one of the most tenured members of the WWE roster, as he debuted in 2009. He nearly had his career come to a premature conclusion in 2019, when the four-time world champion went down with a concussion shortly after WrestleMania 35. He was sidelined for several months before he returned in January 2020. Since he came back, Sheamus has consistently garnered praise for putting on great matches or, as he would say, banger after banger. Along with Ridge Holland and Butch, he has become a fan-favorite star, and his enthusiasm in the ring is evident.
Speaking with CBSSports' Shakiel Mahjouri on SHAK Wrestling, Sheamus was asked about the fans' response to his current run and the feeling that he's on the best run of his career, he made it clear that he's enjoying it. He looked back on how fans pushed against him earlier in his WWE career because it felt like management was forcing him down their throats. Sheamus then made it clear that, over a decade after his debut, he's more passionate than ever.
“Oh, it’s an incredible feeling. It kinda came out of left field, to be honest. I’ve kinda been doing this my whole career. I’m very, very physical in the ring. I think there’s a couple things at the beginning of my career that kind of muttered that, the whole stories with Triple H and some other stories backstage were total BS. But I just feel like, no matter what I did, especially in 2012, when I was world champion, the stuff with [Daniel] Bryan, it didn’t matter what I did. The crowd would turn against me because they thought the machine was behind me. No matter how hard I beat him my body, I just wasn’t gonna win them over. So I went away and I came back as a heel. But yeah, I love what I do. I’m still very passionate about what I do, probably more passionate now than I’ve ever been," Sheamus said.
Sheamus also looked back on his time away from the ring in 2019, when he wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep wrestling. He recalled how seeing the WWE Intercontinental Championship at Edge's house inspired him to keep pushing forward because he wanted to win the title.
“I was actually at Edge’s house, and I saw his titles on the wall, and I saw the IC Title. I was like, 'I can’t give up now. I’m so close to getting that piece in the puzzle.' It motivated me to get back and come back in the best shape possible," Sheamus said.
In the past, Sheamus has expressed his interest in winning the Intercontinental Championship because doing so would make him a WWE Grand Slam Champion. He unsuccessfully challenged Gunther for the gold at WWE Clash at the Castle, and the match was widely viewed as one of WWE's best matches of the year.
In the same interview, Sheamus described how he tries to treat every match like it's on WrestleMania. Check out his comments here.
Sheamus previously said his match against Gunther at WWE Clash at the Castle was the biggest moment of his career. Click here to see what he had to say.
Check out the card for this week's episode of WWE SmackDown here.
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