Indy Wrestling Express

Ring Of Honor legend and former TNA wrestler Nigel McGuinness recently sat down with Jerome Cusson and Christ GST over at PWPonderings for a podcast interview. Here are some excerpts (quoted from the press release): 

“On What Inspired Nigel to start the Last of McGuinness project

Colt Cabana really in few words. He’d done his Wrestling Road Diaries DVD and had quite a lot of success with it…and so I talked to him about it and … I didn’t know what I was going to be left with. I didn’t have any money left to invest to pay people to follow me while I went along so I was kind of limited and I didn’t know if it would be a waste of time. So we talked about it and he said the least you can do is do it and with the way he approached the Wrestling Road Diaries where he jus tpaid someone to follow him around and video tape it and he figured if he didn’t have anything at the end at least he had a story about the weekend/week of his life as a professional wrestling for the rest of his life…

On what the goals were for the actual farewell tour

It was to get out to as many places as I could so that those who wanted to see me wrestle one last time could and would have a chance to do that and I was touched by so many of those who did. When you haven’t wrestled for WWE and you don’t have hundreds of thousands of people following you on twitter sometimes you get a sense that you don’t really exist, that no one knows who you are compared to those guys. I didn’t know what to expect and there were some that drove six or seven hours to West Virginia to see me so it was emotional.

On if there was a problem with some of the talent and/or their employers to get them to be allowed to be a part of the project.

At the time I presented it to them as Im filming this stuff, will it become a documentary I don’t know, it’s not like this is definitely going to happen but I value your opinion on wrestling and so if you wouldn’t mind I’d like to film this and they all trusted and trust in me and that I wouldn’t in any way put out anything that would hurt them and they didn’t say anything that could hurt them either. For the most part everyone was talking about in general terms about this wonderful crazy industry that they spent their life pursuing just the same as me.

Other topics included the ROH compilation that will becoming out shortly and what matches we can expect to see. On if other memorable feuds such as the one he had with the current World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan feuds will be shown on the documentary. Lots of candid feelings from Nigel including on if any of the current crop of ROH talent could bring him out for one last match. Check it all out via this link: http://bit.ly/wtmbeF “

- Lee

Nigel McGuinness managed to raise the required $32,000 for his documentary in just three days! He posted a thank you message on Youtube. 

You can still donate money to the project at the following link. The more money he gets, the better it will be, but now he has reached his goal it will certainly be going ahead:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/307482471/the-last-of-mcguinness

Thoughts: Fantastic news. This should be a hell of a documentary. Stuff like this shows how powerful the internet can be, and how awesome Nigel’s fans are. 

- Lee

Former ROH and TNA wrestler Nigel McGuinness (“Desmond Wolfe” in TNA) shot over 60 hours of footage on his retirement tour near the end of 2011, and now he wants to turn it into a documentary. He doesn’t have the money to do it alone though, he needs you help! Check out this video for details, and for preview of the documentary: 

Nigel needs $32,000, of which $13,141 has been reached so far. You can pledge money and read more details on the project here: 

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/307482471/the-last-of-mcguinness

Thoughts: That will be a great documentary, I hope Nigel raises enough money to complete it.

- Lee

Former Ring Of Honor champion Nigel McGuinness has added another two shows to what appears to be his retirement tour. He will be in action at the 2CW show in New York on November the eleventh, and at the HWA show in Ohio on November the twelfth. As I mentioned yesterday, he will also be wrestling at the PCW show in Preston, England on December the third.

Thanks to Tumblr users Godslastgift and Ctiben for the info on the HWA show, and to prowrestling.net for the 2CW show. 

Former Ring Of Honor/TNA wrestler Nigel McGuinness will return to the ring for at least one more match. He is booked to wrestle at the Preston City Wrestling show in Preston, England, on December the third. McGuinness hasn’t had a match since late August (or possibly very early September) 2010, due to an undisclosed medical condition. He is currently a commentator on the Ring Of Honor TV show. 

Visit http://www.facebook.com/prestoncitywrestling for more details. 

Thoughts: Nigel was a hell of a wrestler, it’s such a shame that he has been sidelined. No idea whether this will be his final match or not. Apparently he has been telling his Twitter followers that he will have a few more matches before he retires, but I can’t find his official Twitter page. 

Edit: His official Twitter page is @McGuinnessNigel

Thanks to Tumblr users Respecthisring and Thedudebustersexpress for informing me. 

- Lee

As you may know, WWE SummerSlam will take place tonight. I am led to believe that the man formerly known as Bryan Danielson will be in a match against Wade Barrett. I thought this would be a fitting time to look back at Danielson’s summer five years ago, which involved a different Englishman. 

In the summer of 2006, ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson was feuding with the ROH Pure Champion, Nigel McGuinness (known as Desmond Wolfe by TNA fans). The Pure title had gained a lot of prestige since its inception in 2004, almost making the true top title in ROH disputed. The two champions met in a winner takes all match in April, but the winner did not take all, as McGuinness was victorious only by count out (so he retained his title, but was not awarded the world championship).

So on August the 12th, almost five years ago to the day, they met again, on McGuinness’ home soil in England. This brutal, bloody battle turned out to be a classic, which ultimately saw Danielson KO McGuinness, leading him to lift both Ring Of Honor titles. 

Prowrestling.net is reporting that Desmond Wolfe, known as Nigel McGuinness in his indy days, is finished with TNA. He was removed from the roster page on the TNA website, but there hasn’t been a formal announcement of his departure yet.

Thoughts: Will Wolfe ever return to the ring? Perhaps he will announce the medical condition that has kept out of action now he is a free agent. I hope he recovers from whatever he is suffering, and I hope returns to wrestling. He’s an incredible performer.