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By Richard Gardner, Torch specialist

There is something delightfully old school about Sheamus's push that has led him to face John Cena for the WWE Title at the TLC PPV. Not just the fact that Jesse Ventura, who was excellent as guest host this week, was involved in the contract signing.

The Irishman has been running through opponents for weeks now without the "stop-start" booking that plagues the midcard. WWE has been doing all the right things with Sheamus in an effort to turn him into a credible title challenger. He destroyed Jamie Noble, who duly retired, and sneak attacked Jerry Lawler. Undefeated, Sheamus won a battle royal to claim a chance to face Cena for the title.

His rise up the card resembles the way in which challenges were prepared for Hulk Hogan in the 1980s. After destroying everyone he's faced, he's now going up against the babyface champion. Sheamus has not been around for long, triggering doubts over whether he is ready for the main event. There may be others who are better wrestlers, more over, or generally more deserving, but Sheamus is one of the few undercard wrestlers who has not been affected by the WWE's stop-start booking.

The truth is that WWE don't really have much of a choice but to look to younger stars without a track record. As Jesse Ventura alluded to in his opening promo on Monday night, they have exhausted every combination of John Cena, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels, and Triple H in the main event. Recent PPV buy figures have proven that constantly recycling the same names in the top matches is no longer a sure fire way of driving PPV business.

WWE is taking measures to shake up the main event picture. Kofi Kingston has already been elevated by his feud with Randy Orton. On the house show circuit, WWE have been running a gimmick where the first match is a battle royal which decides who will face Cena later in the show. Younger stars such as Sheamus and Swagger have been given the opportunity to wrestle in house show main events, which can only be beneficial to their future development.

Sheamus's push may seem somewhat abrupt, but should be lauded for attempting to get fresh faces into the main event. WWE has nothing to lose by pushing him, as even the established stars have been struggling to draw decent PPV numbers of late. Whether Sheamus as a long-term main event wrestler is up for debate, but he is being given every opportunity to succeed.

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