Bleacher Report - Sheamus

Randy Orton and Sheamus Set to Have a Match at WWE's SummerSlam Event?

Sharon Glencross — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:38:35 -0400

Could Randy Orton and Sheamus be set to face off at this year's SummerSlam event?

Well, there has been simmering tension in the storylines between the two for a while now and one recent report indicates that this may indeed be the case.

In this week's (subscribers-only) F4W Newsletter, Bryan Alvarez writes that the two are currently planned to wrestle each other at the summer pay-per-view:

The plan at the moment is for Orton vs. Sheamus to be a featured match at SummerSlam. That would indicate one of them is turning soon. Orton hates being a face and there has been talk of him turning for literally almost a year now.

OK, the news that Orton may—finally—be turning heel is certainly welcome.

Orton's babyface character feels bored and stale these days. It doesn't help that the star himself positively exudes apathy and indifference whenever he comes out on Raw and SmackDown these days, either.

He's obviously frustrated with his current role and desperately wants to do something different. A heel turn might just be the thing that gets him back into the main event scene (Orton has been out of the title picture for ages now).

Clearly, a change is long overdue.

But assuming a Viper heel turn is in the works, is Sheamus really the ideal opponent? Let's be honest: No one is exactly clamouring for an Orton-Sheamus feud right now.

Frankly, Sheamus is arguably having as many problems with being a babyface as Orton is. This has been strongly apparent in his most recent feud with Mark Henry, which saw the supposedly babyface Irish star come off as obnoxious, rude and a total bully.

Come on, who wasn't rooting for Henry to teach him a lesson?

If Orton and Sheamus do square off in August, will anyone actually care?

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WWE Extreme Rules 2013 Results: Sheamus Beats Mark Henry and What It Means

Ryan Dilbert — Mon, 20 May 2013 08:33:01 -0400

Sheamus outlasted the monstrous Mark Henry at Extreme Rules 2013 to win their strap match, a victory that signals the Celtic Warrior's ascent back up the WWE food chain and stalling for Henry's momentum.

Sheamus defeated a man who, going into Sunday, looked unstoppable, a man who beat Ryback at WrestleMania 29 and who recently dragged an insane amount of weight. Henry was built up as the king of the jungle, and then Sheamus managed to knock him off his throne.

Henry outweighs Sheamus by almost 150 pounds. Putting these two in a strap match after Henry whipped Sheamus so mercilessly on WWE Raw made it seem like the Irishman would spend Extreme Rules surviving. Instead, he thrived.

It was Sheamus who kept touching three consecutive corners before Henry prevented him from reaching the fourth. It was Sheamus who dictated the pace of the match and who got most creative with the strap. He tried to make it around the ring from the outside and at one point tied Henry to the ring post.

He led for much of the dance.

After Sheamus had touched three corners yet again, Henry tried to smash him with a World's Strongest Slam. Sheamus slipped out and countered with a Brogue Kick. The blow gave him the space he needed to finally hit the fourth corner and get the win.

Having Sheamus not only come out on top against Henry, but to win so convincingly is a major boost to his momentum.

In all likelihood, this victory is a stepping stone back toward the World Heavyweight Championship picture. Once Alberto Del Rio and Dolph Ziggler's feud comes to a close, it will be Sheamus charging toward the champion.

Ziggler needs heroes to fend off in order to make his championship run an entertaining one. Sheamus, fresh off felling a giant, looks like a mighty challenger.

Josh Isenburg of WrestleZone.com agrees.

For Henry, the loss has him in need of a victim or a series of victims.

After Sheamus robbed him of some of his indestructible aura, Henry needs to find some human punching bags to get back his mojo. Expect an even angrier Henry in the coming weeks. His opponents on WWE Raw will find themselves in the Hall of Pain as Henry looks to redeem himself, to regain his dominance.

He needs to find a slew of victims to crush, to have them so devastated by his power that the memory of being drubbed by Sheamus fades away.

Having Sheamus and Henry's feud progress from backstage brawls, to tug-of-wars and arm wrestling competitions to a violent, personal match on a pay-per-view has the feeling of finality to it.

It feels like we just witnessed two beasts colliding in the jungle. One now goes off to lick his wounds before setting out in search of new prey. The other is, for now, the alpha male.

Armed with the Brogue Kick, the Irish brawler is headed Ziggler's way as he looks to reclaim the title he wore for over 200 days.

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WWE SmackDown, May 17: GSM's Analysis and Aftermath

Graham 'GSM' Matthews — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:45:36 -0400

Two days away from WWE Extreme Rules, Friday Night SmackDown was the final stop before the pay-per-view event on Sunday. As expected, the blue brand did an effective job of hyping most matches on the scheduled card and presented a night of entertaining action as well.

Here, I will analyze each significant segment presented on the show. I will also provide a combination of predictions and wishful thinking about what I hope to see in the coming weeks.

The Miz Hosted Miz TV with Randy Orton, Big Show, Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio, Mark Henry and Sheamus

Standard segment to kick off the show featuring Randy Orton, Big Show, Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio, Mark Henry and Sheamus. Everyone played their roles well and respectively hyped their matches for Extreme Rules.

It was a paint-by-numbers promo, but it served its purpose in setting up the main event match for later in the night. The only person who didn't seem to belong was The Miz, who hardly spoke at all during the course of the segment.

Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns w/Dean Ambrose def. The Usos

Brief match with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns defeating The Usos. It was only a mere minute long and was nothing more than a glorified squash match.

I would have liked to see the match go a bit longer, especially since The Usos were made to look like equals on WWE Main Event this week. The post-match run-in from United States Champion Kofi Kingston was a logical way of building toward his title defense against Ambrose at Extreme Rules.

Tons of Funk def. Prime Time Players

Throwaway match with Tons of Funk defeating Prime Time Players. Similar to their match on this week's Raw, the bout wasn't given enough time to truly mean anything.

The sole purpose of this match was to give Tons of Funk their win back, which is unfortunate. The in-ring action wasn't bad at all, but it simply felt like an unnecessary waste of time.

Chris Jericho def. Antonio Cesaro

Great match between Chris Jericho and Antonio Cesaro. These two work well together and developed awesome chemistry over the course of the contest.

It featured excellent action that concluded with Jericho forcing Cesaro to tap out to the Walls of Jericho to score the victory. Fandango's post-match attack on Y2J was a nice way of hyping their upcoming match against one another.

The Miz def. Damien Sandow

Good match between The Miz and Damien Sandow. It should have gone longer than just three minuets, but they made the most out of the time they were allotted.

The pre-show matchup at Extreme Rules has zero buildup, so it was nice to see Cody Rhodes on commentary in effort to make the match mean something. I also like the idea of Sandow having his own talk show, which could prove to be extremely entertaining.

Divas Champion Kaitlyn def. Aksana (non-title)

Fine match between Divas champion Kaitlyn and Aksana. These two have worked with one another countless times, so this bout was nothing out of the ordinary.

However, there weren't as many botches as usual and wasn't all that atrocious, which was encouraging. If nothing else, the commentary from JBL, Michael Cole and Josh Matthews was hilarious during this match and is worth listening to if you happened to miss it.

Randy Orton, Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio def. Jack Swagger, Mark Henry and Big Show

Entertaining six-man tag team match with Orton, Sheamus and Del Rio defeating Swagger, Henry and Big Show. They kept the pace consistent throughout the bout and everyone was able to hit their signature spots.

Additionally, the final few moments of the contest were suspenseful and well done. I would have preferred to see the heels go over since I fully expect the faces to go over on Sunday, but that's only nitpicking things.

Overall Show

Overall, a good show that featured enjoyable action and a handful of hype for the Extreme Rules event. There was very little filler and instead primarily focused building the matches on Sunday's card.

Once again, SmackDown outperformed Raw this week, which shouldn't come as any surprise. The blue brand has been the better show for weeks now and certainly sold me on the pending pay-per-view.

GSM out.

Visit my website at Next Era Wrestling and listen to my wrestling radio talk show SAVE US GSM every Wednesday night at 10 p.m. ET.

Follow @SAVE_US_GSM

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