Exclusive: AEW's Nigel McGuinness on finding out about All In at Wembley
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AEW announced earlier this month that they would be heading to the UK for the first time for All In: London at Wembley Stadium.
While fans in the UK were expecting AEW to cross the pond this year, no one bet on Wembley Stadium being their first destination.
Speaking exclusively to Digital Spy, Nigel McGuinness, who was by AEW CEO Tony Khan's side when the huge announcement was made, shared his reaction when he first heard the news.
Related: AEW All In London: Everything you need to know about All Elite Wrestling’s Wembley show
McGuinness revealed that Khan had called him the day before the announcement to ask if he wanted to come to New York for Dynamite. By 4pm of that day he was on Khan's private jet, where the location of All In was first shared with him.
"My jaw dropped," McGuinness said of his reaction to the news. "He told me on the flight. He said: 'I've got a secret and I'm going to swear you to secrecy.' I'm like: 'Who am I gonna tell?'
"I said it when I introduced him [on Dynamite] that night, it was a moment that you never imagined could happen. I've had a few of them in my life, some good, some bad as well."
McGuinness was in attendance for the last major wrestling show at Wembley, WWE's SummerSlam 1992, which inspired him to become a wrestler.
"The idea that 31 years, pretty much to the day, that I first decided I was going to be a professional wrestler, to go back to that same venue, sort of full circle, it's incredible."
Related: AEW's unscripted series All Access gets UK airing
McGuinness went on to say that the choice of Wembley as a venue is extra special to him, given how his in-ring career ended in 2011.
"I released a documentary after I retired and there was a lot of angst in it and a lot of questioning about my career," he explained. "'Did I achieve what I really wanted to? Was I a success or was I a failure?' And oftentimes that sense of failure came from seeing a lot of my peers getting to the very top of the industry, whether it was Bryan Danielson or Kevin Owens, for example.
"So many of those guys have really gone on to such great things, that when you compare yourself to them, sometimes it's difficult," he added. "So, the notion that you could be part of a show at Wembley Stadium, almost feels as though it could sort of fill in those cracks in your soul."
Catch AEW Dynamite live every Thursday at 1am in the UK and Rampage every Saturday at 3am on FITE with an AEW Plus subscription. US customers can also watch Dynamite on TBS and Rampage on TNT, and in the UK, Dynamite repeats air on ITV4.
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