Former WWE personality reveals why he retired from in-ring action

All WWE stars will eventually hang up their boots forever, but in the case of some names like former NXT commentator Nigel McGuinness, retirement comes sooner than expected.

According to McGuinness, WWE refused to clear him years ago, despite having his surgeon greenlight him. This eventually led to his run in TNA as Desmond Wolfe, where he even feuded with Kurt Angle.

Unfortunately, a Hepatitis B diagnosis derailed his career again and led to his release. During an appearance on AEW Unrestricted, Nigel McGuinness revealed that he had few options left after this, and decided to retire instead.

"WWE weren't interested, TNA, certainly not going back there. Ring of Honor, thankfully, were very good enough to bring me in. Like I said, I didn't want to go back to wrestling that Ring of Honor style."

McGuinness continued:

"I didn't think I could do it anymore. I felt like there were younger guys who deserved those opportunities, so Delirious and Ring of Honor were good enough to bring me in as a commentator." (H/T: WrestlingINC).

The star also addressed Bryan Danielson's jabs at him during his last media scrum appearance, and unfortunately dismissed notions of returning to the ring at this stage.

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Nigel McGuinness and CM Punk both had a tryout with WWE in 2005

CM Punk's successful WWE career is a known fact by now, and many fans still note his later run as one of their favorites. However, according to McGuinness, he could have easily had the chance The Second City Saint received in 2005.

During the same interview, Nigel McGuinness recalled his conversation with Punk shortly after the two men had their tryouts in the Stamford-based promotion.

"I remember being in a hotel room with CM Punk in 2005," he recalled. "We both had a tryout at the time with [WWE]. He got hired and went on to have the success that he did, and I remember him saying to me, 'You'll get to a stage where it's just time to go.' And 2005 was time to go for him. 2008 was time to go for me. I felt like I did everything I could do there, so I had the opportunity to go to New York."(H/T: WrestlingINC).

Unfortunately, McGuinness' time never came, but it doesn't seem like that bothers the former ROH World Champion. Currently, he's enjoying commentary on AEW Collision, where he gets to call CM Punk's matches.