Sheamus appeaered on the weekly digital series It’s Called Soccer! hosted by English football legends Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, along with broadcaster Rebecca Lowe. The following highlights were sent to us:
04:44 – Sheamus reflects on how he became a Liverpool fan.
- Sheamus: “As a kid, you kind of make a decision then, there’s three teams in Ireland at that time that were very popular with kids. It was Liverpool, Manchester United, and Arsenal…Liverpool had Ray Houghton, Ronnie Whelan, Steve Staunton, and John Aldridge. So for me, I’m looking at Euro 88 and then I’m looking at this team and there’s four Irish players, for me it was just an easy decision to become a Liverpool fan.”
07:43 – Sheamus explains how his passion transitioned from football to wrestling.
- Sheamus: “I always loved it. I used to stay in inner city Dublin… and where we were at the time, we only had two channels. So anytime I’d be in there, wrestling would be on Saturday mornings. I used to watch World of Sport. That’s how it started… WWE came in, I think the mid to late 80s, and then that was just a whole other thing that’s just like this larger-than-life, these kind of giants in the ring… it was kind of like in the mold of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stallone.”
14:31 – Sheamus on mentoring WWE’s new talent.
- Sheamus: “For me, I’ve done it all. There’s only one thing I haven’t done that’s the Intercontinental Championship…I’ve achieved so much, and now I’m in that role of helping the new talent come up… when I see these new guys come in you don’t want to bury them, you want to help them up. And then when you see them playing with all that passion, it kind of brings out the passion in you… and for me, doing that and helping these kids… it keeps me motivated. I love seeing them succeed.”
26:02 – Sheamus on the Premier League’s growth in the U.S.
- Sheamus: “I came over here in ’07… in the last 10 years, it’s incredible. I’m walking down the street, and people go, ‘Sheamus, you never walk alone.’ It’s completely taken over.”
29:48 – Gary and Sheamus joke about Gary’s potential WWE persona.
- Sheamus: “There was a very famous manager called Bobby, the Brain Heenan… his nickname was The Weasel. And I think Gary could…”
- Gary: “Gary the Weasel Neville”
- Sheamus: “He’d be great, man. Lean into that.”
- Gary: “I’ll take that because most of the poor fans call me the Rat. So the Weasel is a massive upgrade.”
New episodes of “It’s Called Soccer!” can be found on YouTube, Spotify, and wherever you listen to your podcasts every Wednesday. The show is produced by Gary Neville’s media channel The Overlap, along with Buzz16 (a Miroma Group company), with Wave Sports + Entertainment overseeing distribution in the U.S.
ABOUT IT’S CALLED SOCCER!
Each week, Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, and Rebecca Lowe discuss and debate the biggest leagues, the biggest clubs, the biggest games and the biggest players. They also interview top talent across sports, film, TV and music about their love of soccer.
