Nigel McGuinness was recently a guest on v2 Wrestling Podcast & he spoke about why he retired from wrestling and more. Here are the highlights:
On the TNA Top Ten fan vote that would have given him a TNA World Championship shot: “If the fans want to get behind someone, then I think you should go in that direction. When you poll all your fans, and they overwhelmingly get behind one person, for you to ignore that is kind of a slap in the face to those fans, and just really speaks volumes for how legitimately they cared about what the fans thought at that point. When I saw that I’d won the poll, I was a little bit worried, because I knew instantly what would happen, which is exactly what did happen. And I talked to a couple of people in the company, and they were like ‘No, that’s crazy, don’t worry about that, you’ve just won, that’s ridiculous,’ and it wasn’t, and it’s what happened.”
On why he retired despite now being cured of Hepatitis C: “I made the decision that I wasn’t going to wrestle any more unless I was doing something that I hadn’t done before, which really only leaves WWE. I put out feelers (to WWE), and from everything I could surmise, there wasn’t interest. So at that point there was really no option for me other than to retire.”
On the resurgence of Matt Hardy: “You hear from a lot of those guys that had a great run on top and every time you meet them they’re ‘I’m straight now, I’m ok now, I’m getting my life in order,’ and then two weeks later you hear they drop off the edge of the earth again, but with Matt he seems to really have it all together; when he came into Ring of Honor, people were kind of cautious to see how he’d handle it, and everything, but he’s been nothing but great. He’s done his job well, and he’s really trying to reinvent himself to a new generation of wrestling fans, and I wholeheartedly applaud him for doing so.”
On blading: “I think in this day and age, knowing how dangerous it is, I think it’s unconscionable for people to still continue to intentionally bleed, certainly if they’re not going to get tested and vaccinated.”
On the rise of Daniel Bryan in WWE: “The bottom line is, once they’re over, they’ll (WWE) get behind it, and if you’re good then you can go with that. That’s the difference. You’ll get guys who’ll get over for a short time, the company will get behind them, they’ll get a bit of a push, but there’s no legs because they haven’t developed that sort of style. Whereas with guys like Punk and Dragon (Bryan), they’ve taken a decade of their lives to fine-tune the art form. They know who they are, they know exactly how they wrestle, and that’s why, when they bring those guys in, they’re ready to go.”
On Magnus: “I’m really happy for him. He’s earned everything he’s got there. I think one of the biggest disappointments of my career is not being able to pursue that tag team (London Brawling). I always liked him, I think he’s got that larger than life personality that when he walks into a room he’s the center of attention, and I think that’s the sort of person you need to really draw money, and I’m hoping that TNA can do that with him.”
On the TNA Top Ten fan vote that would have given him a TNA World Championship shot: “If the fans want to get behind someone, then I think you should go in that direction. When you poll all your fans, and they overwhelmingly get behind one person, for you to ignore that is kind of a slap in the face to those fans, and just really speaks volumes for how legitimately they cared about what the fans thought at that point. When I saw that I’d won the poll, I was a little bit worried, because I knew instantly what would happen, which is exactly what did happen. And I talked to a couple of people in the company, and they were like ‘No, that’s crazy, don’t worry about that, you’ve just won, that’s ridiculous,’ and it wasn’t, and it’s what happened.”
On why he retired despite now being cured of Hepatitis C: “I made the decision that I wasn’t going to wrestle any more unless I was doing something that I hadn’t done before, which really only leaves WWE. I put out feelers (to WWE), and from everything I could surmise, there wasn’t interest. So at that point there was really no option for me other than to retire.”
On the resurgence of Matt Hardy: “You hear from a lot of those guys that had a great run on top and every time you meet them they’re ‘I’m straight now, I’m ok now, I’m getting my life in order,’ and then two weeks later you hear they drop off the edge of the earth again, but with Matt he seems to really have it all together; when he came into Ring of Honor, people were kind of cautious to see how he’d handle it, and everything, but he’s been nothing but great. He’s done his job well, and he’s really trying to reinvent himself to a new generation of wrestling fans, and I wholeheartedly applaud him for doing so.”
On blading: “I think in this day and age, knowing how dangerous it is, I think it’s unconscionable for people to still continue to intentionally bleed, certainly if they’re not going to get tested and vaccinated.”
On the rise of Daniel Bryan in WWE: “The bottom line is, once they’re over, they’ll (WWE) get behind it, and if you’re good then you can go with that. That’s the difference. You’ll get guys who’ll get over for a short time, the company will get behind them, they’ll get a bit of a push, but there’s no legs because they haven’t developed that sort of style. Whereas with guys like Punk and Dragon (Bryan), they’ve taken a decade of their lives to fine-tune the art form. They know who they are, they know exactly how they wrestle, and that’s why, when they bring those guys in, they’re ready to go.”
On Magnus: “I’m really happy for him. He’s earned everything he’s got there. I think one of the biggest disappointments of my career is not being able to pursue that tag team (London Brawling). I always liked him, I think he’s got that larger than life personality that when he walks into a room he’s the center of attention, and I think that’s the sort of person you need to really draw money, and I’m hoping that TNA can do that with him.”
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