Sheamus

On 3 January 2020 episode of SmackDown, Sheamus returned from injury, appearing to save Shorty G from an attack by The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson), but then delivered a Brogue Kick to Shorty G. Sheamus then defeated Shorty G at Royal Rumble and on 31 January episode of SmackDown.

On 17 April, Sheamus and Cesaro were both drafted to SmackDown as part of the Superstar Shake-up. Despite the trade, they still had an opportunity to win the Raw Tag Team Championship as they faced Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt at Greatest Royal Rumble event, but failed to win the titles. The Bar entered a short feud with The New Day losing to them and failing to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match. After going on a hiatus, the duo returned in late July to take part in a number one contendership tournament for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship and beat The Usos to advance to the finals, where they lost to The New Day. After failing to become number one contenders again, the duo finally were gifted a title match. At Super Show-Down event, The Bar failed to win the titles. At SmackDown 1000, The Bar won the titles from The New Day with the help of Big Show. The Bar lost to Raw Tag Team Champions AOP in an interbrand Champion vs Champion match at Survivor Series. On 27 November episode of SmackDown, they had a backstage argument with Big Show, causing him to break away from the team. At TLC, they successfully defended the championship against The Usos and The New Day in a triple threat tag team match. On 8 January 2019 episode of SmackDown, they accepted a challenge from The Miz and Shane McMahon, which would lead to a tag team title match at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, in which they lost the titles.

On 28 January 2018, The Bar won back the title at Royal Rumble, setting the record for the most reigns as a team at four. Earlier in the Royal Rumble match, Sheamus entered at number 11 and was quickly eliminated by Heath Slater, lasting just one second in the match. Following consecutive losses to Titus Worldwide (Apollo Crews and Titus O'Neil) on Raw, they defended their title against the two at Elimination Chamber, retaining successfully. On 12 March episode of Raw, after Braun Strowman single-handedly won a tag team battle royale to determine the number one contenders for their tag titles at WrestleMania 34 although he lacked a partner, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle still allowed Strowman to wrestle for the titles, under the provision that he reveal his mystery partner at the event. At the event, Strowman revealed his partner to be a 10 year old fan called Nicholas. The Bar were defeated by Strowman and Nicholas, therefore losing the tag team title and in turn making Nicholas the youngest champion of any kind in WWE history.

At TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, Sheamus defeated Reigns in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match after interference from The League of Nations. After the match, Reigns attacked Sheamus and Triple H. This resulted in a rematch the following night on Raw for the title with the stipulation that Reigns would be fired should he lose. Despite interference from chairman Mr. McMahon, Sheamus lost the title, ending his reign at 22 days. On 4 January 2016 episode of Raw, he failed to regain the title from Reigns with McMahon as special guest referee. On 24 January, Sheamus entered the 2016 Royal Rumble at number 29, where he made to the final four, before being eliminated by Reigns.

On 19 July at the 2016 WWE draft, Sheamus was drafted to Raw. Sheamus would then begin a rivalry with Cesaro, after losing to Cesaro on 1 August episode of Raw, the two would continue to brawl after the match with match officials having to pull them apart. On 8 August episode of Raw, after losing to Cesaro in a rematch, he would later cost Cesaro the United States Championship after interfering in his main event impromptu match against Rusev. The following week, Raw General Manager Mick Foley booked Sheamus and Cesaro in a Best of Seven Series, with the first match taking place on 21 August on the SummerSlam kick-off show, which Sheamus won. Sheamus would defeat Cesaro in the second and third matches, but lost to Cesaro in the fourth, fifth and sixth matches. At Clash of Champions, the match ended in a no contest, leaving their series tied at 3-3. The next night on Raw, Mick Foley decided to make the two partners to receive a future Raw Tag Team Championship opportunity. Later that night, they defeated a few local athletes, but still did not seem to be seeing eye to eye. Sheamus and Cesaro defeated The New Day on 24 October episode of Raw and defeated them by disqualification at Hell in a Cell. On 7 November episode of Raw, Sheamus and Cesaro were announced as part of Team Raw for the 10–on–10 Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination match at Survivor Series on 20 November, which Team Raw won with Sheamus and Cesaro being the sole survivors of their team. The next night on Raw, Sheamus and Cesaro again failed to capture Raw Tag Team Championship from The New Day. After hinting at a break-up, the pair got into a bar brawl with men who offended them and finally began to cooperate with each other, thus turning Sheamus into a face. On 18 December at Roadblock: End of the Line, Sheamus and Cesaro defeated The New Day to win the Raw Tag Team Championship, marking Sheamus' first tag team championship in both his WWE and entire wrestling career. On 29 January on the Royal Rumble kickoff show, Sheamus and Cesaro lost the Raw Tag Team Championship to Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and failed to regain them after The Hardy Boyz won the title at WrestleMania 33.

Pro Wrestling Insider writer Mike Johnson describes Sheamus' storyline position before winning the world title in 2015

On 26 January 2014, at the Royal Rumble, Sheamus returned as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble match; he was eliminated by Roman Reigns in the final three. The following night on Raw, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, and John Cena qualified for the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship; he was eliminated by Christian in the match. This began a brief feud leading up to WrestleMania, in which Sheamus consistently was victorious. He was part of the final four in the André the Giant Memorial battle royal at WrestleMania XXX, before he and Alberto Del Rio eliminated each other. On 14 April, Sheamus participated in the Intercontinental Championship number one contender tournament, which was held on Raw. He advanced to the next round by defeating Jack Swagger, before losing to Bad News Barrett in the semi-finals on 21 April.

In July 2014, Farrelly made a guest appearance on the USA Network television series Royal Pains.

On 27 January 2013, at the Royal Rumble, Sheamus entered the Royal Rumble at number eleven, eliminating five other superstars before Ryback eliminated him. After being a frequent target of The Shield, Sheamus gained vengeance on the stable when he united with John Cena and Ryback to attack them. This culminated in a six-man tag team match at Elimination Chamber, where the Shield emerged victorious. In late February, Sheamus aligned himself with Randy Orton to feud with The Shield. Over the next weeks, Sheamus and Orton saved each other from attacks by The Shield and Big Show. On 15 March episode of SmackDown, Sheamus and Orton were then allowed to pick a third partner to face the Shield in a six-man tag team match at WrestleMania 29 and chose Ryback. Three days later on Raw, however, Ryback was booked for another match at the event, leaving the spot open. Later that night, Big Show saved the two from an attack by The Shield and was recruited as their partner. On 7 April at WrestleMania 29, Sheamus, Orton and Show were defeated by The Shield, after which both men were knocked out by Show. The following night on Raw, Sheamus and Orton faced off in a match to earn a match with Big Show, however, the match ended in a no contest after Show interfered. Sheamus and Orton then defeated Show in two handicap matches on SmackDown and Raw.

On 3 June episode of SmackDown, Sheamus lost a World Heavyweight Championship match to Randy Orton due to biased refereeing from Christian. Two weeks later, he lost a match to Christian, ending his chance to compete in the World Heavyweight Championship match at Capitol Punishment. Sheamus turned face for the first time, briefly feuding with Mark Henry over Henry being a bully, including a loss at SummerSlam, Sheamus went on a fourteen match winning streak that ended after interference from Christian, with whom he had been feuding. During this time, Sheamus defeated Christian in three consecutive matches at Hell in a Cell, Vengeance, and on SmackDown. He then went on a twelve match winning streak building towards winning the 2012 Royal Rumble. He entered the match twenty-second and won by last eliminating Chris Jericho to earn a main event championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII.

On 7 March, after losing a match against Daniel Bryan, Sheamus challenged him to a rematch with his WWE career on the line against Bryan's United States Championship. He won his match against Bryan the following week, winning his first United States title. The rematch between Sheamus and Bryan took place on 3 April, during the pre-show of WrestleMania XXVII, and ended in a draw after interference from the lumberjacks. The next night on Raw, Sheamus retained the United States Championship against Bryan in a rematch. In the 2011 Supplemental Draft, Sheamus was drafted to the SmackDown brand, and made his SmackDown debut on 29 April, and attacking Kofi Kingston. He brought the United States Championship to SmackDown, but lost it back to the Raw brand at Extreme Rules when Kingston defeated him in a Tables match.

On 30 March episode of Raw, Sheamus returned from injury, having drastically changed his look, including a mohawk and braided beard, appearing to save Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler from an attack by Bad News Barrett, but then attacked Bryan and Ziggler instead, turning heel in the process for the first time since 2011. Sheamus then explained his heel turn and new attitude by claiming that "the era of underdogs is over", resulting in a feud with Ziggler. On 16 April episode of SmackDown, Sheamus announced that he would face Ziggler in a Kiss Me Arse match at Extreme Rules, which he lost. However, Sheamus refused to follow the stipulation, and instead made Ziggler kiss his arse, despite losing. At Payback, Sheamus defeated Ziggler in a rematch. At Elimination Chamber, Sheamus participated in the Elimination Chamber match for the vacant Intercontinental Championship, but was unsuccessful as the match was won by Ryback. At Money in the Bank, Sheamus won the Money in the Bank ladder match to earn a WWE World Heavyweight Championship contract. Sheamus then began a feud with Randy Orton, who was also part of the ladder match, with both men attacking each other and facing off in tag-team matches. Sheamus lost to Orton at Battleground, but defeated Orton at SummerSlam.

Farrelly made his video game debut in WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2011 and has since appeared as a playable character in WWE '12, WWE '13, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K15, WWE 2K16, WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18, WWE 2K19, and WWE 2K20

The following night on Raw, Sheamus won a "break-through" battle royal for wrestlers who had never won a world championship, to become the number one contender to John Cena's WWE Championship. At the contract signing immediately afterward, Sheamus put Cena through the table, and the Raw guest host, Jesse Ventura, announced it would be a Tables match.> On 13 December at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view, Sheamus defeated Cena to win the WWE Championship, his first championship in WWE, making him the first Irish-born WWE Champion. He also captured the major title in just 166 days since his WWE debut, making it the third shortest time to capture a title since his WWE/ECW debut. The following night on Raw, Sheamus was awarded the 2009 Breakout Superstar of the Year Slammy Award. He would make his first title defense on the final Raw of 2009, getting disqualified in a rematch against Cena. On 31 January 2010 at the Royal Rumble, Sheamus defeated Randy Orton by disqualification to retain the WWE Championship, following interference from Orton's teammate Cody Rhodes. On 21 February, Sheamus lost the WWE Championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in the Elimination Chamber match after he was eliminated by Triple H. During the match, Sheamus suffered a concussion and as a result did not attend Raw the following night. Upon his return, he attacked Triple H in revenge, setting up a match at WrestleMania XXVI, where Sheamus lost. The following month at Extreme Rules, Sheamus attacked Triple H at the beginning of the show and later defeated him in a Street Fight. After a series of kicks to the head to win, he continued his assault after the match finished resulting in Triple H being written off television for ten months.

He bounced back on 29 November, with wins over Kofi Kingston and John Morrison to become the 2010 King of the Ring, after receiving a bye through the second round. As "King Sheamus", he faced Morrison again at the TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs pay-per-view for a future WWE Championship match, but lost in a ladder match. Going into 2011, he continued to lose to Morrison in a mixture of singles and tag team matches. Triple H returned on 28 February and took revenge for his scripted ten-month injury by putting Sheamus through the announce table.

Prior to joining WWE, he wrestled on the European circuit and was a two-time International Heavyweight Champion during his tenure in Irish Whip Wrestling (IWW). After becoming part of the WWE main roster in 2009, he would go on to be a four-time world champion, having held the WWE (World Heavyweight) Championship three times and WWE's World Heavyweight Championship once. He is the first Irish world champion in WWE history and is also a two-time United States Champion and a five-time tag team champion (four Raw and one SmackDown) with his partner Cesaro. In addition to these championships, he has won the 2010 King of the Ring tournament, the 2012 Royal Rumble match and the 2015 Money in the Bank ladder match, making him only the second wrestler (after Edge) to achieve all three accomplishments.

O'Shaunessy spent 2009 continuing to chase gold, earning two shots in January and February at the Florida Tag Team Champions Johnny Curtis and Tyler Reks, but he and Ryback were unsuccessful in both attempts. In March he challenged the two for the titles again, this time with McIntyre as his partner, but could not defeat them, nor could he defeat McIntyre for the Florida Heavyweight Championship the following month. He received a series of chances throughout the rest of the year, but could not win any more titles before being called up to WWE television, unsuccessfully challenging Justin Angel for the Florida Heavyweight Championship in November.

On 30 June 2009 episode of ECW, Farrelly made his unannounced debut as a villain under the shortened ring name of Sheamus, quickly defeating a local competitor. Sheamus soon entered into a critically well-received rivalry with Goldust after defeating him on 29 July. After exchanging victories in the following weeks they competed in a no disqualification match on 1 September which was won by Sheamus. Sheamus then began a feud with Shelton Benjamin which was hot-shot into a deciding match on 27 October which Sheamus won.

On 22 July 2008, O'Shaunessy worked a dark match at a SmackDown taping, losing to R-Truth. The following year in May, O'Shaunessy began appearing at the Raw brand's house shows, and on both 8 and 9 May he defeated Jamie Noble along with another dark match victory over Noble before an episode of Raw.

Farrelly (billed as "Sheamus O'Shaunessy") played the role of "Two Ton" in the 2008 movie The Escapist. In 2009 he appeared as a Celtic Warrior Zombie in the opening sequence of the film Assault of Darkness, and had a small part in Once Upon a Time in Dublin (aka 3 Crosses) as a security guard. He played Rocksteady in 2016's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

After defending his title against Vampiro and Viper, O'Shaunessy found himself embroiled in a new feud with rising Scottish wrestling star "Thee" Drew Galloway, whom he later admitted was his toughest opponent. On 28 January 2006, he received his first championship match, evolving their rivalry from previous non-title contests. The rivalry quickly took on a patriotic flavour, with Galloway's blue colours of Scotland clashing O'Shaunnesy's green colours of Ireland, mirroring the Old Firm football derby between Rangers and Celtic, respectively. This football allusion became particularly prominent when the two met again at Verona Football Club again for the title, though the match changed into a Lumberjack match, the result and champion remained the same.

As well as wrestling in Ireland, O'Shaunessy occasionally travelled to Great Britain to make appearances on the British independent circuit. In April 2006 he was brought into Wales' Celtic Wrestling promotion as a contender for their top title but was defeated by the champion, Chris Recall. Later that year in November, he was employed by London's LDN Wrestling to appear on their Capital TV show where, after quickly defeating William Hill, he gained an LDN Championship match against Tex Benedict which ended with Benedict winning by disqualification and O'Shaunessy attacking him after the match.

On 13 November 2006, O'Shaunessy and English wrestler Stu Sanders appeared on the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) show Raw at the Manchester Evening News Arena, as part of the security team ejecting D-Generation X from ringside, only for O'Shaunessy to later receive a Pedigree from Triple H. The following day, he and Drew Galloway had a tryout match against each other. In April 2007, he received another set of tryout matches in Milan and London against Galloway, as well as Sanders, WWE talent Jimmy Wang Yang, and Monster Factory alumnus Domino. This led to an offer and signing of a developmental contract with WWE, at which point he relocated to the United States.

In March 2005, he avenged this loss by teaming with Raven to defeat Shane and Vinny. This victory was part of a winning streak over the end of March where O'Shaunessy wrestled twice a day on 24, 25, 26 – including an 11-man Rumble win – and 27 March with a standard tag match and a ten-man tag team match. This series of victories, aside from one loss by disqualification to Vain, put him to a good form for the one-day tournament held in County Kildare to crown the inaugural IWW International Heavyweight Champion. On 28 March, O'Shaunessy put an end to his main rivalries when he defeated Vinny and then Vain in the quarter and semi finals, respectively. He met Darren Burridge in the final match and won to become IWW's first champion, but had to compete again in an evening show in Dublin, defeating Burridge and Vinny once more in a tag match alongside Vain.

As well as making top contender appearances based on his growing reputation, O'Shaunessy also brought with him to Britain his long-standing rivalry with Galloway. He had already wrestled in Galloway's home promotion, British Championship Wrestling (BCW), twice in 2005, losing to Jay Phoenix on the day before Phoenix lost to Galloway in March, and returning in September to defeat one of BCW's top stars, Wolfgang, via countout. In the middle of their IWW feud the following year, O'Shaunessy went back to Scotland to take part in BCW's Path To Glory tour, defeating Galloway on the first night but conceding a loss to him the next night in May. Though their feud finished in Ireland in August 2006, it continued on across the Irish Sea when the two wrestled for the umbrella promotion Real Quality Wrestling (RQW) the following year. The two first met during April's Taking On The World show which ended in a double countout. The lack of a decision led to a rematch in June, and one of O'Shaunessy's last on the independent circuit, where Galloway picked up the victory in a No Holds Barred match ahead of an RQW Heavyweight Championship match.

In May 2004, still using the ring name Sheamus O'Shaunessy, Farrelly returned to wrestling at the newly opened Irish Whip Wrestling (IWW) school in Dublin. He then made his debut match for the promotion at their Mount Temple show on 9 July against Mark Burns, where he picked out an easy win. He went on to win a battle royal the following month.

Farrelly's inspiration into a professional wrestling career came from watching both British wrestling from ITV's World of Sport and American wrestling from the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) on Sky One. On the advice of Bret Hart, Farrelly began training in Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory wrestling school in April 2002, alongside Tank Toland, Cliff Compton, and Cindy Rogers. Six weeks later he officially debuted as a fan favorite under the name Sheamus O'Shaunessy against Robert Pigeon. It was during this time that he developed the nickname the "Irish Curse" after low-blowing an opponent. He soon suffered a serious neck injury after botching a hip toss which sidetracked his career for two years.

Stephen Farrelly (born 28 January 1978) is an Irish professional wrestler and actor. He is currently signed to the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, performing on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Sheamus (pronounced /ˈ ʃ eɪ m ʌ s / ).

Stephen Farrelly was born on 28 January 1978, in Cabra, Dublin, Ireland and was raised on North Great George's Street in Dublin city. He speaks fluent Irish, having attended Scoil Caoimhin Primary and Coláiste Mhuire Secondary School, a Gaelscoil. During his school years, he sang in the Palestrina Choir until the age of 13; during this time, he appeared on the Late Late Show and Live at Three. He played Gaelic football for the Erin's Isle team where once he was proclaimed sports star of the month. He also played rugby for the National College of Ireland, where he gained a National Diploma. He has been a fan of Premier League football club Liverpool F.C. since childhood and also supports both rugby union clubs London Irish and Leinster and rugby league club the New Zealand Warriors. He is a former IT technician, and also worked as security for a nightclub, which led to him to occasionally working as a bodyguard for Bono and Larry Mullen, Jr. of U2, as well as Denise van Outen.