Hall Of Famer Credits Sheamus For Incredible WWE Career
A Hall of Fame wrestler thinks Sheamus deserves a lot of respect for a long WWE career.
There was big news over the weekend regarding 4-time WWE World Champion Sheamus departing the company.
After nearly 20 years under contract to WWE and 17 years on the main roster, the proud Irishman’s time in WWE is over. It’s a shocking story because Sheamus was still performing at a high level, even though he hadn’t wrestled in 2026 due to shoulder surgery in late 2025.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported that Sheamus turned down a WWE contract offer to reduce his salary, which is similar to those of Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods.
“The big news today is that Sheamus will be leaving WWE soon as his contract is expiring and was offered a pay cut so decided to leave. It’s identical to the Kofi Kingson and Xavier Woods situation. The basic thing is TKO is in the business of paying stars incredible amounts of money who move business and less so in paying those who don’t move business, especially given Sheamus is 48 and has been hurt a lot.”
While many people are reacting to the news about Sheamus with sadness, the reality is that at 48, he won’t be wrestling for much longer, and it makes sense for WWE to focus on younger stars.
The fact that the likes of Sheamus, Kingston, and Woods can be let go after putting in 15-20 years of work in WWE is also the sad reality that it’s a business first.
On his Hall of Fame podcast, 2-time WWE Hall of Famer Booker T addressed Sheamus’ WWE departure.
“What did I say about talent in the WWE just about a month or so ago? I said we’re in a different time now. It ain’t like it was back in the day, the Attitude Era, when you think guys are gonna be around for a hundred years.
“You hear the term ‘lifer’, ‘I thought he was gonna be a lifer’, what the hell does that really mean when you work in a job? Does anybody expect any basketball player to stay on the team forever? How many football players stay on the team forever? One maybe coaching, assistant coach, and he keeps that job until he retires, but how many actually do that?
“How many people like myself, been in the wrestling industry for 35 years, go from wrestler to commentator, whatever, it’s not that many. It’s a life expectancy in everything.”
Sheamus Had A Very Successful WWE Career For A Long Time
In addition to the 4 WWE World Title reigns, Sheamus also held every other championship in WWE, except for the Intercontinental Title. The Irishman also won accolades like the Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank too, so there was a lot to proud of over the last 17 years.
Booker T continued to talk about Sheamus’ WWE success while also reflecting on his own career as he got older, which is why he created his Reality of Wrestling school.
“When I hear people out there try and make Sheamus, and I’ve heard these podcasters, people talking, this could be a problem. Sheamus is 48 years old. Sheamus started in the WWE in 2007 in FCW, he started on the main roster in 2009. This guy has had damn near a 20 year career as a professional wrestler in one company.
“I started thinking about retirement when I was 30 years old. I said 45 I know I’m gonna be done, so 20 years ago I opened my wrestling school because I knew I was gonna have to have a back up plan to do something, and I’m sure Sheamus has worked his plan and been expecting this moment, because he’s 48 years old.
“When the company changed over and the new people came in, I made a point to have a meeting with the upper echelon, and said I know it’s a young man’s game, I know my time could be coming up, and if it is just let me know, there ain’t gonna be no hard feelings, but we got this show, we can still work.
“Someone like Sheamus, (five) time world champion, he’s put in his work, and the thing is, if Sheamus left WWE, he can still go and make money and do this thing for how many more years he wants to do it. So when I hear people trying to make WWE the bad guy when someone gets released or fired, that happens in any corporation, it really does.”
As Booker continued, he praised Sheamus for his long career in WWE.
“People don’t understand how extraordinary that is for Sheamus, lasted 20 years, got (five) world titles, done so much for the business in general, and now he’s at that stage of his career. I don’t know what these people think, what they’ve been smoking, but it’s no way you can run as hard at 48 as you could at 28.
“I don’t want to see Sheamus leave WWE, but everything comes to an end, everything has an expiration date, and people need to look at it that way, and I’m sure Sheamus hasn’t just been sitting at his house waiting and wondering.
“I know people been saying he had a five year contract he just signed not too long ago, and maybe they did come to him and said ‘can we restructure this’ and he said ‘nah I’m not feeling that’, that’s his prerogative to say ‘hey lets just move on, we had a hell of a run together’.”
Also Read: Backstage Reason Behind Sheamus’ WWE Exit Revealed