Stephen Farelly, who is better known under his ring name of Sheamus, had his first championship stint seem to happen overnight, so to speak. He captured the title after only 166 days after debuting in WWE. Even though no one would have issues today. There was plenty that was hot about it then. So let’s go back to 2009 to look at why his peers were so heated by his swift rise to gold.
The match was a tables, ladders, and chairs (TLC) match. His opponent was John Cena, and fans didn’t give Sheamus much of a chance against big match John. The pay-per-view was the same name, TLC 2009. Everyone was shocked when he put Cena through a table and captured his first world title. Well, fans were shocked, but fellow wrestlers had some different emotions. Here are a couple of reasons that’s been alluded to over the years.
Friendship of Convenience
There was reason to believe that Paul Levesque (Triple H) was showing favoritism. So Sheamus was signed to the WWE in 2007. During that time of training, he also became workout partners with Levesque who grew into close friends. Of course, because of Levesque’s executive position and being married into the McMahon family, it was easy to think biased treatment may be happening.
Paying his dues
There were veteran wrestlers in the back who had never been given the opportunity or push that Sheamus was getting. With him being so new it’s almost always going to get heat from the boys. The only two guys to win a championship faster was Brock Lesnar who was a freak of nature at 126 but still got mixed responses from his peers. Then the fastest was Ric Flair who had already carved a hall-of-fame-type career in wrestling before stepping foot in a WWE ring. He won it in 113 days, but like I said he was a veteran already coming in.
Sheamus now respected
Sheamus First championship win was an interesting move by WWE. He has said he could feel the heat in the back and it made for an uncomfortable workplace. The superstar has opened up in interviews about how he wasn’t accepted by his fellow wrestlers for a while because of it. Now nobody would have an issue as Sheamus has been a top performer for 12+ years with multiple title runs. He’s definitely put in his time and won over his peers’ respect a long time ago.
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