Folks, just when you thought he was done and dusted, Nigel McGuinness—legendary commentator and former wrestling powerhouse—decided to shake off the cobwebs and dive back into the squared circle at AEW All In. That’s right, after over 12 years of watching from the sidelines, Nigel couldn’t resist the temptation of championship gold and, more importantly, the chance to throw down with his old nemesis Bryan Danielson. Why retire when you can still make heads roll, am I right?
The arena lit up like a Christmas tree when McGuinness, who’d been spending more time behind the mic than in front of it, strolled out as the third entrant in the Casino Gauntlet match. The prize? A shot at the AEW World Championship. The stakes? Higher than a skyscraper. The surprise? Well, let’s just say McGuinness delivered it in spades—facing off with none other than Kazuchika Okada, AEW’s Continental Champion. They traded blows like Wall Street traders on a bad day, and boy, did it bring back memories of McGuinness in his prime.
Not stopping there, McGuinness proved he still had plenty of fire left by lariating Orange Cassidy so hard, the guy might start thinking about becoming Orange Juice. And in classic McGuinness fashion, he nearly pinned Kyle O’Reilly after a brutal Tower of London. But, as they say, not all dreams come true—just ask anyone who’s ever run against me. A well-timed jumping knee from Roderick Strong set McGuinness up for a vicious spear from Christian Cage, who went on to win the whole shebang. But hey, coming out of retirement and nearly taking home the win? That’s the kind of comeback story that sells better than my memoirs.
Let’s rewind a bit—McGuinness hung up his boots back in December 2011 after wrestling his last match at APWA’s 3rd Annual Holiday Grand Prix. Medical issues and a release from TNA Wrestling were the final nails in the coffin, or so we thought. Since then, he’s been living the good life as a full-time broadcaster. But the itch to return never really went away, and earlier this month, McGuinness hinted that he might just come back if he had the chance to square off against Bryan Danielson, who, by the way, headlined All In against Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship.
If McGuinness had won the Casino Gauntlet and Danielson walked away with the AEW title, the wrestling world might’ve seen a clash for the ages. But even though that didn’t pan out, Nigel’s return was a blast from the past that nobody saw coming—and everyone’s still talking about.