Raising The Bar: Where Do Cesaro and Sheamus Go From Here?

Following a Best of 7 series of matches during the late summer of 2016 that resulted in a tie, Cesaro and Sheamus have operated together as a team. The winner of said series was promised a ‘title opportunity’ by then Raw general manager Mick Foley. However, with no definitive winner, that title opportunity became for the Raw Tag Team titles, and our Swiss Superman and Celtic Warrior ultimately dethroned The New Day, ending their record-breaking reign.

While the partnership began as a story of foes forced to be friends – Cesaro a face at the time, Sheamus a heel – the two soon got on the same page after discovering they weren’t so different after all during a barroom brawl. Never mind that Sheamus is a Guinness drinker, while Cesaro prefers a James Bond-style Martini.

And so, differences set aside, the team enjoyed a run as fan-favourite tag champs until Wrestlemania, when they lost the belts to the returning Hardys as part of a multi-team ladder match. During that run, the pair went from being a seemingly thrown-together team, mere victims of a lack of creativity, to a well-oiled bonafide faction. In other words, they felt more like a ‘proper team’, walking down the ramp together and adding a variety of double team moves to their arsenal.

After Wrestlemania, a heel turn was on the cards, allowing the Euro-team to feud with new champs Matt and Jeff Hardy. Sheamus and Cesaro would eventually win the Raw tag team championships back, only to lose them several months later to two-thirds of a reunited Shield: Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.

With matching trench coats added to their look and a new team name in The Bar – as in, ‘they set the bar’ – Cesaro and Sheamus are now embroiled in a feud with Rollins and Ambrose. They have joined The Miz in his crusade against Roman Reigns, which has brought us a full Shield reunion as Ambrose and Rollins join their former brother in taking down common enemies. This is all leading to Cesaro and Sheamus taking part in the main event of the next pay-per-view event, TLC, in which they’ll be partnering with The Miz and Braun Strowman in a 4-on-3 handicap ladder match against The Shield. But what lies in store for The Bar after that? Let’s look at some of the options.

 

Regain the Raw tag team titles

While we can expect The Shield to win at TLC, their reunion doesn’t seem like too long term a plan given heavy rumours of Roman’s involvement in the main event of Wrestlemania 34. Perhaps a TLC rematch of sorts will be on the cards for Survivor Series, but following that, Dean and Seth may choose to go their own separate ways having enjoyed successful singles stints – not to mention that Seth Rollins is the cover star of WWE 2K18, which surely lends itself to some kind of push.

They would need to lose the tag team titles at some point and while The Miztourage is a potential option, there’s no better team currently on the red brand than their current rivals, The Bar. The Titus Brand hasn’t been well established, Jeff Hardy is out with injury and Enzo and Cass were disbanded before the latter was also injured. The Club and The Revival are also contenders, but former champs and current Shield rivals The Bar would make the most sense to take back the red and silver belts first. They could then go on to put on tag team clinics with Gallows, Anderson, Dash and Dawson.

 

Move to Smackdown

There were unfounded rumours of another Superstar Shake-up post-Summerslam. While that never materialised, what’s to stop it happening after Survivor Series? Or heck, a storyline trade could always be made in special circumstances – Shane McMahon would likely be happy to trade Owens and Zayn away to his sister’s show following Hell in a Cell.

A move to Smackdown would give The Bar a whole host of new opponents; something to help their act stay fresh after a year of dominating Raw’s tag title scene. On Smackdown they can compete with the rejuvenated Usos, renew a rivalry with The New Day, take on Benjamin and Gable, and tangle with Breezango.

 

Chase individual goals

Maybe Sheamus fancies a run at The Miz’s Intercontinental Championship after helping him out with Reign? Perhaps Cesaro will look to take the brass ring from Brock Lesnar? They could remain friends, have one another’s backs, but chase gold as singles competitors. Who are we kidding? The more likely option is:

 

Feud with each other

Cesaro and Sheamus have gone from being a thrown-together team with nothing better to do to one of the better teams in recent history. Vince surely won’t be able to resist breaking them up for the sake of a couple of Raw branded pay-per-view matches against each other. At least in this scenario, we might return to the Cesaro Section.