Sheamus recently opened up about the emotional toll of missing WWE’s biggest show of the year, WrestleMania 41, after being off television since his appearance at the Royal Rumble. Although he wrestled at two non-televised live events in March, he was not part of the WrestleMania card, making his return to television on the May 5 episode of WWE Raw.

Speaking with Alex McCarthy of Daily Mail, Sheamus did not hold back on how deeply it affected him to be absent from the event.

“I was gutted that I wasn’t at Mania,” Sheamus said. “The last appearance that I had was at the Rumble. I want to be in the mix. I want to be there. I’m more passionate now about my job than I ever have been. Some of the guys are like, ‘You’ve been at so many WrestleMania’s, so it’s okay.’ But it’s not okay. I love what I do. I love going out there in front of a crowd. I love putting on banger after banger. I love that intensity. I love setting the bar so high that everybody including the main event guys who have months and months to prepare are trying to catch up with me. Until the wheels come off and I can’t do it anymore I want to go out there. I don’t want to miss anything and I don’t want to miss a WrestleMania. It was tough. I’m not going to lie, it was really really hard.”

While Sheamus was sidelined, Dominik Mysterio captured the WWE Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania 41, further fueling Sheamus’ hunger for a return to the title scene. It is the only major singles championship that has eluded him in WWE.

“I had pitched to hopefully get in the Intercontinental title stuff again. They’re probably tired about me talking about it but that’s the one title that I have left to become the first ever ultimate Grand Slam Champion in WWE. That’s the Holy Grail, that’s it,” he said. “But I wasn’t happy sitting at home. I don’t want to miss WrestleMania I don’t want to go there and not be part of the biggest show of the year. It’s tough for me. I don’t care, if you have passion for what you do you don’t want to miss that.”