Nigel McGuinness had his TNA push ended and was taken off TV after discovering he was suffering with Hepatitis B.
When wrestling as ‘Desmond Wolf’ in TNA, he was given a big push. Matches against Kurt Angle wowed fans, and he was primed for a tag team title match alongside Nick Aldis.
However, he was pulled from TV in September 2010. Little explanation was given, although McGuinness later explained that he contracted Hepatitis B during this time.
He was taken off TV, and forced to work in a deli to help make ends meet. TNA promised him work in a non-wrestling role, but that never materialised.
This illness persisted for nearly a year. He wasn’t clear to wrestle until June 2011, by which time TNA fired Nigel McGuinness.
Nigel McGuinness Doesn’t Even Know Where He Got Hepatitis B
Nigel McGuinness doesn’t know where he caught Hepatitis B, making his illness even more tragic.
The disease is spread through bodily fluids. This usually comes from sexual contact or sharing drug paraphernalia, but none of these were the reasons McGuinness caught Hepatitis B.
In fact, he has no idea where he got it. Nigel McGuinness confirmed in the documentary “The Last Of McGuinness” that he didn’t have unprotected sex or share needles, the most common cause of Hepatitis B.
“I’ll never know for sure how I got the virus. What I do know is how I didn’t get it: I never shared needles and never had unprotected sex.”
He also didn’t know if he got it from another wrestler in the ring or not. However, he did note that he could have spread it to them, which is why Nigel McGuinness wants intentional bleeding to be expunged from professional wrestling.
“I may not have gotten Hepatitis B from other wrestlers bleeding around me, but by them doing so, they certainly could have gotten it from me. We were just lucky I got tested when I did.”
Sadly, that was the straw that broke the camels back for Nigel McGuinness. A bicep injury already cost him his dream of wrestling in the WWE, and now a shock illness cost him his TNA career.
He didn’t even return to wrestling for ROH, where he had been their top champion for nearly two years. The reasons for that are unknown. McGuinness wrestled on indie shows, leading up to his final retirement match in 2011.
While he had fully recovered from Hepatitis B, and was fully immune to the virus, it had derailed his wrestling career completely. While the failure to make it in the WWE is why Nigel McGuinness retired, if he hadn’t had his TNA run ended prematurely, who knows what would have happened?
