Former WWE star answers huge open challenge; competes in ROH for the first time in 5564 days

A former WWE personality has returned to ROH tonight at Final Battle 2024 to compete in his first match on the promotion in 15 years. Nigel McGuinness has experienced a series of miracles this year.

In August, he competed in his first match since 2011 for All In as part of the Casino Gauntlet match. A month later, the British star finally got the chance to face his bitter rival, Bryan Danielson, at the AEW Grand Slam.

Lee Moriarty's ROH Pure Championship was on the line in an open challenge tonight. To everyone's surprise, Nigel McGuinness answered the challenge. This would be his first match on the promotion after 5564 days. He last competed in September 2009 in a match against Bryan Danielson.

Nigel suggested using the old ROH Pure Title rules for tonight's match. This was similar to the current ones, except no judges would be present for the match. It was a close bout between the two, and two referees had to be present to make sure that there was a sure winner.

Both men exhausted all three rope breaks and slugged it out with the title on the line. Ultimately, the champion would retain, making Nigel tap out with a cross face. His reign of 148 days so far goes on.