Sheamus on winning the WWE title, facing Brock Lesnar and why Liverpool can win the league

The new WWE World Heavyweight champion talks dream opponents, advice for Roman Reigns, respecting Daniel Bryan and on Liverpool's Premier League title hopes.

Sheamus is the WWE's new World Heavyweight champion. JP Yim / Getty Images

Sheamus won his fourth WWE world title on Sunday, as predicted by The National, when he successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Roman Reigns at Survivor Series to become WWE World Heavyweight champion. The Irishman on Monday discussed dealing with the pressure of being champion, crowd reactions, and why he thinks Liverpool can win the Premier League this season.

On stepping up

“This is my fourth world championship, I have been in this position before. I have faced a lot of scrutiny as everyone has seen over the last couple of years, both as a heel and a babyface, but right now I have been raring to go for such a long time since I won the Money in the Bank contract. I feel for the last couple of months I have been sat in first gear, raring to go. As pressure goes, I actually look forward to it. The opportunity I have now is one I have been waiting for a long time. I am not going to let the opportunity pass me by. I have been on the sidelines myself and I know what it is like but I am going to take this and I am going to run with it.”

On fears he would fail when he tried to cash in the Money in the Bank contract

“I would be lying if I said that did not go through my mind. We are all human beings at the end of the day and sometimes when things aren’t going your way you can have doubt in what you are doing. Yeah, it went through my head a couple of times, the fear of when I cash in, what moment will that be? “Will I end up on the side of the few guys who have not captured the WWE World Heavyweight Championship when doing that? You have to believe in yourself and I have always believed in myself that I would walk away WWE World Heavyweight champion. It was just going to be a matter of when that opportunity was going to come and I had to be ready when it did come, and I believe I was. I believe I took it last night and walked out with the greatest prize.”

On a match with Brock Lesnar

“I would love a match with Brock. I have said that for the last couple of years. It was just a matter of getting in to that mix. Now that I am WWE World Heavyweight champion I would love to take on The Beast. It would be great. I talked to Paul Heyman about that one too.”

On Jurgen Klopp becoming Liverpool manager

Sheamus is a Liverpool fan and he said: “I think it is amazing. I think Jurgen Klopp has just changed the entire atmosphere at Liverpool Football Club. That team under Brendan Rodgers just seemed to have no passion and was directionless. and were uninspiring. Liverpool have not won the league since 1990. As my other childhood passion [other than wrestling] every period under Liverpool where they would do so well, I know we won the European Cup [in 2005] under Benitez, but it always seemed like we were going to do well, then we fail, then we have a new manager, then we have another new manager and so on. I know we came close to winning the league last year, but my point was it would have been amazing winning the league, but the problem was there was a lot of holes in that team. We would have probably have had the same season last season [regardless of if they had won the league].”

Liverpool’s Premier League title chances

“Klopp has completely transformed things. I have faith. I can see his energy. I can see his passion and I can see the players want to impress. That team destroyed Manchester Ciy 4-1 in Manchester and that just goes to show how much talent is in that squad that has not been used or tapped into. I am very positive about it. This league is still wide open. If Klopp taps into this I have a feeling we can walk away with the Premier League. There are no outstanding teams right now and Liverpool are starting to click, so we could see the first Premier league championship at Liverpool in 26 years.”

On the rise of the Irish in the WWE

“I have said it before, pound for pound, the Irish are the greatest fighters on the planet. Finn Balor and myself were on the European tour for the first week wrestling each other. I think from Dublin all the way to Leeds and it was off the charts, the matches we had were great. It was amazing being in the ring with such a talented superstar.”

On mixed reactions

“There’s always going to be a lot of negative and a lot of positive. Reaction wise, I hate all this stuff. I’ll be honest, I read a lot of stuff in the beginning that things were going to go belly up as a babyface as the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Folks saying, ‘Oh, he got no reaction tonight’. I thought the reaction was great. It was just a lot of people trying to create something that, you know, create a negative influence or atmosphere. I go out there and there is always a reaction. Whether it is negative or whether it is positive or whether it is, “You look stupid!” Whatever it is. You embrace it all. That is what it is. It is about the reaction. It is about going out there and getting that reaction.”

On crowd acceptance

“I have been in that position where I was the babyface and I saw the crowd turn against me. After that match with Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania that lasted 18 seconds the tide just completely shifted. I tried to fight it off as much as I possibly could. Daniel Bryan went on to great levels after the stuff he did with Kane and he became an absolute superstar. He went on to main event WrestleMania and win the World Heavyweight championship. I was so proud of him that he did that. I knew when I came back from my last injury that I needed to change things up and that is exactly what I felt. It is what I believed in.”

On Roman Reigns

“I think Roman has been dealing with it pretty well to be honest. He works hard and he leaves nothing in the ring. He just goes out there and is very passionate about what he does. I think he is a great athlete and a great superstar and posterboy for the WWE. The most important thing for Roman is to stick to his guns and who he is and not try to be someone else. Just keep believing in himself and what he is doing and I think he will be fine.”

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