Sheamus will be a free agent soon.
On Sunday, Fightful Select revealed that “The Celtic Warrior” would be leaving WWE upon the expiration of his contract, having declined a restructured extension beforehand. The decision ends nearly two decades with the promotion, during which Sheamus was a world champion four times, among other accolades.
Despite his many successes, however, Sheamus has one glaring lack in his resume: the Intercontinental Championship, which he needs to complete the Grand Slam. He holds the record for the most unsuccessful attempts to win that title, at 10. Now, as he prepares for a new chapter of his wrestling career, it is time to look back at those matches and peruse what the best time would have been for him to win.
The first time Sheamus challenged for the Intercontinental title was against Cody Rhodes in September 2011 on SmackDown. Sheamus won by disqualification after being attacked by Christian, whom he had eliminated from a battle royale, but Rhodes got to keep the title via champion’s advantage.
Sheamus’ next shot came at Battleground 2014. Wade Barrett had been forced to vacate the title after legitimately injuring his shoulder. Thus, a 19-man battle royale was booked for the vacant title, which The Miz won.
The title became vacant again around a year later, when Daniel Bryan got injured. An Elimination Chamber match was booked for the title at the eponymous PPV. Sheamus was among the six people who qualified for the match, but Ryback pinned him last to clinch a first-ever singles title.
It would be over seven years before Sheamus got another opportunity at the Intercontinental title. This time, it was against GUNTHER, who had had a meteoric rise since graduating from NXT. Sheamus would have four tries against the Austrian, including a WrestleMania 39 triple-threat that also involved Drew McIntyre. None of them were successful.
The first of Sheamus’ last three Intercontinental title shots came in 2024 against Bron Breakker. Interference by Ludwig Kaiser led to a triple-threat a few days later at Survivor Series that Breakker won. Sheamus had one last one-on-opportunity against Breakker at Saturday Night’s Main Event but was unsuccessful.
Using a summary of Sheamus’ Intercontinental Championship match losses over the years, one can argue that Survivor Series 2024 would have been his best bet.
In 2011, Sheamus was still relatively young in the promotion despite already being a former World Champion. The public had yet to accept him as a face, even against the “scarred narcissist” that was Rhodes at the time. Battleground 2014 and Elimination Chamber 2015, meanwhile, were close calls that could have gone Sheamus’ way.
2022 saw the peak of Sheamus’s overness, as his “Brawling Brutes” faction with Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland fought GUNTHER’s Imperium. Still, there were limits to how long a face faction like that would last.
Sheamus’ last three shots, however? That was the best time. Breakker was always earmarked as a future face. His reign could still have ended with Sheamus, and his main-event transition would have been smoother. It would also have led to much more heat on Dominik Mysterio once he won the title at WrestleMania 41.
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Ultimately, Sheamus and the Intercontinental Championship represent one of the biggest what-ifs in WWE history, though not the outright biggest one.
Plenty of wrestlers never won a WWE world title in their careers, most notably Roddy Piper and Jake Roberts. Within today’s WWE, the likes of LA Knight have yet to clinch the big prize despite being over and having multiple chances to vindicate it.
Still, if career-long tag team wrestler Jey Uso could win the Intercontinental title, why not Sheamus, who has proven capable both by himself and in a team? Such is the mystery of wrestling booking…
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