Former TNA star and Ring of Honor champion Nigel McGuiness looks to fans to help fund documentary

Yesterday former Ring of Honor (ROH) Pure and World Champion and current ROH commentator Nigel McGuiness announced his intentions to produce and distribute a documentary focusing on his final days as a professional wrestler.

Going through Kickstarter, McGuinness has offered up emails, signed photos, copies of the DVD, personal pro wrestling lessons and even dinner for those who monetarily help him along in this journey.

He was asking for $32,000 for:

editing the massive amount of footage, getting rights to other footage and music if feasible, actually producing/shipping the DVD, and fulfilling all the other rewards, the fees taken out by kickstarter/amazon, paying taxes on the money, and supporting myself while I do it.

How has he done for himself?

Pretty dang well if I don't say so myself.

A quick history lesson on the former ROH champ after the jump.

McGuinness was a mainstay in ROH for over six years -- shifting easily between fan favorite and rulebreaker -- and went on to capture the now defunct Pure title in 2005 before defeating Takeshi Morishima to win the World Championship two years later.

He reigned on top for a year and a half, finally relinquishing the throne to Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) veteran and living legend Jerry Lynn. Six months later, he agreed to terms with WWE and left the company that made him famous. It was fitting his final match was against the also departing Bryan Danielson as the two men battled to unify the World and Pure titles in England three years prior.

But the Briton only stepped foot inside a WWE ring once as he failed a physical screening prior to putting his John Hancock on a contract. He instead opted to sign with TNA and became Desmond Wolfe, a tough no-nonsense English brawler who later tagged with fellow countryman Magnus. Their tag team name was aptly enough London Brawling.

In August 2010, he was suddenly pulled from the No Surrender pay-per-view (PPV) event. While rumors swirled around to explain his disappearance, everyone in the know kept tight-lipped. Regardless, Wolfe wasn't seen on TV for nearly a year and was gone a month after that.

McGuinness then returned to ROH where he remains today as a member of the commentary team. He announced the "Nigel McGuinness Retirement Tour" late last year to properly wrap up his career. The bulk of the footage, it would seem, it from this period.

While I thought $32,000 was a hefty sum to raise -- and especially in one month -- McGuinness has proved he's made quite the impact with his fans. As of this writing -- and keep in mind the Kickstarter fund began YESTERDAY -- $23,347 of the 32 grand needed has been donated.

That's beyond incredible.

While no one us ponied up the $5,000 to have McGuinness himself fly out to watch the documentary, one person has coughed up $2,500 and another $1,000. A majority of the backers are in the $50 and under range which guarantee anything from a thank you email to a DVD of the documentary.

Any Cagesider interested or already donate to this?