He'd last been seen losing the United States championship
to Rusev in a Network exclusive match after the November 3 RAW. Days after that
it was revealed via Twitter1 he was headed into hospital for an
undisclosed surgery. It's not clear whether or not this surgery was real. It
probably was, but it could easily have been invented as a reason to get Sheamus
off TV and add some legitimacy to Rusev's fearsome Beast Mode.
'Great White' had needed time off for a while so whether
the surgery was real or not it came at a good time. As the happy, smiley
babyface who was essentially a modern version of fightin' Irishman Finlay, Sheamus
had become incredibly stale. Everything from his look to the guys he's was
facing needed changing.
Oh, Sheamus. No. |
The look is certainly something Shaymo has addressed. He's
gone from a guy with spiked up hair and a daft beard to a guy with a spiked up
Mohawk and a daft beard with tassels in it. The RAW and SmackDown audiences he's
appeared in front of since returning have all chanted "You look
stupid!" at him. They haven't been wrong. But at least they were chanting
at him. The WWE mentality these days2 is that any noise is good
noise.
It's still too early to say whether or not 'The Celtic
Warrior' has sufficiently changed up his wrestling style. We've yet to see any
new moves from him but it's still early days. His match against old foe Daniel
Bryan on the April 2 SmackDown was enjoyable but there was nothing new on offer.
As far as the in-ring stuff goes this is the same old Sheamus. Stiff punches,
the backbreaker and the Brogue kick still seem to be the order of the day.
But at least he's changed his look. It's nice to see
Sheamus making the effort with his return. So few guys try to do something
different when returning to WWE, which contributes to the overall stale feeling
of their shows. Sheamus being thrust into a multi-way programme with Daniel
Bryan, Bad News Barrett and Dolph Ziggler is promising. He can have good
singles matches against D-Bry and 'The Show Off' and the climactic four-way tussle
should be exciting. But beyond that I find myself with the same problem I always
have with Sheamus: it's hard to get excited about anything he does. Once he
wraps up with Bryan and Ziggler there's nobody left I'm interested in seeing
him face. And all the silly haircuts in the world won't change that.
***
1 That's how WWE seems to reveal most things
these days. Imagine Steve Austin's surgery back in 1999 being revealed through
a tweet.
2 Championed by King of Mixed Reactions Jern
Cena.
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