First singles match for O'Haire
By: Phil Speer
Source: wwe.com

WORCESTER, Mass. – April 27, 2003 – Sean O’Haire competed in his first singles match on a WWE pay-per-view tonight, the first of what he hopes and expects will be many.

Plus, he picked up the victory over former Intercontinental Champion Rikishi, putting him away with his as-yet-unnamed finishing maneuver, which is a reverse Death Valley driver.

“It was great,” said O’Haire, who toiled for an entire year in WWE’s developmental system before getting called back up. “They can’t deny me anymore. That’s what I tell myself before I got out there: ‘They can’t deny me anymore. I’ve worked too hard, and I’m too good.’”

Regarding the match tonight, O’Haire said, “It can always be better, but I was pleased with it.”

O’Haire’s only other WWE pay-per-view appearance was a tag team match at Invasion, where he teamed with Chuck Palumbo.

Three months later, in October 2001, he was sent to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in Louisville, Ky. He spent a full year there before returning to the WWE roster. He worked for both promotions for several months, working so hard, in fact, that he tore his major abdominal muscle, his groin and his oblique during the same match in OVW last October, which sidelined him for eight weeks.

He still lives in Louisville, in part because his younger brother, Shan, is training there.

But he’s done wrestling there because he’s finally once again a full-time WWE Superstar.

He’s got a new finishing maneuver, a new entrance theme and a new sidekick. The new theme, titled “Come On,” is by the band Waterproof Blonde, which is based out of Louisville. O’Haire has become good friends with the band, which wrote the song specifically for him. “They’re a great band,” he said. “They’re going to be on top soon.”

His new sidekick, of course, is “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, a man who O’Haire grew up watching, both in wrestling and in the movies. O’Haire particularly likes one of Piper’s lines from the movie “They Live”: “I’m here to kick ass and chew gum, and I’m all out of gum.”

O’Haire says he’s ecstatic to be able to work with the “Hot Scot.”

“He’s fantastic, and he’s so open-minded to my work, too,” O’Haire said.

He added that while other veterans may have a “shut up and listen” attitude toward younger competitors, Piper has been the exact opposite. “You’ll be with a group of veterans and he’ll say, ‘Sean, what’d you think of that?’” O’Haire said.

O’Haire has long had the athletic credentials for the business.
He’s a third-degree black belt in karate, and a black belt in kung fu and muay thai kickboxing. He went undefeated in amateur kickboxing, amateur boxing and Toughman competitions.

He has all the confidence in the world that he’ll enjoy the same success in sports entertainment.

“I didn’t start working here to be anything other than the main event,” he said.