TH Books Nigel McGuinness' WWE Debut

Nigel McGuinness comes into the WWE at a decided disadvantage compared to Bryan Danielson. He’s most likely going to FCW for some fine-tuning, while it’s rumored that Danielson will be able to skip right to the bigs. He also isn’t as politically connected as Danielson. Finally, he doesn’t have the ready-made entry program with a guy like Jericho (or even with DX should they go that route). It was a little tougher to think of an interesting entry angle for Nigel, but I got some help in the unlikely form of a sarcastic catcall from my friend Tom Kingsmill at the 9/10 ROH tapings, where he yelled at Nigel “Have fun tagging with Paul Burchill!” It was funny at the time, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was a good idea. So, without further ado:

After the jump...It’s the week after Survivor Series… 2010 though, not 2009. The draft has shaken things up and sent Paul Burchill and his sister Katie Lea to Smackdown, where he’s been struggling a bit. His scheduled match for the evening is against fellow ECW transplant Gregory “Hurricane” Helms. After the show intro, Helms is being interviewed by Josh Matthews, but before he can finish, he’s waylaid by a guy in a mask. He’s visibly injured, but he comes out to wrestle anyway. Burchill finishes him in quick order. Afterwards, Helms grabs a mic and accuses Burchill of attacking him before the match under the mask as a way to get easy wins after his current rough streak.

The very next Smackdown, Burchill is interviewed and asked about the attack on Hurricane. He says that he didn’t do it, and that it’s probably someone giving Hurricane a taste of his own medicine, sneaking up and attacking him. He’s then asked about his match against Shad Gaspard of Cryme Tyme, and Burchill says he has his own way of taking care of the bigger guy from the team. After the very next commercial break, it’s a cut to the backstage area where Gaspard is lying on the ground, clutching his knee. JTG and the rest of the retinue of refs and security are surrounding him, JTG saying that some dude in a mask kneecapped his partner just a second ago. Gaspard isn’t as injured as Helms was, and is able to make it to the ring, where he’s wrestling Burchill competitively until Burchill kicks his knee out from under him. He works the leg and gets him to tap with a single crab.

The next week on Smackdown, Cryme Tyme open the show and demand that Burchill come out and pay the piper for what he’s been doing. Burchill comes out and says that he hasn’t been doing anything and that his sister can vouch for him. Burchill conveniently has the night off, but Cryme Tyme is set to wrestle against Legacy 2.0 (Cody Rhodes and Joe Hennig). Cryme Tyme wins the match, but afterwards, the masked figure hops out of the crowd, ready to pounce. Cryme Tyme gets wind of this and grab him. They play to the crowd and then unmask him expecting Burchill, but they get Nigel McGuinness. The crowd doesn’t know who he is, the announcers don’t know who he is, but the shock isn’t that it’s Nigel, it’s that it’s not Burchill. Cryme Tyme is taken aback, looking at each other and going “What’s up with this?” It’s just the break Nigel needs to waylay JTG with the Jawbreaker Lariat. Shad then attacks Nigel and they brawl around the ring until Burchill rushes down and jumps in, making it a two-on-one against Shad.

The next week, Burchill introduces the world formally to Nigel McGuinness and explains that the two have a history going back to before the WWE. He learned the trick from his days in ECW battling the Hurricane, which made sense to have Helms be the first victim of it. Nigel gets on the mic then and says that he was looking for a way to really make a mark, so why not come in and team with the only other person who had the raw potential and the lack of morals to do everything and anything it took to make it to the top. He says that while he could have come in and made his way to the top by himself, with Burchill, both men would be unstoppable. It’s all because they’re scoundrels, they’re ruthless… they’re Blackguards. Talented and without a conscience.

Naturally, their first feud is with Cryme Tyme, with the Blackguards getting the upper hand in the first few weeks with their underhanded tricks. Of course, CT, being thugs themselves, fight fire with fire. This culminates in a #1 Contenders match to the Tag Team Championships at No Way Out, which the Blackguards win. They’ll go onto WrestleMania to win the titles from the hot fan favorite team of Rey Mysterio and Evan Bourne.

Whys
Why does this seem like more a fantasy book for Paul Burchill?
Yeah, it seems that way because Nigel’s under the mask and unknown his first few weeks in the company. I really didn’t have a lot to flesh out after they revealed him. I mean, it’s all just garden variety stuff, they beat Cryme Tyme then win the titles. Like I said before, Danielson would be the easier guy to plan for initially, even if I think Nigel can become bigger quicker.

Yeah, this totally isn’t as extensive as the one for Danielson, but again, I didn’t have as much material for Nigel as I did in mind for Dragon. Of course, I don’t expect either scenario to play out the way I have it here. Not even close. I expect both guys to go to ECW and start from the bottom, like CM Punk did, like Evan Bourne, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, The Miz, and now, Zack Ryder and Sheamus O’Shaugnessy. Still, this isn’t “How I think the WWE is going to introduce these guys”. The title is how I’D introduce them. Sure, I think about this stuff differently than the writers do, but hey, it makes for an interesting read. At least I hope it all did.