Nigel McGuinness Officially Departs WWE

In what has already been a turbulent week for WWE’s broadcast teams ahead of the season premiere of Raw, SmackDown, and NXT, Nigel McGuinness has departed the company.

Nigel McGuinness is now a free agent.

This comes via PWInsider’s Mike Johnson and was subsequently confirmed by Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp. The 46-year-old was signed to WWE as an announcer ahead of the inaugural United Kingdom Championship Tournament, last featuring as a play-by-play commentator for NXT UK. The brand’s closure left McGuinness’ status up in the air.

A former wrestler, Nigel McGuinness found mass success in Ring Of Honor throughout the 2000s, holding both the World and Pure Championships. The World Championship saw Nigel achieve the second-longest reign in company history, holding it for 545 days; he’s rivaled only by Samoa Joe at 645 days.

Nigel also worked for the then-Total Nonstop Action under the alias of Desmond Wolfe, though outside of an acclaimed feud vs. Kurt Angle, he struggled to find his footing in the now-Anthem-helmed IMPACT Wrestling. He left the company in June 2011, having been working as an announcer for Xplosion alongside Jeremy Borash.

Nigel McGuinness last wrestled in December 2011, being ruled out of wrestling anymore after contracting hepatitis B. He worked as both a commentator and on-screen matchmaker for ROH upon his 2011 return before signing for WWE five years later.