Sheamus

Stephen Farrelly (January 28, 1978) is an Irish professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs under the ring name Sheamus.

Prior to joining WWE, Farrelly was also a two-time International Heavyweight Champion during his tenure in Irish Whip Wrestling. He is a three-time World Champion, having held the WWE Championship on two occasions and World Heavyweight Championship once. He also won the King of the Ring in 2010 and the Royal Rumble in 2012, as well as the previous WWE United States Championship.

Training and character development (2002–2004)
Farrelly's inspiration into a professional wrestling career came from watching both British wrestling from ITV's World of Sport and American wrestling from the World Wrestling Federation on Sky One. On the advice of Bret Hart, Farrelly began training in Larry Sharpe's Monster Factory wrestling school in April 2002, alongside Tank Toland, Cliff Compton and Cindy Rogers. Six weeks later he officially debuted as a fan favorite under the name Sheamus O'Shaunessy against Robert Pigeon. It was during this time that he developed the nickname the "Irish Curse" after low-blowing an opponent. He soon suffered a serious neck injury after botching a hip toss which sidetracked his career for two years.

Farrelly soon developed his wrestling character by drawing on Celtic mythology. Wanting to move away from limiting Irish stereotypes of lucky charms, leprechauns and alcoholism, he instead wanted to portray an Irish warrior. Going to a Gaelscoil, Farelly grew up aware of the four cycles of Irish mythology and, inspired by the artwork of Jim Fitzpatrick, incorporated the sword and axe-wielding imagery into his gimmick. This included the design of his own pendant, the crossos, which combines the Celtic cross with a Celtic War sword to illustrate his character's "indigenous origins with a hybrid of warrior strength matched with a strong ethical centre."

Irish Whip Wrestling (2004–2006)
In May 2004, still using the ring name Sheamus O'Shaunessy, Farrelly returned to wrestling at the newly opened Irish Whip Wrestling (IWW) school in Dublin. He then made his debut match for the promotion at their Mount Temple show on July 9 against Mark Burns, who he easily defeated. He went on to win a battle royal the following month.

O'Shaunessy spent the rest of the year engaged in a rivalry with Vid Vain after losing to his tag team partner Joey Cabray the same night as winning the battle royal. On October 22 and 23 they traded wins, leading to O'Shaunessy recruiting help from CJ Summers to help defeat the tag team on October 24. Still O'Shaunessy failed to defeat Vain in singles action the following day. Despite these losses, his impressive showings earned him a place against Alex Shane in a guest match for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA) British Heavyweight Championship. Despite putting on a strong showing and being close to winning, his friend Red Vinny interfered in the match and cost him the championship.

In March 2005 he avenged this loss by teaming with Raven to defeat Shane and Vinny. This victory was part of a winning streak over the end of March where O'Shaunessy wrestled twice a day on March 24, – including an 11 man Rumble win– and 27 with a standard tag match and a ten-man tag team match. This series of victories, aside from one loss by disqualification to Vain, put him good stead for the one-day tournament held in County Kildare to crown the inaugural IWW International Heavyweight Champion. On March 28, O'Shaunessy put an end to his main rivalries when he defeated Vinny and then Vain in the quarter and semi finals, respectively. He met Darren Burridge in the final match and won to become IWW's first champion, but had to compete again in an evening show in Dublin, defeating Burridge and Vinny once more in a tag match alongside Vain.

O'Shaunessy's first successful title defence came against Burridge the following month but Burridge would not let his grudge rest, continuing to attack O'Shaunessy and finally costing him the title during a match against D'Lo Brown on May 29. O'Shaunessy earned revenge in July by defeating Burridge in a grudge match, though lost to him in an arm wrestling contest the following day. Still, he continued on his quest to regain the title by winning a contendership three way match against Vinny and Red Viper in August setting him up to regain the International Heavyweight Championship in October from Brown in Newcastle upon Tyne in England.

After defending his title against Vampiro O'Shaunessy found himself embroiled in a new feud with rising Scottish wrestling star "Thee" Drew Galloway, whom he later admitted was his toughest opponent. On January 28, 2006, he received his first championship match, evolving their rivalry from previous non-title contests. The rivalry quickly took on a patriotic flavour, with Galloway's blue colours of Scotland clashing O'Shaunnesy's green colours of Ireland, mirroring the Old Firm football derby between Glasgow Rangers and Glasgow Celtic, respectively. This football allusion became particularly prominent when the two met again at Verona Football Club once again for the title, though the match changed into a Lumberjack match, the result and champion remained the same.

With Galloway defeated, O'Shaunessy continued to dominate by again defending his title against Vampiro on 17 March. Galloway earned himself a two out of three falls match against the champion the following day, however, which O'Shaunessy won two falls to one; the next day produced the same result in a match O'Shaunessy claimed was his best on the independent circuit. With Galloway briefly answered, O'Shaunessy took on the newcomer Pierre Marcaeu and defeated him in two successive title matches only to find Galloway had earned another shot. With their rivalry intensifying, Galloway's next challenge to O'Shaunnesy was given the stipulation of a Last Man Standing match. O'Shaunessy retained the title, as he also did in June with the same stipulation. Finally, on August 28, O'Shaunessy lost the IwW International Heavyweight Championship in a singles match to Galloway in what would be his last appearance with the promotion.

British promotions (2005–2007)
As well as wrestling in Ireland, O'Shaunessy occasionally travelled to Great Britain to make appearances on the British independent circuit. In April 2006 he was brought into Wales' Celtic Wrestling promotion as a contender for their top title but was defeated by the champion, Chris Recall. Later that year in November, he was employed by London's LDN Wrestling to appear on their Capital TV show where, after quickly defeating William Hill, he gained an LDN Championship match against Tex Benedict which ended with Benedict winning by disqualification and O'Shaunessy attacking him after the match.

During his time overseas he worked for Brian Dixon's All Star Wrestling, which gave him a taste of large audiences that he had not experienced in Ireland, as well as wrestling English veteran Robbie Brookside and other British wrestling luminaries, including Nigel McGuinness and Doug Williams. He also represented the UK in a Battle of the Nations tag team match between the UK and Austria alongside Drew McDonald and The Celtic Warrior in a losing effort against Chris Raaber, Michael Kovac & Robert Ray Kreuzer at the European Wrestlng Association's Night of Gladiators.

As well as making top contender appearances based on his growing reputation, O'Shaunessy also brought with him to Britain his long-standing rivalry with Galloway. He had already wrestled in Galloway's home promotion, British Championship Wrestling (BCW), twice in 2005 losing to Jay Phoenix on the day before Phoenix would lose to Galloway in March, and returning in September to defeat one of BCW's top stars, Wolfgang, via countout. In the middle of their IWW feud the following year, O'Shaunessy went back to Scotland to take part in BCW's Path To Glory tour, defeating Galloway on the first night but conceding a loss the to him next night in May. Though their feud finished in Ireland in August 2006, it continued on across the Irish Sea when the two wrestled for the umbrella promtion Real Quality Wrestling (RQW) the following year. The two first met during April's Taking On The World show which ended in a double countout. The lack of a decision led to a rematch in June, and one of O'Shaunessy's last on the independent circuit, where Galloway picked up the victory in a No Holds Barred match ahead of an RQW Heavyweight Championship match.

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE
On November 13, 2006, O'Shaunessy appeared on the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) show Raw at the Manchester Evening News Arena as part of the security team ejecting D-Generation X from ringside only to later receive a Pedigree from Triple H. The following day he and Galloway had a try out match against each other. The following year in April he received another set of try out matches in Milan and London against Galloway as well as Stu Sanders and WWE talent Jimmy Wang Yang and Monster Factory alumnus Domino. This led to signing a developmental contract for WWE, at which point he relocated to the United States.

Florida Championship Wrestling (2007–2009)
O'Shaunessy debuted for the WWE developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) on October 2 in a double-debut match with a win over Bryan Kelly. While wrestling regularly, he was not part of any long feuds but did wrestle with a number of short-term tag teams alongside Hade Vansen and Jake Hager before teaming with Kafu (and managed by Dave Taylor) in the tournament to crown the inaugural FCW Florida Tag Team Champions. They advanced past the first round after defeating The British Lions ("Thee Superstar" Christopher Gray and "The Rascal" Tommy Taylor) but lost to Brad Allen and Nick Nemeth in the second round.

By September, O'Shaunessy had focused his attention to singles competition and wrestled his way to the top of the card, successfully defeating former partner Hager for the Florida Heavyweight Championship. He defended the title against Hager on October 23 and took on a number of competitors, with Eric Escobar and Joe Hennig consistently earning themselves into contention. Eventually, on December 11, O'Shaunessy lost the title to Escobar in a four-way match also involving Hennig and Drew McIntyre (formerly Drew Galloway).

O'Shaunessy spent 2009 continuing to chase gold, earning two shots over January and February at the Florida Tag Team Champions Johnny Curtis and Tyler Reks but he and Ryback were unsuccessful in both attempts. In March he challenged the two for the titles once again, this time with McIntyre as his partner but could not defeat them, nor could he defeat McIntyre for the Florida Heavyweight Championship the following month. He received a series of chances throughout the rest of the year but could not win any more titles before being called up to WWE television, unsuccessfully challenging Justin Angel for the Florida Heavyweight Championship in November.

On July 22, 2008 O'Shaunessy worked a dark match at a SmackDown taping, losing to R-Truth. The following year in May, O'Shaunessy began appearing at the Raw brand's house shows, and on both May 8 and 9 he defeated Jamie Noble along with another dark match victory over Noble before an episode of Raw.

WWE and United States Champion (2009-2011)
On the June 30, 2009 episode of ECW, Farrelly made his unannounced debut as a villain under the shortened ring name of Sheamus, quickly defeating a local competitor. Sheamus soon entered into a critically well-received rivalry with Goldust after defeating him on July 29. After exchanging victories in the following weeks the two appeared on the Abraham Washington Show talk segment leading to a No Disqualification match on September 1 which was won by Sheamus. Sheamus then began a feud with Shelton Benjamin which was hot-shot into a deciding match on October 27 which Sheamus won.

His rivalry with Benjamin ended prematurely because Sheamus had already been moved to the Raw brand. He made his Raw debut by defeating Jamie Noble on October 26. In the following weeks, he continued to attack Noble causing him to retire, and, in lieu of competition, assaulted the timekeeper and commentator Jerry Lawler on November 16 at Madison Square Garden. The following week Sheamus appeared on his first WWE pay-per-view event, Survivor Series. Sheamus appeared as part of The Miz's team in a traditional five-on-five elimination tag team match. He eliminated fellow Irishman Finlay and made the final pinfall to eliminate the opposing captain John Morrison and survive along with Miz and long-time former rival Drew McIntyre.

The following night on Raw, Sheamus won a "break-through" battle royal for wrestlers who had never won a world championship, to become the number one contender to John Cena's WWE Championship. At the contract signing immediately afterwards, Sheamus put Cena through the table as the Raw guest host Jesse Ventura announced it would be a Tables match. On December 13, at the TLC: Tables, Ladders &amp; Chairs pay-per-view, Sheamus defeated Cena to win the WWE Championship, his first championship in WWE, making him the first Irish-born WWE Champion. The following night on Raw, Sheamus was awarded the 2009 Breakout Superstar of the Year Slammy Award. On February 21, Sheamus lost the WWE Championship at the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in the Elimination Chamber match after he was eliminated by Triple H. During the match, Sheamus suffered a concussion and as a result did not attend Raw the following night. Upon his return, he took revenge on Triple H with an attack to set up a match at WrestleMania XXVI that Sheamus lost. The following month at Extreme Rules, Sheamus attacked Triple H at the beginning of the show and later defeated him in a Street Fight. After a series of kicks to the head to win, he continued his assault after the match finished resulting in Triple H being written off TV for 10 months.

On June 20, at the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view, Sheamus won a fatal four-way match, following interference from The Nexus that allowed him to pin John Cena, thus winning the WWE Championship,and beginning his second World Championship reign. He went on to defeat Cena in a steel cage match to retain the championship at the Money in the Bank 2010 pay-per-view, and against Randy Orton at SummerSlam, which ended in disqualification, meaning that Sheamus retained his title. Sheamus was also involved in a triple threat steel cage dark match for the WWE Championship against John Cena and Undertaker before the 900th episode special of Raw but retained the title by escaping the cage while Undertaker had Cena locked in the Hell's Gate submission maneuver. At Night of Champions, Sheamus was pinned by Randy Orton in a Six-Pack Elimination Challenge for the WWE Championship.

He bounced back on November 29, with wins over Kofi Kingston and John Morrison to become King of the Ring, after receiving a bye through the second round. As King Sheamus, he faced Morrison again at the TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs PPV for a future WWE Championship match but lost the Ladder match. Going into 2011, he continued to lose to Morrison in a mixture of singles and tag team matches. Triple H returned on February 28 and took revenge for his scripted 10 month injury by putting him through the announce table. Right after that, Sheamus was defeated by Evan Bourne who returned to Raw after a 4 month injury. On March 7, after losing a match against Daniel Bryan, Sheamus challenged him to a rematch with his WWE career on the line against Bryan's United States Championship. He won his match against Bryan the following week, winning his first United States Title. The rematch between Sheamus and Bryan took place on April 3, during the preshow of WrestleMania XXVII, and ended in a draw after interference from the lumberjacks. The next night on Raw, Sheamus retained the United Staes Championship against Bryan in a rematch. After the match, the debuting Sin Cara saved Bryan from an attack by Sheamus. In the 2011 Supplemental Draft, Sheamus was drafted to the SmackDown brand. Sheamus made his SmackDown debut on the 29 April episode, attacking Kofi Kingston. Although he took the United States Championship with him, he lost it back to the Raw brand at Extreme Rules when Kingston defeated him in a Table match.

World Heavyweight Champion & Various Feuds (2011–2012)
On the 3 June episode of SmackDown, Sheamus lost a World Heavyweight Championship match to Randy Orton due to biased refereeing from Christian, beginning a turn from a villainous character to a fan favorite over the following weeks. Two weeks later, he was put in a match against Christian with a stipulation that if Sheamus won, he would be able to compete in the World Heavyweight Championship match at WWE Capitol Punishment. However he was unsuccessful in the match, and he was punted by Randy Orton after the match. Sheamus' face turn culminated in him attacking Mark Henry for being a bully, though he lost to him by count-out at SummerSlam. After this loss, Sheamus went on a 14 match winning streak that ended after outside interference from Christian, with whom he had been feuding. During this time, Sheamus defeated Christian in three consecutive matches at Hell in a Cell, Vengeance, and on Smackdown. He then went on a 12 match winning streak building towards winning the 2012 Royal Rumble. He entered the match twenty-second and won by last eliminating Chris Jericho to earn a main event championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII.

On 19 February at Elimination Chamber, Sheamus attacked World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan after the latter retained his title in the Elimination Chamber match; confirming he would face Bryan at WrestleMania. On 1 April at WrestleMania XXVIII, Sheamus defeated Bryan in a record eighteen seconds to win his first World Heavyweight Championship. On the following episode of Smackdown, Sheamus was defeated by Alberto Del Rio via disqualification, thus earning Del Rio a future title match. On 29 April at Extreme Rules, Sheamus successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Bryan in a two out of three falls match. On 20 May at Over the Limit, Sheamus defeated Alberto Del Rio, Chris Jericho, and Randy Orton in a fatal-four-way match to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. On 17 June at No Way Out, Sheamus defeated Dolph Ziggler to again retain the World Heavyweight Championship. On the 29 June episode of SmackDown, Sheamus successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio in a triple threat match. On 15 July at Money in the Bank, Sheamus defeated Del Rio to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. On the July 27 episode of SmackDown, Del Rio defeated Daniel Bryan, Kane, and Rey Mysterio in a four-way match to again become number one contender for the World Heavyweight Championship. The title match, originally announced for SummerSlam, was moved to the 10 August episode of SmackDown, after Del Rio threatened to press charges against Sheamus for stealing his car on the previous episode of Raw, which would have prevented Sheamus from appearing at the pay-per-view. However, before the match got started, Del Rio attacked Sheamus along with men posing as police officers, which led to SmackDown General Manager Booker T taking away his number one contender's status as a result. However, the following week, Sheamus had the title match put back on for SummerSlam. At the pay-per-view on 19 August, Sheamus defeated Del Rio once again to retain World Heavyweight Championship. On the 7 September episode of SmackDown, Booker T reluctantly granted Del Rio's request to ban the Brogue Kick, after Sheamus knocked out his ring announcer Ricardo Rodriguez with the move on the previous Raw. After hitting David Otunga with the Brogue Kick three days later on Raw, Booker T announced that if Sheamus used the move again, he would be stripped of the World Heavyweight Championship. However, on 16 September at Night of Champions, Booker T announced that he had concluded his investigation into the dangers of the move and uplifted the ban. In the match that followed, Sheamus used the Brogue Kick to defeat Del Rio and retain the World Heavyweight Championship. On 28 October at Hell in a Cell, Sheamus lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Big Show, ending his reign at 210 days.

Sheamus faced Show for the World Heavyweight Title on 18 November at Survivor Series, where he defeated Show via disqualification and thus did not win the title. Afterwards, Sheamus would repeatedly hit Show with a steel chair. This led to a Chairs match on 16 December at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, where Sheamus failed again to regain the World Heavyweight Championship. On the 24 December episode of Raw, Sheamus defeated Show in a non-title lumberjack match. Sheamus ended 2012 having wrestled the most TV/PPV matches that year with 98, the most TV/PPV wins with 77, and the most TV main events with 29. On 27 January 2013, at the Royal Rumble, Sheamus entered the Royal Rumble at number eleven and eliminated five other competitors before being the twenty-eighth man eliminated by Ryback.

Various feuds and injury (2013)
After being a frequent target of The Shield, Sheamus gained vengeance on the stable when he united with John Cena and Ryback to attack them. This culminated in a six-man tag team match on February 17 at Elimination Chamber, where the Shield emerged victorious. The following night on Raw, Sheamus and Ryback teamed up with Chris Jericho to face The Shield in a rematch, but were again defeated. In late February, Sheamus aligned himself with Randy Orton to feud with the Shield. Over the next weeks, Sheamus and Orton saved each other from attacks by The Shield and Big Show. On the March 15 episode of SmackDown, Sheamus and Orton were then allowed to pick a third partner to face the Shield in a six-man tag team match at WrestleMania 29 and chose Ryback. Three days later on Raw, however, Ryback was booked for another match at the event, leaving the spot open. Later that night, Big Show saved the two from an attack by The Shield and was immediately recruited as their partner. On 7 April at WrestleMania 29, Sheamus, Orton and Show were defeated by The Shield, after which, both men were knocked out by Show. The following night on Raw, Sheamus and Orton faced off in a match to earn a match with Big Show, however, the match ended in a no contest after Show interfered. Sheamus and Orton then teamed up to defeat Show in two handicap matches, first on the April 12 episode of SmackDown via count-out, and second on the April 15 episode of Raw via pinfall.

Later that month, Sheamus re-entered a feud with Mark Henry after the two repeatedly attacked each other backstage. Sheamus and Henry then challenged each other in tests of strength, but with Sheamus unable to best Henry, he resorted to attacking Henry with the Brogue Kick. After Sheamus Brogue Kicked a commentary-bound Henry during a match, Henry snapped and brutally whipped Sheamus with a belt. This led to a strap match on May 19 at Extreme Rules, where Sheamus emerged victorious. Sheamus then began feuding with Damien Sandow, when Sandow hosted a series of mental challenges on SmackDown, and Sheamus repeatedly interrupted and tried to solve the challenges. However, when Sheamus failed to solve the puzzles, he instead resorted to physical violence with the Brogue Kick. On June 16, during the Payback pre-show, Sheamus defeated Sandow in a singles match. The following night on Raw, Sheamus was defeated by Sandow and Cody Rhodes in a handicap match after Sandow pinned him with a roll-up. The rivalry culminated in a Dublin Street Fight on the June 28 episode of SmackDown, where Sheamus emerged victorious. On July 14 at Money in the Bank, Sheamus competed in the WWE Championship Money in the Bank ladder match, but was unsuccessful as the match was won by Randy Orton. During the match, Sheamus suffered a hematoma on his left thigh after being thrown into a horizontal ladder, which prevented him from competing that week. Sheamus returned to in-ring action on the July 22 episode of Raw, losing to World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio in a non-title match. On August 7, WWE.com confirmed that Sheamus had suffered a torn labrum in his shoulder that would require surgery, and would miss up to four to six months of ring action.

Return from injury and United States Championship run (2014)
On 26 January 2014, at the Royal Rumble, Sheamus returned as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble match at number 17, where he eliminated Big E. Langston before he was later eliminated by Roman Reigns in the final three. Sheamus seem to be resented during the Royal Rumble from the fans, although he did an outstanding performance. The following night on Raw, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan and John Cena defeated The Shield via disqualification, following interference from The Wyatt Family, to qualify for the Elimination Chamber to compete for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, but he would be eliminated by Christian. He then began a brief feud with Christian by facing him on Raw and SmackDown on multiple occasions leading up to WrestleMania, with each time Sheamus coming out on top. He was a part of the WrestleMania XXX André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal where he made it to the final four before he and Alberto Del Rio eliminated each other. On 14 April, Sheamus participated in the Intercontinental Championship number one contender tournament, which was held on Raw. He advanced to the next round by defeating Jack Swagger, before losing to Bad News Barrett in the semi-finals on 21 April. On the 5 May episode of Raw, Sheamus won a 20-man battle royal to win the United States Championship for the second time in his career, last eliminating the previous champion Dean Ambrose. Sheamus then began feuding with Cesaro and his manager Paul Heyman, culminating in a match between Sheamus and Cesaro for the US Championship at Payback, which Sheamus won. On June 9, Sheamus defeated Bad News Barrett to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match for the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which Sheamus lost

On the 3rd of November, Sheamus lost the US Championship to Rusev, thus writing Sheamus off of television to give him time off for surgery.

Heel Turn (2015-Present)
Beginning on the Feb. 9, 2015, episode of Raw, videos began to air heralding Sheamus' return to the squared circle. Nothing could prepare the WWE Universe for both the physical and mental changes that Sheamus would reveal upon his reemergence, however.

Sporting a giant mohawk and braided beard like Celtic warriors of old, Sheamus came to the ring after an Intercontinental Championship Match between Dolph Ziggler and Daniel Bryan on the March 30 Raw. It seemed that Sheamus was arriving to help the duo fend off an assault from former champion Bad News Barrett. Once scaring Barrett off, however, Sheamus turned his attention to the weakened Superstars and unloaded on them both with punches and Brogue Kicks.

He revealed later that week on SmackDown and reiterated on following episode of Raw that he was tired of seeing the WWE Universe favor smaller underdog Superstars over himself. He has now made it his personal mission to destroy said underdogs, singling out Ziggler in-particular, and prove that The Celtic Warrior is the one they should have favored all along.

At Money in the Bank 2015, Sheamus defeated Roman Reigns, Dolph Ziggler, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Neville, and Randy Orton in a Money in the Bank match for a contract for a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match.

Filmography
Farrelly played the role of Two Ton in the 2008 movie The Escapist, which starred Joseph Fiennes and Brian Cox. He had a small role in the 2006 Irish film, 3 Crosses, and was a Celtic Warrior Zombie in the opening sequence of the 2009 movie Assault of Darkness opposite Vinnie Jones. He appeared on several episodes of the famous Irish sockpuppet, Dustin the Turkey's show Dustin's Daily News where he had a rivalry with Dustin. It ended with Dustin and Sheamus having a "fight", which Dustin won. He also appeared on The Podge and Rodge Show as a leprechaun wrestler, along with IWW alumnus George McFly.

Monster Truck Racing
On January 27, 2012 at the Cumberland County Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville NC, Farrelly and 7 other wrestlers signed up for the event. This would equal 16 trucks running the event. Farrelly finished 6th in the freestyle in his 1953 Corvette, with 27/40 points. Farrelly said that this would be his only Monster Truck event, just like all other 7 wrestlers competing in the event.

Personal life
Farrelly was born in Cabra, Dublin, but was raised in North Great George's Street, Dublin. Farrelly's father, Mark, was an amateur bodybuilder. Farrelly speaks fluent Gaelic, having attended Scoil Caoimhin Primary and Secondary School, a Gaelscoil. He sang in the Palestrina Choir until the age of thirteen, as part of which he appeared on both the Christmas Late Late Show and Live at Three. He played Gaelic football for the Erin's Isle team where he was declared Sportstar of The Month. He also played rugby for the National College of Ireland, where he gained a National Diploma.

Farrelly is a former IT technician. He also worked as security for a nightclub which led to him occasionally working personal security for Bono and Larry Mullen, Jr. of U2 as well as Denise van Outen.

In wrestling

 * Finishing moves
 * As Sheamus
 * White Noise (Running over the shoulder back to belly piledriver) - 2012–2013; Now used as a signature Move
 * Brogue Kick (Bicycle kick) – 2009–present
 * High Cross / Pale Justice / Celtic Cross (Running crucifix powerbomb) – 2009–2013
 * Irish Curse (Side slam backbreaker) – 2009; used as a signature move thereafter.
 * Texas Cloverleaf - 2012–Present; used rarely
 * As Sheamus O'Shaunessy
 * Celtic Slam (Death Valley driver)
 * FRH – Fiery Red Hand (Leg trap fall forward chokebomb – Independent circuit / FCW or a chokelift side slam – FCW)
 * Irish Curse (Low blow)


 * Signature moves
 * Running Double axe handle
 * Inverted facelock backbreaker
 * Front Powerslam
 * Beats Of The Bodhran - (Repeated forearm clubs to an opponent's chest)
 * Repeated knee drops to an opponent's head
 * Short-arm clothesline
 * Slingshot shoulder block
 * Rolling Fireman's Carry Senton
 * Battering Ram - (Diving Shoulder Block); Sometimes while slingshotting
 * Fallaway Slam
 * Running Turnbuckle Thrust
 * Running Knee Lift


 * Nicknames
 * "S.O.S." (Independent circuit)
 * "The Irish Curse" (Independent circuit / FCW)
 * "The Celtic Warrior" (WWE)
 * '"The Great White"'


 * Stables & Tag Teams
 * King Barrett & Sheamus


 * Entrance themes
 * "The Irish Curse" by Alan Doyle (independent circuit)
 * "Written in My Face" performed by Sean Jenness (WWE) (2009-March 30, 2015)
 * "Hellfire" by CFO$ (WWE) (April 9, 2015 – present)

Championships and accomplishments

 * Florida Championship Wrestling
 * FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time)


 * Irish Whip Wrestling
 * IWW International Heavyweight Championship (2 times)


 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * PWI ranked him #10 of the best 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010


 * World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE
 * WWE Championship/WWE World Heavyweight Championship (3 times Current)
 * World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 * WWE United States Championship (2 times)
 * King of the Ring (2010)
 * Royal Rumble (2012)
 * Money in the Bank winner (2015)
 * Slammy Award for Breakout Star of the Year (2009)
 * Slammy Award for Superstar/Diva Most in Need of Make-up (2010)
 * Slammy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Muppett Resemblance (2011)
 * Slammy Award for Feat of Strength  of the Year (2012)


 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 * Most Improved (2010)