Buff Bagwell Recalls Louisiana’s Wildest WCW Crowds

Marcus "Buff" Bagwell is a memorable name to anyone who remembers WCW Nitro. Bagwell has captured 28 championships throughout his career and has earned accolades as a famed member of the infamous New World Order.

Leading up to his appearance at Bayou Independent Wrestling's show in Springhill, Louisiana, this Saturday, I got a chance to chat with Buff Bagwell about his career, what he thinks of wrestling today, and his memories of Louisiana as a mainstay on the WCW schedule.

We talked about everything from the old days of WCW to shoot fights with the NWO, to the phenomenon that is Joe Hendry.

How Has Wrestling Changed From The Days of GWF In Dallas?

One of Buff's earliest breaks in the wrestling industry was with the Global Wrestling Federation from Dallas, Texas. While the company didn't last long, it was the springboard for Bagwell's later career, and decades later, I was curious to know how Buff has seen the wrestling world change since his time with GWF.

"Oh man, it's daylight and dark. I mean, I remember even the Dallas Sportatorium is where we wrestled with Global [Wrestling Federation. When I got that phone call, even though I was only though I was only one year in the business, that was going to be the third company."

Buff thought highly of the GFW, a wrestling company with regular airtime on ESPN every week. GFW didn't last, but Buff is grateful for the short amount of time he did spend at GFW.

"There was WCW and the WWF, and we were going to be the third company. And then in a real short period of time, like a few months later, it was over. But I still- that three months was the biggest three months of my entire career."

Wrestling with Relationships

Buff wrestled alongside famed wrestler Diamond Dallas Page in the WCW days, and once wrestled DDP for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship right here in Shreveport at the Hirsch Coliseum. DDP is well known for his DDP Yoga program and his connections to wrestlers, so I was curious to know how Buff and DDP get along today.

"It's been really special, you know, this business is very hard, it's hard on relationships. It's hard on marriages and friendships. It's all kinds of relationships this business is tough on, and with Dallas, we stayed thick through all of it."

Buff's connection with DDP might be tight today, but it wasn't exactly there when Buff was just breaking into the business.

"You know, we started from my first year in the business. I'm 21 years old, going for rookie of the year, he's 36, going for rookie of the year, and I'm like 'If this old man beats me, I'm gonna kill myself.'"

Louisiana Loved World Championship Wrestling

Louisiana was deeply connected to pro-wrestling back in the pre-WWE days of the sport, and even into the modern era of wrestling, Louisiana has always been a hotbed for the sport. Before I could even ask Buff about his memories in Louisiana, he started telling me about what hot crowds Louisiana always brought out to WCW shows.

"Talking about Louisiana, wrestling in WCW, there was nobody in Louisiana that didn't like WCW. It was a very big WCW state. We didn't have many states back then for WCW. Old school WCW, the only times we really drew crowds was like Alexandria, Louisiana. You know, those little towns like that, WCW would come rolling in for a house show! Not a TV [show]! A house show, and we'd pack it out, man. It was a really special, wonderful thing that I was part of."

Clearly, Louisiana was hot for WCW, and those memories have stuck with Buff decades later.

"I love all the memories of even Thibodaux and Lake Charles, all those towns we used to run and just love it, loved every minute of it. It was a great time to be in wrestling, and we had no idea what was coming."

Nasty Boys Brawl in Shreveport

There's an infamous story about the Nasty Boys getting into a shoot fight with the Outsiders in 1997 at a WCW show in Shreveport. The feud between the two tag teams had gone on for months, and on a night in Shreveport, Jerry Sags of the Nasty Boys had reportedly hit Scott Hall of the Outsiders a little harder than planned for most of the match, at least according to one account of the story. Later in the show, there was a planned segment where Sean Waltman would come and hit Saggs with a chair, but nobody told Saggs that Kevin Nash of the Outsiders would be replacing Waltman.

One thing led to another, and the Nasty Boys were fired after a serious fight between Nash and Saggs knocked out one of Hall's teeth. Since Buff Bagwell was a member of the NWO with the Outsiders, as well as a personal friend of the Nasty Boys, I was curious to know if he remembered this brawl.

"I totally remember it. I don't think I was there, but it was a big stink. Of course, cause it was a shoot deal, I think there were some injuries that came out of it, you know, with that chair shot. But I love the Nasty Boys, period."

Buff, a decorated tag team wrestler, gives a lot of credit to the Nasty Boys.

"The Nasty Boys to me are one of the best tag teams in the history of time. We, me and [2 Cold] Scorpio, were fortunate enough for that to be our very first World Tag Team Title that we won, and it was a big deal to beat the Nasty Boys. So a lot of respect to the Nasty Boys."

"But as far as that fight goes, you know the Nasty Boys are tough, but so are the Outsiders, so somebody's gonna get hurt in a situation like that for sure."

Becoming an Innovative Wrestler

One of the first things Buff did in WCW that he found pride in was the American Males tag team with Scotty Riggs. The tag team was an impressive show of athleticism from both men in the ring, but if one memory of the American Males has stuck with wrestling fans, it's been stuck in their heads for years now.

The American Males had an infamous earworm of an entrance song, seriously check it out. The said song has become somewhat of a meme in the online wrestling community, so I wanted to ask the man himself what he thought of the song.

"Well, first of all, you know Jimmy Hart wrote that song, and I love Jimmy Hart, but when I first heard it, it was embarrassing. It was embarrassingly silly. Here we are trying to be pro-wrestlers, and it's kind of a silly song. I was young, so he always was in my corner, and I didn't want to, you know, dog him out, of course. But it was horrible."

Apparently the instrumental track to the song worked way better for a wrestling tag-team theme song, they even used it for a video shoot Buff tells me.

"We did a video of that song where the words were not in that song, and it was the coolest sounding song without the words. It's incredible."

Buff bragged that he still knew all of the lyrics, even if they are sub-par at best, and yes, he did sing them, but for your sake, this interview is in type so your ears can stay safe.

Buff also has the credit of creating an iconic finishing move that still gets used today, the Buff Blockbuster. I was curious to know how he came up with the move and where the inspiration for it may have come.

"Couple of things. One. It still gets used, and it makes you feel so good because that is my move, I created it! I was a huge Rick Rude fan. I loved the "Ravishing" Rick Rude, and so I loved the Rude Awakening. You can't copy the rude awakening so well, how can I do something like the neckbreaker, but make it cooler and bigger?"

The common types of neckbreakers, like the Rude Awakening mentioned earlier, saw one wrestler drop or slam the other's neck onto their shoulder or knee. Buff's take on the move threw that out the window and instead saw Buff doing a front flip off the second rope to drop his opponent's neck straight onto the wrestling mat, something nobody else had done before.

"So Scotty Riggs and I, before our match at Souled Out, were in the hotel room trying to figure out how to do it, and we decided on coming off the second ropes and doing the flip over into the neckbreaker."

With the invention of a new move, I was curious to know how the process of practicing and perfecting the move was.

"We practiced it in a hotel room, and when we got to the building the next day, we were gonna walk through it and try one in the ring. The first time I ever did that move was live on the Pay-Per-View. We didn't try it in the ring, we just knew, I just knew I could do it."

What Does Buff Think of Ricky Saints and Modern Wrestling

Ricky Saints is beloved here in the Bayou State; it's his home state after all, and he represents the state pride well as the North American Champion of NXT. Chatting with Buff a bit about the current state of pro-wrestling, I wanted to know what he thinks of Ricky.

"I think he's a fantastic talent, man. He has the look, and he's just doing really well; he'll be a major superstar. He's just gonna keep moving on up for sure as long as he stays healthy."

Buff described himself as a hardcore WCW guy during our interview, so I wanted to hear his perspective on All Elite Wrestling attempting to compete with WWE's near monopoly on the wrestling world.

"I think it's fantastic. To me, it sounds like it was when [WCW] was in business. Competition brings money, you never see a McDonald's by itself. McDonald's sells the most hamburgers, but there's going to be a Burger King or a Wendy's close by because competition brings money. Why would [WWE's] Monday Night Raw and [WCW's] Monday Nitro be on the same night? Why not run a different night so everybody watches? Because competition brings money."

AEW is often a hot topic in the wrestling world, with some fans taking a stance as supporters of one company over the other. Buff doesn't see a need to dedicate yourself on the outside looking in, he sees AEW as being a benefit for the business no matter what detractors say about the company's quality.

"AEW is kind of like WCW, they're trying to beat WWE, and it makes it fun for the people, the fans, for there to be an alternative. When WCW went away and it was only the WWE, it wasn't a good thing. Everybody knew it was not going to be a good thing. There's got to be at least two companies. If there's not 2, there's no competition, there's no fun, so contracts go to the bottom."

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Does Buff Bagwell Believe in Joe Hendry?

TNA World Champion Joe Hendry has made a name for himself inside and outside of the wrestling world by becoming a viral star. The success of Joe's self-written and recorded theme song "I Believe in Joe Hendry" has led to the champion of WWE's once rival to appear on their biggest show of the year, WrestleMania.

With all of the hype around Joe Hendry, I had just one question for Buff Bagwell that was burning to be asked: "Do you believe in Joe Hendry?"

"I am a huge fan of Joe Hendry. Man, I just really, really am. As I started to become a fan of his, it was the music and everything, and the turning to the hard camera and all that. I loved it."

Buff, being a wrestler himself, a well-earned veteran in the business as well, had some criticism of Hendry, but was clear to point out Hendry is still doing amazing work.

"But now that I'm seeing it, there's nothing special about him. He has a slightly above average body, he wears the same gear color, his wrestling ability it's not great, but it's above average. He's to me, on paper, an above-average talent. But it works because people believe, and I really believe."

Lastly, I wanted to touch on something a bit more personal to Buff. Buff has been open about his struggles with addiction and sobriety over the last few years, and for the last 2 and a half years has been sober. I wanted to ask Buff what wisdom he's learned on this journey and what he would share with someone else struggling.

"My piece of advice would be to really respect and know and be proud of where you're at in life. [You should] know that if it started happening to where you're starting to replace something with a drink or a drug, you've gotta replace that with something else."

"I didn't just quit drinking or quit drugging. You've got to replace the drink or the drug. What I replaced it with was God, my girlfriend, and myself. That has got me 2 and a half years sober, and I've never been happier.  I've never had a better relationship with Jesus Christ. I've never been a better person than I've been in my life, and it's all due to taking life on, on life's terms, being sober to see it all."

Buff will be appearing at Bayou Independent Wrestling & Frog's Liquidation's Take Up The Shield pro-wrestling show, tomorrow,  April 26th at the Springhill Civic Center in Springhill, Louisiana.