Marcus “Buff” Bagwell is a cautionary tale of the professional wrestling business. He’s a textbook example of someone that bought into his own hype and assumed his stardom wouldn’t end. In the simplest of terms, he became Buff Bagwell and lost sight of who Marcus who, at least that’s the way it appears from the outside looking in on the situation.
Breaking into the sport at the age of just 20, Bagwell first made a splash in the industry in the short-lived Global Wrestling Federation, which offered brief exposure on ESPN, but fizzled out quickly when the funding wasn’t there to truly get the group off the ground. By 1991, he inked a deal with World Championship Wrestling, working there for a decade before the organization was bought by Vince McMahon for pennies on the dollar.
Bagwell made for an irritating heel, partially because he allowed his real-life ego to show through, and in some ways, that can draw money, but for whatever reason things just didn’t seem to truly line-up for him to have the big time run that his physique and in-ring talent suggested he was capable of. Sure, when he teamed with various partners like Too Cold Scorpio, The Patriot, and Scotty Riggs (I’m sure everyone can hear The American Males song just from the mention), you could see what a gifted athlete he was, but it’s important to keep it in perspective that he only had a few years of in-ring experience when he found himself on national television. Even if the revolving door of bookers of the Turner organization at the time saw him as a possible top guy in the future, it wasn’t a realistic option until he had enough experience to work his way up the card.
The problem was, Buff’s original presentation as a bubblegum baby face was out of style by the time he got to that five-year mark as a performer. The rah-rah smile and primped hair had fans rolling their eyes when they saw the two coolest guys in wrestling at the time, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, flip the script on the business when they showed up on Nitro in 1996. As catchy as The American Males song might be for those that remember it, it didn’t come close to the NWO tune that became one of the most iconic themes in the history of the business.
Granted, when Buff was added to the New World Order stable, it was theoretically a better spot, but as the group got more diluted anyone in the second tier got swept up in a potpourri of mid-carders. More importantly, Bagwell wasn’t going to truly move up the card or increase his stock, as the structure of WCW rarely allowed for younger talent to break through to the next level. He suffered a broken neck on live television in 1998, and instead of using his legitimately inspirational recovery back to the ring to progress his career, he was booked to turn heel in a “classic” Vince Russo swerve. I’m sure Judy Bagwell was a wonderful lady, but is there anything more cringe worthy than a guy that needs to take his mom to work with him?
The sum total of all of this is that by the time the WWF bought WCW, Buff was more or less in the same spot that he was in for the majority of his career under the Turner banner, he was a young guy with some potential. Infamously, not long after Buff was brought into the WWF as a part of the Turner acquisition, his mom called Jim Ross to let him know that Bagwell wouldn’t be at the event scheduled because he was getting an injury checked out. That along with the disastrous match that he had against Booker T on Raw and the fact that the roster was flooded with guys that had TV experience from WCW and ECW, it was a relatively easy decision to fire Buff from the organization.
Unfortunately, for the majority of the past two and a half decades, far longer than his run on television, Buff made more headlines for his troubles outside of the ring than anything he did as a performer. Sadly, the turbulent life after wrestling overshadowed his in-ring career. He had a series of very serious car accidents from driving under the influence and his legal woes, as well as drug issues, have been the story of Buff Bagwell for the past several years.
One of those serious car wrecks was in 2020 and he suffered serious damage to his knee cap. Despite years of trying to manage the injuries sustained, last week Buff announced on social media that he underwent a leg amputation in an effort to move past the previous wreck, with the hope that alleviating the source of pain and adjusting to a prosthetic leg will improve his overall quality of life.
Buff went on to say that he hopes to return to the ring for a final bout after he recuperates from the procedure.
Unfortunately, this makes me question his motives and sincerity with his latest decision. A few years ago, when Buff tried to rehab his image, he posted messages on social media in support of the LGBT community and even had merchandise made for it. While the cause is noble, it was later revealed that Bagwell had someone else running his Twitter account and he wasn’t actually interacting with fans. It appeared to be nothing more than a ruse to generate some t-shirt sales.
The reason that I doubt Buff’ sincerity is simple, did he get his leg amputated with the true intention of turning his life around, or did he have no choice and wants to use this as an opportunity to have one more “inspirational” run? It wouldn’t be the first time and won’t be the last time that a former star was looking for one more run or one last big payday. To put it in perspective, given the nature of his injuries from car wrecks while he drove intoxicated, would it be safe for Buff to attempt to wrestle again? Is it truly worth the risk of further injury from another match? As harsh as it might sound, from purely a business stand point, would there be a demand for it? Would fans really be willing to pay to see another Buff Bagwell match at this point? Sure, some carny promoter somewhere would be willing to book it to try to draw a house, but that doesn’t mean it would be a wise decision for anyone involved.
At 55, success for Marcus Bagwell should be finding a place of peace in his life where he can live healthy and happy for the next few decades in his golden years. If his focus or primary goal is anything other than that, it’s doubtful that even a new lease on life without the pain associated from his previous injuries will yield different results than in the past.
That being said, I truly hope that Buff Bagwell finally gets his life together and that the narrative that was the subject of an episode of The Dark Side of The Ring series has a much happier conclusion. Hopefully, Buff Bagwell finds Marcus at this point in his life and even if it shouldn’t include a return to the ring, he can find a level of peace in the future.
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
