Nigel McGuinness Comments On Potentially Coming Out Of Retirement For AEW All In

Nigel McGuinness hasn’t wrestled since 2011, retiring due to medical complications. 

McGuinness is one of the most decorated champions in ROH and his rivalry with Bryan Danielson in the mid to late 2000s helped further establish ROH as the premier independent wrestling promotion. McGuinness has since done commentary and match making for other promotions. 

McGuinness signed with AEW on April 5 after returning to ROH as an announcer for ROH Supercard of Honor. McGuinness helped Tony Khan make the announcement that AEW would be headed to London for AEW All In at Wembley Stadium. 

Speaking to Stephanie Chase of Digital Spy, McGuinness commented on possibly coming out of retirement for the event. 

“It’s certainly the event and perhaps a final chapter to my career, to my journey, so Wembley Stadium certainly springs to mind. There are a number of factors, I’m an age now and at a place in my life where I certainly don’t want to harm the rest of my life. I don’t want to get any injuries or anything serious that’s going to impinge my ability to enjoy my life as a parent or to travel. So that’s certainly a concern. You’ve also got to understand that at a show like Wembley, there are so many guys that are super talented and deserve those spots as well, so to take one of those spots for myself I think would be pretty hard. I think if we sell the place out, maybe I’ve got no argument but to go dust the boots off. But it’s so many things, it’s the event, it’s the opponent, it’s the timing and it’s hard to know. I cannot give you a definitive in that regard,” he stated.

Should he decide to lace up the boots one more time, Nigel would like to visit an old friend in the ring. 

“In terms of dream opponents, obviously it would have to be someone like Dragon [Bryan Danielson], given our history and the true story that’s there,” McGuinness said. “I think the best stories, the best angles in wrestling, always have that undercurrent of reality and it’s just so real there. It’s just so real and it’s so honest and authentic and nuanced as well in the sense that, it’s not just as simple as there’s a good guy and a bad guy, you can understand and you can identify with both of our journeys. We were once going in the same direction and now we’ve gone in completely different paths, but there’s a lot of emotion there to establish and even if that means me just being on commentary for a match of his as well. There are guys like Jonathan Gresham or MJF as well, those sort of guys that you go, ‘Yeah, I think I could really have a great match with them,'” McGuinness said.

He closed by saying, “But then you think to yourself, ‘Well, the old Nigel McGuinness could really have a great match with them. I’m not sure about the Nigel McGuinness now’ Someone said a while ago, ‘I bet you could get in the ring tomorrow, couldn’t you?’ I said, ‘I’m sure I could, I’m just not sure I could get back out afterwards, that’s the reality of it.'”

No matches have been announced for AEW All In. Fans can keep up with the card by using Fightful’s events page. 

Fightful will continue to update fans on McGuinness’ status for the event when more is known.