Nigel McGuinness rocked Wembley Stadium in London, England with his surprise in-ring return at AEW All In: London 2024, and after the show, he stuck around to talk about the memorable moment.
Following the massive pay-per-view event on August 25, the AEW commentator spoke in a digital exclusive backstage interview with Alicia Atout about his surprise appearance as a competitor in the high stakes Casino Gauntlet match for a future shot at the AEW World Championship.
Atout asked McGuinness when he was a kid in Wembley Stadium watching WWE SummerSlam 1992 if he ever thought he would have his moment in the iconic U.K. venue.
“I did then. Not now,” he said. “What you saw tonight was a long time coming. It had been 13 years since I was in the ring and 32 years since I was in this stadium and I first had that dream and epiphany that I was going to somehow become a professional wrestler. There was a good portion of life, after I retired 13 years ago, where I had to put that to bed. You get some things and you have to look at the positives.”
McGuinness continued, “When I first found out that we were coming to Wembley and that was a possibility….what you saw tonight was only a short part of it. It’s been a year and a half that I’ve been thinking about that moment of walking out in front of my home crowd. It was surreal. I can’t believe it really happened. Show is over now. I shot my shot, it didn’t pay off, but I will take that memory for the rest of my life. You never know how life is going to work out. If anything it proves that there is always hope.”
EXCLUSIVE: @McGuinnessNigel made a SPECIAL return during the #casinogauntletmatch ! What does Nigel say after being out of the ring for 13 years?
Did you miss the #AEWAllInLondon PPV? Order it right now!
🔗https://t.co/JlBXZPLNGj#aew #allelitewrestling pic.twitter.com/5IsQx3Hd8I— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 25, 2024
(H/T to Fightful.com for transcribing the above quotes.)
