Sheamus & Del Rio are two of the *kayfabe* greats..

[chrom]

It's not the belt or accomplishment that gets the guy over, it's the other way around.

Look back when Eric Young won the TNA Title, people slammed it, other than the fact that they were ripping off WM which had happened not even four days earlier, but the last time he won a match was in 2012, in a comedy match. A guy who hasn't won a single match in over a year in a half and now suddenly he's holding the top belt in the promotion? No one's gonna buy that.

[krozor]

Considering how little they seem to care about it, it's weird that Sheamus has never won the IC title or made a big deal about wanting it, as it is literally the only thing left he has to accomplish as a singles wrestler in WWE.

The time to do something interesting with Sheamus as champion was his second reign, where he won the title right as Nexus was debuting. A heel champion just as a new, big heel stable with designs on destroying the company is actually a pretty cool angle. Does he throw in with the faces for the greater good, like Punk crawling back in the ring when the Nexus attacked Cena? Try to stand up against the heels on his own, failing either nobly or foolishly depending on how you play it? Try to save the company and his title the only way he knows, by out-heeling them? Instead, he basically ran into them once and literally ran away screaming "Cena!" and that's pretty much what he's been since.

[Hit Girl]

Accomplishments can't be forced.

[Pushed to the Moon]

I yawned just reading their names in the same thread title.

[thegame415]

To me, Del Rio's biggest problem was that creative tried making him Eddie Guerrero instead of letting him be himself.

[tms]

Sept 17, 2016 17:35:06 GMT -5 thegame415 said:

To me, Del Rio's biggest problem was that creative tried making him Eddie Guerrero instead of letting him be himself.

His biggest problem as a heel was having to rely on a submission move in a company where the faces are too manly to ever submit clean. Face Sheamus, Cena, Reigns, Taker, etc. His backstabber could have worked but his enziguri variations should have been his go-to finisher from day 1.

[Deleted]

Sheamus and ADR have had such atrocious booking, but they fall under the "it's their fault" category for some reason.

["Gentleman" AJ Powell]

Anybody got the melty face picture of when they faced each other for months on the run at PPVs?

[Deleted]

I liked "King United States Champion" Sheamus. He was so over the top insane, adopting both the King title and becoming a representative of this country despite his being Irish.

Believable heel that can wreck shit, but he's not awful as a face. Whomever is in charge of his story lines tends to get lazy and he's spinning his wheels at times.

The injury did result in an actual buzz around him. People actually glad to see him back, and... "Yay, Sheamus is ba-...WTF is with his hair?"

[Mid-Carder]

Add Edge to this list. I'm a big Edge fan from his very early days but he's nothing close to the star his accomplishments suggest he is. He's really the #1 beneficiary of the two World titles.

[Bo Rida]

Sept 18, 2016 12:21:41 GMT -5 Mid-Carder said:

Add Edge to this list. I'm a big Edge fan from his very early days but he's nothing close to the star his accomplishments suggest he is. He's really the #1 beneficiary of the two World titles.

If Edge retired immediately after E&C broke up he'd still be better than Del Rio and Sheamus both in and out of kayfabe.

Not that makes what you're saying wrong, I just don't think he should be mentioned in the same breath as these two. Even as a singles wrestler he's had more classic moments, matches and feuds than those two combined.

[Starshine]

We can't forget this "gem."



Their feud was stretched out so thin, it became transparent. The worst thing about it was neither of the characters had the chemistry, or anything else, to substantiate such a weak feud that just wouldn't die. They failed so badly at booking Del Rio as a credible threat that by the end they had to ban Sheamus from using the Brogue Kick to try and make the match seem competitive, only to turn around as soon as that match started and tell him he can use it again. Their matches were all shades of bland, and neither guy left them feeling better for it.

[Mighty Attack Tribble]

Sept 8, 2016 0:19:27 GMT -5 The Yes Man said:

They're both a great case of why "Put the belt on him, see if he gets over" does not work.

To be fair, Roman, ADR, and Sheamus aside, they seem to have abandoned that kind of booking for the top belt for the last few years. Midcard belts have been a crap shoot, though.

[Slingshot Suplay]

Both guys are victims of the shift from Weekly episodic booking to the directionless comedy/Variety show writing that the WWE enjoys so much.

Del Rio had purpose - it was his destiny with his championship pedigree and family legacy to win the World Title. He beat Rey on night #1, won the Rumble and should have beaten Edge at WM to complete the story arch, but instead he loses and then loses to Edge's little buddy right after. Then he gets traded to RAW, caught in a broken loop, going on about his destiny for months after the big loss, being given the wheel of aggression with the announcers putting over how "aggressive" he is (never works)when he finally wins gold, it's overshadowed by Kevin Nash attacking CM Punk. He never recovered that momentum especially because he never really evolved his character.

Sheamus killed Jaime Noble and Goldust and was drafted to RAW, where he got the rub from Jessie Ventura after a battle royal and stood up to Cena. He wins the title in an even match, but instead of making him Doomsday to Cena's superman, they go the route of his win being a fluke, making him a coward and having him run away from Nexus. Everything they did with him after didn't matter because they already dulled his shine. He was overshadowed by the Nexus (wade Barrett being another guy they eventually dropped the ball on storyline wise)and just floundered. Then when he went face, they tried to make him into an Irish comedian Cena.

WWE failed to protect these characters that they wanted big things out of. You can give the title to anyone, but if there is no effort in the storytelling, the accomplishment means nothing. These guys played their part, but WWE creative failed them and many other talent over the last 7 years.

[taker1990]

I feel like I'm way past the point of being able to give a damn about Sheamus, which is sad because the guy is a really solid wrestler.

[Deleted]

Sept 19, 2016 19:07:16 GMT -5 Starshine said:

We can't forget this "gem."



Their feud was stretched out so thin, it became transparent. The worst thing about it was neither of the characters had the chemistry, or anything else, to substantiate such a weak feud that just wouldn't die. They failed so badly at booking Del Rio as a credible threat that by the end they had to ban Sheamus from using the Brogue Kick to try and make the match seem competitive, only to turn around as soon as that match started and tell him he can use it again. Their matches were all shades of bland, and neither guy left them feeling better for it.

I'm reminded of that time when they had Sheamus do something relatively minor like Brogue Kick a referee then for weeks on end wouldn't shut up about him being fined $500,000 for it. Like, it was a stupid number to begin with, and we had zero reason to give a shit about Sheamus's finances, but they just would not stop bringing it up.

[Gremlin]

Someone should put them in a match together so we can see them in action!

[TGM]

Sept 20, 2016 17:04:00 GMT -5 Gremlin said:

Someone should put them in a match together so we can see them in action!

Mods??

[lebuddha]

Sept 8, 2016 2:46:27 GMT -5 This Player Hating Mothman said:

They're both victims of how WWE booked those years, because they tried to push them solely on the basis of kayfabe accomplishments and forgot to really get them over very much at all. Putting the belt on a guy to try and get them over isn't exactly new, but WWE has perplexingly decided to go in hard on it when they want to make someone happen, and I think more than there just being two world titles, they just got too stubborn and refused to realize that when the audience is smart, that shit doesn't really work anymore. These tricks don't have the stength they used to when the audience thought the champion was legitimately a great fighter, and it's all part of the stubborn, ineffectual booking patterns that have really f***ed WWE over. I think the only one of Sheamus's world title reigns that wasn't meant to make Sheamus happen was his most recent one, and that was only because they wanted a "the Authority screws Roman" story to work with.

I've been watching WWE again after a long hiatus and all I know about Alberto Del Rio is that he's Mexican.. And all I know about Sheamus is that he's Irish.. They haven't really expanded on their 2 dimensional characters, especially with The League of Nations stable this year that was basically a generic heel stable.

At least with Eddie Guerrero they made him into a wrestler who comes up with crazy ways of cheating. And he was funny too.

I haven't watched much of WWE in the last 7 years, but from what I know, it's just looked like WWE slapped on a bunch of titles and victories to wrestlers that didn't connect with the audience well. I feel like they're trying to make this a thing with most nations. For example, Jack Swagger is the generic American hero who does the stupid We The People chant.