Why doesn't Sheamus get more respect?

[Henrique]

Great talent, decent in the ring, but his character is just boring and doesn't really offer anything new.

(...) Staying on his current path, in 20 years, no one will really remember him as anything special.

Agreed.

Dull character... hasn't changed much neither over time or during his heel / face transitions.
Nice guy but to be honest I change the channel / fast forward whenever there's a Sheamus match... liked him a lot during his ECW / early WWE days, but his charisma nowadays is as pale as the tone of his skin

 

[Pérez84]

You can like or dislike the guy, but most people respect the guy as a hard worker and the work he's doing in the WWE. Complaints about him use to be really about his booking.

Dude, those 3 guys are unique, Sheamus is just a mere replica, he is ... generic

Replica of whom?

 

[SuperTaco]

He's a great brawler with a very marketable look and decent mic skills. I think he's better in the ring as a face, but better on the mic as a heel.

His feud with Big Show was one of the best feuds in recent memory. The matches that came out of it (Especially the first one) were terrific. Seeing Sheamus finally reach Big Show with the Brogue Kick was a big moment.

I would agree that he's become a tad bit stale lately, but that's because he's booked for regular matches. No mic work, no feud and he's a babyface. That is a recipe for a stale wrestler.

He should be in a feud heading into Extreme Rules. This is exactly the type of PPV that fits the theme of Sheamus. He's a brawler who isn't afraid to step outside the boundaries.

In any case, WWE should find a story for him. He's too good of a talent to have working "standard" matches every week.

 

[Eddie Menuek]

He's a great brawler with a very marketable look and decent mic skills. I think he's better in the ring as a face, but better on the mic as a heel.

I really agree with that. Some guys simply work better when they're feeding off the energy off the crowd as opposed to when they're working against that, and Sheamus is definitely one of those guys. It's why I'd rather see him remain a babyface; just have some sort of character development.

 

[The Eighties]

I think most fans respect him as a worker, they just aren't interested in him and yes some of that has turned to boos in certain arenas. I actually don't think there's a specific thing that has turned fans on him, they were never really that behind him to begin with, I always felt his face turn was forced.

I don't think his friendship with Triple H factors in for anyone with common sense. If you look at his booking he's not exactly had the best, from being a 280lb coward who won the title by Cena falling through a table, to Triple H treating him as an afterthought in 2011, to a cheese ball face with stories from the old country that had any face momentum he had neutered with that stupid 18 seconds match, if ever a winner was really the loser it was here.

He's never recovered from that as a face, his title run was pretty much a bust and the choice to have him lose all of the matches with Big Show was always an odd one to me. However there is light at the end of the tunnel, he actually lost clean to Batista and Barrett within a week but I don't think that means a step back, my guess is he'll turn heel soon and that will set him up for programs with Bryan, The Shield (Mostly Roman Reigns) and Cesaro that will see him get the kind of shine he hasn't enjoyed in years.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

The downfall started at Wrestlemania 28. Sheamus was supposed to be the face in the win, but the fans took it as one big middle finger, when WWE screwed the fan favorite in favor of the prototypical muscular brute, who pounds on his chest in an eighteen second squash. The fans booed the crap out of Sheamus for the majority of his run as WHC, and things didn't pick up until his match with Big Show at Hell In A Cell, but it was a case of too little, too late.

To make matters worse, WWE ruined his character with all the goofy folktale bullshit. The horrid corny jokes, unfunny tales about Sheamus' past (I vividly remember one about a green testicle in a promo with Christian), and his silly mannerisms. Sheamus is supposed to be a bad ass brawler, who shows no mercy, not some goofy lug with a terrible sense of humor. Also, for some odd reason, WWE stuck Sheamus in a nowhere feud with Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes, and WWE killed Sheamus' momentum with the Rhodes/Sandow feud.

IF the WHC was still around as a singles title, Sheamus might have a chance to see some real spotlight, but I can't picture Sheamus as a contender in the WWE WHC picture anytime soon. There was a time (back in 2012), when I had a real urge to see Sheamus VS Lesnar, but that's out the window now. Sheamus's character has suffered one too many setbacks, and if the match happened, it wouldn't surprise me if WWE used Sheamus as a tune up guy for Lesnar (i.e. Big Show at the Rumble this year) on the road to Wrestlemania 31.

I'm a fan of Sheamus, and there's a slim chance for Sheamus returning to the main event scene and high profiled feuds. Sheamus needs more time and a consistent push to climb out of his hole, but Sheamus' current spot in no man's land and his age are two big problems.

 

[theblasterkid]

I wasn't watching at the time when he did his monster heel run or the 1-800-Fella thing but I like him though. He was pushed way too fast. Maybe being in the midcard at the moment is a good thing for him at the moment. On the other hand, he perhaps should turn heel when he's back on the main event scene. A feud with Bryan for the title would work.

 

[Thewweera]

The IWC like to go against the grind and think of themselves as 'rebels'. They rarely get behind someone who is a WWE guy. So they hate Sheamus because:
a) He is a WWE guy (big muscle bound superstar)
b) He is associated with HHH
c) He is a babyface
d) He beat Bryan in 18 seconds
e) He is not from the indies
f) He didn't wretle for years in the WWE before they decided to go with him.

 

[kadroan]

I wasn't watching at the time when he did his monster heel run or the 1-800-Fella thing but I like him though. He was pushed way too fast. Maybe being in the midcard at the moment is a good thing for him at the moment. On the other hand, he perhaps should turn heel when he's back on the main event scene. A feud with Bryan for the title would work.

He needs a heel turn or go feud with Bray Wyatt. I'd say heel turn because I don't think the fans would be as invested with him in his feud with Wyatt like they are with Cena.

Sheamus is stale

 

[jaredsmith83]

I dig the idea of the extreme heel feud. Just being ruthless and dominating would excite me. I haven't watched in some years, in fact I wasn't watching at all when he debuted and made his runs, but from what I'm seeing of him I like him but I think there could be so much more. To me, he comes off as a bit of a gate-keeper of sorts.