Show: Wrestling Epicenter (http://www.WrestlingEpicenter.com)
Guests: Buff Bagwell & Shark Boy
Date: October 27, 2005
Your Hosts: Chuck D, James Walsh, and Francine
Recap By: James Walsh
This week, the Wrestling Epicenter welcomes another trifecta of stars.
First up, “The Queen of Extreme” Francine stops by as always. This week, Francine says what can make her hate the wrestling business. She also sticks around to discuss WWE RAW from this past Monday night.
Up next is TNA superstar Shark Boy. Shark Boy is such a different character for wrestling these days and in this interview, he discusses where the idea for the character came from and his take on TNA’s new deal on Spike TV.
And finally, he’s Buff, he’s the stuff, and the girls still can’t get enough. Markus “Buff” Bagwell joins us and answers the question of why he has such heat in the business to the best of his ability. If you like shoot remarks, this interview is nothing but a damn shoot. I love it!
To hear all this plus our tribute to WCW Halloween Havoc through the years, check out http://www.WrestlingEpicenter.com and download the show in glorious streaming digital media.
BUFF BAGWELL:
— Chuck welcomes Buff to the program to which Buff screams, “I’m Buff, I’m the stuff, and the girls can’t get enough!’ Oh yeah, it’s Buff all right!
— Buff says he’s staying busy on the indy scene. He feels lucky to be one of the few who can make a living doing the indy scene.
— Buff is talking with TNA but nothing is signed or certain yet.
— One thing that Buff feels sets him apart from the TNA guys is when you see TNA guys work, people say, “Wow, that was a great match. What were their names again?” He also says that people recognize him on the street still years after he was on TV. He says it’s not the TNA guys’ fault, it is timing. He was lucky enough to be on TV with the nWo and when wrestling was red hot.
— James says he thinks seeing Buff in TNA would be great because a Buff Bagwell VS Bobby Roode match would benefit Bobby Roode more so than a Bobby Roode VS Mikey Batts match. Buff says, “It takes a star to make a star.”
— Hulk Hogan and JBL told us the indy workers “learn the moves but don’t’ learn wrestling.” Buff Bagwell agrees with them.
— Buff says AJ Styles is probably the best in the business today. “The best talent, the best performer, the best person. But, if he walked through a mall, nobody would know him.” Buff pins that on the lack of television exposure and the fact he wasn’t around when wrestling was red hot a few years ago.
— Buff was with AJ in Hawaii and AJ said, “Gosh, Marc. Everybody knows you.” Buff said that’s because he was on TV for 10-15 years. Buff says he’s humbled by the fact that people still recognize him.
— James mentions that he was a mark for the Handsome Stranger character Buff played in the Global Wrestling Federation. Buff says, “Oh god.” Buff talks about that character and draws a comparison between TNA and the GWF as they were both up and coming promotions that had afternoon time slots on sports stations.
— Buff goes back a step talking about North Georgia Wrestling and ends up telling us how he got signed to WCW.
— Buff feels he was a “white-meat baby-face” the entire time in WCW. “It stayed that way,” says Buff. He explains that whenever someone would come in, he was the sacrificial lamb for that person. James mentions remembering seeing Marcus Bagwell VS Dick Slater about 750 times. Buff laughs and says, “I swear to God I was going to say Dick Slater!”
— Buff is proud to have the record for most tag titles with different partners in wrestling history. “I love tag. There are a lot of things that go into a tag match,” says Buff. He feels he doesn’t get enough credit for being able to adapt to the different tag team partners he had comparing 2 Cold Scorpio to Scott “Flash” Norton and how they were totally different styles yet it just seemed to fit.
— Chuck asks a tough question. Is Buff Bagwell an overly confident person and does that result in his heat with the boys? Buff says, “It wasn’t always that way. I only got over-confident when it was time to.” Buff says in order to be the next Goldberg, Hogan, or Rock, you have to stand up and make sure people notice your positives.
— Buff says if he had a nickel for everybody that tells him “Wow, I heard you’re a bad guy but you’re a good guy,” he’d be rich.
— James says he felt it was insane that the Internet dogged him after he broke his neck. Buff says to think about it. He broke his neck and came back 10 months later.
— “The worst thing they did was turn me heel,” says Buff when discussing directly after his broken neck. Buff says he got emails and letters from fans that would make him cry after his injury and instead of having Buff play off that sympathy, they turned him heel and spat in those people’s faces. “I thought it was stupid. But, when we were making the money we were making then, I just did what I was told. Yes Sir!”
— On top of all that, Buff faced the same person who broke his neck, Rick Steiner, when he came back and they wanted him to do the same finish he got hurt on. “I didn’t do it! I told them I’d take it face forward. I was scared of it.”
— Chuck still is stuck on why people dislike Buff so much. Buff says “That’s my question exactly. But, at least I got to ask it to Vince McMahon. I said Vince, let me ask you a question. You’ve got guys like Triple H having sex with cheerleaders that are dead in a casket to get heat. I got heat just walking down the street!”
— Right before Buff got released, he sat down with Jim Ross and Vince McMahon. JR said to Buff, “If we could just take your heat behind the curtain and put it out there, we’ve got money.” Buff looked back and said, “Then why don’t we?” Buff feels that should’ve gotten through to them. JR and Vince looked at each other and said “Oh, we’re going to” then sent him home and he knew it was over. He shook hands with everyone and went home.
— As for the chance to join the nWo, Buff jumped at it. James and Chuck discuss what it was like in the heart of WWE country, New Jersey/New York, with people actually spray painting the nWo letters on the back of their cars and how it just struck a chord with people. Buff says, “It was unreal.”
— Buff says even as part of the nWo, he was the “white-meat baby-face” or sacrificial lamb. He lost to whoever was coming up against the nWo. “But, I think I got over more by losing than winning. At the end of the match, the fans said, “Wow, that guy is entertaining” and almost forgot that I lost.”
— As for the chaos backstage at WCW? “Oh God. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians,” says Buff.
— Buff says he was ready to explode onto the mainstream in the summer of 1999 but they put him with Earnest “The Cat” Miller. He didn’t have a problem with it because he knows you build new stars and that’s how the business works. But, wee 1, he got beat up. Week 2, he got beat up, week 3, he got beat up. Come week 4, the pay-per-view, Buff feels he should’ve gotten the win. Mike Graham came up to Buff and gave him one finish, Arn Anderson came over to Buff and gave him another… In both, Buff was to lose. So, he put his foot down then and told them if that was the finish for the feud, he wouldn’t have done the previous weeks of shows getting beaten up.
— Buff did not refuse to job to Alex “Berlyn” Wright. At Fall Brawl, Hacksaw filled in for Buff in a match billed as Buff against Berlyn. Buff came in late. Buff says it was supposed to be an angle that the boys come in late and was nothing personal on him but he doesn’t understand why they never did anything with it.
— “The Titanic got hit when we started taping Nitro and Thunder on the same night,” says Buff. He feels that was a sign that the company was nearing death because the costs were just cut so much that it was ridiculous.
— Speeding things up, we then ask Buff about his match with Booker T on RAW and if it is why he got fired. “Lets just say the match was terrible. You don’t fire Buff Bagwell for one bad match, “says Buff. He doesn’t believe that is why he was fired. He feels everybody is entitled to an off night.
— Buff feels that match wasn’t as well received because it took place in Washington instead of, where was booked the next week for RAW, Atlanta. He feels an Atlanta crowd would’ve appreciated it more. Buff can’t believe they started the Invasion, the first WCW match, one week before Atlanta.
— The deal with Shane “Gregory” Helms is simple. Shane was in the ring, Buff was on the outside. They started getting into it, Helms said something to Buff, Buff responded by doing an impression of Helms, which he does for us and is a funny thing you must hear, and his lisp. Helms had a response to which Buff said, “We could either forget this now and move on or I can beat your brains in.” Helms dared him to take a shot, Buff slapped him and he rolled through to the corner. Buff walked away thinking he had “shown his ass again” and may have screwed up. Helms had a frozen water bottle on his ribs and as Buff turned around, Helms hit him with it in the back of the head requiring 19 stitches.
— When Buff was asked by Fit Finley and the WWE what happened, he said, “I fell” because Helms was with Buff in the bathroom sobbing because he thought he would lose his job. Buff was nice enough to cover for him but learned quickly after when Helms walked in with the Hardy Boys and Buff tried to say hello and Helms ignored him that something was up.
— Does it anger Buff? “Not at all.” Buff goes on to say, “He’s not a freckle on my ass” when discussing Helms.
— As he said earlier, he knew when the WWE sent him home, he was done. But, he does have a story he wants to share.
— The WWE came to a town near Buff recently and a friend of his asked if Buff wanted to go. Buff felt he couldn’t go because he couldn’t be a fan. But, in the end, decided to go and see what was up. So, he is sitting in the crowd on the floor and some of the fans start to notice him. A few fans come up and ask for autographs and to take pictures and those few fans turn into a crowd of people asking for photos and an autograph. The WWE saw this and Johnny Ace came out to talk to Buff. He invited Buff to come backstage. Buff felt he was “damned if I do and damned if I don’t.” If Buff didn’t go, he’d be snubbing the WWE. But, if he did go, the boys would rip on him. He decided to go backstage and meet with the boys. That night, he talked to Johnny Ace for over an hour. Johnny said he looks great and would call him on Monday. That was 4 months ago this past Monday and still no call.
— Buff figures that just lets him know that there pretty much is no going back there because if a guy can draw a crowd just by sitting in a seat at an event, maybe he could be a draw for the company.
— Buff hopes to be in TNA one day but if that doesn’t happen, he knows he’ll do fine on the indy scene.
— You can check out Buff at his new official site http://www.TheRealBuff.com.
****** PROGRAMMING NOTE:
For those of you on the East coast, the Wrestling Epicenter’s time slot also falls back an hour as you change your clocks this weekend. So, check out the Wrestling Epicenter this Wednesday night at 10:30 EST only at http://www.WrestlingEpicenter.com and “The Blaze” 1260 AM!
