News broke today that WWE star Sheamus would be leaving the company when his contract expires. Current AEW World Champion MJF aka Maxwell Jacob Friedman spoke on it by talking trash, which usually indicates that a talent may be jumping ship. MJF often only speaks on released WWE names that he expects to join AEW or someone that he is working a story with for his rare independent wrestling dates.
A past comment calling out Sheamus was shared on social media by MJF:
“The guy you alluded to. Stop now or I’m gonna devour you. You can rock 6 inch lifts and play top guy, but you’ve been handed the ball multiple times and fell. I’m glad you’re having a resurgence and finally figured out how to get over. It only took you a decade.”
This comment originally came during a forgotten moment of trash talk between the two on social media. MJF didn’t like Sheamus referring to him and made it personal with some insults about the Irishman using lifts and taking years to get over with fans. Today’s sharing of the post saw MJF also adding “Bring that smoke, O’Shaunessy” while referencing his real name. Fans are taking this post as enough to believe Sheamus is AEW bound soon.
Sheamus Has Multiple AEW Connections
One obvious way for Sheamus to join AEW would be to reunite his tag team with current AEW star Claudio Castagnoli. While Castagnoli is currently in the Death Riders faction, he doesn’t have a full-time tag partner since they all team up at various points.
Sheamus and Castagnoli could reunite The Bar to become the official tag team of the Death Riders. The concept of the group would make perfect sense for Sheamus to join them as a hard hitter. Sheamus also has WWE history with fellow Death Riders Jon Moxley and Pac.
Other AEW talents to have a history with Sheamus include top names Chris Jericho, Bryan Danielson, and plenty of others. Sheamus to AEW would be an easy fit on paper and a logical one for him to finish his career on his own terms after spending two decades under contract.
Why Is Sheamus Leaving WWE?
The bigger story here comes down to why a grand slam champion that tenured in WWE is leaving the company. Recent news saw WWE trying to talk veterans into taking pay cuts when they feel the talents in question are no longer considered top stars.
Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods aka Austin Creed of New Day received their releases upon refusing to accept the pay cuts. Sheamus is likely in the same boat as someone the new TKO ownership group no longer wants to pay at the figure he was making from his previous years as a bigger part of the show.
WWE used to reward loyalty by keeping the existing contracts for respected figures and paying them highly into their final years. TKO is trying to end that and likely wanted Sheamus to take a massive pay cut for another contract. AEW now has the chance to add a respected veteran and former 4-time WWE world champion.
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