Report Card for Sheamus' United States Championship Run

Sheamus' turn with the United States Championship was like a movie with a lot of good fight scenes and little else.

Limping feuds, a lack of arresting storylines and too much off-time hurt a championship reign where The Celtic Warrior put together impressive match after impressive match. It was a smart move to put the U.S. title on someone of Sheamus' status, but WWE didn't pay him enough attention after he won it in May.

Looking back, the title reign feels unfinished, as if WWE writers had plans for the bruiser but never pulled them out of their pockets.

Jim Ross was among the many folks who thought Sheamus should turn heel. That never happened.

His feud with Cesaro cut out early and then later restarted. His eventual loss to Rusev didn't get hyped enough either, WWE fast-tracking that narrative.  

PWTorch's Greg Parks points out an opportunity WWE missed out on:

With those issues competing with a list of intense bouts, how entertaining and memorable was Sheamus' time as champion? The following is a look at that question, grading the quality of his matches, the engagement level of his title feuds and the overall impact he had on the title's history.

Matches (A-)

This is where Sheamus' title run most succeeded. 

His physical, brawl-heavy style led to some great showings in the ring. WWE certainly pulled him away too often from his championship duties to compete in six-man tags, but when it was him and a challenger, the results were often worthy of applause.

A sextet of matches stand out.

Opponent	Event	Date	Result
Cesaro	Main Event	5/14	Double count-out
Cesaro	Payback	6/1	Sheamus wins via pinfall.
Alberto Del Rio	SmackDown	7/4	Sheamus wins via pinfall.
Alberto Del Rio	Main Event	7/8	Sheamus wins via pinfall.
Cesaro	Night of Champions	6/1	Sheamus wins via pinfall.
Rusev	WWE Network special	11/3	Rusev wins via submission.

He and Cesaro clicked every time out. Their battles featured fists drumming against ribs and the kind of hard clotheslines that leaves one wondering if everyone is OK afterward.

Even with the lack of real finish, his match against The King of Swing on May 14 crackled with electricity. There was an obvious chemistry between them that WWE didn't exploit often enough. When it did, both men made the company look smart for doing so.

Critics loved these two brawlers' work together.

Writing for The Void, Phillipa Hopwood called Cesaro and Sheamus' match at Payback "the treat we all expected it to be." Dave Meltzer gave the Night of Champions match a four-star rating in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t ProFightDB.com), tying it for the honor of being the event's highest-rated match.

Add two strong bouts against Alberto Del Rio and solid work against The Miz and Titus O'Neil. Plus, his last match as champ was one of his best. He and Rusev put on a performance worthy of a pay-per-view.

It's a match like this that makes for wistful thinking of what Sheamus' reign might have been had he an angle or two to work with.

Feuds (C-)

Cesaro served as Sheamus' primary foil in his six months as champ. While the matches were plenty good, there was little to the rivalry beyond that.

Sheamus and Cesaro traded cheap, fluky wins in June. Each man won with a small package, seemingly leading to them having to fight in a match where a move like that wouldn't suffice. They did not end up in a steel cage, though.

Instead, WWE had Sheamus seek out other titles. 

He lost a chance at the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Money in the Bank. He failed to become a double titleholder in the Intercontinental Championship Battle Royal at Battleground.

There was a long stretch where it didn't seem like anyone had the U.S. title in their sights. 

He later had a brief run-in The Miz. The best part of that was Damien Mizdow dressing in full Sheamus garb.

As funny as that was, that can't be the highlight of a rivalry. 

Other than their in-ring work, Cesaro and Sheamus didn't produce many highlights either.

They resumed their feud in September, but it was marred by the same lack of big moments that hurt their first go-round. Ambushes, trash-talking sessions and memorable heel acts were all missing from a threadbare story.

Impact (C+)

Excellent wrestling juxtaposed the reign's shortcomings and balanced them out somewhat.

A big reason that Sheamus' run feels so disappointing is that he went too long toward the end without defending it. It was easy at that point to forget that he was even champion.

Per CageMatch.net, after Sheamus retained against Del Rio on July 8, he didn't put the title up for grabs until the Night of Champions pay-per-view on Sept. 21. That's nearly 33 percent of his total reign.

Credit: WWE.com

He was in a total of seven U.S. title bouts after becoming champ. By contrast, Dolph Ziggler has defended the Intercontinental Championship six times in the last two months. 

Had The Celtic Warrior had a more memorable feud during his time with the strap, that would have made up for that some. Cesaro vs. Sheamus was one with plenty of potential, but it didn't get enough attention and didn't create enough lasting images.

Still, the WWE portion of the title's history isn't choked with classic matches. Sheamus made a number of contributions to the collection of the best U.S. title bouts. 

He sits behind top champs like Chris Benoit and Montel Vontavious Porter but will be more fondly remembered than flops like Santino Marella and Orlando Jordan. It was a one-dimensional run with a championship WWE has struggled to showcase in recent years.

As good as he was in the ring trying to keep the gold in his grip, the reign's flaws make its story one of "what if?"