Nigel McGuinness Discusses Daniel Bryan's Success, Almost Signing With WWE, ROH Vs. TNA

Joshua Modaberi recently interviewed Nigel McGuinness for Collar & Elbow and discussed his new documentary, wrestling the likes of Daniel Bryan and Kurt Angle, retirement and more. Here are some highlights from the interview:

His inspirations when he was younger: "Guys like The Ultimate Warrior, Bret Hart [and] Shawn Michaels were big influences on me and I enjoyed watching all of those guys on television. In terms of British influences I enjoyed Robbie Brookside ? he was very inspirational for me in terms of you didn't have to be a jacked up monster but you could be a very intelligent human-being and still become a professional wrestler."

Daniel Bryan's success in WWE: "I'm very proud of him, I've always said he is one of the top wrestlers in the world and he really made me who I was as a wrestler. He really put me on the landscape of independent professional wrestling and I'm very blessed to have been able to wrestle him and I really valued all [of] the advice he gave me."

Appearing on WWE Sunday Night Heat and if there was ever a possibility of him signing full-time: "Yeah they were interested for sure but it just kind of fizzled out which often happens. At the same time I had my first tour of Japan coming up so I spoke to WWE and let them know the situation and they said to contact them when I got back but nothing happened after that."

Signing with TNA and immediately feuding with Kurt Angle: "I think being involved in a story-line with Kurt straight away I was just in the right place at the right time; I think it was originally supposed to be an angle with Kurt and Booker T but he had gone back to the WWE.

"I think Kurt had heard a little bit about me and he was very open to ideas, he really helped me out a great deal and once again he really helped make my career what it was."

How far ROH is behind TNA: "I don't even know if it's a competition, I think TNA to a certain extent are trying to compete with the WWE, they certainly were a few years ago when they went head-to-head on Monday night and you can tell by the product they are trying to be more sports entertainment.

"Whilst in ROH we're not, we want to do professional wrestling, not old school professional wrestling but more cutting edge professional wrestling. We don't insult people's intelligence and we have a strong product both in the ring and out of the ring. We're just really comparing ourselves to where we were a year ago and where we want to be in a year's time."

McGuinness also discussed his new documentary, the current British stars in WWE and TNA, who he would have liked to have faced in TNA and more. You can read the full interview at this link.

Source: Collar And Elbow