In 1998, Nigel McGuinness left England in the pursuit of professional wrestling, travelling to Cincinnati, Ohio to train under Les Thatcher at Heartland Wrestling Association. Debuting in 1999, Nigel would wrestle for the company until 2000 when he would return to the UK due to running out of money to fuel his early career. After working tooth and nail to raise funds, McGuinness returned to the United States in 2001, and would shortly begin to wrestle in more places, such as IWA: Mid South as well as wrestling in his home country as well.
2003 saw McGuinness make his first appearance for the company he would become synonymous with; Ring of Honour. His debut match would be tied to his HWA base, facing Chet Jablonski in a No.1 Contender's Match for the HWA Heavyweight Title, available for viewing here (YouTube). Over the next couple of years, as well as expanding his domain and competing in more places in the US, McGuinness would become a more regular member of the ROH roster. His early time there were spent teaming, and then feuding with Colt Cabana until setting his sights on the ROH Pure Championship.
The ROH Pure Championship was defended under it's own unique set of rules, which were as follows;
- Each wrestler begins the match with 3 rope breaks, once used up, pins and submissions that would normally be broken up by a rope break are legal.
- Closed-fist punches to the face were not allowed (shots to other parts of the body were fine apart from low blows). The first instance of such a punch landing would result in a warning, a second in taking away one of the wrestlers rope breaks, and the third in disqualification.
- 20 counts administered when outside the ring
- The belt can change hands in the result of a disqualification or count-out.
It was during his time as Pure Champion that would see the emergence of his famed rivalry with Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan). Their first encounter came at Weekend of Champions Night Two, with McGuinness receiving a shot at Danielson's ROH World Championship whilst simultaneously putting his own Pure Championship on the line in a title for title match that was contested under the pure wrestling rules. This match can be viewed here (YouTube). McGuinness won by count-out, meaning both men kept their respective belts. The victory led to a rematch where Danielson would scrape a victory, which then set the stage for their most notable clash of all.
ROH: Unified took place in August 2006, with McGuinness and Danielson facing off again, with both titles on the line again under pure wrestling rules in a unification match. This was a bloody bout, something Nigel had wanted, with the match including one of the most brutal spots I have ever seen in pro wrestling.
In his autobiography, Danielson writes how McGuinness wanted to bust himself open the hard way on the ring post. They'd agreed that if there was no blood after 3 times hitting the post, they would stop. However, after taking the 3 and being devoid of colour, McGuinness wanted one more shot which would prove to be the clincher. Danielson also writes about regretting this spot, deeming it unsafe and unnecessary in hindsight.
The match went on, with Danielson himself being busted open, making for an even bloodier affair. Adding the brutality of the match, it would conclude due to referee stoppage, with Danielson laying in elbow after elbow to the defenceless McGuinness.
After losing his Pure Championship, Nigel challenged Naomichi Marufuji for the GHC Heavyweight Championship, the champion of ROH's Japanese partner company, Pro Wrestling NOAH. Due to their current working relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling, this time period isn't referred to as much by the company any more. Like their work with NJPW, this brought about talent exchanges, allowing wrestlers to compete in places they never had before. In 2006, Nigel even had more matches for NOAH than he did ROH and in February of 2007 became a representative and spokesperson for NOAH.
This partnership also resulted in another of Nigel's acclaimed rivalries in his pursuit of the ROH World Championship against Takeshi Morishima. Once his tag team partner over in NOAH, McGuinness would unsuccessfully challenge Morishima twice before he finally managed to beat the giant at ROH: Undeniable in October 2007 to become the 10th ROH World Champion. Although McGuinness' reign would take a shaky start sustaining a bicep injury in late 2007, McGuinness would hold the title for 545 days, the second longest reigning ROH World Champion behind Samoa Joe, and is tied in first place for successful defences with Bryan Danielson, defending the belt 38 times. Amongst those 38 include defences against some of ROH's finest as well as international stars such as KENTA (Hideo Itami), a day after sustaining another arm injury despite reportedly needing surgery, which can be viewed here (YouTube). His run with the belt would come to a close in April 2009, being defeated by Jerry Lynn at Supercard of Honour IV.
In September of that year, Ring of Honour announced that McGuinness had "in principle" signed a contract with the WWE as well as his storied rival, Bryan Danielson. The pair would have their final match with the company facing each other at Glory By Honour VIII: The Final Countdown. Danielson would go on to sign with WWE as planned, however, McGuinness' deal with the company fell apart after he failed a pre-screening physical test, down to the various injuries sustained during his career.
Shortly after, McGuinness signed with TNA, debuting in October under the new name of Desmond Wolfe in a programme against Kurt Angle. He would defeat Angle in his first Pay-Per-View appearance for the company at Turning Point, earning a 4.25 star rating from Big Daddy Meltzer, and can be viewed here (YouTube). The two would face off one last time at Final Resolution in a 'Three Degrees of Pain' match - a two out of three falls with each fall being earned by pinfall, submission and escaping the cage respectively. Angle would come out victorious, ending the feud as the victor. This match gained a 4 star rating, and can be viewed here (YouTube).
From there, McGuinness/Wolfe feuded with the likes of D'Angelo Deniro, before aligning himself with Ric Flair, later taking part in Lethal Lockdown as part of Team Flair (along with Sting, Bobby Roode and James Storm), where they were defeated by Team Hogan (RVD, Jeff Hardy, Jeff Jarrett and Abyss) after McGuinness/Wolfe took the fall.
He still had the support from the fans though. In April 2010, TNA introduced the 'Championship Ranking' where fans could vote for the No.1 Contender for the World Championship. From start to finish, McGuinness/Wolfe led the poll from beginning to end, ahead of an illustrious list of other contenders including AJ Styles, Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy and Sting. McGuinness/Wolfe received his title shot against RVD on a May edition of Impact! He would lose in 3 minutes, never to challenge for the title again.
After that, McGuinness/Wolfe would have a feud with Abyss, comprised mainly of hardcore matches spanning a couple of Pay-Per-View. The whole while, he would look to gain the approval of Ric Flair to be put into Flair's new version of The Four Horsemen, Fourtune, later spelt properly as Fortune. The group would end up being comprised of Styles, Kazarian, Storm and Roode, with McGuinness/Wolfe being left out.
McGuinness/Wolfe would find some success in forming a tag team with Magnus, later coined London Brawling, beginning a winning streak on Xplosion before earning a shot at the TNA Tag Team Championships for No Surrender in late 2010. However, this match would never happen due to more medical issues with McGuinness/Wolfe, revealed in 2014 to be down to him testing positive for Hepatitis B (and has since recovered). He would make his on screen return in May 2011, starting a brief run as commissioner of Xplosion, before being released from the company in June.
McGuinness would return to the independents in late 2011, in a retirement tour that would see him compete in the United States and the UK, wrestling the likes of Eddie Edwards, Trent Seven and Jack Gallagher as well as returning to the place it all began, Heartland Wrestling Association. He wrestled his last match in December 2011.
2011 did see McGuinness return to Ring of Honour in a non-wrestling capacity as on-screen commissioner, as well as being a member of the commentary team. During this time, as well as becoming an advocate for hepatitis B vaccination and for stopping intentional bloodletting in wrestling, McGuinness made a documentary, a career retrospective as well as capturing his retirement tour following his TNA departure. Personally, I found 'The Last of McGuinness' quite a hard and saddening watch, with McGuinness airing his frustration over the breakdown of his WWE deal due to his bicep injury, as well as discussing how he thought his career was a failure to do not reaching WWE.
But, this story ends on a happy note. In December 2016, it was announced that Nigel McGuinness had signed to WWE as a commentator for the United Kingdom Championship Tournament, and now a permanent fixture on the NXT announce team.
Nigel's career is one punctuated with phenomenal matches and legendary feuds, but plagued and shortened by injury. Despite being booked much worse than he deserved in TNA, Nigel should be remembered as one of the greatest British, or otherwise, wrestlers to have ever competed. His feud with Bryan Danielson is one of the industry's best and most celebrated, featuring arguably the best in-ring work of both men's careers and in ROH history. Plus, he had a fucking awesome lariat
That's gonna do it from me for this Pro Wrestling Case Study. Once again, big ups to How2Wrestling for being the main inspiration between this series, I really recommend checking them out. If you have any requests of who I should cover next, please let me know, but until next time, enjoy your graps.
Further Viewing
NOTE: Links in bold are matches from the McGuinness/Danielson feud
Nigel McGuinness vs Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) - ROH: Epic Encounter II, 25/08/2006 (YouTube)
Nigel McGuinness vs Kotaro Suzuki - Pro Wrestling NOAH: Summer Navigation 2007 Day 2, 1/7/2007 (Dailymotion)
Nigel McGuinness vs Takeshi Morishima - ROH: Fighting Spirit, 14/4/2007 (Vimeo)
Nigel McGuinness vs PAC (Neville) - King of Europe Cup Quarter Final (Dailymotion)
Nigel McGuinness vs Davey Richards - King of Europe Cup Semi Final (Dailymotion)
Nigel McGuinness vs Doug Williams - King of Europe Cup Finals (YouTube)
Nigel McGuinness vs Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) - ROH: Domination, 09/06/2007 (YouTube)
Nigel McGuinness vs Austin Aries - ROH: Rising Above, 29/12/2007 (Vimeo) - WARNING: McGuinness goes head first from a suicide dive into the guard rail and sustains a concussion, broken nose and cut above eye needing 14 stitches.
Nigel McGuinness vs Go Shiozaki @ Pro Wrestling NOAH: The First Navigation Day 9, 1/20/2008 (YouTube) - Part One - Part Two
Nigel McGuinness - vs Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) - ROH 6th Anniversary, 23/2/2008 (YouTube)
Nigel McGuinness vs KENTA (Hideo Itami) vs BJ Whitmer - Pro Wrestling NOAH Northern Navigation 2008 Day 1, 15/5/2008 (Dailymotion)
Nigel McGuinness vs Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) - ROH: Battle of the Best, 13/9/2008 (YouTube)
Nigel McGuinness vs Eddie Edwards - 2CW 11th Hour, 11/11/2011 (Vimeo)
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