AEW's Nigel McGuinness Recently Returned To The Ring

With plentiful wrestling fans hopeful of maybe, possibly, somehow seeing Nigel McGuinness lace up the boots one more time to face Bryan Danielson at AEW All In later this year, McGuinness has continued to stir that pot by revealing he was back in a wrestling ring just last week.

Speaking during a recent appearance on Wrestling Weekly, the former ROH World Champion stated:

"When I was in WWE, seeing so many of my peers coming up and having that level of success, and that level of fame and fortune was very difficult for me, certainly, to sort of accept. Especially when I could still wrestle today. I got in the ring last week and just felt perfectly okay. Sometimes, people say it’s a lot easier if you choose yourself to quit and I don’t think that it’s the case."

However, McGuinness did add that, with his history of concussions, there are certain things he sees in matches and says he "couldn't do that anymore".

It's worth noting, the Londoner's retirement didn't come about due to those concussions or any injury issues. Instead, McGuinness hung up his boots in 2011 after it became clear WWE wouldn't sign him, he didn't want to return to TNA - where he'd performed under the Desmond Wolfe mantle - and he was no longer able to work the physical style that brought him such success in Ring of Honor and beyond. For those unaware, Nigel had a contract "in principle" with WWE in 2009, but that fell through due to an old bicep injury requiring surgery. After that, his time with TNA saw McGuinness test positive for Hepatitis B, meaning signing with WWE simply wasn't an option.

As alluded to, many are hopeful that we'll get one final match between Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson when All In rolls around this August. While newer fans may only be aware of McGuinness regularly, brilliantly poking fun at Bryan at any given opportunity during AEW commentary, these two had some absolute wars back in the day for ROH, including several matches for the ROH World Title, and Danielson even defeating Nigel in 2006 to unify McGuinness' ROH Pure Title with Bryan's ROH World Title.

Ahead of last year's All In, Nigel McGuinness actually had new gear made for one more match against Bryan Danielson. Unfortunately, that bout didn't happen due to injuries to Danielson, and McGuinness decided against lacing up his boots to wrestle anybody else at that Wembley Stadium show.