Former WWE star answers huge open challenge; competes in ROH for the first time in 5564 days

A former WWE personality has returned to ROH tonight at Final Battle 2024 to compete in his first match on the promotion in 15 years. Nigel McGuinness has experienced a series of miracles this year.

In August, he competed in his first match since 2011 for All In as part of the Casino Gauntlet match. A month later, the British star finally got the chance to face his bitter rival, Bryan Danielson, at the AEW Grand Slam.

Lee Moriarty's ROH Pure Championship was on the line in an open challenge tonight. To everyone's surprise, Nigel McGuinness answered the challenge. This would be his first match on the promotion after 5564 days. He last competed in September 2009 in a match against Bryan Danielson.

Nigel suggested using the old ROH Pure Title rules for tonight's match. This was similar to the current ones, except no judges would be present for the match. It was a close bout between the two, and two referees had to be present to make sure that there was a sure winner.

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Both men exhausted all three rope breaks and slugged it out with the title on the line. Ultimately, the champion would retain, making Nigel tap out with a cross face. His reign of 148 days so far goes on.

About the author

Enzo is a Pro Wrestling journalist at Sportskeeda, reporting on AEW. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Multimedia Studies, which influenced his decision of taking up sports writing professionally, and has been an avid fan of the athletic theater since childhood. He believes readers deserve authentic and unique content and aims to report in a manner which pro wrestling fans can easily relate to.

Growing up, Enzo admired former world champions like AJ Styles, Will Ospreay, Bryan Danielson, Triple H, and Randy Orton for their finishing moves. As an adult, he started to appreciate their character work, as they juggled between heel and babyface gimmicks.

If allowed to produce one final storyline involving his idols, he would have Orton lock horns with John Cena, would be their one last big feud as both of them seem to be approaching the tail end of their careers.

Other than pro wrestling, Enzo enjoys keeping up with Basketball, Football, and Formula One. He also loves watching films, playing video games, and listening to music.

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Edited by Angana Roy