At the AEW All In: London 2024 pay-per-view event from Wembley Stadium, Nigel McGuinness made a comeback to the ring in the Casino Gauntlet Match. He’ll face AEW World Heavyweight Champion Bryan Danielson in a non-title match on Dynamite: Grand Slam next week.
McGuiness was a top ROH wrestler before moving on to TNA. McGuinness was offered a WWE wrestling contract in September 2006, but it was withdrawn because he failed to disclose a previous biceps injury during a medical pre-screening.
His doctor thought the injury had healed and that he was fit to wrestle. WWE doctors advised Nigel to have surgery to repair his old injury. However, he was unable to afford the surgery and declined. WWE withdrew the offer. Following his TNA run, he felt he had few options and chose to retire instead.
In an interview with TV Insider, McGuinness explained why he retired from wrestling years ago.
He said, “There is a lot of confusion and misinformation. The truth of the matter is when I stepped away from wrestling, it was purely because I couldn’t make a living as a wrestler anymore. I could have gone back to Ring of Honor and wrestled that style, but I wouldn’t have made enough money to even afford health insurance, let alone save for the rest of my life. That style in Ring of Honor just wasn’t doable. WWE wasn’t interested in me because of an old arm injury, even though it was perfectly healed. I didn’t want to go back to TNA given what happened there. That was it. There was no AEW or anywhere else to make a living wrestling. I had no choice.”
McGuisness stated in this interview that it is definitely a wait-and-see situation, and he will not rule out doing another match after the Grand Slam.
