Sheamus On If WWE's Brand Split Helped, Making The U.S. Title Meaningful Again, Cesaro, Regal

WWE United States Champion Sheamus recently spoke with Billy Donnelly of ThisIsInfamous.com. Below are some highlights:

You're no slouch yourself when it comes to being physical. How quickly did you guys [Sheamus and Cesaro] realize that you had this very solid chemistry in the ring, that your styles seemed to just match in order to turn out good matches time and time again?

So, one of the people that's closest to me is William Regal, and he's been a mentor to me since I first came on the road in '09. He basically offered to go on the drives with me and he gave me advice and watched my matches and he's also still one of my best friends. He's got a great eye for talent, and he's a big fan of Bryan and Cesaro. I knew who Cesaro was because I had fought him on the independent scene. He's a beast of a guy and he's just a tremendous athlete. I was excited for him to come to WWE, because that European style he has fits mine, and he's just a hugely motivated, and very, very physical. So the first time we get into the ring together is actually at an NXT dark match, when NXT just started doing the TV tapings in Orlando. Man, like we came back and people were on their feet about it. We got stuck in. It was great. It was like we got two bulls in the ring and knocking humps out of each other. And then we wrestled a couple of times on TV, and we never had a bad outing. It was cool, we just had that.

We may not like each other too much, but we definitely have so much respect for each other. We get in there, it really is a competition to outdo the other guy, or to hit the other guy harder, which, at the end of the day, is really what the fans want to see, and what the fans will enjoy seeing. Last night was no different. When we went out there we didn't really have the biggest build up for the pay-per-view, but we went out there knowing in our heads that we were going to steal the show. That we were gonna set the bar, and let's see if everybody else can follow. As I said,right now he's my favorite performer. My two favorites have been for a while definitely Bryan and Cesaro. We definitely have the best chemistry, and we're definitely hoping that Bryan will be back soon, but Cesaro right now is definitely one of my favorite guys to work with. He's a tremendous athlete, doesn't mean I like him any better, but it's okay because we'll still hit each other as hard as we can.

Billy Donnelly: You're in the midst now of your second U.S. title reign, and for one reason or another the title has seemed to feel like an afterthought at times. There have been bouts where it hasn't been defended and what not, but there's obviously a long legacy that goes along with that belt. How do you go about trying to return the prestige of that title and make it feel meaningful once again?

Well I mean, obviously I don't decide when I'm defending it. When I go out there, the title is around my waist, so I'm representing the title. Whether I'm defending it or not, I gotta go out there and give the best performance I can and leave everything in the ring because I'm representing the United States title. And the U.S. title is very very special to me. The first one I had didn't last very long, but it kinda kickstarted me back again when I fell off the chart a bit after John Morrison. I felt I was kinda spinning my wheels. This country, the United States has given me a huge opportunity. I'm Irish, born in Ireland, and I'll never forget that, and I love going home, but here's the thing? This country has allowed me to fulfill my dream, become a WWE Superstar, travel all over the world, and perform in front of millions of people. That United States Championship is a huge part of the country where I live. I'm Irish, but I'm proud to say that I live here. I'm proud to live in America, and I'm very proud to be the United States champion.

Let me ask you about the end of the brand extension, and RAW and Smackdown no longer being treated as separate entities. It seemed that during a long period of time, Smackdown looked to serve as the proving ground for guys to kinda show that they're ready to take it to the next level, that they're ready to be considered top level talent. Do you think that the number of opportunities have lessened for superstars to move up the ladder and put themselves as main eventers without Smackdown being treated separately? Or is it just a reshuffling of the structure and these opportunities do still exist?

So I really liked the brand split in the beginning, when it was two different brands. I don't think I'd be where I am if the brand split wasn't there because when I left RAW and went to Smackdown, me and Bryan got huge opportunities, both of us, to push ourselves and our stories. Now that the brand stuff is not there anymore, yeah? It all depends, really. We've got Main Event, Smackdown, RAW? There's a lot of shows there. Sometimes people wrestle on Main Event and Smackdown, which is taped on a Tuesday. I dunno. Everyone creates opportunities. Obviously Roman [Reigns] is out now for a little bit, and some new guy could come in and try to prove himself in that time. So that creates opportunities. When someone leaves, opportunities arise. When Bryan got hurt, Roman kinda stepped in. So it's all relative. I think the WWE gives people opportunities, it's just the timing of them, and how you use those opportunities? But I think, looking at this talent coming through? We've got some tremendous talent. And in NXT as well, they've got some amazing guys. They just signed Fergal Devitt who is a friend of mine, and he's gonna tear the place up as well. They've got Sami Zayn down there, they've got Adrian Neville? The future is brightening.

The full interview is at this link.