Kane, Mankind, and Rey Mysterio are the three best-known and most decorated masked wrestlers in WWE history. All three had storied careers in the company and went into the Hall of Fame. The masked gimmick has always been one that allowed some flexibility.
If the wrestler had no distinguishing tattoos or a familiar body type, someone else could be slotted under the hood if the original superstar can’t make a show or can’t make the cut in the gimmick.
AEW Announcer Nigel McGuinness Discusses Having to Wrestle as Kane in the UK While Nursing a Bad Back as “Lowest Point” of His Career
This brings us to AEW’s most recent commentary signing of note: Nigel McGuinness. The former ROH World Champion chatted with Metro.co.uk during an important push to fill Wembley Stadium in time for AEW Full Gear in August. He mentioned wrestling as Kane for a wrestling show at Butlin’s, a chain of holiday camps.
McGuinness said that he given the Kane mask and hear and tasked with wrestling as the Hall of Famer for “15, 20 minutes.” The retired industry veteran mentioned that he he a bad back at the time and described the experience as “just absolutely the lowest point” of his career at that point.
With that said, he actually enjoyed doing the Butin’s camps since he’s more of a fan of the comedy matches as it allowed for room to be creative without having to be a serious competitor.
In discussing one Butin’s appearance where he had to dress as Tom Cruise from Risky Business and do the iconic slide and dance from the film McGuinness said:
“It was like a nightmare except it was real! I probably shouldn’t talk about that because it’ll show up on YouTube somewhere and destroy what little credibility I have left.”
Nigel Guinness is more recently known for his announcing in WWE, ROH, and now AEW but before injuries took him out of the game, he had a reputation as an extremely proficient technical wrestler. His ability would see him win the ROH Pure title and feud with Bryan Danielson over the ROH World Championship in several well-received bouts.
The wily veteran also spent time in TNA as part of World Elite before hanging up the boots in 2011.
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