Nigel McGuinness and TNA, is it the right thing?

Besides Shane O'Mac leaving the WWE, the biggest story this week to catch my eye has been Nigel McGuinness getting refused a WWE contract after failing a medical and then instantly appearing on TNA Impact, jumping straight into the main event and feuding with Kurt Angle.

Let's get rid of the elephant in the room first and put to rest why Nigel was refused a WWE contract. At first glance it would seem that he failed a wellness test due to drugs, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Nigel has such a long history of injuries and more-or-less being made of glass that the WWE simply couldn't risk signing him, then suddenly loosing him to an injury. They don't want to take that risk and did the smart thing and didn't offer him a contract. Personally I think this should be a wake-up call to Nigel. The man is a very gifted wrestler, but he has to do two things; tone down his style so it's less damaging on his body and get some proper surgery on his arms. With the amount of lariats Nigel throws in a match it is no surprise that his arms are in bits, and he has never given them proper time to heal.

At least, this should have acted as a wake-up call, had TNA not offered him a contract instantly and have him debut on TV that very week. It paints an interesting picture of TNA it has to be said. The WWE won't hire a man because he isn't medically cleared and is prone to doing damage to his body, yet TNA will sign him regardless. Now, I know the TNA schedule is alot lighter than the WWE one, and TV tapings have nice breaks between them, but this shouldn't be an excuse. Nigel and TNA should have come to an agreement whereby they sign Nigel, however they let him rest up and get the surgery he needs. During this time they can use him on TV doing interviews and small segments to get him familiar with the TNA audience.

But, this hasn't happened, and Nigel is already facing Kurt Angle in his second appearance on TNA, after beating the holy hell out of him during this weeks impact. Don't get me wrong, the thought of seeing Nigel vs. Angle has my mouth watering even more than when Samoa Joe and Kurt met. These are two of the best wrestlers in the world today and it would be hard for this match to disappoint. I will be watching Nigel, or Desmond Wolfe as he is now called (Withnail and I reference FTW!!!) in TNA with an optimistic view, but in a post-Benoit world, I cannot help but wonder if TNA did the right thing by throwing Nigel into the deep end instantly.