WWE: Could Sheamus Beat Mark Henry for the World Championship?

“Great White” sounds a lot better than Ronald McDonald, doesn’t it?

The recent face turn of Sheamus has been unexpected, one that seemingly came from out of nowhere. It is hard to imagine that the same guy who was portrayed as a coward at heart who would run from a fight, would now be presented as the toughest guy in the locker room, who’s not backing down from anyone.

While circumstances surrounding Sheamus have changed, his ability in the ring has not.

For me, Sheamus is the modern day Ole Anderson. Ole was a thick, hard-nosed, tough-as-nails bruiser who dissected his opponents in the ring. Ole was no frills, no flash; just a hard working guy whose icy stare pierced right through you whenever he spoke.

The ground-and-pound style that Sheamus employs puts him in great company with workers like Ole. I can definitely picture the Celtic Warrior as a successful talent back during the days of Jim Crockett Promotions. He would have fit right in.

But in this modern day when WWE sells its superstars based on image and what they can bring to the table in terms of overall presentation, Sheamus is getting it done in spite of a gimmick that is not loud or overly dramatic.

From the smile that he wears to the intensity of the brawler mentality he brings, Sheamus’s approach to the business is working. He went from being a guy that could not buy a victory, with nothing good on the horizon, to a top talent on SmackDown. He’s headed in the right direction.

That direction? Straight toward the World Heavyweight Championship.

Since Mark Henry began his meteoric rise to the top of the company, there is one guy who has been able to stand toe to toe with him. One guy, who took a look at the path of destruction that the World’s Strongest Man was carving through the company and said he’s not so tough.

Sheamus is that guy. He matches up better physically with Henry than anyone in the SmackDown locker room, and I believe that he will be the next man in line for the world title.

Of course, there is the issue that Henry has with the man he recently defeated for the strap, Randy Orton. And, based on what happened against Cody Rhodes, Orton is open for business.

On the September 23rd edition of Friday Night SmackDown, Orton once again faced off against his former Legacy teammate. And while the match was hard fought, it is the end that still has fans buzzing. Orton took the timekeeper’s bell to Rhodes’s head, busting him wide open. The scene was so graphic that WWE heavily edited the moment in an attempt to clean it up.

Orton's’s actions are being called into question by many fans, who point out that instead of using the flat bottom part of the bell, he used the sharp corner, making the move more dangerous.

But Orton is Orton and despite what he may or may not have been thinking when he hit Rhodes, the fact is that he has never looked more out of control, more aggressively vicious, than he does right now. His character’s mental state is not just unhinged, it’s broken; and the next man squarely in his sights is Mark Henry.

Needless to say, the rematch between the two should be interesting.

If Henry survives and emerges with the World Championship against Orton at the upcoming Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, I believe that his feud with Sheamus will resume, and with more intensity than it ever had before.

Sheamus is not physically intimidated by Henry, and he’s not psyched out by the man’s strength or what he’s done to other WWE Superstars. Sheamus is the perfect opponent for Henry, and these two battling it out once again, this time with the World Title in the mix, would no doubt make for an even better rivalry than what they had before.

Sheamus is in the best position of his WWE career thus far. He is no longer an unknown commodity in the ring, he now has the crowd behind him, and he is hovering just below the main event level on SmackDown. The sky is the limit for him, and when it comes to the world title, this Great White is beginning to circle Mark Henry.

Cue the theme from Jaws.