Nigel McGuinness opens up about his WWE release.
The English wrestling legend discussed this topic during a recent interview on the Two Man Power Trip of Wrestling podcast, where he explained how he understood WWE’s reasoning for getting rid of him as its NXT UK brand got put on hiatus, one that he was synonymous with as a commentator.
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.
McGuinness later discussed the idea of returning to the ring, something he has not done since 2011. He does cite certain success stories like Edge, Lita, and Trish Stratus, adding that because they were able to do it he will never completely rule out a comeback.
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 will be hosting a magic show on WrestleMania weekend. You can find the full details of that show here.
(H/T and transcribed by Post Wrestling)
