Former WWE personality reveals why he is not facing Bryan Danielson for the AEW World Title

A former WWE personality has spoken up about why he is not facing Bryan Danielson this month for the AEW World Championship. The individual in question is Nigel McGuinness.

The American Dragon's rivalry with Nigel McGuinness is widely agreed to be one of Ring of Honor's most iconic feuds of all time. The likelihood of Danielson going toe-to-toe with the former WWE announcer appeared to be a matter of time after McGuinness made his return to the ring in the Casino Gauntlet Match at All In 2024. At the same pay-per-view, Bryan became AEW World Champion, a title he defended against Jack Perry at All Out 2024. However, after the match, The American Dragon would be viciously attacked by Claudio Castagnoli and Jon Moxley, who, in storyline, disrupted a scheduled match between Allin and Danielson.

This seemingly presented an opportunity for Nigel McGuinness, who supposedly convinced Tony Khan to sanction a singles match between him and Bryan Danielson at Dynamite Grand Slam. Given that the latter was no longer set for a title match at the event, it provided McGuinness the perfect opportunity to return to singles action, given the AEW World Champion is cleared for competition.

During a recent interview with TVInsider, McGuinness opened up on his motivations for facing Danielson at the Arthur Ashe Stadium next week, claiming that he is not driven to dethrone Bryan for the World Championship but to prove that he had been his equal in the squared circle back in the day.

"I’m not looking for any kind of resolution other than when people call Bryan the best wrestler in the world and lord him and all those awards he has as the best technical wrestler. I think he paid for those, I’m not sure. I want to show I was as good as him and if I can beat him at Arthur Ashe, I can prove that. It’s not about the AEW title. It is prestigious but I’m not coming back to win the title, but coming back to show I was as good as Bryan Danielson. That if fortune had given me the right hand, I would have had the same success," said McGuinness. [H/T TVInsider]

AEW's Nigel McGuinness on whether his in-ring return could be full-time

During the same interview, Nigel McGuinness was asked whether his in-ring comeback was exclusively for a rematch against Bryan Danielson or if it was going to be a full-time run.

The 48-year-old commentator refused to rule out the idea, although he opted to remain tentative, calling it a definite "wait-and-see". He also expressed confidence about returning to singles competition.

"It’s definitely a wait-and-see. I’m not going to rule it out. I think for the longest time there has been the saying of never say never and never really meaning it. I think we’ll see how the match goes. If Bryan is able to compete as he is legitimately pretty banged up. Hopefully, it comes to fruition when he honors the booking. I think we’ll see how things play out after that."

It remains to be seen whether Bryan Danielson will show up at Grand Slam 2024 to answer McGuinness' challenge.