WWE News: Nigel McGuinness no longer Ring Of Honor booker
Ring of Honor (ROH) announced the resignation of matchmaker Nigel McGuiness on their website on Sunday. McGuiness, an ROH veteran, took the role of matchmaker in November of 2012, replacing Jim Cornette as the main on-screen authority figure.
McGuinness was released from the position of company matchmaker by ROH due to the departure of ROH veteran, Steve Corino.
A few weeks ago, Corino signed with the pro-wrestling giant, WWE, for the position of a full-time trainer at the company's Performance Centre. According to a report from 411mania.com, the resignation was used to free up McGuinness, so that he could replace Corino as the colour commentator if the latter were to leave at the end of the month.
Furthermore, the report also stated that this move could have been done to make it easier for the company to write McGuinness out if he should have an offer with WWE. However, there is no official word that he does.
According to the kayfabe statement released by ROH, one of the reasons for McGuinness' removal from the matchmaker position was his recent show of leniency towards the Bullet Club.
The statement continued that some believe McGuiness was under "extreme stress" from Bullet Club member and ROH World Champion Adam Cole's decision to change the stipulation of the ROH title match, against Kyle o'Reily, just days in advance of the Final Battle PPV.
The statement concluded with the announcement of the development of a new executive committee to oversee the matchmaking in ROH, before wishing McGuinness best of luck in his future endeavours. Now with McGuinness out of the picture, there is no word as of yet, regarding the new matchmaker committee.
After graduating from Heartland Wrestling Association, McGuinness whose real name Steven Haworth, made his debut in ROH in 2003. He worked in the company till 2009 before leaving to work for TNA. McGuinness wrestled as Desmond Wolfe and feuded with top stars like Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam, and Sting to name a few.
Nigel McGuinness is undoubtedly Daniel Bryan’s greatest opponent till date in ROH.
McGuinness returned to ROH in 2011 where he wrestled for a year and then retired in 2012, accepting the role of matchmaker. The video below shows ROH Matchmaker Nigel McGuinness addressing the crowd at the War of the Worlds PPV:
The video below shows Nigel McGuinness make his ROH debut against Chet Jablonski:
Here is a match between Nigel and one of his greatest adversaries, Daniel Bryan: