Kurt Angle has claimed that Nigel McGuinness could have been a WWE Champion if his illness and injuries had not curtailed his career.
Angle is a WWE and TNA Hall of Famer, starring for both companies in one of the most legendary careers of all time. During these runs, he faced off with some of the best wrestlers of all time. However, it was against Nigel McGuinness that Kurt Angle had some of his best matches.
The pair had three matches in TNA. Each one showed that McGuinness could hang with the best wrestler in the world. These should have been used to move Desmond Wolfe (as McGuinness was known in TNA) into the main event scene.
However, poor booking curtailed his potential success. He retired in 2011 due to a variety of reasons. It put an end to a promising career that should have been so much more.
Kurt Angle, has heaped praise onto the former ROH Champion, claiming he was “incredible”. In a Q&A Session on The Kurt Angle Show podcast, Kurt Angle noted that the trio of matches he had with Nigel McGuinness (then known as “Desmond Wolfe”) were “unbelievable”. He often considers to be some of the finest in TNA history, and the best in his own career.
Angle also claims that, had he not caught Hepatitis, Nigel McGuinness would have gone on to become WWE Champion.
“Nigel was incredible. We had an awesome match (…) our three matches were unbelievable. It was one of my favourite programmes that I worked in TNA, or even WWE. I wish my match with him would’ve been on the biggest stage at WrestleMania. That’s how Nigel McGuinness was. I have a lot of respect for the kid and I think that his future, if he didn’t have that disease, he would’ve went on to become WWE Champion. “He had all the tools – he could talk, cut promos, he had a great character, his in-ring skills were phenomenal, I absolutely loved the kid.”
Of course, it wasn’t the hepatitis that cost Nigel McGuinness his WWE contract. He was originally signed to a deal in 2009, but an old injury meant that he lost out on becoming a WWE superstar.
