Sheamus has found great success in WWE, holding the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship a combined four times. He's also a three-time United States Champion and a five-time tag team champion, a King of the Ring and Royal Rumble winner, and a one-time holder of the Money in the Bank briefcase.
Like many longtime WWE Superstars, Sheamus has sometimes gone to drastic measures to remain relevant and fresh, and in 2015, returned to the company with a new heel persona and an eye-catching mohawk.
Talking to Chris Van Vliet, Sheamus reflected on making such a drastic change to his appearance, revealing that former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon wasn't overly happy when he came back with an unapproved new look.
"The great thing about that was I pissed the brass off on that one, because I didn't ask for permission, I just did it. I think I've been off with an injury, and I just kind of felt stagnant, and I'd done that babyface. I was just like, I need something different and cool, right? So I did it, and I think Vince was pissed big time because I didn't tell him I was doing it. But I did all this stuff, my beard and all the braids and everything, and I thought man, I look cool, dude. I look badass. I look like a bleeding ass kicker again."
"I'm gonna go out there. I think I attacked Wade and Bryan. I was going out, I looked badass and I thought people are gonna go, this guy looks cool. I walked out, and then some bollocks in the audience started a 'You look stupid chant', and that was it. It just carried across all the arena. I was like this is not what I was expecting. It was not the reaction that I was going for. It was great, you know, I leaned into it, and it was class. It was fun."
It was during this time that Sheamus won the Money in the Bank ladder match and cashed in on Roman Reigns for what would prove to be a fairly underwhelming 22-day run with the WWE Championship.
Confirming that it all came together relatively last-minute, Sheamus reflected on the cash-in and why the heat he had with fans at the time made that whole period a particularly fun one for him.
"Happened on the day again, that was the day of, that wasn't the plan. We were in Atlanta at the time, and then they obviously Seth got hurt on the European tour, hurt his knee, and then I'd won the money in the bank, and then they're obviously having that tournament. Then that was the final, it was Dean against Roman. So obviously, that was to prolong that kind of thing, to make Roman really try to earn that time, have him be so close and then get taken away from him. So that was again, the same day in a room discussing it. And it happened like two hours [before] because I had a match."
"We had a Survivor Series match where I think it came to me versus three other guys. I got power bombed a couple of times by Ryback. Ryback loves power bombing people man, Power Bombed me out of my shoes. And then that was it. And then, of course, I came back at the end. That was awesome too. That was a great moment. People hated Mohawk Sheamus. They absolutely hate it. Like, really, my mother called me crying when she saw the pictures of me with a mohawk on, literally crying. What have you done to your hair? It was a fun time. I had so much heat, man, like I'd so much heat as Mohawk, Sheamus, people hated me."
You can watch the full interview with Sheamus in the player below.