Sheamus is the New #1 Contender for the WWE Title

[Midnite Express 2009]

I agree with you jamesland but I think if you're going with that logic, why not place the Miz in this match instead? It just seems Sheamus came out of nowhere and NO ONE expects him to defeat Cena, so in essence I believe your theory to be correct, I think they should have someone who could have given Cena a good match and the fans an entertaining one. Have the Miz would have revamped their previous feud, given Cena the chance to appear he could have been beaten and someone to talk back and forth with on the mic. Did you see Sheamus trying to talk? It looked awful. I disagree with you say the Miz isn't ready, he's the freakin U.S. champ lol. How NOT ready is he if he's the U.S. champ? Is Sheamus? No. Has he ever been? No. Just saying...

 

[2rowdy4u]

i for one was happy to see him win. i was pulling for him. i see him being a future main eventer. i know he prob wont win but its a way to put him up there and headline a ppv. i dnt know why people are upset look at guys like umaga, kozlov, masters, and khali all boring guys who dident deserve to be #1 contenders and khali actually won the world tittle. as far as kofi goes i want to see him and orton feud more b4 he gets his shot and dibaise needs to turn on legacy b4 he gets his shot at the tittle

 

[Toroc102]

Geez, Kofi seems to be the one everyone thinks should've won, but I'm a big fan of his and I know going in with Cena would've been bad bad bad for him.

He is currently in the process of a star turning feud with Randy Orton, the biggest heel in the game right now. Why would the WWE drop that so he could go into a match with Cena that he probably wouldn't win, AS the underdog so he'd probably come off looking weak afterwards, as a FACE so that he splits the crowd(I'm guessing Cena would probably steal the kid pop from Kofi at this point while he'd get the usual treatment from adult males.) Kofi is not ready to be in a Main-Event feud with a bigger face star than he is. If he wins the World Title it will be from whichever Heel beats Cena for it.

This is a throw away PPV Cena was more than likely NOT going to lose here no matter who he faced, Sheamus has the least to lose by jobbing to Cena and the most to gain from just being in the program with him. After he loses at TLC he can just go on a rampage for two months afterwards and build on w/e heat he gets now.

Legacy? Both of those guys would be the underdogs in any program with Cena and neither would be likely to win and they are just about as over as Sheamus is. They're basically in the same situation Kofi would be in and the Miz was in earlier this year. You can never go in as the underdog against a face and not win or you just look like you're getting squashed, and its even worse when your a heel(as I said before this also applies to The Miz, losing to Cena for something like the 4th time this year(most likely in convincing fashion)would kill the momentum he's been building up for the past 4 months).

I believe they only seriously considered Sheamus and Swagger for this and ended up picking Sheamus because he can deliever a more menacing promo and he just looks plain more intimidating.

 

[matman8540]

I like Sheamus getting the title shot. This is just like back in the old days of the WWWF, when a new heel would come in, beat up on the "enhancement talent" such as Johnny Rivera and Frank Williams. Then he'd get the coveted Madison Square Garden Monday night title shot against Bruno. I think this will give Sheamus a better rub, and sustain him for quite a while. No, he will not win the title. He will raise up to be a bigger player.

 

[arun_is_wrestling]

i was happy this past raw. the body was talking about what the iwc was wanting for a while. he was talking about pushing new, stars and letting the same people not get title shots and he named them. we had new talent going at it and we will see how this turns out for sheamus. im lookinmg forward to it. it was a good raw this week, but i guess people still complain, even when they get what they want in some form or another.

 

[Vee Dub Represent]

Knowing Vince, this is probably another one of his subtle fuck you's. He sees people complain for a whole summer about the same people being put in the main event and that there should be someone new. So he probably decided, fine, you want someone new, we will give you the rookie on the roster, enjoy!

 

[MVs Prodigy]

To anyone that is bitching, or wants to bitch...SAVE IT. You want young guys pushed, and then bitch when it happens. Why does it have to be the guys you choose? How much do you really know about how the buisness works?

Sheamus is solid in the ring, and gets shit because he's squashing nobodies. Well, here's his chance to show he belongs. It's sink or swim time, and you're all tying rocks to his feet. How shocked would you be if he came out, and had a MOTY-type performance with Cena?

I'm not saying this is going to be the greatest thing ever, but at least give the guy a chance. This is as close to getting what you want as you're going to be.

I want to first start off and thank this guy because he is right, we are not the creative writers. They know what is best and apparently Sheamus in his short time has impressed them enough.

Secondly, if you did not know I had a poll a few weeks back to see who the viewers were interested in pushing to face Cena. Obviously, you all were wrong by choosing Swagger. Whoever choce Sheamus was correct.

Anyways enough b.s.ing because Sheamus is getting pushed first like it or not. If the WWE has Sheamus win (most likely not) he will become the biggest badass in WWE history. But since he is facing Superman..... oops I mean Cena this will be short but fresh because Cena isnt facing the same ol guys now.

All you guys should give Sheamus a break I really think this PPV match will push him big time and give him a chance to prove to all of us he is the real deal. But he shouldnt win, have him lose then go on into the rumble and destroy supertstars nearly breaking Kane's elimination record but lose being the 3rd guy left. Then win the title at elimination chamber.

Im really high on this guy and WWE made the right move, because giving the shot to legacy wouldnt be the same since Orton isnt champ. Kofi needs to continue his feud w/ Orton. Swagger should be the next pushed, or MVP by turning him back into his magnificant heel gimmick.

 

[Paradox]

Honestly, I don't know what I think. On one hand its good. Its fresh, something all of us have been praying for. While on the other hand Sheamus really hasn't done much. Though I'm going to try and look at the bright side of this.

It's a B ppv, so to have a new guy in there isn't going to hurt, it gives Sheamus a chance to perform on a stage that he hasn't been on before. It's a filler ppv to the Rumble so he won't win. It's there to give a solid midcarder exposure. From that stand point it works.

Now I can see were people are pissed off that move to put him in there. Here's my thought on it. Kofi is still in a program with Orton, that's not going to end. Kofi is going to have his time soon. Orton is really giving him the rub right now. So, I knew that he wasn't going to win. The you have Miz, or Swagger. These two are kinda of in a program right now, each trying to one up the other. I think these guys are going to be behind Kofi, but their feud with each other is only going to build them both up. Like Rock and Trips did in 98. . .

Now with those guys there was going to be a problem if they faced Cena. They would all lose a ton of momentum if they faced Cena now. Look, Kofi is getting his push into the main event, he isn't completely there yet, but he gets another win or two over a main eventer he's there. Him losing to Cena would bring him back down. Same with Miz he's having a nice run with the belt, no reason to hurt him by having him lose to Cena. Swagger seems to be trying to find out where he is on Raw. His feud with Miz will help that. If he was just thrown into a match with Cena that would throw him down further than he has been.

So from those reasons I can see why Creative chose him. It's not going to hurt him to lose to Cena. . . He has a good showing, its just going to bring him up.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I have very mixed feelings about this. On one hand I'm very happy that the #1 contendor is NOT orton or triple H.... but on the other hand, it might be too early to be pushing Sheamus to the main event when 1- he has never held ANY title, and 2- he was not even on the roster a year ago. It's still better than seeing the same guys in the title picture all the time, at least it will be something new. I do agree with some of the previous posts that it should have been Swagger or someone else who has already had a title before, because it feels too soon for Sheamus to be in a wwe title match.... but it could be worse, it could be Cena VS Orton (or Triple H) for the millionth time. I think Cena VS Sheamus will be interesting, and it's a match we haven't really seen before.
_

 

[hermogenes]

I like this match. If anything, it's new and refreshing!

Althought nobody can see Sheamus win, I think WWE are hoping John Cena to make him look good. I predict Sheamus will be treated as an upper-midcard heel from here on and take the US title sometime in 2010 and perhaps be back in the WWE title picture by 2011.

It also might be a marketing move towards getting viewers in the UK(mostly Ireland), just like having Khali in the title picture was a way to get India viewers.

I believe John Cena is going in for a long champion run, right up until WM where things might change. This seems like the same formula as with is first long run as champion, where he defeated the likes of Umaga and Khali, who although portrayed as beasts (sort of what they are trying to do with Sheamus but slightly different) never really had a chance of winning.

My two cents!

 

[jayteeERA]

The main concern here is that Sheamus hasn't done anything yet. Sure its a B PPV, Its a good swerve to everybody. Only major person this guy beat was Shelton B and that wasn't impressive. Is it gonna be interesting? Yes. But this is a big risk sheamus is taking. He might be champ in 3 weeks or next year, Or he will be another Masters and Vlad.

 

[a7xoff]

Hmmm Sheamus is the number 1 contender.... That's actually kind of interesting to me. When I was watching Raw and saw him in the battle royal against basically the entire upper middle card I was like. "Yep he's just there to take up space." Apparently not though as he is now the number 1 contender. Is it too soon for him? Perhaps, but if you take a look at the current middle card... Kofi is occupied, MVP is kinda occupied as is Mark Henry if those two are still doing the tag team thing, Miz is busy. The point is the majority of the middle card is already doing something. For Sheamus the option is to do one of the following. 1.) Continue to work and squash anyone who bears no significance and wind up like Gene Snitsky with no real credability. 2.) Go straight for the title, which is the choice the WWE has taken, and it cold be very interesting. We still don't know too much about Sheamus or his character, so who knows he may wind up not being a heel who runs away from Cena like Edge and Orton. He may be the first one since Big Show and Umaga to actually go after Cena a little bit as well as keeping a safe distance from harm.

 

[Coco]

Will Sheamus be taken serious as number one contender? Not really. I guess he'll be taken as seriously as we take Rey Mysterio these days or as we took Umaga when he faced Cena or Khali when he squashed Undertaker.

I don't see this is the biggest pile of fail of all time though. WWE spends years creating a massive disconnect between the main event and the midcard and suddenly we're supposed to be shocked or outraged that new guys seem so out of place when getting pushed? I'm not. This is just the natural order given what's happened for the last few years. Sheamus has been making the right friends, will get his shot at Cena, lose but look strong in the process, and the tag title match, Kofi-Orton, and maybe even Taker's match will get higher billing to prevent this show from being an unspeakable disaster. I'm willing to settle for that explaination. Cena can't have "OH MY GOD, THE MOST EPIC MATCH OF ALL TIME!!!" every month, so I think if we're going to have a filler match, moving someone up in the ranks is the way to go.

DiBiase and Rhodes are bland and awful and I think (Read: hope) WWE is getting tired of them. Yeah, their fathers were big deals. But their fathers were also distinct. No reason to push their bland offsprings when they're about as cookie-cutter boring as possible. Christian going over both of them at Survivor Series is hopefully a sign of where their careers are headed.

Kofi, the second choice to push towards the belt in all probability, SHOULD NOT have won that match if WWE has learned ANYTHING in recent years. Punk's top face run died by pushed him against Batista. Cena's face heat suffered it's biggest blow against a newly turned (and thus unproven as a top heel for the moment) Chris Jericho who still had plenty of face heat for himself. Kofi's career would have crashed and burned if he had been the one face Cena as he's not as likely to get effectively turned like Punk or pushed anyway like Cena. Kofi finishes his hot feud with Orton and someone else takes the rub from the title feud. Two birds, one stone, safer/better booking.

Swagger would have been a nice choice. But like I said, Sheamus has the right friends. Since he has no chance of winning, I can live with this.

*Edit*

Miz... He's being build up very well right now to the point that when they pull the trigger on him in the main event, it will feel right. No reason to hot shot him when he doesn't need the rub. Him vs. Cena at TLC would hurt him by jumping the gun on his slow push.

 

[CH David]

I have to say that I got pretty damn excited Sheamus won last night. After the match I was talking to Thriller about this idea, and wondered whether or not it was too soon. When you consider how most of the roster is looking, there aren't too many people with nothing to do like Sheamus. Swagger could have been a good idea, but he hasn't really done anything, and he and Miz have their little thing, or had it, I don't know if that is still going.

Why are people saying Kofi over Sheamus? You want to ruin what is probably the best thing going on Raw? Kofi is being elevated by Orton and will get his shot. I can't see MVP or Mark Henry right now, as both are doing the tag team deal, and the only way I would see either getting it right now is if one were a heel, which obviously they aren't. Ted and Cody were not going to win. I didn't even think about Ted's possibility to win at all, I thought he would be in there to help Randy or to just get eliminated.

Now I understand Sheamus hasn't done anything lately, and that he "must be blowing Hunter for this" at least some people think that, but maybe he has impressed people backstage? His work ethic has certainly impressed Triple H, so that helps him. Maybe they just want him to get his feet wet, mostly because it is a B rated PPV. It doesn't hurt the overall PPV, and if they put on a good show could legitimize Sheamus.

Since it is a Table match, it will help Sheamus get comfortable, as I highly doubt anyone would think he could get Cena down for a three count. But with the tables, it could make the crowd think he has a legit chance of winning. I highly doubt Sheamus will win, but I hope they make him at least look like a legit player on Raw, even if it just happens to be in the upper midcard.

 

[whoopwhoop12]

UM... I don't get it either. Sheamus??? Who is this guy? He never got over on ECW, and he gets no reaction on RAW. Now what, we have to watch him fight with Cena? Neither of the two can carry a match by themselves, so how are both of them supposed to put on a match? Yea it's nice to see someone new in the title picture, but come on Sheamus is nothing more than HHH workout buddy and pal, that is the only reason he is getting this push. And how smart is HHH, DX couldn't beat Cena, so they let Sheamus put him through a table and destroy him. Makes DX look pathetic. The only way I see this guy getting over is if they put Hornswoggle with him.

First off, did you see the crowd last night? the majority of the time the crowd was dead. Neither men got a reaction. For everyone critiquing Sheamus, his loudest pop came in MSG when he attacked "The King". Now, correct me if i'm wrong, but usually in NY, won't most people heckle you if you are not appreciated or nobody for that matter? He went after Lawler and got massive heat. Hersey, PA crowd this past monday didn't do anything for anybody. No reaction to Ventura, Cena or Sheamus later on that night. The crowd was dead. Just that crowd. Not even the WWE's top babyface could have gotten over as much unless if he was screaming and bitching like he did toward him saying the "WWE is his life". C'mon.

 

[Suneeboy]

As many people have mentioned, we finally, and I say that with such thunder in my voice….FINALLY get something different after months and months of the same merry-go-round main event and then people complain. I really don’t understand. If you really look at it, Sheamus is the best choice because they can build him up as very credible over these next 3 weeks. He looked intense in his promo with Cena last night, and if he can be very vicious in his interactions with him it will have a nice feel to it come the PPV. Remember he doesn’t have to pin Cena either….all he has to do is put him through a table, so they can build it that he actually can win the match.

The character is VERY unpredictable. He can snap at any second and be very brutal and violent to his opponent. Since the audience doesn’t really know the character they can elevate it to a new level. Also, Cena can sell very well and I think he will make Sheamus look strong. I may be reaching, but who knows….with Cena filming a movie soon imagine if they gave Sheamus the belt! I’m bored with the Cena character so much that I would welcome a Sheamus title run if he can be a Brock Lesnar moster heel. But I digress.

Now on to the complaining…who else should get the title shot? No one but Sheamus. Here’s a brief rundown of the RAW midcard.

Ted Dibiase – in Legacy and has been squashed by Cena too many times in the past. Not a credible opponent right now for a title shot.
Jack Swagger – He looks like a kid, and can’t be taken seriously as a title contender in my opinion. Cena would be out to “teach him a lesson in respect”. Boring.
Kofi Kingston – why end the awesome Orton feud so early? Then what would Orton do?
MVP – Hell no. Smiley babyface who jumps around. Can’t even beat the Miz, he’s going to battle Cena? Character has no credibility to fight for the title.
Mark Henry – Do I really need to say why?
Cody Rhodes – see Ted Dibiase
The Miz – just got squashed by Cena a few months ago. It would kill the US title which is picking up steam. Let him feud in the midcard.
Chavo/Santino/Evan Bourne – LOL

Sheamus is a wildcard here and he is a good opponent for a “C” PPV. The rest of the card is going to be strong with a possible UT/Batista match so they can have this as the WWE Title match. I’m looking forward to seeing how they build this feud up, and I think the match will be good. Sheamus will look very dominant in the match.

 

[Rated_R_Superstar2010]

were there even any smackdown wrestlers in the rumble? they kept saying stuff about the winner facing the champ of their show and even batista came out and said if a smackdown person wins he is gonig to beat their ass. but no smackdown talent was in the match.......o well another idea that makes 0 sense from the wwe creative. way to go. i take that back r-truth was there. ok 1 guy.

anyway yes i'd say it was far too early. i mean come on. put mvp or swagger or even miz in there. really sheamus. i like the guy and i like his style and i like that he's not tan like everyother wrestler but he's been on raw for wut 3 weeks, didnt even win the ecw title and hasnt even had a mid-card feud yet. swagger and miz get more heat and a heel mvp v cena would be gold.

wwe really screwed this one up. swagger and morrison and the miz werent even in the match. since kofi and orton werent going to win and continue their feud, henry, r-truth, and rhodes werent going to win. so either mvp, who is stale as ever, or dibiase, who hasnt done anything since getting beat by dx, or sheamus, who really hasnt done anything yet, is going to win.

i really thought this was going to be swaggers chance but then i saw him teamed with chavo and masters and i felt sick. and sheamus looked a little shell shocked out there after the match. kinda like he didnt know what to do and was nervouse. nothing against him he just isnt ready in my eyes. mvp, swagger, morisson, miz, kofi. they are ready and it should have been one of them

 

[I_Like_All_Wrestling]

On the one hand it's good to see WWE pushing younger/new wrestlers, but I just don't find much appealing about Sheamus. First off, he's not that big, so I don't see him as a "monster" and don't buy him knocking people out all the time. Second, he looks gross. I'm sorry but he's just too damn pasty looking. I know he's Irish and that's part of his gimmick and is actually how he looks, but when put in a wrestling ring he just looks weird.

Now moving onto the "a match with Cena will elevate him" talk...I don't think one match with Cena will do that much for him. They're going to have to do something good with them leading up to the PPV. I don't expect it to continue after it and I don't expect Sheamus to win, so if they want to get something out of it they'll have to have a somewhat decent build and make Sheamus look good in the match.

 

[spinningtorturerack]

First off, he's not that big, so I don't see him as a "monster" and don't buy him knocking people out all the time. Second, he looks gross. I'm sorry but he's just too damn pasty looking. I know he's Irish and that's part of his gimmick and is actually how he looks, but when put in a wrestling ring he just looks weird.

Surely I_like_all_wrestling, this is apart of his appeal of making him this monster, he doesn't have this nice looking, he looks cold and angry! what more could you want in a heel? He has suprisingly good technical abilities.

Personally I would prefer to see this as street fight than a tables match, however (and i know its very unlikely he will win) it could make him it a very good match, as cena has becoem more technical and so on, but Sheamus could easily pick him up and put him through the table. It will be good match to watch, and could become very interesting if built up well in the next 3 weeks, hopefully it might even transgress past TLC to an on & off again feud.

Here's hoping anyway!

 

[|RealityCheck]

I read a bunch of these replies, all of them stating HE HAS NO CHANCE TO WIN, and while I agree it most likely won't happen...what if it does? Can you accept Sheamus as a champ? Sure, he hasn't done much, but think of the HUGE push Brock Lesnar got when he started out. I like Sheamus, been watching a lot of his FCW stuff, and I like him. I'm just happy to see something new. This is 2 weeks in a row that RAW has been really good, because for a while there it was really dropping. I am excited to see what happens, and (Lord help me from the replies i am going to get) I would like to see Sheamus as our new champ

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I was thrilled when Sheamus won last night. I was holding my breath when Orton was in the final three because I really don't want to see anymore Orton/Cena. Sheamus has a different look and feel to him, and it's nice to see someone new in the main event.

While I know there's no chance in hell Sheamus will win the title, it's good to see he's going yo get a chance to shine. If the Miz can get pushed, so can Sheamus.

 

[619Edge619]

what happened to thos who said - "It used to be - everything can happen on RAW, now its predictable"

Was that predictable? (well just a little because someone said it in the pre-vow chat yesterday.)I didn't think that could happen.

Well there you go - everything can happen on RAW.And BTW if you looked at the match if it wasn't fake, who would you put your money on? I'd go with Henry or Sheamus 100%. If you looked at it that way it kinda makes sense.

 

[RavensFlock1990]

Sheamus is Kozlov all over again. Just a big foreign muscle head that's really not good at anything. He has yet to draw a crowd reaction of any kind. The only positive about him is his finisher even tho it's just a Razor's Edge rip off.

He'll end up like Kozlov, Umaga, Heidenreich, Snitsky and Lashley. He has no staying power and no appeal. The only reason he's getting this push is cause he sucks HHH off. Other guys like MVP, Mark Henry and Swagger deserve it alot more. Hell they could've gave it to a SD guy like R-Truth or Matt Hardy. Sheamus is one of the least deserving wrestlers for a world title shot in the entire company.

 

[Coco]

These days, a wrestler needs to be tanned and perfect looking to be seen as a credible main eventer in the eyes of the fan. I can't explain this crazy over skin color. Surely the most convincing ass-kicker should be pushed in a business that's all about convincing people that you're kicking someone's ass. It seems counter-productive to judge a perfectly decent ass-kicker as not worthy of a main event spot because of the color of his skin. Yet that's what I think is happening here.

Sure, people can hide behind arguments like "He's untested!", "He's only being pushed because he's Triple H's friend!", or "Kill the ginger!", but I think there's a deeper, more sinister hatred at work here. When's the time the average fan allowed a person of the color to rise to main event status? Also consider Bryan Danielson, who is currently waiting in the wings to start work with WWE. What kind of audience backlash will he receive because of skin color?

Will the WWE ever see another pale world champion?

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

These days, a wreslter needs to be tanned and perfect looking to be seen as a credible main eventer in the eyes of the fan. I can't explain this crazy over skin color. Surely the most convincing ass-kicker should be pushed in a business that's all about convincing people that you're kicking someone's ass. It seems counter-productive to judge a perfectly decent ass-kicker as not worthy of a main event spot because of the color of his skin. Yet that's what I think is happening here.

Sure, people can hide behind arguments like "He's untested!", "He's only being pushed because he's Triple H's friend!", or "Kill the ginger!", but I think there's a deeper, more sinister hatred at work here. When's the time the average fan allowed a person of the color to rise to main event status? Also consider Bryan Danielson, who is currently waiting in the wings to start work with WWE. What kind of audience backlash will he receive because of skin color?

Will the WWE ever see another pale world champion?

Time will tell to see what kind of backlash he will receive because of skin color. I wanted Booker T to win the WHC in 2003 against HHH but it didn't happen. We had to wait three years when there was nobody on Smackdown left after Mysterio since Batista was injured. At least Booker T would have been the top face in 2003. People do get behind those of color. Just look at the reception that Kofi received at Madison Square Garden. If he can keep that up, there's no telling how far he can go. I believe Sheamus can go that same route too.

He almost has them old school HHH sideburns. Is it a coincidence? Maybe and maybe not.