Opinion: Sheamus Deserves to Be WWE Champion

At “Survivor Series”, Sheamus successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract against Roman Reigns just minutes after he defeated Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. It was the fourteenth time that someone has successfully cashed in MITB. Only two have failed in WWE history.

Over the last week, there has been a mixed reaction to Sheamus becoming the WWE Champion. Much of the complaining is about how predictable the ending of “Survivor Series” was, and how a month of build-up was wasted on a safe cash in by Sheamus.

The perception of a lot of WWE fans is Sheamus isn’t deserving of the spot. True, these fans didn’t want Roman Reigns to win the WWE title either, but they know the end game with Reigns. Sheamus comes off a bland, his look is stupid, or he doesn’t have real heel heat.

I disagree with all those points. Roman Reigns becoming the WWE Champion is inevitable. In fact, WWE has done a really good job prolonging that character arc over the last year.

This attitude of, “Reigns is fine for now” is lazy fanfare from a lot of WWE Universe. I understand that these fans may not be “Roman Reigns guys and girls”. I’m not either, but not embracing the future and the “WWE corporate choice” is only going to make WWE more skeptical about pushing “our” guys.

I’m not a Sheamus guy either, but he hasn’t held a World Championship in WWE since 2012. He’s a fresh face at the top of the WWE mountain, and although he’s become the WWE Champion due to WWE creative being pushed into a weird corner, he’s very deserving of the title reign.

What’s changed my mind is his resume. He’s one of the most accomplished WWE superstars on the roster, and it’s almost a surprise when you look at it all on paper.

Sheamus is a four-time WWE World Champion. He’s won Money in the Bank, the Royal Rumble, King of the Ring, and the United States Championship twice. The Celtic Warrior has been booked about as well as you can be, but I’ve never heard anyone complain that Sheamus gets too many chances in WWE.

He’s a good physical wrestler, and if it weren’t for WWE’s weird style of booking the MITB holder to lose consistently, Sheamus would have had strong heel heat by the time he won the WWE title on Sunday.

His heel run hasn’t been great, but his new phase of development isn’t just taking the fans, “You look stupid” chant any longer. “Do I look stupid now?” is a good way to remind fans that Sheamus is for real and has been for years. He hasn’t been “forced” down the fans’ throats.

Sheamus as WWE Champion isn’t the most exciting thing for me either. But, WWE is determined to give Roman Reigns as much time as possible to bond with the WWE fans before they give him the major push in 2016.

In a few months, the same people that complain about Sheamus now are going to be begging for anyone else but Reigns to be WWE Champion.

Sheamus has been great, and he’s getting what could be his last run at the top. Let’s give him his credit and enjoy it. He may just surprise us again.