I was Bono's bodyguard and an IT technician before working with the Rock's trainer and starring in T

Posted by Jenniffer Sheldon on Sunday, June 2, 2024

Life works in Mysterious Ways - but there's no need to tell Bono's former bodyguard turned wrestling superstar Sheamus that!

The 45-year-old is now one of the most decorated stars in WWE history but had a myriad of jobs while he chased his dream, including protecting the U2 frontman from flying beer.

The future Hall of Fame star became WWE's first Irish World champion and is only the second wrestler ever after Edge to win all three of King of The Ring, Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank.

But while learning his trade in the Irish and UK independent wrestling scene, Sheamus worked as an in-house IT technician.

He then did work as a security guard at the now defunct Lillie's Bordello nightclub in Dublin which Bono frequented.

Sheamus' role saw him shield the U2 singer from drunk punters, before he made the move to London to pursue his wrestling dream.

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During an exclusive interview with talkSPORT Kick Off, Sheamus revealed he was competing in small shows while working in London's Canary Wharf before he had a successful WWE tryout in Manchester.

He explained: "I always believed I would make it.

"I didn't know how successful I'd be but I always knew that I'd have the passion to do it and I always believed in myself but that belief has grown over the years.

"I actually, believe it or not, went over [to America] pretty confident from my old independent shows I did, but when I got to FCW, which is now re-branded as NXT, I was in there at the training school with Steve Keirn and Dr Tom Prichard, the two trainers.

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"Dr Tom trained the Rock, [Kurt] Angle, Mark Henry and he's probably the most respected renowned wrestling trainer in the world and they were a massive slap in the nuts.

"They were like, 'you're doing everything wrong...you're all over the place... you can't tell a story...I don't know what you're doing'

"That to me was the point where I was like maybe I don't really know what I'm doing.

"When you're on the indies no one tells you what you're doing right because WWE has a particular style so I had to swallow a big glass of humility and restart myself."

Sheamus, in his own words, stood out in WWE because of his 'pasty white skin, red hair' and aggressive style.

The Dubliner's own charismatic personality and signature look eventually took him to Hollywood.

Sheamus starred as Rocksteady in 2016's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, while he also featured in an episode of NCIS: Los Angeles earlier this year.

His breakthrough came his during his first world title win at TLC 2009 where he put wrestling icon John Cena through a table.

But the man himself admitted to talkSPORT his career was almost over before it begun after he failed to impress WWE's top brass.

He said: "I went to ECW and it was an hour show, it was taped after SmackDown and I wrestled Goldust and that was great, that got me off to the races.

"Goldust is a legend - we beat the absolute b******* out of each other and right away I got on the map.

"Then I went to RAW, the idea was that Cena and [Randy] Orton ran through each other at like 15 pay-per-views so they were setting me up for Cena and Kofi Kingston up for Randy.

"But I wrestled Jamie [Noble] in a quick match and I thought it went well but all of a sudden I get to ECW the next day and they slated it.

"All of a sudden I'm on a high, I'm on RAW and then I got told you messed up big time, that was a horrible match, horrible job. Now I'm like oh no because you only get one crack at it.

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"I got told you're wrestling Jamie next week and this is your last chance. I've gone from this guy's a prodigy, he's going to get in there with the top guy right away to if you mess this match up you're done so imagine that type of pressure.

"It's a fun old gig but it's a lot of stress on!"

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