So Just How Popular Is WWE World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus? (John Cena, The Rock, CM Punk, Brock Lesnar)

by CB on August 7, 2012

There has been a lot of talk on this website for many months about current WWE World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus and his “popularity” in WWE. Well, the August 6th Wrestling Observer Newsletter sheds some light on this subject, as they released their mid-year look at wrestling, boxing, and MMA personalities as it relates to Google searches and Google activity. Sheamus chimed in at #39 on this list, and The Observer reports the following analysis of the Celtic Warrior:

“Sheamus is also notable. Sheamus is a star, but for a world champion who beats everyone with his move, he is also not over at the level of his push, which is something many in WWE have noted to me. It’s not said negatively and it is that he’s a star who has something, and he is over and it’s not that he shouldn’t be pushed. But with the push he’s gotten this year, he should be No. 2 in the promotion when it comes to popularity. This coincides with the reaction at every Smackdown house show. Sheamus is a star. But to the people, Randy Orton, even though he’s been phased into a secondary role, is still Smackdown’s primary star. And WWE is well aware of it, because when Orton went down, instead of having the confidence to allow Sheamus on his own to carry the “B” brand, they immediately moved Punk and Bryan over to replace Orton.”

The Top 40 personalities, in order, are listed below. For the full report, click here to subscribe to The Wrestling Observer.

1. John Cena
2. Floyd Mayweather
3. Manny Pacquiao
4. Dwayne Johnson
5. Brock Lesnar
6. Muhammad Ali
7. Gina Carano
8. Anderson Silva
9. Mike Tyson
10. Hulk Hogan
11. C.M. Punk
12. Jon Jones
13. Chael Sonnen
14. Randy Orton
15. Batista
16. George Foreman
17. HHH
18. Georges St. Pierre
19. Ronda Rousey
20. Miguel Cotto
21. Big Show
22. Rashad Evans
23. Nick Diaz
24. Undertaker
25. Steve Austin
26. Rey Mysterio
27. Alistair Overeem
28. Jeff Hardy
29. Dana White
30. Chris Jericho
31. A.J.
32. Amir Khan
33. Sin Cara
34. Shawn Michaels
35. Kimbo Slice
36. Frank Mir
37. Ric Flair
38. Canelo Alvarez
39. Sheamus
40. The Miz

Tags: AJ, aj lee, batista, big show, boxing, Brock Lesnar, chris jericho, cm punk, dana white, dwayne johnson, Floyd Mayweather, HHH, Hulk Hogan, Jeff Hardy, john cena, Manny Pacquiao, mike tyson, miz, MMA, randy orton, Raw, Ric Flair, shawn michaels, sheamus, sin cara, Smackdown, Steve Austin, The Miz, The Rock, the undertaker, triple h, UFC, undertaker, WWE

Source: The Wrestling Observer

CB

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CB is an Editor for Pulse Wrestling and an original member of the Inside Pulse writing team covering the spectrum of pop culture including pro wrestling, sports, movies, music, radio and television.

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http://twitter.com/BlairADouglas Blair A. Douglas

As this relates to Shaemus, I’m actually not surprised that most of these names are so far ahead of Shaemus – but Batista? That guy hasn’t been in wrestling, or much of anything noteworthy, for over 2 years. It’s also pretty funny that Big Show, Mysterio, Hardy, AJ, and SIN CARA of all people, are ahead of him. The Miz is only ONE SPOT below him.

On the flip side of that, I’m actually quite surprised that Bryan didn’t even make the top 40 of this list.
Zork

I’d say Batista had a pretty memorable run during his last few months. Batista is a guy a lot of people like to talk about on whether or not he’ll ever come back.
CB40

Bryan was #42 out of 75, for what it’s worth.
D.L. Butcher

20 wrestlers on this list, only 8 of which are currently competing full time. The other 12 are either big match draws admittedly, but who are still only fueling ahead on yesterdays steam, or just weak yesterday personalities. Jehrico is gone, Mysterio is either injured or out on wellness violations alongside Orton. Hogan, Triple H, Taker, and Batista should really be further down in my opinion. Lesnar, the Rock, Flair, Hogan, hell even the Big Show are either in it for the limelight or the personal insecurities that drove them to the top when they were still actually contributing to the genre in a top level way. Most of all Sin Cara, AJ, and the Miz just are not worthy in this fans honest opinion.
Limodriver

All they have to do is turn Miz babyface and give him a long run with the WHC, and they’ll have a huge star.
Max

Batista has actually been relatively noteworthy this year, despite not wrestling due to the recent developments in his aspiring acting and MMA “careers”, not to mention the buzz around Wrestlemania this year concerning a possible return.

People use Google to find things out, like details on Cena’s divorce, Mayweather’s legal troubles, Pacquiao’s controversial loss, Rock’s latest movie roles, Lesnar’s return to WWE, and rumored defection back to UFC.

Google isn’t a power rankings, or a popularity contest; it is a search engine. What reason would people have to google Sheamus, or even Bryan, for that matter?

I would imagine Mysterio and Sin Cara are on the list simply due to Mexicans entertaining themselves on the internet, as well as a rather substantial amount of people who spent the first half of this year wondering when, if ever, these guys were gonna return.

I’m sure AJ was placed as high as she was, due to a “who’s this overexposed, new girl?” curiosity for casual viewers. Oh, and perverts hoping to find dirty pictures of her.

I bet Hardy’s inclusion is EXCLUSIVELY due to people who have never heard of TNA, and were wondering why he retired. Or they’re checking to see if he died yet. Same goes for Hogan, too, for that matter.
CB40

No, Velvet Sky being in the Top 75 is for people like Owangotang searching for her ;)

And yes, Hardy is definitely being searched for out of morbid curiosity…
CB40

You really think that Miz is still going to be a huge star, REALLY?!
Limodriver

All he needs is an actual push. I have no idea if he will ever get it. But the crowd responds to him as if he’s a main eventer. The only wrestlers above him are wrestlers who at some point or another were booked to look like credible world champions, except perhaps Chris Jericho. And Sin Cara. What on earth he’s doing that high on the list I have no idea.

If he wins Royal Rumble this year, there would be a much, much bigger pop than there was when Sheamus won it.
http://twitter.com/BlairADouglas Blair A. Douglas

I guess I never really thought about it like that – you’re probably right though. The only place you kinda lose me is where you mention that no one has a reason to Google Shaemus or Bryan – and then you say that Mysterio and Sin Cara are on there “simply due to Mexicans entertaining themselves on the internet”. Couldn’t Americans do that too?

Overall though, I do get what you’re saying. Although I still say that given Bryan’s rise in the last 6 or 8 months, I would have expected his ranking to be higher. Ah well.
http://twitter.com/BlairADouglas Blair A. Douglas

Limodriver, my man CB has been known to say some pretty crazy stuff sometimes. But the crowd is not responding to Miz that way.

The Miz is literally one of the shittiest wrestlers that WWE has ever produced and tried to turn into a big star. He had his chance to be a big deal. He main-evented their biggest show of the year with the biggest star in the company involving one of their biggest 3 legends of all time. He failed. He couldn’t have been pushed down the card faster if he had been shot out of a goddamn cannon. There was no public clamouring to make Miz a main-eventer again. Then he couldn’t even make it onto PPV’s, and was disappeared off TV to do his movie. The show did not suffer and no noticeable portion of the crowd missed him in any way, shape or form.

There are a lot of shitty guys who WWE pushes too quickly and they don’t stand by them when the crowd doesn’t accept them. The Miz is not someone that can claim that – he was in WWE for years. He had every opportunity to get better, in the ring or on the mic. He didn’t. They STILL pushed him, and some people actually did get behind it, but I don’t see anyone sticking up for him now – and that’s a good indication of the quality of his goodwill with the crowd in general. But WWE invested a ton in the guy – main-event at the biggest show of the year, with two giant stars, appearing on every single show they had for a while, media appearances, and enough promo time to bloody even the toughest eardrums… and at the end of the day, that investment bore no fruit for WWE. They gave him every opportunity. He’s got no one to blame but himself.

Even a guy flopping as badly as Shaemus can place some blame on WWE for his awkward, up-and-down, disjointed career path thus far. Not Miz though. And speaking of Ginger Abortion, as for your comment about the Rumble, you’re probably right – but is Shaemus really your measuring stick for main-event acceptance from the crowd?

I personally think The Miz would make a great manager. Have him get an “injury” and start managing, with his heel schtick being the chip on his shoulder that he would have been the best ever had he not gotten injured. Everyone would know it was bullshit, which is why it would work.
Finn McInnes

Since when did popularity = Google activity? I bet half of the searches for Hogan are to find that picture of him fondling his daughters crotch. And what is the point of putting Boxers, MMA fighters and wrestlers on a compiled list? Is there really that much crossover? Plus – in terms of popularity, the notion that Cena is more popular than Manny Pacquiao is ridiculous. Let John Cena get screwed in a match and no one will care. If Manny gets screwed in a match and we will probably see a big-assed riot.
CB40

Now THAT’s a response. Looks like someone is on the verge of a comeback!
Max

The ‘Mexicans’ comment was mostly a joke in poor taste on my part. I probably should have intimated that on an international level, there is seemingly more interest in Cara and Rey’s statuses than Bryan. And I would agree that this has been quite the newsworthy year for Bryan, and I, too, would have expected him to be higher on the list.
James A

I think that the Mexican comment was probably closer to the truth than you intended. Mysterio and Cara are lucha heroes in Mexico – they’re practically idolised. It’d be no surprise to me if the reason they appeared on the “most searched” list was because of a Mexican interest.
The drug scandals and injuries have probably helped in that respect as well, of course.
CB40

Mexicans Google Juan Cena so much that he was #1 !
Limodriver

But they didn’t give him every opportunity. They put him in a match in which it was abundantly clear that both his opponent and the “special enforcer” were much more important than he was. The next night, Cena was so mad at not having won the WWE title, that he….challenged the Rock to a match.

Admittedly, the WWE no longer believes in booking any of its heels to look even remotely credible. Mark Henry is the last one I can think of. It’s just impossible for any heel to get over while being booked to be a doofus. Even CM Punk wasn’t over as a heel.

If they turn Miz face, the crowd will get behind him.
Sideshowbob

I’ll give it this: mysterio and Sin Cara had return dates people wanted to know. Also there is that whole search for a pic without a mask.
Dbryan.. His main audience is.. Ugh I’m gonna use the term.. Smarks. They already have their wrestling news sites.
Shaemus.. There’s nothing TO look up fellah. He is a caricature, not a character. Ok he’s pasty and Irish. I’ll bet more people looked up laoch than tried to learn about him. He’s not generating a buzz. His claim will be a wm footnote..

And do not underestimate Mexican fans’ search abilities..
* of note they don’t give a shit about shaemus either or he’d be up higher

Boxers. They’re high on the list, but they aren’t featured on tv weekly, so I think that’s a bit of an apples and oranges conversation. They’re more mainstream, but not in the public eye as often. But when they are, they blow everything else away. Like football #s for the Superbowl.. They only fight once every so often so it’s a high wave of hits then..
Sideshowbob

Hogan had a TMZ worthy year. That should be its own scale.. He had a public divorce and that sextape happen..
Also I’m sure this used boolean searches which would count “hulk Hogan’s daughter” as a hit for hulk Hogan, not Brooke Hogan.. She had that while modeling fiasco, once again TMZ worthy.. Oh and “hulk Hogan’s ex”.. AND dude has his book out there too. So yeah he’s up there, but I’m guessing for all the wrong reasons..
Sideshowbob

CB he does have that gimmick where he turns the logo upside down on the microphone.. That should count for something..
http://twitter.com/BlairADouglas Blair A. Douglas

You are absolutely right that WWE has issues booking its heels – that was one of the reasons why I couldn’t understand why, when they actually did, Mark Henry was the guy they chose.

However, you fail to address Miz’s complete lack of support once he was abandoned – and the fact that, at the biggest show of the year when he was in the MAIN EVENT, given how much of the crowd dislikes Cena, Miz still wasn’t able to gain any goodwill.

And yeah, if they turn Miz face, you’re right, some of the crowd will get behind him. I just don’t think it will be any more people than, say, Shaemus. If even that.

If you don’t mind my asking, what exactly is it about Miz that you think makes him better than the average WWE guy?
James A

In support of Limodriver, I don’t think that anything related to the Mania main event can be held against Miz. The whole match was filler. The crowd barely reacted to Miz OR Cena because they were all waiting for The Rock’s inevitable appearance – and nothing would matter until that point. Moreover, by virtue of the same fact, the match was virtually guaranteed a dirty finish, and no one was going to get excited by that. WWE had made it abundantly clear that Cena vs Miz didn’t matter, and the crowd reaction reflected that.

Also, in my opinion it’s a mistake to dismiss Miz as a failure because he didn’t gain “goodwill” from the fans during his main event run with Cena “given how much of the crowd dislikes Cena”. Miz was playing a heel – he went out of his way to be unlikeable. He wasn’t a Bryan / Punk / Austin anti-hero. He was a bad guy. And Cena was the babyface in the feud. There were no grey areas. It wasn’t Cena vs Punk. If the crowds had started to cheer for Miz, neither man would have been doing his job properly.

I’m only talking about Mania 27, though. You can say what you like about the rest of Miz’s career after that point. I agree that fan outcry during his absence was minimal. He’s getting decent reactions at the moment, though – and the fact that WWE have put him in a movie is nothing to sniff at, even if he was simply Randy’s replacement. Someone in Stamford must like him.
CB40

Yeah, convenience that his name starts with an M.
Limodriver

I think he’s average in the ring. I think he’s above average on the mic. I think he’s very comfortable in media situations outside of the WWE, something which the WWE likes their top guys to have. I think the way he got himself over despite being ignored for most of his WWE career shows how much he loves the business.
http://twitter.com/BlairADouglas Blair A. Douglas

I would definitely say that it’s different being the bad guy against Cena – since half the crowd shits all over him. I get what you’re saying about heels and babyfaces, I guess my opinion just sways less in the “if he doesn’t get cheers against Cena it means he’s a good heel” direction and more of the “if they DON’T cheer you against Cena you must REALLY suck” direction. That’s just my take though.

Limodriver, I can’t name one match that Miz has EVER had that wasn’t made good or average by his opponent flying all over the place to make Miz look good with Miz dishing out an occasional clothesline and his Jeff Jarrett finisher.

I didn’t think Miz was that comfortable on the mic or in media situations. I think he just went through the motions – I’ve seen a TON of other people defend his mic work, but to me his only technique seemed to be “speak slowly”.