During a recent appearance on the “Talk is Jericho” podcast, Nigel McGuinness explained how WWE’s Michael Cole played a crucial role in shaping him into the commentator he is today.
McGuinness worked as a commentator in WWE throughout his time there before eventually leaving for AEW.
McGuinness said, “I got a call from Michael Cole in WWE, that would’ve been late 2017, late 2016, I don’t exactly remember the year. They wanted me to come in and be a commentator there based on what I’d done in Ring Of Honor. When I went to WWE, and they made it clear from day one, if you have any interest in being a wrestler, then don’t come here. We want you as a commentator as that’s absolutely it. I was perfectly fine with that. For me, that ship had sailed. I was still a little bitter of how things had turned out, bitter at fate as much as anything else. But, super happy to be finally working for the company that I dreamt of working for since I was at Wembley Stadium in 1992. The five or six years I spent in WWE were incredible and fantastic, don’t have a bad word to say about them. I was doing [NXT Level Up] when I finally got let go, which to be honest with you, wasn’t a shocker. I could see it coming a long way away. Six fantastic years learning under Michael Cole and Tom Phillips. If I know 100 things about commentary in pro wrestling, probably 99 of them come from Michael Cole, so I’ll forever be grateful for him. Now, that I’m here in AEW, I don’t know how you feel about it but I feel like I can take everything I learned there and keep the good stuff and the stuff that I don’t necessarily need to keep, I can let that go. I’ve got much more freedom now to really push the boat out. I don’t know whether or not that’s changed a lot given the hierarchy in WWE, but certainly, this is the best gig I’ve ever had.”
In her recent “Mone Mag” newsletter, Mercedes Mone recalled receiving praise from Vince McMahon for her performances in some of her biggest WWE matches.
Mone competed against Bayley for the NXT Women’s Championship in 2015 and went head-to-head with Bianca Belair in the main event of WrestleMania 39 (Night One).
Mone wrote, “At the NXT Brooklyn takeover match against Bayley, Vince came up to me and gave me a huge hug, saying how great our match was. But probably, the most memorable best praise I ever received from Vince was after WrestleMania and my main event with Bianca. He gave me the biggest hug, and I honestly think he was teary-eyed. He was so happy with our performance and said that we deserved the main event. It felt incredible inside to hear those words.”
Mone left WWE in 2022 and signed with AEW earlier this year.
