Sheamus Is The *NEW* WWE United States Champion

[Jack-Hammer]

In something of a surprise move last night as a result of winning a 20 man battle royal to kick off Raw, Sheamus eliminated Dean Ambrose to become the new US champ. There was something of a mixed reaction from the fans at the show last night, due to how over Ambrose is, but Sheamus called it his "return to glory."

All in all, I think this was a good move, especially if it leads to a heel turn as reports allege is set to happen at some point. While I would've liked for Ambrose to have defended the title more often, it's not his fault. I also would've liked to have seen WWE milk the angle of Ambrose being constantly placed in these unfair title defenses for a little while longer. But, at the same time, Ambrose really hasn't "needed" to be United States Champion for quite a while partially due to infrequent title defenses and partially due to the continual rise of The Shield.

 

[WarroBODFan]

I agree that I thought the US title could be used to the advantage of the Evolution/Shield feud, plus it puts to bed the "tarnished" title run Ambrose has had (not my words) according to some fans, seeing as he'd probably be defending it on every show. Surprises are always nice though! While I'm pretty lukewarm about Sheamus winning it, hopefully they'll go somewhere with it. I think a Sheamus heel turn could liven up the US title picture, for a little while at least.

Sheamus V Wade Barrett, England V Ireland, title unification during the UK tour? Unlikely I know, but still!

 

[Aquaman6686]

I'm glad to see the title finally change hands, after being ignored for so long. Hopefully it can mean something again now. WWE needs to not make the mistake of unifying the titles, they have way too many superstars and not enough championships to give midcard wrestlers an opportunity for a storyline. I'm hoping for Sheamus to have a strong heel title reign, but strong heel title reigns pretty much don't exist anymore.

 

[MCMG]

Sheamus is probably better than this but lets see what he can do. He will probably be defending it as often as possible to ensure people notice. I rank Sheamus as a main-event calibre talent so he should help make people care about the title.

There are plenty of names for him to feud with. ADR, Cesaro, Swagger, O'Neil, Sandow, Fandango. If at some point he become a heel then that opens even more doors and this could be a fun title run.

I thought Sheamus would have been a good choice for MITB. The US title suggests that might not be the case but I'm curious to see how long he holds the title. For it to be worth is while then Sheamus needs to be wrestling good quality superstars and having actual feuds.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

For some reason I'm of the opinion that Sheamus is above such a belt. Not sure why that is, he's a kid-carder through and through.

I also don't see the point in taking it off Ambrose if Sheamus isn't used to elevate the belt. Just give Ambrose a longer reign. It means nothing, but holding it for a long persiod of time appears impressive.

 

[Eddie Menuek]

I really liked this move. I think it could help the wrestler and the championship.

In Dean Ambrose you had a champion who had too much going on to be champion; when all of his programs revolve around a three man faction it's proved difficult to write in much that involves the United States Championship up until the feud with The Authority (with that being said... it is strange that the title has changed hands so soon into the feud - I thought that Triple H forcing Dean to defend the title in increasingly stacked odds was a concept that could have gone on for a few more weeks). Meanwhile, in Sheamus you've got somebody on the opposite of the spectrum; somebody that has been in limbo since his return at Royal Rumble. Giving him the strap gives his character a reason to fight, and hopefully can restore some legitimacy to the United States Championship through defending it regularly in good matches and stories.

Maybe neither of those things can happen, but I can hope.

Giving the title to somebody who has been booked like such a star has also got me thinking that perhaps a unification with the Intercontinental Championship might possibly be on the horizon.

 

[chicagokmc]

I like the move. I would go ahead and turn Sheamus heel. He's had more than enough time as a face spinning his wheels as he said yesterday.

I would then pair him with Wade Barrett and Drew McIntire, not as a tag team, but as men with similar brawling badass and UK'ish backgrounds. McIntire would be their enforcer, outside of the ring during their singles matches and as the third wheel in case you want a 6 man match for tv.

 

[Xpyred013]

WWE needs to not make the mistake of unifying the titles, they have way too many superstars and not enough championships to give midcard wrestlers an opportunity for a storyline.

I disagree. This is the mentality that we all seem to be comfortable with. "Everyone needs a belt so everyone could be used" is as bad as a losing team getting a trophy as well. Back in the day, WWF had the heavyweight title, the intercontinental title, the tag team titles, the european title and woman's title. What made everything work were the tournaments. King of the Ring. The survivor series tournament where the Rock won his first heavyweight title.

If WWE can focus on coherent storylines, and drop unnecessary PPV gimmicks like Money in the Bank (which kind of suck) and focus on making the titles and tournaments mean something, then we can have some real value. This whole thing of "Oh kane attacked Bryan so he gets a shot at the title" is just cliche and needs to be put to rest.

 

[Pedigree1]

I was somewhat surprised last night to be honest.. I thought honestly,Ambrose would retain but his days as champion were indeed numbered. I agree with JH,they could have used the angle to which :Ambrose was always in unfair title defenses: but that didnt happen.

This is a great move for Sheamus,as the supposed along waited heel turn is going to happen. Sheamus as the US Champion,going heel will be tremendous. Ambrose lack of title defenses,really not his fault. The popularity of the shield is a big reason why Ambrose dropped the title last night.. Ambrose is bigger than the us title anyway

 

[Mitch Henessey]

It's a good move.

Ambrose was a placeholder champion for months and months, but it's not his fault. More recently, it's easy to forget about Ambrose as US Champion, when the feuds with The Wyatt Family and Evolution really took off. WWE openly mentioned Ambrose's status as US Champion during the whole fiasco with all the teasing for a split with The Shield before Wrestlemania. Outside of that, unless I'm missing something, I can't remember the last time WWE put a real effort into Dean Ambrose as US Champion.

Now the title is on a former world champion, and Sheamus is a good choice to help elevate the US Championship. But WWE needs to put some effort into Sheamus and consistent storylines with a real build, because another lengthy reign as a placeholder champion will feel meaningless, and you're not helping Sheamus or the US Championship.

 

[CM Steel]

Well the U.S. title is looking good again after damn near a year on the waist of Dean Ambrose. It was a good choice to put to U.S. strap back on Sheamus who is a former U.S. champion himself. And looks like he's headed back to his ways as a heel. But this could be a great set-up with Sheamus as the U.S. champion and Bad News Barrett as the IC champion to have the two title's unify. But someone who have to play the face in the match it's self. But yeah it's great to see the U.S. title being defended week in and week out once again!

 

[enviousdominous]

Something had to give eventually. Dean Ambrose is over, and he was a United States Champion for a long time. His reign wasn't exactly remarkable, I don't remember any huge title defenses for the entire time that he was the champion. I'm a huge fan of his and I honestly never recognized the US title as a significant part of his presence. He didn't have to lose the belt by pinfall and he was allowed to go convincingly over Evolution the night before. I'm really not worried about his future.

Sheamus needs something to remind us of the fact that he still works for the WWE. I can't remember the last time he did anything note-worthy, I want to say his KOTR win was the last time something relevant happened to him. I hope it turns into something entertaining, I don't mind if Sheamus ends up on the winning end of a feud with Ambrose. The Shield is bigger for Dean than the US title.

 

[Harthan]

Well, all this on and on about Sheamus turning heel is fine and dandy and I suppose this is the way to kickstart it. Sheamus was always better as a heel - he's too much of a Cena wannabe when he's a face, just playing the kiddie game except not half as well as Cena does it and pretty much with a desperate reliance on his Irishness to stand out. Assuming the US title win is meant to give us a good reason to care about Sheamus for a few weeks , then turn him heel, that's all well and good.

Ambrose's US title reign is the victim of his own overness - not long after winning the title, Ambrose and the Shield rapidly became too over to waste in token title feuds, and instead had to be moved to the right place on the card so they could be telling the right story. A fairly logical vehicle to take the tag titles of Reigns/Rollins appeared with the Brotherhood, but nothing really made sense for Ambrose. Without any logical person to step up and take his title, it was obviously hard to move it off Ambrose until now, because up until recently they were the Authority's men, at least on paper. The only way to get it off him would have been a clean loss, which hardly makes sense for a hot rising commodity in the WWE.

So, ultimately, the relatively stagnant reign of Ambrose, for me, will go down as something of an oddity - the story of a man who rapidly became bigger than his title, and owing almost none of it to the fact that he held that title at all.

 

[KitsuneDreamer]

I was surprised when Sheamus won the Battle Royal, but I am glad that it happened.

As a former World Champion, in conjunction with prime competition and some decent story-lines, Sheamus can make the United States Championship relevant again, as well as himself.

 

[Reflection]

A bad title reign does in a bad way... that's quite fitting. Its like ODB and Eric Young being Knockouts Tag Team champions- almost never defended the title, and went on to become the longest reigning champions. This reign of Dean Ambrose was a very forgettable one; I don't think they will acknowledge the "longest reigning U.S. champion" part either. Back when Dean first won the title, he was seen as The Shield member with the highest potential, but now the other two members have surpassed him in performance and impression; and that lackluster reign has a strong contribution to it. As for Sheamus, he won't be bringing back any prestige or value to the title. The people before him didn't, and he won't be, either. Same with the I.C. title.

 

[JWGunslinger]

I'm a little torn here, I think it was the right time for Ambrose to drop the title as much as I wanted to see him hold it longer. At the same time I think that Sheamus is a bit above the US title, to the point where I assumed Ambrose would retain when I saw them as the final two participants. I think it's a good way to get him on this heel turn by putting the heat on him as the guy who "unfairly" took Dean's strap, but I'd feel better about it if someone more like Ryback or Ziggler and even he is starting to get above the title.

All that being said I am happy Sheamus is at least doing something of importance, when I saw they had nothing for him at Extreme Rules I felt bad for him and was hoping that it was just a lull and they had something for him in the cards. On a positive note he can bring some more credibility to the belt, and hopefully get a few more defenses in than the belt's previous holder.

 

[Zycho32]

Put me down for a unification bout, if only because the Britain/Ireland strife gives Creative one hell of a lifeline to grasp, though I expect Dean to have a couple of rematches to get the belt back- and probably get screwed over and over again.

After all, Dean's reign came at a time when the Shield were the enforcers of the Authority and therefore protected, and now that Shield are defying the Authority, it stands to reason he loses it and won't get it back.

 

[Jessi10x]

Sheamus will be on most PPV's defending the title, I can only assume this but he always seems to get a spot, deservingly so. But, if Sheamus does eventually turn heel, there's one thing id like to see: cheating!

Barrett cheated to retain last night, but how often have we seen legitimate cheat-to-win tactics. Sure, Sheamus is big and strong so the idea is why would he have to cheat, but it's something I have not seen in a long time out of heel champions, or heels in general.

Sheamus, should you go heel, let's see ya grab the ropes for a few cheap pinfalls, fella.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Barrett cheated to retain last night, but how often have we seen legitimate cheat-to-win tactics. Sure, Sheamus is big and strong so the idea is why would he have to cheat, but it's something I have not seen in a long time out of heel champions, or heels in general.

What product have you been watching? Heels are RARELY allowed to win or retain a title without cheating, all they EVER use is cheat-to-win tactics. A clean title defense by a heel champion is rarer than a rainbow at midnight.

 

[Jessi10x]

I mean legitimate cheating. I'm not sure, it just doesn't seem like it's a run in or some sort of distraction and they protect the babyfaces too much. I think low blows, or sneaking out of title defenses could legitimately garner heat for Sheamus, because fans eventually will feel genuine disdain for someone who constantly sneaks out of title defenses.

 

[onecrazykid]

I'm glad they got the title of Ambrose, and the way they did it was decent as well. Don't get me wrong: I'm a fan of the Shield and have been since their debut. But now, while they're still feuding with Evolution, the Shield can start attacking Sheamus and begin a feud with him due to the "injustice" of how he won the title.

I think the Shield is too over now for this to backfire and turn them heel. It'd probably turn the crowd on Sheamus, and make his heel turn natural, a la Batista...or the constant attacks by the Shield could make him become more aggressive and start doing heelish things, and thus cause the crowd to turn on him.

Just need something for Reigns and Rollins also, if Ambrose does start a feud with Sheamus.

 

[Softcore Holly]

Great move all around. Gives Sheamus something decent to do while Kane sticks around until Payback, gets the US title off Ambrose which means it won't be tied up in Shield storylines anymore and will hopefully be free to be defended more often. I am kinda sad that they didn't do this next week where Ambrose would've passed the 1 year mark, not important I know but it would've been a nice milestone.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

I honestly think it's a step down for Sheamus to become US Champion (again). I was surprised at the fact that he was losing matches left and right as of late when my memory of him winning big matches are still fresh. If he's turning heel, he should start chasing the WWE Championship once Daniel Bryan finishes his program with Kane (as much as I loathed another Daniel Bryan/Sheamus encounter not too long ago). Of course, if Batista gets a shot after Kane, Sheamus will have to wait. It would have been better for him to just enter a feud then. I actually enjoyed his feud with Christian, so one more feud would have been better than just floundering around. Other mid-carders should be fighting for and winning the US title, not Sheamus. He's already been there before after that lengthy losing streak he suffered after becoming King of the Ring in 2010. This is just a repeat. I honestly think it only makes him boring with no room for growth as a character.

 

[roipdh123]

If he is turning heel I would like this run.... if not it will just be another ridicioulos face sheamus run with some stupid feuds and nothing going on for him and the US title.Sounds familliar doesn't it?

 

[kadroan]

If he is turning heel I would like this run.... if not it will just be another ridicioulos face sheamus run with some stupid feuds and nothing going on for him and the US title.Sounds familliar doesn't it?

Yeah true. That's what scares me about him being champion. I'm hoping there's a unification storyline between him and Barrett down the line, maybe Battleground of Summerslam.

WWE has enough talent to have enough competitors for both the US and IC titles but unfortunately WWE doesn't seem to see it as a priority.