WWE superstar Sheamus believes Conor McGregor would “turn to dust” if he got his hands on him inside the squared circle.
With his brash personality and innate charisma, The Notorious has often been mentioned as a possible superstar in the larger-than-life world of WWE.
McGregor, 34, himself has also teased joining the company in the past and has even traded barbs with the likes of WWE champion Roman Reigns online.
He could end up between the ropes one day – but if he were to face off with Sheamus, the Celtic Warrior believes there would be only one outcome.
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Sheamus said: “He’d turn to dust [If he took Sheamus’s signature move ‘The 10 beats of the bodhran’].
“I mean if he wants to go he can go. They’re bringing a lot of people in now like Pat McAfee [former NFL star] and that Logan Paul [social media guru] guy.
“They’re bringing all these outside lads in to create some hype around whatever event it is. I’m sure he will pop up at some stage or another.”
The premise of Money In The Bank is simple. Climb the ladder, retrieve the briefcase and guarantee yourself a championship opportunity anytime, anyplace, anywhere. But in the fantastical world of WWE, nothing is simple.
Just ask the Irish superstar Sheamus, whose real name is Stephen Farrelly, and who has been with the company since 2007 and achieved practically everything in the industry.
He has had to scratch and claw for two decades in the business and is now one of the promotion’s biggest stars and a sure-fire Hall of Famer.
WWE has long had a massive following in Ireland and for people of a certain vintage, tuning into Monday Night Raw on Channel 4 was a staple of their childhood.
The promotion still ventures to these shores from time to time but as of yet no televised show has emanated from Ireland, a decision which baffles Sheamus.
The star said: “I’ve no idea,” when asked why there hasn’t been a major show in Ireland ahead of the 14th annual Money in the Bank event in London.
Sheamus added: “I’ve brought it up a couple of times.
“But I don’t know... sometimes I think people just don’t know what they’re doing you know?
“I mean, I just don’t think they would have confidence in it. For example, Money In The Bank shouldn’t be in an arena, it should be in a stadium, whatever stadium that is you would have sold it out.
“That’s my opinion but for Ireland too, I think Croker would be unbelievable. I wouldn’t put it in the Aviva, the Aviva’s too small.”
WWE is as big now as it has ever been. At the beginning of the year, the Royal Rumble drew a crowd of 51,000 people.
And the combined attendance for Wrestlemania nights one and two was more than 120,000.
Much of this success has in no small part been due to a trio of Irish pillars of the company.
Alongside Sheamus, fellow Dubliner Becky Lynch and Bray high-flyer Finn Balor have become integral figures in Vince McMahon’s travelling circus. All have been World Champions.
Lynch made history in 2019 by being part of the first female main event of WWE’s biggest show of the year Wrestlemania.
Sheamus said: “For such a small country to see how many of us have come out of it, it’s insane.
“We just have a different work ethic than everyone else, we don’t take no for an answer and we all came up with something to prove to everybody, we weren’t handed anything. I certainly wasn’t.”
Before Sheamus came along, Irish people were depicted on WWE TV as drunkards, brawlers and leprechauns.
The 45-year-old broke the mould when he burst onto the scene in 2009, adopting a Celtic Warrior mantra based on Irish mythology.
He made a conscious effort to showcase a different side of Irish culture and not get stuck in a stereotype as Co Antrim’s Fit Finlay had many years previous.
He explained: “I didn’t want to do the same thing as Fit Finlay. I didn’t want to do that s***e, that plastic Paddy stuff. The thing about it is though, the stuff that Fit did was brilliant and he made it work.
“Short term it was a great deal but you can only do so much with that before it runs out of road.
“For me, it made sense to do something completely different.
“And also just play into my heritage. I didn’t tan, I had red hair and I just accentuated my natural Irish look which made me stand out.”
Making his main roster debut in October 2009, Sheamus was WWE champion by Christmas.
Since then, there have been multiple title wins, big Wrestlemania matches and countless pay per view appearances for one of the biggest entertainment franchises on the planet.
All that seemed a pipe dream for an ambitious youngster who followed his dream, slept in airports and took countless rejections before finally making it to the big time.
They may be less than legitimate scraps, but the competitiveness behind the scenes is as genuine as it comes.
As are the frustrations. Take his short-term World title run in 2015.
Sheamus was given the unenviable task of getting the crowd to cheer WWE’s golden boy Roman Reigns.
He said: “Obviously Roman was getting booed out of the building at the time and I came in there and helped put the fans on his side as I was a villain/heel at the time.
“That was cooler for me knowing that there was a guy who everyone hated, and I made them hate me more so they were actually cheering for him.
“The Rock couldn’t even do that, so I was living it up.
“Should’ve gone to ‘Mania, should’ve gone all the way to ‘Mania, there was no one that had more heat than I had.
“They made a balls of that. That’s what happens sometimes. It was the wrong decision on their part.”
‘WWE brings Money In The Bank to The O2 in London on Saturday 1st July. For tickets visit: https://www.wwe.com/event/money-in-the-bank. Fans can tune in on the WWE Network.’
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