WWE: Analyzing Sheamus' World Heavyweight Title Run

At WresteMania 28, it took Sheamus just 18 seconds to defeat Daniel Bryan to win his first World Heavyweight Championship.

He’s held the title ever since, and it’s been no ordinary title reign.

After turning baby face last summer, Sheamus had spent the latter half of 2012 and the build to WrestleMania getting a major push, and that push has gotten even bigger since he became World Champion.

Following in the footsteps of top babyfaces who have come before him and are still around (like John Cena), Sheamus has become damn near unbeatable.

It’s not like The Great White was losing very many matches prior to winning the World title at WrestleMania, but now, he rarely loses. And when he does, it’s almost never clean.

That has been perhaps the defining factor in Sheamus’ first and current reign as World Heavyweight Champion.

He has been booked to be an incredibly dominant superstar, with his run at the top reminding some within the WWE of the booking of Triple H in which it took a small army to beat The Game.

Sheamus has spent much of his World title reign beating guys in relatively easy fashion, but he’s also had a number of memorable matches with some of the biggest stars around.

He’s made huge strides in the ring and has put on a number of great TV bouts with guys like Randy Orton, Chris Jericho and Dolph Ziggler.

Sheamus’ pay-per-view matches have been pretty damn impressive as well.

His 2-out-of-3 Falls match with Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules was phenomenal, his successful title defense in a Fatal 4-Way match at Over the Limit was also very entertaining. As was his No Way Out match with Ziggler.

The problem with Sheamus’ title reign hasn’t really had much to do with Sheamus himself. He’s looked as dominant as ever and has made some significant improvements in the ring that have made him one of the best in-ring performers around.

Rather, the problem is that most of his nearly five-month long title reign has been taken up by a downright awful feud with Alberto Del Rio.

I can’t blame Sheamus for what’s gone wrong with this rivalry, nor do I blame Del Rio.

Sometimes—regardless of how talented the two guys who are involved are—they just don’t click, and as a result, we get a feud that puts us to sleep.

I put much of the blame here on the creative team for force feeding us a rivalry between Sheamus and ADR that was bad from the beginning and has now dragged on for roughly four months.

Originally, Del Rio and Sheamus were scheduled to meet one-on-one at Over the Limit, but Orton and Jericho got involved, which turned the bout into a Fatal 4-Way.

We thought we would then get Del Rio vs. Sheamus at No Way Out, but Del Rio suffered a concussion, was pulled from the match and replaced by Ziggler.

Of course, Sheamus then beat Del Rio 100 percent clean at Money in the Bank (which is something that WWE has continuously ignored since then), only for ADR to become the No. 1 contender for the World Heavyweight title once again.

Most of us assumed that Sheamus would defeat ADR at SummerSlam, and the feud would be over. But even though Sheamus retained, the controversial finish to their match all but ensures that these two are going to meet again, likely for the World title at Night of Champions next month.

Ugh. Really?

This feud has failed miserably from the moment it started back in May. Yet, we’re almost in September now, and it’s still going on.

I don’t get it. I just don’t get it.

If this was a great feud—like Orton vs. Christian in 2011—I’d be all for it continuing for months upon months. But I legitimately do not know a soul that’s been entertained by this rivalry or its matches.

Sheamus vs. ADR at Money in the Bank was an absolute snooze-fest, and though their match at SummerSlam was significantly better, it was still far from great, especially with that wacky ending.

I’m not sure who in the WWE is obsessed with this feud or keeping Del Rio around the World title, but all it’s really done is put a black cloud over what’s otherwise been an impressive few months for Sheamus.

Sheamus is obviously in the midst of a massive push, and he’s been on a roll in the ring as of late, too.

But no one’s going remember that.

Especially if it ends soon, all we’re going to remember about Sheamus’ World title reign is that it was defined by a never-ending feud with Del Rio that has been nothing short of abysmal.

I feel bad for Sheamus

He’s on fire, but Del Rio isn’t. And it’s been nothing but detrimental to what should be a memorable World title reign.