Deadspin published an absolutely honest and insightful story profiling the life and career of indy wrestling favorite Nigel McGuinness. The article, entitled “How One Man’s Hard-Luck Journey Through The Indie Wrestling Circuit Ended Behind A Deli Counter”, is a must-read piece that includes very candid comments from McGuinness himself and also promotes Nigel’s almost-finished Kickstarter-funded documentary The Last of McGuinness. Writes Deadspin’s Thomas Golianopoulos:
“The first draft of The Last of McGuinness, which is on sale on his website and at Ring of Honor events, is a compelling story, emotional and true. What was planned as a tour documentary turned into a vehicle for McGuinness to make peace with his halted career. It took him a while, which is understandable. At a time when ROH peers like CM Punk and Danielson wrestled in main events of WWE pay-per-views and Austin Aries dominated TNA, McGuinness was scrapping by, wondering how he’d support himself.
The Last of McGuinness isn’t strictly for wrestling fans. Anyone who spent their life working towards an impractical goal—like being a famous singer, actor, writer or athlete—and then woke up one morning in their 30’s realizing it just wasn’t going to happen can relate to the film. There are many stories about people who overcame adversity and achieved their dreams. Most people don’t achieve their dreams. And sometimes that can be okay if the experience was worth the journey.
“As far as achieving my dream, I don’t think I did,” McGuinness says. “My dream was to be a WWE wrestler, to be like the Ultimate Warrior, to travel around the world and for everybody to know who I was and to make hundreds of thousands of dollars and then retire and get married and have kids. I certainly didn’t achieve that and I’m okay with that.””
CB’s Slant: This is one of the more compelling reads you’ll find on the Internet these days, about one of the world’s best wrestlers who sacrificed everything but ultimately received somewhat limited returns.
