IrishCentral exclusive! Sheamus on his WWE title win over John Cena

“I came here to make a statement, to be the top wrestler in the world. That was the goal, and the goal has been achieved."

“He’s got a rematch clause,” Sheamus says.  “It’s just a matter of when he wants to use it. I’ve beaten him once and I’ll beat him again.”

Cena was uncharacteristically somber on Monday’s Raw, apologizing to his fans for losing the belt and congratulating Sheamus for the victory.  The new Irish champ thinks he’s full of it.

“It was a moving speech, but at the same time it didn’t really move me,” Sheamus says.  “Cena underestimated me, he never took me seriously.  I’ve been saying that for weeks!

“The thing is, Cena never met anyone like Sheamus, he never met a lunatic Irishman like myself, someone who will fight to the death.  He really got his comeuppance!”

Can the villainous Sheamus build up the fan base that the popular Cena has established?  The new champ was booed and jeered when he picked up his Slammy Award, but being Mr. Popularity is last on his list of things he wants to accomplish in the WWE.

“I really don’t care,” he says about fan opinion.  “The fact is that I’m the WWE champion. I’m the best in the world!”

One aspect of his new reign that Sheamus does care about is projecting his Irish heritage as a strong warrior intent on quashing the put-downs that the Irish have endured in the past.

No more Lucky Charms.  “And no more Darby O’Gill and the Little People!” Sheamus says.

“I’m hoping to bring a strong Irish presence to the world through the WWE as well. I want to bring a positive Irish message, and I’m hoping that a lot of Irish Americans who tune in to Raw see a strong representative of the Irish, even if they’ve never been to the home country.  If they tune into Raw they’ll see what us real Irish are all about.”

Sheamus, who was born Stephen Farrelly, has plenty of family and friends back home in Dublin who cheered him on against Cena, and he says the feedback he’s received has been incredible.

 “My family stayed up until 3 a.m. watching the show,” Sheamus says.  “They are in their element.  I’m getting response from people I haven’t heard from in years.”

Everyone wants to hang with a champ, and no doubt Sheamus will be mobbed when the day comes for an Irish return.  He’s hoping that will be sooner rather than later, and that he’ll headline a WWE show in Dublin as the top star.

That’s not far fetched, as the WWE travels to Ireland every year and regularly sells out its shows.  “We go to Dublin a lot, and I guarantee you I will walk in there as champion,” Sheamus promises.  “Not one man can touch me.”

There is one group of warriors who Sheamus has the utmost respect for, though – the U.S. troops who are representing their country on the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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Nster.com