10 Wrestlers That Shouldn't Have Lost Their WrestleMania Debuts
9. Sheamus
Few stars entered the WWE scene hotter than Sheamus in the summer of 2009. Within a matter of months, he conquered the ECW brand, retired Jamie Noble, and beat John Cena for the WWE Championship, becoming the first ever Irish born WWE champion in history. Sadly, the way WWE handled him from that point forward was anything but ideal.
He embarked on a rather weak reign as WWE champion over the next several months before dropping the strap to John Cena at 2010's Elimination Chamber event. Shortly thereafter, he kicked off a feud with Triple H going into WrestleMania 26, and although it was overshadowed by all the other marquee matches on that star-studded card, it was the perfect chance for Sheamus to score a meaningful victory at his first WrestleMania.
Their match was largely solid, but despite looking strong against Triple H in the weeks preceding The Show of Shows, he was decisively defeated by The King of Kings. They tried to tell the story that Triple H wanted to "humble" Sheamus the same way The Ultimate Warrior did him in 1996, but The Celtic Warrior came out of the contest looking incompetent when it mattered most.
Sheamus put Triple H on the shelf the next month at Extreme Rules, but it was too little, too late. That was WWE's chance to make a star out of Sheamus and they failed.