JBL Says Leaving WWE Could Be Good For Sheamus

On the latest episode of Something To Wrestle With, the WWE Hall of Famer weighed in on Sheamus’s future in WWE, suggesting that a change of scenery could breathe new life into his career. Sheamus confirmed he was exiting the company on Friday. You can check out his comments below:

On Sheamus’ WWE Departure:
“As you get older, his career is kind of winding down at WWE. I don’t know if he’s staying or going somewhere else, but I think he should go somewhere else. He’ll be rejuvenated. This is why something like AAA is great — he could go down there if he wanted to, and that’s still part of WWE. I understand that he may want to go outside the tent completely and go to AEW, go to Japan, go somewhere else. And if he does, I think he’ll be fantastic. I think he’ll be kind of rejuvenated. Anytime you’re in the same territory for a very long time, which is what he’s done, you have to go through a bunch of rejuvenation phases, and this is the perfect opportunity for him.”

On Joining WWE in 1995:
“When I got there in December of ’95, you couldn’t sell tickets. You had great talent — Scott and Kevin were with us, Bret was with us, you had this incredible roster. You just had guys all in the wrong characters. You had Kane as an evil dentist, Hunter as an aristocrat, and Billy and Road Dogg weren’t the New Age Outlaws yet. They were a Roadie and a Rockabilly. Steve was the Ringmaster.

“I get there, and here’s what I thought, Conrad: I got to Texas, and even though it had a resurgence when I was there, the money wasn’t that great. And I thought, ‘Man, I missed the boat in Texas.’ I missed the heyday of the Von Erichs and the Freebirds. I got to Europe, and we had a really good run there, but I knew the territory was starting to end. Japan felt like it was ending, too. I thought, ‘My God, I missed everything.’ I finally make it to the big show, and we’re getting our ass kicked by those guys down South. I just thought I’d had bad luck. And then all of a sudden, everything starts changing. When Hogan came out, I remember we thought, ‘Man, they’re killing us, I don’t know how we’re ever going to come back from this.’ Blackjack Lanza always told me, sitting there smoking that cigarette, ‘As long as that man’s in that chair, there’s not going to be an issue’ — talking about Vince McMahon. That made me feel a lot better. Then Vince had that famous meeting where Chris Chambers had drawn the scratch logo, and Vince said, I just don’t know what draws and what doesn’t, and that’s when they started.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Something To Wrestle With an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.