Nigel McGuinness Discusses In-Ring Future Amid Return Speculation

WWE

There has been a lot of speculation regarding the future of former WWE announcer Nigel McGuinness after he recently promised ‘big news’ for him coming soon.

McGuinness is set for an upcoming show titled ‘CELEBRATION: The Magic of Nigel McGuinness – ONE NIGHT ONLY!’, which will see Nigel tell stories from his time in the ring as well as perform his magic tricks.

McGuinness promoted the show during his appearance on the Two Man Power Trip Podcast, where he discussed his WWE release last year.

McGuinness admitted that the release wasn’t a huge shock to him, and he was grateful to be employed for as long as he was and get the opportunity to work with younger talent in the company.

He said:

“It wasn’t a huge shock to me (being released from WWE). I don’t think so. I think with the NXT U.K. brand being put on hiatus and moving a lot of guys over to NXT, I kind of wasn’t being used as much as I might be and so I understood. Certainly, I’m not sure how much longer that role was gonna be there.

“I was very grateful to still be employed as long as I was, doing the smaller shows in terms of (NXT) Level Up or 205 (Live). The ability to work with younger guys and stuff like that and watch younger guys just breaking into this industry, that was a great experience in and of itself but to answer your point, there wasn’t a huge shock. Again, I just had felt very grateful about everything that had happened there and very appreciative of the six years of the learning and the education and the experience.

With McGuinness now a free agent, a lot of fans have speculated about him potentially returning to the ring, namely in Ring of Honor, the promotion where he rose to stardom.

McGuinness addressed the speculation, saying:

That’s the million dollar question isn’t it? Exactly, yeah. Everybody’s asked me that as soon as I went my separate ways from WWE as well. I can’t give a definitive answer other than to say that I certainly feel my strengths at this point in my life are in other aspects of the industry but I wouldn’t rule it out 100 percent either, you know?

“There’s always that part of you that wants to have that final moment but sometimes, cooler and smarter heads have to prevail. So, it’s a cliché of course just to never say never. See a lot of people, Edge, Lita, Trish (Stratus) of course, a lot of people come back and have really, really good matches and have a really positive influence on the industry and in a way they are able to help the next generation. I think that’s fantastic so, only time will tell what really happens from here. I got a lot of strings to my boat. Getting ready to fire. 

“It would be amazing to me (if I returned to the ring). Someone said to me when I was actually at WWE, they said, ‘You know, Nigel, I bet you could get in the ring tomorrow.’ I said, ‘Absolutely. I’m just not sure if I could get back out.’”

McGuinness also discussed what his future in wrestling could look like, with him saying that he’s open to offers and possibilities, and that there have been some ‘bites’.

He said:

“Oh, I’m certainly open to offers and possibilities and obviously, I’ve been putting some feelers out there, seeing if there’s any interest. There’s been various different bites here and there but without going into the details, nothing’s taken yet but hopefully, you know, professional wrestling is an industry that I’ve devoted the last portion of my life to and when I went my separate ways from WWE and I sat down with a piece of paper obviously, I wrote down wrestling as one of those things because I’d be silly to walk away from an industry that has treated me so well and given me so many blessings over the last 10, 20 years so, certainly open to offers but nothing definitive right now.

“It’s a very exciting, interesting world in the professional wrestling industry at the moment. Always is but especially right now, WrestleMania season, it’s so many people from all over the world coming into Los Angeles. There’s a lot going on, a lot to talk about too.”

transcription via POST Wrestling

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