Sheamus: "Burger After Burger" Was His Idea, Beating John Cena, Hardest Celtic Warrior Workout, Grand Slam Champion

Sheamus (@WWESheamus) is a professional wrestler currently signed to WWE. He sits down with Chris Van Vliet at Insight LIVE in New York City to discuss beating John Cena early in his career to become WWE Champion, cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on Roman Reigns, who has been the toughest guests on Celtic Warrior Workouts and who is the dream guest, why he hates the 1-800-FELLA vignettes, Drew McIntyre's "Burger after burger" line, whether his old theme could return, and more!

Quote I'm thinking about: "Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure." - Jim Rohn

On possibly bringing back the Written in my Face theme:

"I would if I could. I love that song. I miss it, but it's just that's a no, that's a fight for another day. I've fought that battle a couple of times, and it's been a difficult one to try and push over the line."

On Drew McIntyre:

"Can I ask everybody here, when you have left the United States and gone anywhere in the world outside of America, what is the first thing you put in your bag when you leave the country? What's the thing you need more than anything when you leave the country? A passport, right? Someone needs to tell that bleeding, big Scottish haggis that you need a passport when you leave the country to get back into the country. He’s blaming everybody, having a go at the people at the desk, [saying] it's their fault. Drew, you forgot your bleeding passports! What were you thinking? Sorry Drew, I know you're a big, big, huge, international star, and that everybody knows you. Here's the story. We're traveling together. We'd go to the gas station close to the show or whatever, stop and get some protein shakes. He would go in, he puts the hoodie on and he was walking around. I just walk in. I think at this stage I get noticed because red hair and a beard. But I just think, what are you doing? What are you hiding it from? There's like six people in the place. I just turn around one aisle over and go, 'Is that WWE superstar Drew McIntyre over there at the fridge?' He’s like 'Stop!' I'm like relax. You're not bleeding Tom Cruise, man, you know what I mean, as much as you want to be."

On his mohawk:

"The great thing about that was I pissed the brass off on that one, because I didn't ask for permission, I just did it. I think I've been off with an injury, and I just kind of felt stagnant, and I'd done that babyface. I was just like, I need something different and cool, right? So I did it, and I think Vince was pissed big time because I didn't tell him I was doing it. But I did all this stuff, my beard and all the braids and everything, and I thought man, I look cool, dude. I look badass. I look like a bleeding ass kicker again. I'm gonna go out there. I think I attacked Wade and Bryan. I was going out, I looked badass and I thought people are gonna go, this guy looks cool. I walked out, and then some bollocks in the audience started a 'You look stupid chant', and that was it. It just carried across all the arena. I was like this is not what I was expecting. It was not the reaction that I was going for. It was great, you know, I leaned into it, and it was class. It was fun."

On his match with Gunther at Clash at the Castle:

"I didn't know I was a heel going into that. I was a heel before that, and I didn't know what to expect from that. And I went over, and I really didn't know how that was going to go. Then at the end, it was incredible, man, I got goose bumps. That was probably the most emotional time in the ring that I've ever had in my whole career. It was incredible, unbelievable. I can't tell you how much that meant to me."

On the toughest Celtic Warrior Workouts:

"The girls are the hardest. They kick my arse. I almost killed Lyra by the way, does anyone see that clip of me trying to do the handstand against the wall? I almost killed that poor girl. Maxxine, oh my God, the yoga stuff, Jesus, I didn't know what was doing. I actually know what childbirth is like after doing that. So Ivy Nile is a f*cking lunatic. She is a sweetheart, but we did this workout, she crushed me. But then afterwards, I found out she had the flu. She had the flu in that episode, she was dying of the flu. If you listen to episodes, you can barely talk because she's got the flu and she still destroyed me. Her, obviously, Becky, Xia Li is another crazy workout girl, unbelievable. Then, of course, Roxanne Perez as well." 

On the dream Celtic Warrior Workout guests:

"Roman, obviously, would be a huge one. Rock obviously, Stone Cold. I tried to get Stone Cold during Mania, but I guess he just had knee surgery or something like that. But I want to start doing a lot of the legends now as well. I'd love to get Sting on there, or Taker. Taker keeps running away from me. He's been scared of me his whole career, keeps calling me Stiffy all the time. Triple H, we talked about that. Stephanie McMahon, listen what really works for me if you guys absolutely spam their Twitter handles out of it and tell them you want to see them in Celtic Warrior Workouts, that makes my job so much easier if you guys just go out there, because then it helps me when I go to them and they agree. So spam them guys, spam the hell out of them."

On beating John Cena to win the WWE Championship early in his career:

"It was mental, because I didn't know what was happening. So a quick story. I was on ECW. When I went to ECW, I had the honor and opportunity of working Goldust, Dustin was awesome, dude. We went in there and we beat the sh*t out of each other, and we just got into it, dude. That feud fella, put me on the map right away. I mean, ECW, for what it was, it made everybody in management look around and go this guy not just looks different, but he's bringing a really aggressive, physical side, and that Goldust feud for me, that's really up there as important to my career. Because if I hadn't had that, who knows what would have happened? That was huge for me.

So before that, I went to Raw, and I had to wrestle Jamie Noble. But the first match we had, we thought it went well. Then all of a sudden we get told I sh*t the bed. So the match was so bad. So that's what we had the second match, where I Powerbomb him on the floor, yeah, but the first thing was I was told, You better bring the next one, or you're going to be dead in the water. That's what I was told from certain people in positions, who knows what's gonna happen next, whatever. So it was they hated it so much that I think Patterson really hated it, so it just got back. Then I was freaked out, and I had to go to ECW wrestling Shelton the next night. And then I had that match was physical as well. So it was, like all of a sudden a serious pressure. Then we had the second Jamie Noble match with the Powerbomb and all. It was a rough bump for him to take. But then after that, then I got to the races. Then the next week or two, I'm in Survivor Series. And then all of a sudden we're going off towards this breakthrough battle royal thing, and I'm wrestling John, I had no idea. So the day at the day of TLC, I drove into San Antonio, and I fully expected I was told I was losing, and I was in the car with I think Arn Anderson and Scott Armstrong, and Scott was saying what an upset would be if you won. And Arn was like, 'No, no, it's too early.' Then all of a sudden, got pulled into the room, and Vince is there, and I'm nervous as hell, right? Because all of a sudden I'm going into a WWE Championship match. Vince he turned around to me and John and Arn. He said, 'John, what if we…' John goes, 'Put the kid over?' Vince is like, 'Yeah, no problem.' And that was it. And he walked out, and I'm just sitting there, what the f*ck is happening? And then when we went out there, that was John, though. Right away, straight up was like, let's do it. 

On cashing in his Money in the Bank contract on Roman Reigns:

Happened on the day again, that was the day of, that wasn't the plan. We were in Atlanta at the time, and then they obviously Seth got hurt on the European tour, hurt his knee, and then I'd won the money in the bank, and then they're obviously having that tournament. Then that was the final, it was Dean against Roman. So obviously, that was to prolong that kind of thing, to make Roman really try to earn that time, have him be so close and then get taken away from him. So that was again, the same day in a room discussing it. And it happened like two hours [before] because I had a match. We had a Survivor Series match where I think it came to me versus three other guys. I got power bombed a couple of times by Ryback. Ryback loves power bombing people man, Power Bombed me out of my shoes. And then that was it. And then, of course, I came back at the end. That was awesome too. That was a great moment. People hated Mohawk Sheamus. They absolutely hate it. Like, really, my mother called me crying when she saw the pictures of me with a mohawk on, literally crying. What have you done to your hair? It was a fun time. I had so much heat, man, like I'd so much heat as Mohawk, Sheamus, people hated me.

On slamming Mark Cuban through a table:

"I didn't even know who Mark Cuban was. I'm serious, I didn't. I only came over from Ireland a couple of years [before that]. So I don't know. Obviously now I’m more invested in American sports; I watch basketball and watch American football and baseball. But I didn't know. I didn't know anything about who Mark Cuban was. So all I heard was, here this fella has had a vasectomy. Be careful you don't put him through a table. I'm like, Who is this guy? [They said] 'Just don't hurt him. He's a billionaire.' And I was like, okay, all right, grand. That was the story there. I didn't know who he was. And then there's a whole thing about that, by the way, when he shoved me to the ground, some of the producers were mad, you shouldn't be shoving Sheamus to the ground. But that's what came from the top. So when he did that and all, I got up and I put him through the table. It was a fun segment, but I had no idea who this guy was. I'm serious. I didn't know. Then I'm watching Shark Tank later, I go, 'That's the fella I put through a table!' I'm not making that up. 

On another case of unknown identity:

"Here's another one. Nikki Bella got really mad at me one time. We're in FCW, Nikki Bella comes in, and as this lad walks in. He's a baseball player for the Yankees. Ok, grand. I'm probably in the country about eight months, and we're standing in the facility, in the ring, and she goes, 'This guy is my friend.' I said, 'Hey, I'm Sheamus.' He goes, 'Nice to meet you.' I said, 'And you are?' He goes, 'Derek.' 'Oh, nice to meet you, Derek, nice to meet you, Derek.' So he walks off. Nikki comes up to me, she goes, 'Oh, my God Sheamus. Why did you do that?' I said, 'Do what?' She goes, 'Why did you say "what's your name?"' Because that's what you do when you meet someone for the first time, you ask them what your name is. And she goes, 'That's Derek Jeter from the Yankees!' And I said, 'All right, yeah, grand, cool. How am I supposed to know that?' She was furious with me because she said I made her look stupid. I don't know who he was. I don't know anything about baseball. I saw a Babe Ruth movie when I was 12 with John Goodman. That was basically it. And Field of Dreams with Kevin Costner, I saw that one as well, but she lashed out for no reason."

On the 1-800 Fella vignettes:

"I remember that being the end of my babyface run. I could see it happening. I was brogue kicking trees. I don't know who came up with that idea. I know Vince was really excited about it. 'This is great. This is gonna make you a super babyface.' I'm like, No, it's not. I brogue kicked the tree and got a cat out of a tree, there was a hiccup thing, what else was there? I don't know. I think I blocked it out of my memory. That is a lot of PTSD. I remember being at Raw I was just watching them going, Oh my God. I'm looking at the crowds. One thing that John Cena always does, it's very smart, actually. You learn a lot from him. But before the show starts, he sits in Gorilla. There's a table with a monitor, so you can see the show before Gorilla gets too crowded. He sits in the chair, and he looks as people pile in. So he'll sit there, and he'll watch who's coming and sitting in the front row. He'll watch the T-shirts they wear, and he'll watch the first match and see how to react. So he's already figured out what's working and what's not working on the show. That's just who he is, man. He's dialed in all the time. So I did the same thing with the 1-800 Fella thing, and I was just like [groans], [Unenthusiastic] Yay, it’s me, Sheamus. Fella, let’s go."

On the burger after burger line:

"So I wasn't happy with the way I came back after the whole thing happened when I tried hard for the Gunther match, it didn't happen. I kind of just said, I don't give a sh*t anymore, so I'm going to eat what I want and not really work out. So I kind of just didn't care. When I came back with my new biker shorts, booty shorts, it was not good. I got absolutely slaughtered online. I mean, slaughtered. At first I was like oh my God, I was like, Oh no. Then I was like well in fairness I did kind of like to go party like it was the end of the world. So, anyway, I leant into it, it was great. But the promo me and Drew did the burger after burger line, what's that show on WWE now, behind the scenes, Unreal? So I'm gonna give you my own unreal moment. I gave Drew the burger after burger line. Because I was gonna lean into it. He was like, 'You want me to say that?' I was like 'I want you to say it, it's everywhere, bro, it's everywhere. Have you not seen Twitter in the last seven days? Have you not seen I'm getting slaughtered?' So we did it, I gave him the line of his career. And you know why? Because that's what it is, fella, it's entertainment. That's what it's about."

What is Sheamus grateful for?

"My wife and family, that I get to do this again, and for all of you guys for showing up." 

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