* AdoredByTheNetwork[=/=]ScrewedByTheNetwork: Apparently his inconsistent booking could be attributed to being well liked by Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon and Wrestling/TripleH and not being liked at all by producer Kevin Dunn.
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Sheamus sounds like a cool, exotic name to Americans, but it's the Scottish and Irish counterpart to the English "James" and not so uncommon at all in his home country. This is probably why the O'Shaunessy surname and the resulting "SOS" initial motif was a part of his name back when he first started.
* MemeAcknowledgment: Sheamus [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGpmKzt2UKc acknowledged the parody lyrics]] in 2020 in hopes of inspiring a campaign to get "Written In My Face" back as his music. He would finally get his wish on the 4/15/24 episode of ''Raw'', when he returned from injury.
* PlayingAgainstType: The heel character he portrayed for most of his WWE career. He normally played a face on the indies.
* PromotedFanboy: Grew up a fan of the British wrestling shown on ''World of Sport'' as well as of Bret Hart in the WWF.
* StarMakingRole: His table match against John Cena, in which he won the WWE title only six months after debuting.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Looking at his career path and of those of his peers, he would have almost certainly ended up in Wrestling/RingOfHonor or Wrestling/DragonGate UK, had he not gotten the deal with WWE's FCW revival.