WrestleMania 28: Why Less of Sheamus Is More in the Coming Weeks

In the weeks leading up to the 2012 Royal Rumble and following his win at the event itself, Sheamus has been on an absolute tear, picking up wins over RAW and Smackdown Superstars alike throughout the month of February.

I don't want to mince words: Sheamus is being woefully overexposed right now.

It seems strange to say, given that he was left off the Elimination Chamber card entirely while he pondered his decision about which championship to challenge for, but hear me out.

In the last five years, no Royal Rumble winner has competed in more than eight matches between the Royal Rumble and WrestleMania.

Two of them -- The Undertaker in 2007 and John Cena in 2008 -- won seven of those eight matches.

Sheamus, with four weeks to go before the "Showcase of the Immortals," sports an impressive 5-1 record in singles matches (7-1 overall), with his one loss coming via disqualification after shoving a referee out of the way to continue pummeling the world heavyweight champion, Daniel Bryan.

He has appeared in a match on all five episodes of SmackDown since the Rumble, and also competed in three out of five episodes of RAW.

We've seen all Sheamus has to offer in the ring, and we've heard barely anything about Daniel Bryan until the most recent episode of SmackDown, when Sheamus pointed out that Daniel Bryan has "changed" (You don't say, fella? I hadn't noticed.)

Not only that, but all of Sheamus' wins have come decisively via pinfall.

No tricks, just straight up victories, usually following a Brogue Kick. Sheamus has not faced a single bit of adversity thus far on the road to WrestleMania.

And I'm bored.

Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan is a match that, by all accounts, has no choice but to accept its fate as the fourth-best match on the WrestleMania card.

What, in the time between the Rumble and the March 2 edition of SmackDown, has been done to change that? I'm not interested in this match whatsoever, and there's nothing being done to combat that.

Sheamus keeps piling up pinfall victories with no signs of slowing down.

Daniel Bryan keeps piling up no contests, count outs and disqualifications, excluding his elimination of Santino Marella at Elimination Chamber (his only elimination in that match) and his completely baffling submission squash of Santino the next night on RAW.

If they continue on this path to WrestleMania hardly even acknowledging each other, one of two things is bound to happen.

Sheamus wins clean and I'm not surprised. He's effectively turned into Super-Sheamus over the last few months. It's all I've come to expect from him.

Daniel Bryan wins, probably by some sort of nefarious means and I'm not surprised. It's all I've come to expect from him.

Even if Daniel Bryan wins clean, what will that prove?

That Sheamus's push to the moon over the last few months was effectively pointless?

That the Royal Rumble curse is real?

It's a no-win situation for everyone involved. WWE squanders another opportunity.

And I'm not surprised. It's all I've come to expect from them.