Sheamus and the Best WWE Mic Mastery for Week of November 23

With a cacophony of criticism around him, it was hard to hear Sheamus deliver some of the best mic work of his WWE career.

The much-maligned, newly crowned world champ looked energized by his title reign. And in two lesser-seen moments, he was the right mix of egotist and irritant. Sheamus exceeded expectations as a talker in both an interview with Michael Cole and an appearance on ESPN.

His success in those spots, and how much more engaging he was than he is on average, makes a strong case that WWE should loosen the leash on every Superstar.

Less restricted by script, Sheamus stumbled on his words at times, but his rants were more realistic, his personality more free to shine. WWE needs to tap into that side of The Celtic Warrior more often as his time as champion rolls on.

On Tuesday, Jonathan Coachman talked to the new titleholder on SportsCenter.

Sheamus was tasked with being a representative and salesman for the company, as well as working in some heel work. He went from talking up WWE's response to the rumored threat from ISIS at Survivor Series to being a self-congratulatory blowhard now with a belt to brag about.

He showed off more presence than normal here. A part of that seemed to be the energy generated by WWE choosing him to follow Seth Rollins as champion.

When he crowed about the power of Irish athletes, he beamed:

Sheamus was as convincing there as he was when seemed genuinely delighted about the violence that is promised him in his upcoming TLC match against Roman Reigns. "It's gonna be chaos; it's gonna be anarchy," he said.

Not saddled with corny lines and seemingly allowed to improv more, the powerhouse showed flashes of being engaging beyond what his army of critics believe he can be.

In a sit-down interview with Cole later in the week, Sheamus continued that trend. He was by no means the second coming of The Rock, but he was a strong heel here, glowing with pride about crushing Reigns' dreams at Survivor Series.

Credit: WWE.com

He wore a cocksure smile as he recalled his Money in the Bank cash-in. "It's what dreams are made of. It was the most important moment of my life," he said.

A go-to option in recent years, WWE is folding criticism about the product into its storylines, trying to generate heat for its heels from it. In this case, the company is pretending that the backlash from fans about Sheamus winning the world title is about him doing so in underhanded fashion and selling out to The Authority rather than issues with the writing.

When Cole brought up the less-than-honorable way in which Sheamus defeated Reigns, The Celtic Warrior explained, "The record books aren't going to lie. They aren't going to say I sold out. They aren't going to say anything."

The key moment in Sheamus' interview, though, was a short rant that felt like a direct message to his critics, those already dismissing him as being a credible, entertaining champ. 

"Do you think I care what people think? Do you really think I care? Do you think I would be in this position right now if I was worried what anybody has to say about me or think about me?" he said.

Sheamus sounded a touch like he was shooting here. This wasn't his character talking as much as it was himself, taking advantage of an opportunity to deliver an aside directly to the audience.

This is where Sheamus has the best chance to truly rile up the fans. Portraying him as a man who dismisses and looks down on the Internet Wrestling Community is the absolute right move. That group largely hates him; that's where there is ample heat to exploit.

In these two short interviews, he was far more successful than he was on SmackDown, where he was asked to spit a silly line about a frozen burrito:

Firing off one-liners like that will not work. Micromanaging what he says on TV won't either. He has enough of an uphill climb as it is.

The Sheamus era began with a horrible thud. 

As Dave Meltzer pointed out on F4WOnline.com, Monday's Raw hit a historic low. "The show did 2.95 million viewers, more than 200,000 viewers lower than what had previously been the non-holiday low dating back to 1997 when Raw was losing badly to WCW Monday Nitro."

To avoid more numbers like that, WWE is going to have to be creative. Sheamus is going to have to upend low expectations. And none of it will be easy. 

Jim Ross was spot on when he covered the topic on his blog. He wrote, "WWE has lots of work to do to get Sheamus in a position so that he can pass the title along at the right place, at the right time to the right person. The hotter WWE can make Sheamus the more it will mean when he loses the title."

Keeping Sheamus away from groan-worthy lines will be key to that. And so will tapping into the patronizing version of the powerhouse that fans saw in glimpses in the early stages of his title reign.