All Elite Wrestling has become a modern-day haven for independent legends. While the young company has plenty of homegrown star-power and top talent that made their names in WWE and NJPW, a bulk of AEW’s roster is made up of wrestlers who are just now getting their global big break after grinding on the indie circuit for years. Names like AR Fox, Orange Cassidy, Ethan Page and John Silver are wrestling on weekly television for the first time in their careers within AEW. Beyond that, AEW also has given some wrestling legends a new lease on their in-ring careers, with stars like Sting specifically being given the opportunity to finish his career on his terms. If the stars align, there’s one name that fits into both of those categories: Nigel McGuinness.
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Nigel McGuinness wrestled throughout the 2000s, making a name for himself in Ring of Honor. He remains the longest-reigning ROH Pure Champion to this day, with his 350-day run staying untouched. McGuinness is also the second-longest reigning ROH World Champion at 545 days. He had many memorable feuds throughout his in-ring run, but his most memorable remains his extensive program with Bryan Danielson. The two wrestled on ten occasions, never wrestling below 20 minutes. Danielson vs. McGuinness last happened in September 2009.
What Would Bring Nigel McGuinness Out of Retirement?
While McGuinness has not competed since 2011, revisiting his rivalry with Danielson would be enough to tempt the AEW commentator to return to the ring.
“The truth of the matter is, the only way I was going to come out of retirement was for a match against Bryan Danielson at Wembley Stadium,” McGuinness told AEW Unrestricted. “It was going to take something like that for me to come out of retirement, because I really value my job doing announcing and there are so many other guys on the card that are so much better than me and deserve those spots, but in the right situation, I’d be crazy to not be open to that possibility.”
As of right now, that potential match is shelved. Danielson broke his arm at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door in his main event match against Kazuchika Okada. Despite the American Dragon’s injury, McGuinness believes he could still go come AEW ALL IN: London at the end of the month.
“Now, [Danielson] has gone and broken his arm. Let’s be honest. We all saw the x-rays, and one of those bones was perfectly okay. I don’t know how many bones are in the human body. He’s got all of them apart from one, does he really need time off?” McGuinness continued. “He’s sitting at home, taking a paycheck, digging those clams out of the sand. He could be in there wrestling me. To be perfectly honest, he’s probably a bit scared.”
If the opportunity presents itself, McGuinness says he is already ready to go.
“I’m not saying he’d be scared of wrestling me again, he’s had a lot more experience than me, but I’m in as good of shape now as I’ve ever been,” McGuinness added. “I’m in ring shape, I’m ready to go, but I can’t see myself wrestling at this point in that sort of situation at this point.”
AEW ALL IN: London goes down on August 27th.
