Nigel McGuinness Had Some Simple Reasons for Retiring

The world of WWE is a brutal one, and many of the wrestlers have discussed how difficult it is to maintain a career in the space. Nigel McGuinness , whose real name is Steven Haworth, spent many years trying to make it into the well-known professional wrestling company, though was never officially signed with them before his retirement. But why did Steven retire?

Why did Nigel McGuinness retire?

In an interview with AEW Unrestricted , Nigel explained his retirement from wrestling, noting that his main reason for walking away from it was that he wasn't being signed anymore. Though he'd been wrestling professionally for more than a decade, his retirement announcement in 2011 was due to some pretty simple factors.

"No one would hire me as a wrestler, to be perfectly honest with you," he said, per Wrestling Inc . "I had a good run in Ring of Honor. I was a world champion there for a long time. Had a lot of great matches. I got the clam Bryan Danielson over as best I could... So I was pretty banged up by the end of my Ring of Honor run. I knew I had to go somewhere else."

In 2009, he was really hoping to be signed on as a wrestler by WWE, though they ultimately denied him because of a series of medical complications he had. Steven's biceps were partially torn, and he'd had multiple MRIs to be transparent about his physical health with the medical examiners for the wrestling outlet. Ultimately, though, they wouldn't clear him.

"I sent in the MRIs and he said, 'Can't clear you.' I had one of the best surgeons in the Tampa Bay area who looked at the MRIs before and said, 'You're good to go, you don't need surgery.' So it was their doctor versus my doctor, and because of that, I lost the opportunity to work for them," Steven said.

This was ultimately the reason he never signed on as a wrestler with WWE, though he would continue his career for a couple more short years, despite the injuries. He was then signed with TNA under the stage name Desmond Wolfe before officially retiring in 2011.

Steven then became a commentator for WWE (and made one more return to wrestling).

Though his career as a wrestler ultimately came to an end, Steven then signed as the color commentator beside Kevin Kelly for Ring of Honor, doing so under the Nigel McGuiness moniker. Five years later, he would then sign on as a commentator for WWE. Though he never got the chance to wrestle with WWE, he contributed commentary for matches for six years, officially retiring from his role with them in 2022.

Steven is now officially at Ring of Honor's sister company, All Elite Wrestling, providing commentary once again. He very briefly returned to the ring in August 2024 for the Casino Gauntlet match, though he did not take home a win.