Tag: Buff Bagwell

Buff Bagwell Reveals Leg Amputation, Shares Hopes for In-Ring Return

In a candid and emotional update, wrestling veteran Buff Bagwell has gone public with life-changing news — the former WCW and WWE star revealed he recently underwent a right leg amputation.

Bagwell shared his story on Maven’s YouTube channel, opening up about the difficult decision that stemmed from lingering complications after his 2020 car accident in Marietta, Georgia. That accident, which occurred when Bagwell crashed into a freestanding bathroom at a bus station while driving under the influence, left him with significant leg damage. Despite undergoing multiple surgeries over the past four years, doctors ultimately determined he wasn’t a candidate for knee replacement due to the complete loss of his kneecap.

Faced with the possibility of living with a permanently straightened leg and limited mobility, Bagwell opted for amputation. But instead of letting it define him, the former WCW World Tag Team Champion is using the experience as a source of motivation.

“I want to get back in the ring, run the ropes, have a match. It’ll show that I came out of the darkness and turned it all the way around to be back in the ring as Buff Bagwell. You don’t have to give up with something like this. I’m taking it by the horns and showing that you can have just as good of a life without a leg.”

Bagwell also shared that he’s remained sober and is looking forward to embracing life post-surgery, determined to prove that a setback like this doesn’t have to be the end of the road — in wrestling or in life.

For a man who’s seen the highs and lows of the wrestling world, Buff Bagwell’s latest chapter might just be his most inspiring yet.

Ex-WCW Star Buff Bagwell Was Recently Arrested For Speeding & DUI

Former WCW and WWE star Marcus ‘Buff’ Bagwell was arrested earlier this month, it has been confirmed.

Bagwell was arrested on July 13, according to Cobb County records in Marietta, GA, and was pulled over for speeding, which is a misdemeanor.

Bagwell was also charged with Driving Under the Influence of Drugs, also a misdemeanor, and was released from jail on July 15.

This is the latest setback for Bagwell, who has a history of prior legal issues, many stemming from substance abuse-related reasons.

Earlier this year, Bagwell revealed that he was seven months clean after a lengthy battle with addiction.

Source: eWn

DDP Confirms Former NWO Member Buff Bagwell Has Entered Rehab

It’s been nearly six months since longtime wrestling veteran Buff Bagwell announced he was moving in with Diamond Dallas Page to live in the “accountability crib” and be part of his “Change or Die” docu-series. Unfortunately, DDP took to his YouTube channel earlier today to reveal that Bagwell has suffered a significant setback on his journey to a drug-free life.

“For the most part, [Bagwell] was doing really well, but a lot of times with addiction, it has everything to do with the people you hang out most with. And when he’s with us, our whole force is about positive reinforcement, a place you can be safe. When he goes outside of that, well, those people, they don’t really care about that, or they think they do, but they really don’t … Now, because of some of the negative influences in Mark’s life, and I’m talking about people who love him and enable him, he’s had a relapse, so we had a meeting with all of my people and Marcus, and we all agreed that it was time for him to go to a rehab facility.”

DDP added that they are uncertain how long Bagwell will be at the rehab facility, but he’s currently in a very positive and receptive mindset. According to DDP, the purpose of creating the video is to offer a reason for Bagwell’s upcoming appearances being canceled. Still, they plan to return to regular meet & greets once Bagwell feels confident enough to leave the facility and begin again on the road of recovery. “It’s a tough place, and I’m really hoping that you guys can help support him when he gets out,” DDP said.

Source: Wrestling Inc.

Buff Bagwell Says He Doesn’t ‘Get’ AEW, Plus Bagwell talks About His Time In WCW & WWE

In an interview with Wrestling Inc,’s WINCLY podcast Buff Bagwell gave his thoughts on the upstart promotion All Elite Wrestling, saying he doesn’t know Cody or the Young Bucks. Here are highlights:

On AEW: “At my age, [WWE is the only option], because these other boys are for the young kids and unfortunately, they don’t get it. Nobody knows them. I’m in the industry and don’t know them,” Bagwell said of Cody and The Young Bucks. “So, if I don’t know them, y’all don’t know them. So I don’t get it.”

On his brief tenure in WWE: “It wasn’t my fault that I was 30 and when I joined the WWF and I was going to take somebody’s job. Every single star, when I signed, was 12 years older than me…. It wasn’t my fault, but I sure as heck paid for it.”

On his backstage reputation: “Backstage gossip… hard to get along with, complains. My mom, when she started coming on the road with me…they thought he was acting up, obviously. She realized one day that her son was doing everything right and still, it was just rules in WCW.”

On WCW White Box Rule: One of those WCW rules was a white box that all talent had to enter a code into to document their arrival at each show.”If you didn’t check the box before 12:00, you got fined $500. The second time was a grand and the third time was I think fired. Do y’all really think us being late is our problem,” asked Bagwell. Bagwell said the white box became a headache for all of the WCW talent and affected the morale of everyone. “White box half a shoe box,” Bagwell said about the box. “At any time there was a line of $10 million worth of talent waiting to put the code in so you didn’t get fined off your check. “That’s a true story and Lex Luger and Goldberg and everybody would go to that little box and everybody checked in.”

On his health: “I’m about 80 percent almost back. Not body-wise, muscle-wise, but I’m gonna be 100 percent back in 3-4 months.”

On getting respect he deserves: Bagwell feels he doesn’t always get the respect he deserves for his contributions to pro wrestling. However, he contends that he’s done something that no one else has ever done in the tag team division.

“Most importantly, I think everyone, except you, has always announced me as a five-time world tag team champion and I’m truthfully a six-time world tag team champion with five different partners,” Bagwell told Nick Hausman. “How many guys have had six tag team titles with five different partners? Please let me know. It’s never been done brother.”

On his stand up comedy routine: Bagwell is now telling his wrestling stories via Tall Tales at Doc Holliday’s Saloon in Georgia. He teased one of those stories about a late night encounter with Brian Pillman in which Pillman knocked on his hotel door at 3 am “asking for a razor.”

“It’s three in the morning, so y’all do the math,” said Bagwell before adding “God rest his soul, but he was done before he was 40. I’ve wrestled 70 dead guys now.”

Bagwell uses that backdrop to set up his on stage routine and to detail everything he’s been through in the wrestling world. He says his comedy routine is unique and not something that even the best comics in the world could replicate.

“If Kevin Hart had my material, he couldn’t make it up. It’s too deep. It’s too crazy. That’s what makes this such a great idea and hopefully guys and girls will turn out to raise awareness of this thing. It’s a big deal as people are hungry out there. So I’m really, really excited about it.”

Jerry”The King” Lawler & Rikishi Dance At NBA Game, Wrestle In A Tag Match Against Steiner Brothers With Buff Bagwell

Last night at a Memphis Grizzlies game, WWE Hall of Famers Jerry “The King” Lawler and Rikishi wrestled against The Steiner Brothers (Scott & Rick) with Buff Bagwell to become the new Grind City Tag Team Champions.

Buff Bagwell attempted to crack Lawler with a foreign object during the match, he missed and hit Steiner, allowing Lawler to pick up the win.

In the video below, Lawler and Rikishi would come out during the third quarter of the game to dance with the Memphis Grizzlies’ Grizz Girls. The group danced to Too Cool’s theme and Lawler wore a “Grandmaster Sexay” vest to honor his late son, Brian Christopher.

Buff Bagwell Claims Jim Ross Ruined His Career

Image result for Buff Bagwell Claims Jim Ross Ruined His Career

Buff Bagwell has long-maintained that Jim Ross had something to do with him being fired from the WWE. In a recent interview with Title Match Wrestling, Bagwell stuck to his claims and went on a long-winded rant about JR.

Bagwell asserts that Ross spread rumors about Bagwell’s mother, Judy, calling him to ask if her son could have the weekend off. He said this, coupled with a lackluster match against Booker T on RAW that same week, led to him being released from the company.

“Do you really believe that you’re gonna fire Buff Bagwell over one bad match? Come on, man,” Bagwell said. “Do you really believe, out there in video world, that Buff Bagwell got fired because of his mother? Do people really believe that I had my mother call the WWF and say let him off Augusta in Birmingham? Well f**k no that’s not true! Why would I do that? But people believed it. And one person was responsible: Jim Ross. And only God, Jim Ross and me know the truth, and who’s gonna believe me. Nobody… The true, true story is Jim Ross created that monster, and people believed it.”

As the head of talent relations at the time, it was Ross’ job to inform superstars when their contracts have been terminated. Bagwell understands it wasn’t actually Ross’ decision to let him go.

“It may not have been Jim. Jim made the call, and that’s the route he took,” Bagwell said. “He said, ‘Hey, it’s a s****y job what I got here. It’s a job I gotta do, I gotta call people. It’s a bad job.'”

Ross had responded to Bagwell’s claims on his podcast in 2015, saying he was just doing his job by delivering the news of his firing and he never did anything to ruin his reputation. But Bagwell stands by his beliefs.

“To be honest with you, that could be true,” he said. “But somebody, and I was told it was Jim, somebody started the ‘mother called in’ [rumor]. And what Jim’s leaving out right there, is on video they have a roundtable meeting, and Jim Ross rips my f***ing ass out.”

Bagwell says that he never saw the tape himself because his father told him not to watch it. He then goes into a profanity-laced tirade against Ross, calling him a liar and saying he ruined his career. Bagwell said it would be impossible for him to ever forgive Ross.

“Absolutely not, there’s no way… There’s no way to mend a fence, brother, of costing me my life,” he said. “Jim Ross, I feel and I just proved on tape, Jim Ross ruined my career. He started this f***ing rumor about my mother and ruined my career. How do you mend that fence? How do you do that? Now, do I think he was the mastermind behind it all? Absolutely not… But I think Jim has all to do with what I’m talking about with my mother calling the office, and starting that rumor and everybody believed it. I think Jim was 1,000 percent behind that.”

Source: WrestlingINC

Former ECW, WCW & WWE Star Raven Joins Buff Bagwell’s Lawsuit Against WWE

Source: WrestlingINC

As noted, former WWE and WCW star Marcus “Buff” Bagwell filed a lawsuit against WWE in US District Court of Connecticut last month, claiming that he is owed royalties for his matches that air on the WWE Network. Dave Meltzer reported in the latest issue of The Wrestling Observer that Scott Levy, f.k.a. Raven, has joined the suit as a co-plaintiff.

Meltzer noted the last royalty check that Levy received for the second quarter of 2016 totaled $130.83. Bagwell had received royalties for the 2002 Vengeance pay-per-view, even though he wasn’t with the company that year and didn’t appear on the show. Bagwell’s lawyers apparently had other questions that were never addressed regarding his royalties. They are claiming that WWE’s bookkeeping is questionable, and that they were not able to audit it.

This is not the first time that Levy has been involved in a lawsuit against the company. In 2008, he joined Mike Sanders and Chris Kanyon in a lawsuit against WWE over the classification of wrestlers as independent contractors. That case was ultimately dropped.

Former WCW Wrestler Files Lawsuit Against WWE

Source: WrestlingINC

Former WWE and WCW star Marcus “Buff” Bagwell filed a lawsuit against WWE in US District Court of Connecticut on Tuesday, according to PWInsider. Bagwell claims he is owed royalties from his matches airing on the WWE Network.

Bagwell’s suit notes that he was under contract to WWE from 1991 to 2001 after WWE purchased his contract when they bought WCW in March 2001. His WCW deal expired 4 days after WWE purchased the company. Bagwell was signed to a new deal in June 2001, for WWE’s WCW brand, but he was then released in August of that year after a bad RAW main event against Booker T on June 2nd.

The lawsuit alleges that the WWE deal “merged” with aspects of his former WCW contract that expired in March 2001, originally signed in 1998, and that the WWE contract stated: “This Agreement contains the entire understanding of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and all prior understandings, negotiations and agreements are merged into this Agreement. There are no other agreements, representations, or warranties not set forth herein with respect to the subject matter hereof. . .”

Bagwell believes that WWE is bound by his June 2001 WWE contract in regards to payment of royalties for pay-per-view events and home video content. Bagwell’s suit claims that WWE has ignored the following terms from the contract. It should be noted that WCW mentions in these two paragraphs refers to WWE’s WCW brand.

PPV events: “WCW shall allocate 5% of the Net Receipts paid to WCW with respect to the direct sale by WCW of WCW Pay-Per-Views to a talent royalty pool. Thereafter, WCW shall pro-rate payment to Plaintiff and all other talent appearing in such WCW Pay-Per-Views in the same proportion as was the compensation paid to Plaintiff for his appearances in the pay-per-views to the total amount paid to all talent for their appearances on the pay-per-views.”Home video content: “The WCW Video Product is a compilation or derivative work of multiple individual WCW Pay-Per-Views in their entirety, such as a collection of videos, e.g., a WrestleMania box set, payment to Plaintiff shall be calculated as follows: 5% of the Net Receipts paid to WCW shall comprise the talent royalty pool, which shall first be pro-rated based on the number of individual videos in the compilation, and then the payment to Plaintiff for each video shall be consistent with the royalty payment to the Plaintiff at the time each individual video was first released.”

Bagwell notes that the Net Receipts mentioned above would be the gross amount received by WWE, questioning what’s allegedly owed to him as the WWE Network grossed $154.9 million in the final quarter of 2015 and they stream the old WCW pay-per-view events that he performed on. Bagwell also believes he is owed royalties from the WWE Network because language in his 2001 WWE contract said, “video cassettes, videodiscs, CD ROM, or other technology, including technology not yet created.”

Bagwell’s suit also claims that when he was released in August 2001, language in that release agreement noted that WWE was buying out all obligations from his contract, except for royalties that would be owed in the future, as determined by the contract. The release agreement also contained language that said Bagwell could not bring legal action against WWE as long as they stuck to the terms of the release agreement. Bagwell is alleging that WWE broke the agreement by not paying him royalties. The lawsuit also includes a 2016 First Quarter royalties statement sent to Bagwell by WWE, stating that they owe him no royalties. Bagwell does acknowledge that he was owed no royalties for pay-per-view or home video under his 1998 WCW deal, but he claims he’s now owed for that content because the WWE contract changed the terms.

The lawsuit also acknowledges that WWE successfully defended itself against similar allegations from Eddie Gilbert’s estate, former GWF wrestler Stevie Ray and former AWA star Doug Somers, but that those wrestlers had no contractual rights to sue the company. Bagwell says that he has the right to sue WWE because of WWE breaking the agreement.

Bagwell also says his WWE contract allows for him to have his own independent certified accountant do an audit of the books for WWE’s WCW brand. Bagwell claims he tried to have an audit done in June 2016 but was initially told it could be done in late July or early August of this year. He was then informed by WWE lawyers that there would be no audit because Bagwell’s accountant “asserted a pretextual and invalid audit request to attempt to stealthily obtain that information (WWE Network royalty audit)” and that “there is nothing to audit” because Bagwell is not paid WWE Network royalties. Because WWE blocked the audit attempt, Bagwell claims they have forfeited any claim that he did not satisfy their prerequisite actions before filing the lawsuit. The lawsuit also serves as an official dispute of WWE’s 2016 First Quarter royalties statement.

The lawsuit is set up as a class-action suit for talents facing similar situations. Talents who signed a WWE Legends deal from 2004 on are exempt from the class as terms in those deals specifically note that WWE will not pay royalties for “Internet subscriptions or video on demand fees.”

Bagwell’s suit is asking the court to prevent WWE from placing pay-per-view and non-PPV material on the Network until the class is paid royalties and that the class be paid within 90 days of the end of a financial quarter.

Bagwell is asking for a trial by jury. WWE has until November 9th to file a motion to dismiss the lawsuit but PWInsider reports that they have not been served with the lawsuit yet, as of Wednesday.