Retirement Age: 35 William Regal once called Nigel McGuinness the best wrestler in the world, and the former Ring of Honor World Champion was ready to prove that to everyone in 2009. Along with perennial rival Daniel Bryan, McGuinness was signed to a WWE contract in the summer of that year, and the sky looked to be the limit for the English grappler. One month later, fans were treated to the shocking news that McGuinness's contract had fallen through after a failed medical test (he later revealed that he had been working on a torn biceps muscle which WWE wanted to him get surgically fixed on his own dime), and he had been snatched up by TNA. Renamed Desmond Wolfe, McGuinness was immediately placed into a feud with Kurt Angle, giving the Brit an explosive debut. Angle got the better of the program, and McGuinness's stock plummeted in 2010. He and Magnus made a run at the tag team titles, but McGuinness was quickly pulled from the roster for "personal issues." Those issues, it turned out, consisted of a Hepatitis B diagnosis that ended McGuinness's career. He would leave TNA in 2011 and, after wrestling a few more independent matches that year, call it quits. He has since returned to Ring of Honor as an on-screen commissioner and has become an outspoken opponent of blading in wrestling.
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013