All right, everybody. Tonight's episode of Wrestle Magic, I will be giving
an interview to mister Marcus buff Bag Well, sir, would you like to
make your presence known to the audience. Hey, this is Buff and I
am the stuff. Awesome. Man, I love hearing that promo. It's
always been a nice little intro for you. Thank you. So how you
doing today? Man? How's a life drain you? Where you're at?
Bud did really really well? You know, I'm twenty I'm twenty two months
sober, and I you know, I never really have done I've never been,
you know, actively sober ever in my entire life. From a very
young age, I learned, I learned to fix it. I had a
sleep at ye at a very young age, but there wasn't a word called
sleep atna yet. So I was just tired and didn't know why. So
I learned to fix it. And me fixing it was with drugs. I
would get I would use drugs to wake up. And then later on in
life, I fixed the sleep bat with medical stuff. But then I was
addicted to drugs, so you know, it was it was a battle that
I stayed sedated for about twenty years. But I am now a twenty two
months sober and I honest to God, and I think people when they hear
this, they thing, you know. I hear that all the time.
But I don't see how that's true. But I mean, my life is
really it's a hundred one hundred times better. I've never been more clear on
everything, more positive with everything that happens. It's just one good thing out
here in another. I mean I have bad days like like everybody does,
but I mean the overall picture is just much clearer and it's just a better
way of life doing it sober. Hey, man, I'm proud of you
for getting sober. That is an incredible accomplishment. Keep it going, man,
absolutely incredible. I personally, Uh, I don't drink or anything as
well. So hey, I hear you. It's a good life to just
be able to feel everything and all that just that's a great word, to
be able to feel. Uh. Anytime I started to feel something, I
fixed it. Where I felt, I felt what I wanted to feel.
I mean, I had a peel for everything. It was a pill to
go to bed, a pill to wake up, a peal to go train,
a pill after I trained. It was it was just crazy. It
was just pil pill pill pill, and it was and to have the freedom
from that is really spectacular. Out his love life, absolutely, man,
it's nice to see that you have no more bounds like that. It's awesome
maybe or something, but hey, nothing wrong with that, all right,
let's get straight into it. Mcaulleague King Scully. He was the one who
really helped arrange us, so shout out to him. But also he wanted
to ask where exactly did you feel you wanted to become a wrestler. Where
did it all start for you? Man? Where it all started for me?
Really, it wasn't up to me. A thing that I'll say before
I explain it is I believe in life and I have yet to be proven
wrong about this. I really believe that life chooses you if you really are
doing something that is lucrative and you love doing it. I've yet to be
proved wrong that it chose you. And it may take a few minutes you
had to say, oh no, I picked this, but by the time
you figure it out it was your mother's brother's uncle's friend that maybe mentioned something
about out what you're doing that led you to do what you do. I
believe life picks you, and well me believing that is because life picked me.
Wrestling picked me. I was twenty one years old. Well I was
eighteen years old, and I graduated high school. And at the same year
I graduated, my parents went broke. I was a very successful, rich,
very wealthy family growing up, and it all ended in nineteen eighty eight,
which is the year I graduated in high school. So my father come
to us and said, look, you got a you know, three boys.
I was the baby. He said, look, you guys got to
find something to do with life, because I'm done. It's over. We're
out of money, don't know what to do. So I got it.
I wanted to do something with sports, but I had a horrible grade point
average because we were going to work for the family's lumberyard, and so I
had at one point eight grade point average. I did what it took basically
get through school because I had a million dollar lumber yard waiting on me,
and so when they all went down, those grades really mattered, and I
didn't have them. So I wanted to do sports training or some kind of
sports medicine. And with a horrible grade point average, the first step to
sports medicine was massage therapy. I found a way that I could have.
I could go become a massage therapist. I could be making an income and
it would be a first step into some kind of sports. Massage, sports
training, something associated with being an athlete is what I wanted to do.
And so that was a ten month course. So I graduated the Massage Atlantama
School of Massage and like probably nineteen ninety I was twenty years old, and
then started trying to be a massage therapist. As I turned twenty one September
of nineteen well than that, so I do that. So you got to
figure from the time I graduated was eighteen years old, and I'm a January
baby, and you graduate, you know, around June July, so you're
talking about eighteen and a half years old. And then when I signed with
WCW, I was twenty one September of twenty one years old. So you're
talking about three years from the day I graduated high school to the day I
signed the WCW. That's unheard of, brother, There's so much luck involved
right there, it's not even funny. But you've heard the path. So
graduate high school, ten months massage therapy school and at and from that,
from there to there, from there to w CW was trying to become a
massage therapist, very good, a very good massage therapist. I got a
job with a company called Corporate Sports, and I found out a devastating blow
was women were insecure to get a massage from an attractive mail. I thought
that me being in shape and me being, you know, having a good
personality, I thought that would be a plus with women, and it was.
It was absolutely bad for the women thing because they were very insecure with
you know, getting their clothes off to get massaged. I mean I would
ask them, like, why don't you be a massage you They would say,
I may have some fat on my back, or I may have a
bump on my back. My husband would kill me. I ord all these
different things while trying to fix me. Spending ten thousand dollars to be a
massage therapist and ten months of my life to become a massage therapist. The
last thing I wanted to do was do something else. But it was really
not working out because you got to have in any industry, you got to
have men and women to be successful in it, because you're cutting the population
in half. So during that transformation of what I was trying to do,
I was very depressed about it. And I was at my pool one day
where I lived in a place called Popular Place Apartments in Kennesaw, Georgia,
and Missy Hyatt was at the pool and this is where my saying and my
belief it picked me. She walks up to me and it's like, hey,
you know you should be a pro wrestler. I'm like, what what
is that? What does that mean? What do you mean? And do
you know what pro wrestling is? Yes? I seen it on TV and
I said, those guys don't make any money though, and she goes,
our lows paid guy makes it one hundred thousand dollars a year, and I
live, tell me more. So you told me a little more and told
me how to get trained. And I went down to the WCW school.
There wasn't a power plant yet, There was no WCW school. There was
a warehouse with a guy named Buddy Lee Parker and a guy named Joy Jody
Hamilton. They ran a school, but it wasn't a have a name or
anything. It's just a place you went to get trained. Kevin Nash was
down at that school, and I went down there and the day went down
there to see about it. Kevin Nash was there and it was just a
dump, you know, and they wanted three thousand dollars to get trained.
And I went back to Miss Hanson, Missy, it's a dump, and
I don't have three thousand dollars, you know. So she found a local
guy to train me. I got named Steve the Brother Lawler, and he
trained me about for about two weeks and out of that, now again do
all of the math. You got graduated at eighteen ten months of massage therapy,
try to make massage therapy work, and then go to wrestling school and
signed with w CW in September of ninety one. So very fast track to
the big leagues. Probably wasn't well deserved of it, probably didn't work your
as are as most people. But you know, from A to Z,
I worked extremely hard by how my body looked physically mentally. I may not
have known a lot of stuff in the ring when I first got to w
CW, but I learned really really quick. And you know, but the
track to pro wrestling was it picked me. That's honestly pretty awesome. I'm
really glad to hear about that whole story. So when you got to WCW
and everything, my uncle Mike had a question, and he's a main guy
on the podcast, he's the one who really runs the episodes for the most
part. He was asking about, so you had the Strangler gimmick and everything,
what exactly happened that When was the transition from that to buff the stuff?
You know, well, that gimmick, that character was. It was
called the Handsome Stranger, not the Strangler. Yeah, it's okay, it
was. It was really again, these things pick us, you know what
I mean. I was twenty, I was nineteen probably night almost twenty,
and I was a stripper at a place in Atlanta I called the Lemon Peel,
trying to make money, broke. I was independent wrestling, a mail
stripper and just trying to make money, trying to live, trying to survive,
and at the same time trying to be a wrestler. And I remember
being at the Lemon Peel and watching myself on a company called Global Championship Wrestling
as the Handsome Stranger, and it was on ESPN and it was a great
time spot. But again, looking back, on it. It seemed like
it was a year, but it was about three months, that's all it
was. So again, you got the ten months of schooling of Massis therapy
training to become a pro wrestler, three months at Global as a handsome stranger,
and then from that is where that three months, man, I learned
a lot in three months, so I really did. I was out in
the red ring with guys that really knew what they were doing. I mean,
you know, High Step, Eddie Gilbert's xpot was called the Lightning Kid.
The Patriot was there, you know, Raven was there as Scott Anthony,
the pom Beach Heart, Throb Rod Price, you know tug Boat.
There were several major superstars there that knew how to work, and I really
learned. Rip Rogers was there, which was my first win at w CW.
He was a fantastic wrestler. So I really was throwing the ring with
guys that knew what they were doing at that Global. That three months at
Global, man, I really went from below average independent wrestler to above average
independent wrestler. And I really and then at WCW you're only as good as
who you work. So when I got in the ring with guys that knew
what they were doing. I could fake it, and I faked it till
I made it. And it didn't take a whole lot of faking, but
a little faking till I made it big and it worked out. But the
Handsome Stranger was a great gimmick. I wore this like long Ranger mask and
bill Edie demolitions his wife is who created that gimmick. So I came out
with roses and I had any roses out and the women and it was a
real cheesy type of gimmick. But I mean I loved it. It was
a great thing. And looking back on it, people really enjoyed that character
absolutely. So what was the transition like going from that character to Buff?
You know, how did that all work out and everything? Well, the
transition from that would have been from that to Marcus Alexander Bagwell, which is
myself, so I long Ranger mass to a WCW. So like the really
a transition would have been from from Marcus Alexander Bagwell to Buff. That transition,
you know, wasn't very none of them is very big. It's a
transition that you that you just try to throw, You try to throw things
against the wall to see what sticks. But as Marcus Alexander Bagwell that character
was, you know, the women would cheer, but the men would be
like, oh, boo, who's this pretty boy, good guy boo.
So again I found myself in a business that I had half of the population,
the one half of the women like Marcus Alexander Bagwell, the half of
the men did not. So again I got fifty percent of the nation that's
rooting for me. So by creating the character Buff, now you got the
women that cheer for me still, but now I'm dialing into that men at
that men audience, the male audience, which is you know that buff back
with a cool dude man. And so by having both male and female,
that's what Buff did, and that transition was a really good one at a
good time, and it's what got me, you know, from Marcus Alexander
Bagwell to a little more. Start them with the buff fair enough man.
So, being who you are and everything, it's been interesting to me to
see because I'll be honest, you're not like the biggest name, but you
are somebody that you've had some great moments and you are very well remembered for
being in the nineties and everything. So I do want to ask you about
So there's a lot of guys that you worked with obviously that were part of
I want to call them the old Guard. You know, you had Hogan,
you had Flair, You and all those guys who really are just legends
in their own right. So I'd like to ask whatever you're comfortable with saying,
who do you you feel were the better guys to be with? And
how you felt about some of those guys and who were you just like I
can't stand this person or just didn't want to be around them. I'll be
honest with you. And there was at w c W we did not have
Oh my god, I don't want to be around those guys. Those guys
we just really didn't. Everybody got along pretty good, man. We were
kind of like a family. I mean, you know, you had different
clicks. Like you know, there's guys I wouldn't ride with in cars,
but it wasn't personal. It was what they did. Like if you rode
in and Stings and Marcus Alexander Bagle was rent a car on the road,
you were going to the gym, you were gonna go play golf, you
were gonna be you were gonna tan train, You're gonna eat good. Uh,
and we were gonna bowl or play golf in the in the middle,
we were gonna be doing something fun. And but the main thing it was
all surrounded by was weight training, diet and tanning, and and that was
just a muss. So that differentiated the guys. That separated, uh,
the guys a lot because a lot of guys didn't do that. You know,
we didn't know what beer was yet, we didn't know what pills were
yet. We just knew about becoming the best pro wrestler we could become.
And during that time, it just there was never any like tension with anybody.
So we got along. Everybody got along at w C really will and
uh, I mean things changed and it went on, but still there was
never any big feuds. If it was, it kind of got squashed because
everybody got along pretty good. But it just h But the click that I
hung around was Sting, Lex Luger, Scott Norton, uh, Scottie Riggs,
Patriot, you know the guys that I tagged team with as well.
But you know, but everybody kind of had their own rental car. You
got to realize there's only four seats and that when car that's all there is.
So three or four buddies is all you got, and a lot of
times it would be a couple of cars following each other. But it was,
uh whatever your whatever you did outside the ring is what shows your people.
But as far as you know, guys, I didn't want to be
around. There really wasn't that kind of a clique. Everybody worked, everybody,
and everybody kind of got along. That's pretty cool, man. I'm
glad that you guys were more of a close knit unit than you know.
You hear stories about like a WWE and how they had the click backstage and
how people had fosity and all that, and yeah, right, it's kind
of nice to hear that you guys were, you know, closer and just
didn't seem to mind. So, uh, I do want to ask what
was just hanging out with Alex Luger like and Sting? You know, what,
were they like just general normal guys or you know, anything special?
They were fantastic Sting. Sting was the first one to kind of take me
under his wing. You know, I was the young I mean I was
twenty one years old. The next youngest person was probably Flying Brian at thirty.
You know, that's nine years bro, That's a nine year difference in
age. So they didn't really know what to do with me. You know.
They signed me to a five hundred dollars a year contract, and two
days into that Barry Wyndham blew his knee out and I was on the road
with WCW and never looked back. I stayed on the road into my first
year. I was Rookie of the Year and Tag Team of the Year and
World Tag Team Champions all in nineteen ninety two and never looked back. So
sting through at the beginning, he took me under his wing and I was
riding in his car and all the boys were like, what are you doing
with that young guy? He don't know what he's doing, and blah blah
blah. But me and his team got really close, so that really helped
out a lot with the other boys accepting me and stuff. But Lex wasn't
there. He was there at the very beginning and then he left, so
me and Lex wasn't friends at all, but he was at WWF. So
when Lex came in to the company, that's when Steam started having some like
some personal problems at home, and he started going home a lot in California
and me and a Lex Man, we we hooked up and was everything is
We were number one. We call it number one personalities, which is,
you know, just everything had to be the best and the right way,
and from from filling the ice and the cooler the right way to the way
we did our workouts. We were very organized. We were very very good
and bad for each other. Me and Lex were at first it was all
great. I mean, we were all great for each other. It was
workout, tan train, eat diet. I mean, it was just non
stop. Lex Lugri and Buff Bible were going to be the best that we
could be. So it was a blast, a fantastic time with Lex Ludeernstein.
That's awesome, man, I'm glad to hear that you got along with
them so well. So more digging into your character a little bit, I
do want to ask, were there any inspirations from the outside or you know,
maybe movies or anything like that for where Buff came from? Really,
you know, the gimmick I'm really questioning like, was it like some sort
of I don't know, like kind of alpha male vibrato sort of thing,
or where do you think that the character's whole idea came from. I really,
I really think it came from just I. Everybody's gimmick, everybody's gimmick
that really works is just an exaggerated version of yourself. You know, Diamond
Dallas Page doing the bang and the way he talks, that's just him dialed
up a notch and him exaggerating Page Fulkenberg, Rick Flair, same thing when
Rick players out there wooo and all that, that is just a slightly exaggerated
of himself. Marcus Alexander Bagwell as a rookie, as a rookie and the
age I was and being a pretty boy and all that. There's rules,
man, and those rules are you got to When I'm doing a probo and
I'm wrestling Rick Rude, I can't really cut a real good promo because I'm
a babyface and I'm young and green and I'm Marcus Alexander Bagwell Rookie of the
Year, and I found that it just it just wasn't created. It wasn't
a lot of fun. So but getting that character over, people really got
behind it because of staying saving me and putting this in him helping me out.
It really got some traction. But when I saw that, you know,
when I got in the ring with NW guys, it was definitely time
to come up with another name. You know. It's like stone cold and
like steam and like Lex Luger. You know. Marcus I's inner bag was
my real name. I just it just didn't it didn't hit the rock,
you know. So I went to w CW with, look, I want
to call myself buff, and they agreed to use the word buff, but
they would not drop Marcus Bagwell because they had worked too hard on it.
So they agreed to call me Marcus buff Bagwell. But I really didn't want
to be called that. I want to be called buff, you know.
It just I just wanted the one name, and Buff in this corner,
Buff in this corner of the rock, in this corner steamed, you know.
I wanted just that one powerful name. So they they still threw it
in there, but they wanted the Marcus baggele with it fair enough, man.
So uh, the American Males Tag Team. It was pretty successful.
And I watched a little bit of a Nitro from back in the day and
everything starting in a nineteen ninety five How did you feel about your guys' entry
music, because times it's like, man, this is just goofy sounding.
What did you think of it? Oh? Well, personally tell you that
if you ever heard that song without the words, it's incredible. I mean,
we did a video. There's an America Male video out there that you
can find that is, to this day, the best video I've ever done
in my life. It's a black and white video before black and white was
cool. A guy named Graham No see, I'm sorry. Uh Kemper Rogers
was this guy's name, Kemper Rogers. He worked for w CW, but
he also did a lot of stuff on his own. Me and Scottie Riggs
did this America male video and it was absolutely incredible. The video. It's
Jimmy argument with the music and in the video that the words don't get said,
and it is you know, ram da da and it's incredible. But
then you go amer Akie males a Meeranke mals a Merankie mal It's it just
it rips it apart. But still to this day people love it. I
mean, it's it's people enjoy it and they they you know it just you
just don't forget it, you know, yeah, I agree with that,
man, And uh, I do agree. It is very nice sounding,
just uh, you know musically without the no vocals is the word. There's
no vocals. It's really good, right right, I have to say.
But yeah, next to a danger high voltage, I think it would have
been like because of the vocals, it just makes it, you know,
that bad for Yeah, I totally agree, man. So I do kind
of want to ask you about your mom and everything, and just did you
ever think that, like when you entered that business, your mom would also
become just as famous with you, man, or you know, because I
can't imagine, you know, going into that kind of business and like my
mom being next to me, you know, it's just the last thing that'd
beme on my mind. Well, and to think about this, I mean,
she was one half of the World Tag Team Champions bro In the end,
if you did research, Judy Bagwell and Rick Steiner were the World Tag
Team Champions, that's crazy. But no, I didn't see any of that
coming. All of that idea was Rick Steiner's Rick Steiner. You know,
I broke my neck. Rick Steiner broke my neck in Columbia, South Carolina
April twenty second, nineteen ninety eight, and I turned heel and by the
time we went back to Columbia, I was a full, full blown heel
Well. Rick's idea was to have Judy my mom in Columbia, in the
same town I broke my neck in and have her being like what are you
doing your what are you doing? Dogging all the fans and blaming Rick Steiner
for your injury and blah blah blah. So and Rick, I don't think
it would have worked if it was my idea, because why is Mark Bagwell
trying to get his mother on TV. I don't think he would have worked
with all the egos. But he had nothing to do with me, had
nothing to do with it. Rick went to Eric Bischof with it. Eric
asked for my blessing, and I said, absolutely, whatever you want to
do, let's do it. And so Mom was a great character, and
that night in Columbia, I remember like saying, you know, I was
talking to her backstage and I wasn't finding who I needed. You know,
she was a tough, rough woman that ran a lumber business in the seventies
and eighties. A ninety nine male populated business and industry was ran by a
woman. She had two hundred men employees, and there isn't no In seventies
and eighties, there was no women truck drivers. So you had all the
male dominant industry. And there my mother is running a successful, very successful
lumberyard. And so you know her in the backstage of a bunch of wrestlers,
no problem. But when I was talking to her in Columbia backstage,
I was losing her. Man. I was like, oh, Mom,
come on, nowhere, come on, now, you gotta do this,
and you got to talk like this, and I could see the more I
pushed, the more she went away. And so at that stage I had
to get myself ready for TV. And I was like, Dad, just
talked to him to the best she can. And but so I'd already planned
to have something to say to her to really get her out there so she
would snap out of it. So she once supposed to get in the ring,
she once sposed to touch Scott Steiner, and she wasn't supposed get the
ring. So she's out there and I could she was talking pretty good,
but I still was gonna say what I had planned, And I said,
the truth is when I said to her, I said, let me tell
you something, lady. Without me, you couldn't even eat. And here's
she come. Brother. She came in that in that ring, and I
went yes, and then she slapped me and then she went there Scott and
Scott almost broke her arm. But my mom had to wear her braid for
like a month after that because it almost broke her wrist. But uh,
it was. It was fantastic and literally a star was born. Yeah,
it is a Honestly, it is pretty cool that you got to incorporate your
family with everything. I mean. I do want to also bring up the
Judy Bagwall and the Forkliff match, because where did this idea come from?
Man? I I have to say, God, who's the heel in that
match? Was a Kenyon? I think? And then uh, he actually
did work a pretty good promo. Like I still wanted to hate him while
he was talking. I will give him credit. He was pretty good.
Absolutely, I do want to ask where was the inspiration for that? Where
did this idea come from? Man? Vince Russo was reach and during this
time, the company was in trouble and I was getting some heat for speaking
up, and so when they came to me with this. I was like,
sure, whatever, and I was I didn't want to argue no more
with him. I was tired of arguing. I just hey, do what
you want to do, and I'm I hear you. Let's do it.
So I didn't say a word about it. I just said, okay,
let's do it. I mean it. Even the name was even missed up,
like Judy bagla on a pole match is what it was called. But
it was Judy bag on a fourth clift. And again the Mark Bagwele that
I wanted to be was go to him and say, hey, guys,
why is it called a pole when it's the forklift? But the new Mark
said, nope, don't say a word. All you're getting is heat.
So just keep your mouth shut and do what they say, because that's what
the that's what the top stars say to do your lexus and your stings.
Those guys. Shut your mouth, Mark, and just do what you're told.
So I shut my mouth and did what I told and I'll watch this
match called Judy bagwell on a pole match, except it was a forklift,
and I went out and did what I was told. All right, fair
enough, man, it's it is a little goofy, but you know what,
hey man, you got the crazy part. But that the craziest part
about it, though, is a very big populated part of Georgia. It
made sense to because of the lumber company. I don't think Vince Russo knew
that my parents had a lumber yard. I don't think nobody at w c
W except a few of my friends knew about Southeastern Building Supply because it was
it was over in nineteen eighty eight, you know. So, I don't
like nobody even knew about it, but old Marcus Bagwell or Stephen Bagwell,
people that knew them, and probably watching the show, We're like, oh,
that's all you and the lumber company. But wrestling fans were like,
what what is going on? So it was really weird. Uh I just
chalked it up to another you know, ventroushow idea, and I was I
didn't want to complain. I just said yes, sir and did what I
was supposed to do. Yeah, man, I hear that. I mean
sometimes you just kind of do what you gotta do, follow what your contract
says. That's it. That's it. Yeah man. So I do also
want to ask about, uh so your career altogether, do you have any
like favorite moments that you went through that you just look back and you're like,
man, that was just my absolute top and you just think, man,
I could go back to that any day. You know. The whole
NW thing man was extra extremely special. It really was. I mean,
the whole career was a lot of fun. I mean I was a fight.
I mean, think about this. I was a five time World tag
Team champion and the whole run was only ten years, so every other year
I was a World tag team champion on the average, So I really hate
that I went in running for the World Belt. I do think I was
in a little running with Dallas for the US Belt for a little bit.
I may have been the US champion for a short bit. I can't remember,
but I don't think I was every the US champ, but I think
I was close to getting it or something. But that was the only running
I was in for. But then we had a TV Belt, and we
had the US Draft and the tag Belts and the World Belt. But I
was never even in the running, you know, for the world for the
World Belt. But again, you look back on it when you're a World
tag team champion, every other year on the average. You know, is
there time for a World Belt? I mean, I'm not sure there is.
So. I mean back then you didn't have guys that had the world
belt and they were tag team champions. It was pretty rare, so you
know, most of the time it was you know, you just had one
belt and that's all. So overall, I really felt like they did me
right. I was always in the running for something, and I was always
figured in, and I had a great ten year run on television. Fair
enough, man. I mean, like you said, you started out kind
of green, and you know, hey, we all start out green and
whatever we're going to do in life, you know, so I can kind
of understand in the beginning, you know, hey, we'll give them tag
team belts and everything. We'll keep them on the low for now. But
I feel like they should have at some point been able to work you into
at least one storyline, even if it was going to be short lived.
Why not. You know, I remember them doing a little bit with me
in Dallas over the US Belt, but it wasn't it wasn't big enough and
it went long enough. That's valid. So do you think that maybe U
locker room might have just been too oversaturated with talent at the time to uh
work you in or do you think it was just you know political. You
know a lot of people don't talk about that, and I hate talking about
it because it makes it sound like, you know, we were so much
talent, so many so much talent. But but think about it, Bro,
I mean, I look at the ae W roster m and half of
their roster. Bro would not have been on a Nitro show. It wouldn't
have been there. I mean, Nitro was slammed, Bro. From Chabo
Guerrero's to Billy Kidman's too, to Marcus Bagwells, to Chris beIN Wahs to
I mean to Eddie Gurero's when he was there. I mean it was.
It was crazy to Canyons to to Dallas and Luger's stings I mean not Demolition
but Gronik. I mean all the jin drags and o'hairs that were coming up
plumbos. It was slammed, Bro. It was crazy. I mean,
you got Billy Kidman, you got you got Saturn, you got Raven,
you got Lex Luger, Steams, Chronics, Dallas Pages, Rick Ruths.
It was it was crazy. Bro, Scott Norton's, Kevin Nash's Scott Owls.
I mean, you got so many names that you just I mean,
what do you do with all these guys? Right, I mean, what
do you do with them? It's crazy? It was it was a talent
It was a talent filled roster. Brother absolutely, it was just absolutely massive.
You guys had legends, you had plenty of up and comers, you
had Booker t, you had Kenyan, you had yourself. It was so
many people involved at the same time, and it's like, how do we
give the spotlight to everybody equally where it needs to go? Yeah? Yeah,
with the nWo and everything there was, they kind of tried to give
it to everyone at once, just to say like, okay, here's everybody
that we've got. It kind of felt like to me anyways, and you
know, things always run their course, and it seemed like eventually it got
overplayed, which you know is what it is. History is history. Yes,
Yeah, there's just so many people that were on that roster. It's
kind of hard to you know, it's hard to push everybody at that point
unless you, I don't know, make another show and another belt with it.
But uh yeah, so your career favorite moments. Yeah, So do
you have any regrets with your career as well? I do want to ask
that. That's a good question. I always said I didn't. But let
me think about that, like regret, you know, like I mean,
I regret. I'll think of like that. I had no stroke in or
no power into it. But you know, turning me yeel out of that
neck break, you know, I all, they could have become one of
the biggest baby faces ever coming out of that broken neck thing. Man.
I mean I had ten thousand letters, bro I had people that were in
the war, the desert was storing war that would touch my picture before going
to battle. I mean when I turned heill there, it was really bad
to the public. It was my parents were physically physically upset that I was
turning heill because of all the letters and the thousands of letters they wrote and
read and responded to. And just I mean people, I mean, I
broke my neck on live television. I was paralyzed for four or five minutes
on live television. It was crazy, you know. And so for me
to throw that in their face and turn heel again, it wasn't my decision.
It was Eric Bischoff's but but, and I think it was a great
one. But it really was a pivotal time that really could have maybe I
remember this. I remember this very very clearly. Triple Hs at the time
had tore his quad. If you could do your math when I was hurt
April twenty second, nineteen ninety eight, from them to the next ten months,
I can tell you Triple Hs tore his quad in that period of time
when he tore his quad in that period of time when he and Karen,
Your quad is a big deal, brother, It's huge, but it ain't
as big as breaking your neck and being paralyzed. It ain't. Our company
didn't talk about my broke neck at all. I mean no video. They
had a whole video of Triple Hs coming back. You would have thought he
rose from the dead. And with mine, Eric felt like it was bad
karma. So there was no videos in the hospital, there were no vis
yet shot. I was just back wrestled, lost to the guy that broke
my neck, which never happens. I lost the match and then it was
over a two year long angle that you could have done between Rick Steiner and
Buff Bagwell was one match and done. It was crazy. I have no
idea what they were doing. But again the question is do I have regret.
There's no regret to me. It was not what I would have done,
it wasn't my decision, but it's no regret there. So I don't
have any regrets at all. For ten years, I did what I did.
I was probably addicted to pills already, but I had that WCW leash
and it was a strong leash, brother, it was a really strong leash
that kept me right now. And that leash was cut off and I was
depressed, and the WWF had let me go and all that, man,
I was, I was right there and off I went, buddy. So
for the next twenty for sure, for the next twenty I was. I
was sedated heavily. But uh, that ten I really, I really was.
I was. I was in check. That's fair, man. It
is kind of unfortunate that they booked you that way. That really doesn't make
sense to me. And they could have played so much off, you know,
sympathy and making you just the easiest babyface. That could have been great
for you character and development and everything would have fallen into your lap at that
point because like, hey, they see you just went through all that.
You basically recovered from almost the same thing that Draws went through, you know,
except you didn't have to be completely paralyzed for the rest of your life.
Thank god, you know. I went and saw Draws in the hospital.
So I broke my neck. I had I came back from the dead
so to speak, you know, and back in the ring and everything.
And I remember Kerry Taylor called me up and said, hey, will you
go visit Draws in the in the hospital. I said, sure will so
I'll never forget it. He was in the Philadelphis and it was in Philadelphia.
I can't remember what hotel and I can't remember what hospital, but it
was but w CW set it up for me to go do and I flew
in and went to see Draws on Me in the hospital, and I remember
giving him bad advice, but it was, you know, I was trying
to be positive. And you know, when I broke my neck in the
ring, I remembered when I could wiggle my fingers and toes as there put
me on the board. That I didn't know at the time, but that
was going to be good news. Later on, when I visited Draws on
me, in the hospital. He was able to move a little bit,
and I said, man, that's got to be good news. And I
told him the finger and toe story. But obviously it was not good news.
It was bad news. He never recovered. I mean, hey,
man, it is what it is. You were being positive for a friend
and everything and you shared with your experience. There's nothing wrong with that man,
right, You did right by him either way. Yes, So look
at your career overall, how would you describe it? Honestly, my career,
my career. The answer is much different than my WCW run. I
would look at my WCW run as a fantastic run that was well deserved,
well managed. Maybe a little on the underside of some achievements I could have
had, but very little bro Again, like I said, every other year
I was the World Tag Team Champion, so I was in the nWo.
I mean, that ten year run was top notch, spectacular, but my
career was over by one WWF did so. But my career, I don't
have an answer about my career because the next twenty years was in high school
gyms and you know, some stadiums, some events. You know, we
went to Australia, right out of the gate and early two thousand was a
company called the ww A World Resting All Stars in Australia and it was fantastic.
It was big stadiums, big events, you know, steing Lugers,
same old card, same good big stars and so you know. But still
it wasn't the WWF, it wasn't the WCW. It was a party country,
I mean company, third party company. And it just my career was
a letdown. I feel not so much from what I did. I just
just it is what it is. But I just my glory years, my
glory years when Vince let me go, I was thirty one, so my
glory years brother was spent in different countries, different cities, trying to trying
to get back to the WWF WWE, and knew I was never going back,
but made the best of it I could. But it was really a
letdown. I could have really done something big with Vince in the WWE,
and I'd love to have done it, man, I would have loved it.
But you know, it's just it just is what it is. Man.
I have I have zero regrets. I don't I got no regrets.
None. That helps a lot. I banked on I knew that my alcohol
and pills when Vince took over, When Vince bought us the WWF w W,
I knew my pills and alcohol were borderline out of control, but they
had not got out of control yet. I banked on the w WF going
and they didn't. I banked on me being buffed bagwell, that they would
say, you know, you got to clean up, man, you gotta
clean up, and I would have. I banked on a warning, a
slap on the hand, and I did not receive that. My slap on
the hand was get out and it was too late, and I went,
oh my god. So the regret I have would be, if I had
one, would be not getting clean sooner. But again, I wasn't out
of control yet. I was. It was starting to become out of control,
and I could have easily fixed it with one rehab and yes, Sir
got back in the ring and been clean, and it would have been a
whole other life. But that ain't what happened. So this path is what
happened. I'm very excited about this path. I could never have this kind
of story of sobriety and recovery unless I had the twenty years to talk about
it. I do believe my story is going to save and change some lives,
and I think that's what it's all about. So I'm very excited about
what happened in my ten years. I love the business for the whole thirty
three, but I think my career was cut short. That's ballid Man.
And you know, once again, I personally am really proud of you for
actually getting sober Man. That's a big accomplishment. And you know, I
really do think that your story it could reach out to some of our listeners,
somebody who may be struggling themselves, maybe to get them some help.
It could be a really big thing. But uh, you know, back
more under the wrestling topic. So I do want to ask you what was
your favorite match or even just event that you were a part of, Man,
because you know, you know, I really, for some reason,
every time I'm asked that I remember a nineteen ninety three wrestle many I'm excuse
me. Ninety night three Halloween Havoc with the Nasty Boys. We had we
had Teddy Long as a manager, me and Too Cold and the Nasty Boys
had Missy Hyatt as a manager. So that's seven people with seven different brains
counting you got wrestlers, that's four, you got the managers at six,
and you got the referee. That's seven different brains all working together to have
one excellent match. And that's the one match that I remember that when it
was over, that we pulled it off. We made the We conquered the
hardest tag team match with seven people, and everybody did their job. The
nineteen ninety three Halloween Havoc. All right, fair enough, So I also
want to ask you do you have like a dream match that's ever been in
your head? Like if you were going for a championship belt, who do
you see across from you can be? You know, just even if it
was like your brother or somebody, if you have one you know growing up
or whatever that you watch wrestling with, or if it's somebody that you looked
up to, who would be your dream upon it Man the Rock? Really,
yeah, and let me tell you something. It was supposed to happen.
Really, there's just no doubt. The age he's two years younger he
was. He was the third or fourth Will in that group he was in.
I was the third or fourth Will in the nWo. It was just
meant to be brother. I broke my neck and lost ten months, but
I picked right back up. I lost a little speed when he gained at
ten months, and there was a crack in that window and he got through
that crack, and I didn't make it. But it was supposed to be
the rock versus buff Bagwell Ballot. And you know, I know that you
said that you described your career as kind of a letdown. But you know
what, honestly, man, the way that your story has gone, I
honestly would consider your life a story of resilience at this point, man,
because I see you bouncing back no matter what has happened, and I respect
you for it a lot, man, and absolutely man. But something else
that I do want to ask you, So what is your favorite match gimmick
type outside of just normal matchmen? I'm not sure the questions, so do
right now? So match gimmick, you know, like ladder match, cage
match, royal rumble. You know what would be your favorite to watch?
You know, the that stuff really wasn't a big WCW thing. I mean
the ladder matches, if I'm right, That kind of came along later on,
you know, like tables were kind of a thing early. I remember
it as the American Males. I remember I went through two tables with the
Public Enemy. That was a big deal. You know, they put me
through two tables and so that was cool. But that was early. That
was you know, ninety three, ninety four maybe, and then you know,
so you know, tables, ladders and chairs really wouldn't happening yet.
So you know, I think you know that My favorite would just be what
I said a minute ago. My favorite match would be a tag match with
both teams having a manager and having some kind of two out of three falls.
All right, nothing wrong with that, man. So I also want
to ask, so, who is your favorite wrestler of all time? Men?
My favorite wrestler of all time is The Rock? Fair enough? Very
popular answer? The Rock. Yeah, I can't blame me there, Dude,
explain anything on becoming a wrestler. The Rock would be the perfect example.
Yeah, it's very sure. He has a very inspirational story about,
you know, getting cut from a CFL and everything and making his comeback and
just deciding like I'm broke right now, but one day I'm not going to
be in absolute perseverance that he had. Yeah, he's the best, He's
the number one, fair enough. They used to be my favorite as well
for a long time. So do you have a favorite. Well, let's
go back into the towards the end of the show. We always like to
do. Do you have any sort of shout outs? Do you want to
add your plugs or anything for people to you know, follow you on Twitter
or anything like that. Man, sure, sure. The best way to
get in touch with me would be to go to Marcus buff Bagwell at Gmail.
Marcus buff Bagwell at Gmail. That's my email and that's the best way
to get in touch with me. All my social media has got buff in
it. It's Mark buff Bagwell on Twitter and the rest of them are Marcus
buff Instagram, Facebook, So just follow me, man. I love I
love talking to people. I love what's going on right now. So if
you get a chance to check it out. If you don't know any of
my social media stuff, go to Marcus buff bag Let Gmail and I'll get
it to you. All right, fair enough. And something else we like
to do here on Wrestle Magic, we always like to try to give recommendations
to any of the fans. Do you have a recommendation of mind sir,
recommendation like let's see like movie, song book, a video game. So
there, I mean, man, recommendation is, God, there's this,
there's this. Really, I mean, it's a great old movie, but
it's it's a great one. It's Gladiator is my favorite movie. So if
you've not seen The Gladiator, man, you got to see it. It's
just it reminds me of wrestling because in wrestling, you've got to win the
people to get popular, and and the Gladiator he's going to win the people
to win his freedom. So I just really resonnate with that, and every
great pro wrestler can resignate with the Gladiator. But it's a great story,
it's a great movie, and it's one of my favorites, the Gladiatory fair
enough, And that's a really great comparison that you gave. You know that
you're you know, really getting over for the people and everything. So I
hear you on that. So I do have one last question that I'd like
to ask, and it's not anything crazy, just who do you think that's
on any active roster in the world that is probably the best at the moment.
Who's your favorite and the active roster right now that's the best right now.
Yes, wow, I mean see the best, the best, the
best to me, has got to be. They've got to look apart,
they've got to wrestle, they got to talk, they gotta look like a
million bucks. They gotta have it all. And so to me, uh,
it would still be the rock man. It just he's still the best.
I mean, he still looks the best, he still can talk the
best. He's still he's still the rock I mean to me, you know,
I mean, I love the seth Rollins's, I love the Cody Rhoses.
I like the town that's coming up. I've not seen a guy out
there that makes me go, wow, I get it. But when the
Rocks out there, Wow, I get it. Even still to this day,
man, even when he comes out of menu. Yeah, fair enough,
man. So would you like to give any last message to our listeners
before we hop off the air, No, man, Just keep in touch
with me again, Marcus buff Baggle at Gmail. Stay in touch with me,
man. I make myself very very reachable. I've also got a podcast
called buff in Stuff Buff and Stuff, and it's on Sunday nights on Twitch
on six pm every Sunday and the Marcus buff BAGELSERINGI Marcus buff Bagle at Gmail.
For any questions cameo dot com. Go to cameo dot com and get
a cameo for me. It's a way I can give you a shout out
for a birthday, for telling somebody to f off, to telling somebody you
love them, for marriages, for vacations. Anything you won't said, let
Buff say it for you. Hey, fair enough, man, And before
we leave, I just want to let you know the first time that I
had ever heard of you was probably around two thousand and ten to twenty twelve.
I had received a set of wrestling DVDs and it was called The Legends
of Wrestling. You were under the heat seekers category. You were. That
was the first time that I had ever gotten any kind of clue who Buff
the stuff was. And seeing some of your promos, I was like,
this guy can really work the mic. I can kind of see why he's
on the cover of this and it makes so much sense. But yeah,
that's kind of where this sort of started, and Scully really reached out to
you. He really made some miracles happen. Because I'll be honest with you,
guys, this was kind of last second. We weren't really expecting it
until today when he answered the email, and so I really appreciate you being
able to come on the show with us tonight. It's been a great honor.
It's been a really nice having you, so thank you, sir.
And if anybody wants to reach me, as always at maintenance MAV on Twitter,
and as always there's something nice for somebody. You never know who needs
it. Somebody might need to pick up man. All right, thank you
sir with us. You really enjoyed it. Brother, absolutely say here.
Thanks for listening to the WWE podcast. Don't forget to subscribe on your favorite
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