Weaker title reign: Swagger or Sheamus?

[LSN80]

So five days after Wrestlemania, Jack Swagger took his Money in the Bank briefcase to Smackdown, and cashed in on a weakened Chris Jericho at the hands of Edge to win his first World Championship. He lost it to Rey Mysterio 3 PPVs later at Fatal Four Way when he was pinned by Mysterio himself.

At WWE's Fatal Four Way, Sheamus snuck into the ring and pinned John Cena after Nexus had beat him down, winning his 2nd WWE title. He also lost the title 3 PPV's later at Night of Champions in a 6 pack challenge, to Randy Orton.

Both men had roughly the same length to their title reigns. But I feel WWE booked each of them poorly, as Swagger lost almost every non-title match he was in as champion, and Sheamus didnt have a clean one on one title defense, except for his 10 second victory over Zack Ryder. Heres a quick rundown of their championship wins, and subsequent defenses.

Swagger:
-Won the title from Chris Jericho 5 days after Wrestlemania on the 4/2/10 Smackdown.
-Defeated Edge and Chris Jericho 2 weeks later in a triple threat match to retain the title on the 4/16/10 Smackdown.
-Defeated Randy Orton clean at Extreme Rules to retain the title.
-Retained the title via disqualification when he hit the Big Show with the title belt.
- Lost the title in a 4 Way match at Fatal Four Way to Rey Mysterio when Rey Mysterio pinned him.

Sheamus:
- Won the title at Fatal Four Way when he avoided a Nexus attack and snuck into the ring and pinned John Cena.
- Retained the title in a cage match with Cena at Money in The Bank when Nexus blocked Cena from escaping, allowing Sheamus to escape first.
- Retained the title via disqualification against Randy Orton at Summerslam when he fought with the referee over a chair.
- Defeated Zack Ryder in about 20 seconds in a squash match to retain the title on the 8/23/10 Raw.
-Lost the title to Orton in a 6 pack elimination match at Night of Champions when Orton pinned him last with an RKO.

Both of these men lost their subsequent rematches, and now appear to be out of the championship picture. There are other factors that could be considered when determining who was the weaker champion, and feel free to discuss them. But my question is a simple one. Who do you feel WWE portrayed as a weaker champion? And why?

 

[TheCultClassic]

Swagger. Sheamus, no matter how you feel, is still in the title picture. However Jack is now a Superstars mainstay.....its a shame. I loved Swagger as Champion.

 

[LizardKing]

No matter how you look at it, these guys were both Top HEELS... Heels have been booked to win matches by methods of cheating for DECADES. It's what heels do and I have no problem with it. Swagger's title run definitely felt weaker than it should've... but I thought Sheamus looked strong in his run. He may not have always won cleanly, but they never had him cowering to anyone or getting thrown around the ring like a rag doll.

 

[Layne1976]

Definitely Swagger. Sheamus is still portrayed as a guy in the title picture. Swagger was jobbing to MVP and unless there is some big payoff in the Swagger vs Edge feud, it could be mid-card from here on out for Swags.

 

[Ferbian]

Jack Swagger pretty much has this one hands down. Jack was the one who while he retained cleanly twice, he still lost pretty much all of his matches with John Morrison, Undertaker and others. He was booked as a weaker champion than Sheamus was, who pretty much stands out as a strong champion by default due to his looks.

Both of them had mediocre reigns. But at least Sheamus whenever he held the championship weren't the one jobbed out to various mid-carders. Which is a thing that will definitely damage Jack Swagger in the terms of judging these two up against each other.

 

[tru_overdose]

jack swagger easily. he probably had one of the top 5 worst reigns in WWE/WWF history.

totally undeserving, totally underwhelming, totally regrettable on WWE's part. and the sad part is, you knew that it was wrong instantly after he won the MITB.

i see the exact same similarities in the current Miz push. its leading into the same WTF thought process. swagger really was a midcarder pushed into the main event scene with zero 5 star matches, and really poor mic work. same goes for the miz.

i think the WWE realized that, and will have the miz cash in and lose the MITB or lose it somehow in a match. no way they can make an obvious mistake 2 times within the same year.

 

[The Best At What I Do]

Sheamus O'Shaunnessy definitely had a weaker title reign. Just look at the defenses. Jack Swagger actually beat 3 legitimate main-eventers in Orton, Jericho and Edge. Sheamus hasn't defeated anyone except comedy jobber Ryder during his second reign. People are confusing what happened post-championship reign with how the reign itself went. Swagger was demoted to mid-card by losing to MVP after the title loss while Sheamus was kept strong by squashing the U.S. Champion Daniel Bryan. Just because WWE decided to keep Sheamus in the main event picture and not Swagger, doesn't mean that his reign was less shit. Hopefully this feud with Edge puts Swagger back in contention because his abilities and potential are being wasted.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

No matter how you look at it, these guys were both Top HEELS... Heels have been booked to win matches by methods of cheating for DECADES. It's what heels do and I have no problem with it. Swagger's title run definitely felt weaker than it should've... but I thought Sheamus looked strong in his run. He may not have always won cleanly, but they never had him cowering to anyone or getting thrown around the ring like a rag doll.

I'm gonna have to disagree with you, they made sheamus seem terrified or orton for a couple of weeks when orton went and nearly punted him. Also, a little more understandably they made him run from nexus which not a single other superstar did, did it look like brains or cowardice, your choice. On occassions, sheamus would come into the ring after orton had had a match so he was weakened to take advantage and he would still fall victim to and RKO, now that makes him look very very weak. I'm fairly sure he competed less often than swagger during his run as well. I'm kindof blathering here, all I wanted to say was about the 'never made sheamus look scared bit', which I'm afraid to say they did and it really hurt his character severely but thankfully not irrepairably. I thought swagger although the one man they should never stick a mic in the hand of, looked very strong, especially in a wrestling respect, as actual champion with his triple threat win to retain and also I think he beat big show who had bullied him previously at a PPV.

END VOTE:SWAGGER LOOKED STRONGER

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Swaggers reign was definitely the weaker of the 2.

Say whatever you want about Sheamus' reign being weaker but at the very least it made Sheamus a main eventer. Swagger on the other hand fell into obscurity the second he lost the title, so Swagger being champion didn't do anything for his career, he's not a main eventer and he didn't gain any momentum or credibility from being champion.

Sheamus is now a bona fide main eventer, right now he's close to the top of the mountain and will be sitting there for a long, long time to come. Title reigns aren't about wins and losses, they're about getting the champion more over with the crowd in order to make him more relevant and credible as a performer in the fans eyes, basically a title is used to help someone get more over with the crowd.

The title got Sheamus more over with the crowd and certainly would not be a main eventer today if it wasn't for those title reigns. Swagger winning the title did nothing for him, his title reign did nothing for him, and losing it did nothing for him. Sure he got wins over some major players unlike Sheamus, but those wins didn't help him. Sheamus beating Zack Ryder did more for him than Swagger beating Orton did for him.

At the end of the day the title reign has done wonders for Sheamus and his career and Swaggers title reign hasn't done anything for him or his career. IMO its not even close, Sheamus by a country mile.

 

[The Deadly Viper]

Really? Is this being serious :O. Now lets move on, Swagger has easily got the weaker title reign. I mean Sheamus is a monster (sort of) in the ring and destroys everyone he meets. Now Sheamus has been booked against tougher opponents eg Cena, Orton. While Swagger has been beaten by Morrision, Taker etc. so definatly Swagger is the weaker.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

Some of you guys aren't looking objectively enough at this, it isn't how sheamus looks now, whether he is still in the title picture or not, it is how he was booked when he was champion and that is shamefully!

When big show was in the ring destroying all of swaggers stuff and he just stood there that looked pretty weak, but he did at least try to stop him and realised he couldn't. And yes sheamus running from nexus addmittedly looks fairly clever, until you realise that men half his strength at least tryed to fight back and yes sheamus was heel but

1) He is the second kindof heel that is supposed to be the 'second' type of heel, not one that cheats for victories but one that enforces his will on others with no reason. Sheamus is supposed to be one big nasty pasty and

2) just like in the initial alliance angle, nexus being not just one heel but a faction who threatened WWE's 'future' so to speak is supposed to nullify sheamus' heel status. Just like when wcw and ecw invaded and the WWE were fighting them off at first and THEN after a while austin and other resorted to being heel after a little while when it had all settled just like edge and jericho did at summerslam....only when the WWE had the chance to kindof settle down from the initial nexus stint, so sheamus should not have been heel immediately, he maybe should have turned back heel after a while like jericho and edge. They are the two real problems with that thing.

Swagger is booked more as a somewhere inbetween heel like 2000 HHH, he has the ability to win cleanly and sometimes does but often resorts to cheating, because he's heel!

Sheamus on the other hand is booked to be a pure breed, powerhouse, who just comes in and dominates against anybody, so making sheamus look weak, which I hope I have proven they did (I mean come one selecting zach ryder for title match, also a little harsh job for ryder but anywayz) has a more detramental effect on his character than it would swagger anyway, and the fact he looked weaker (which I believe) is really disheartening given this man supposedly ended the career of HHH.

I think we can agree that both won their belts in equally weak fashions, one through MITB, the other through another fatal nexus attack. But to summise, who did swagger beat....edge and jericho, two of the best in a difficult type of match. Who did sheamus beat, zach ryder, a man who has been demoted to goldusts backstage comedy slot so hes on a lower rung then a guy who is just trying to put talent over, when he himself is a future superstar. I've said it before but I like sheamus a hell of a lot more than swagger, he has a far better gimmick, not quite as good in-ring ability and wow there is a canyon's difference gap in their mic and promo ability and so maybe thats why I'm so hurt about how thye made sheamus look but, I almost pityed sheamus, whereas I felt swagger if anything was lucky.

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

To tell you the truth, I think the reason why sheamus is still in and around the title picture is because he is quite simply a better wrestler (overall), whereas swagger isn't so he could fall back into obscurity of being mid-card more easily. If career paths had played out as they were booked, sheamus would have turned into a heel eddie guerrero type character where he would have to cheat to win, and swagger would have been known as one of the few guys who could beat orton and people say he lost to taker, HELLO DID YOU SEE THEIR TWO MATCHES!!, the other one being when smackdown took over raw when all the raw superstars got stranded, both times, yes he lost but he absolutely dominated each time, he dominated the dead man!
I mean come on if each wrestler was said to be main eventing because they had a good run and were booked well, jeff hardy would be cleaning toilets in TNA by now

 

[I_Am_Electro_Boy]

Swagger's reign was very weak, although he actually won some of his title defenses cleanly he was jobbed to mid-carders when he wasn't defending his title and that is why his reign was soo weak. I know that Sheamus didn't win any of his title defenses cleanly except for one he won most of his non-title matches, also he was taken alot more seriously than Swagger was because of his look which I think makes his reign look stronger because he was taken serious and that's important.

 

[Smartie]

Although Swagger's seems to contain clean victories , I would definitely his was the weaker.

The point of being champion , especially a heel one , is to create big heat and let faces shine and seem more lovely , not clean victories.

Sheamus did that job for me , he created quite a heat and cut good promos which fans wanted to react tn the other hand , Swagger wasn't a good champion and people seemed to not care about it and even it seemed that fans didn't care when his reign come to an end , which is a shame for a champ who's supposed to be hated.

 

[The Crock]

No question, Swagger. Jack Swagger had one of the most FORGETTABLE title reigns of all time. He didn't do anything. He lost more times than he won, and he was only used to put people over. Transitional Champion if I've ever seen one. Swagger didn't even have good heat as champ, people only booed him to make his lisp get worked up. He didn't really deserve to win MITB either.

Sheamus on the other hand, was a decent heel champ. He beat freaking JOHN CENA. That is the biggest victory he could have had. He destroyed people as champion and actually got some decent heel heat out of the crowd. He dominated a bunch of jobbers, and even though he won a ton of matches in a dirty way, he still won clean a few times. That's more than Jack Swagger can say.

 

[Morpheus101]

Swagger and hands down. His title reign was pathetic....he simply wasn't ready for it and they should have waited much longer before putting the title around his waist.

Sheamus's title reigns were not forgettable at all. In fact, I considered him a great champion. I just wish they'd have given him a few clean wins over the top stars of WWE.

 

[Undertaker the 5th]

I think Shaemus reign was weaker because he could never beat anyone cleanly. I hate that this guy is a two time world champ and the only clean victory was a fluke at a tables match with Cena.
Swagger on the other hand, while I still think that giving him the title at this early in his career only hurt it. he was not ready, but at least he beat the Viper cleanly. Something Shaemus could not do.
My question is why don't they make Shaemus get a clean pinfall one on one on a big time player like Randy Orton.

Swagger was able to beat him clean, why hasn't Shaemus if he is supposed to be the more agressive tougher one.

 

[Wade's Public Transit Bomb]

Swaggie on the count of Sheamus's second title run sort just got the wrong end of the stick. And I ain't talking about how he won the damn belt. Heels are suppose to cheat or they wouldn't be the bad guy. Can Lex Luthor defeat Superman in a one-on-one battle?

Sheamus got the belt because Cena was charged with putting over the Nexus angle. Sheamus tried to run with it, but Orton is like really really awful at being a babyface. Their Summerslam match wasn't very good and the finish sucked; the six pack match seemed like an excuse to have Edge and Jericho on the show (why were they in this match? At least Barrett and Cena were fighting); and no one can convince me that the HIAC match with them didn't suck gaint, hairy monkey balls.

But the good from Sheamus's second reign is that he has expanded his character greatly. He can be very funny and whiny while still being a legit ass kicker.

Swaggie on the other hand. Umm.. If nothing else, where is he now? Impromptu matches on a PPV and Superstars. I would say something about the mighty falling, but it isn't like SD had much going when he got the belt.

 

[Wolf Pac]

Swagger. Sheamus could not only carry himself in feuds but he could deliver on promos & segments too. Dont get me wrong, I'm not saying he's a good mic talker but when it comes to building up matches on the mic, backstage segments & attacking future PPV opponents or trying to attack future PPV opponents only to get beat down himself, Sheamus did it better than Swagger. Sheamus has the ability to make himself look like a real threat or a pussy. With Orton & Cena, he made himself look a mix, with Ryder & Danielson he looked a real threat. Swagger as much as he tried to make himself look like a threat, was horrible except when he locked on the Ankle Lock but facial expressions, in ring & backstage work, he couldnt and his mic work to build up PPV matches were terrible too mostly due to his lisp, actually he spent most of his time hyping his achievements rather than his upcoming match.

 

[CyDeez]

My vote is with Swagger. It was too soon for him to capture the world title. The sad thing is their wasn't much hype and everyone knew it was too soon for him, while he had the championship.

To me it seems like Sheamus also had the tougher competition.

 

[JoonDaGr8One]

This is kinda crazy because i like sheamus better, but if you go on title reigns it has to go to swagger. Sheamus never beat anybody cleanly but jobbers. You can argue that he's a heel but he was built as a Brock Lesnar type monster heel, not a ric flair, chris jericho leave with the title at all costs type heel.

Neither one has lost the title in a 1 on 1 match but they fucking made sheamus run to John cena from Nexus, a group of fucking rookies. I feel like Sheamus has better mic skills than Swagger and Orton, but they made him look like a bitch during his reign.

So i give this to swagger by default on account of how they booked sheamus as monster but never let him be one. Swagger was fueding with Big Show but lost the title to Rey-Rey WHAT A TWIST,SMFH.