Sheamus Says He Was Furious With Last Year's WrestleMania Demotion

Tonight at WrestleMania XXVIII in Sun Life Stadium, Sheamus will challenge Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Championship. Both wrestlers have come a long way since last year's show when their advertised United States Championship Match was bumped from the pay-per-view broadcast to the pre-show at the last minute. Though Sheamus was furious with the demotion, he did not stay angry for long as he instead opted to use it as fuel for his SmackDown run.

When asked by WWE Magazine if he found it frustrating to cede the spotlight last year following much success, he responded, "I think that if you don't find it frustrating, then what are you doing here? What sort of goal or passion do you have if you don't care about being at the top, you know? Was I happy to sit back and watch my bout be a dark match at WrestleMania? Absolutely not. I was furious. But I didn't let that anger eat me up. I had to turn it into something productive, and I used it to focus on my opponents when I came over to Smackdown. If I sat there and felt sorry for myself, or got angry at whatever the circumstances were, I guarantee I would not be in a main-event match at WrestleMania this year."

The Celtic Warrior also comments on what fans can expect to be different in tonight's match compared to last year's.

"They can expect it to be at WrestleMania! And a main event! They can expect to see two guys beat the living daylights out of each other. And they can expect me to win," he says. "But the biggest change from last year has been our move to Smackdown. I think that was the best thing that could have happened to me and Daniel Bryan. It's been amazing. We have a bit more TV time, we have new competition, like Randy Orton and Christian, and we're able to grow and develop more. It just goes to show how far certain can go when given an opportunity. The more we compete, the more wins we gain, the more confident we become until we carry a show, a main-event match at the biggest show of the year."

Source: WWE Magazine