Buff Bagwell talked to Dominic DeAngelo of WrestleZone. for an exclusive interview before he goes on stage to share some stories about his wild life in wrestling tonight at the historic Doc Holliday’s Saloon in Griffin, GA.
Bagwell gave a bit of a preview as to what fans can expect tonight by talking about the moment when he was paralyzed in the ring during his match with Rick Steiner and how he thinks WWE created a scene firing him in his hometown of Atlanta after his one match on RAW. Buff also makes it known that to his knowledge, he’s the only man to win six World Tag Team Championships with five different people. Quotes from the interview are below:
Buff Bagwell reflects on Eric Bischoff’s plane crash pitch & the scary moment of breaking his neck against Rick Steiner:
But unless I’m crazy, I’ve got a whole story he told me that I was coming back at Halloween Havoc and coming down as a ghost, I even called my parents. I even called my parents and said, ‘Listen to me: I don’t want to scare y’all,’ cause they’ve already seen me break my neck on TV. On live TV April 22, 1998 I break my neck on TV with Rick Steiner and I was paralyzed for 10 minutes. 10 minutes is 10 weeks. I’m not kidding ya, I was paralyzed, it was over. It’s done. I was already thinking about Christopher Reeves, and getting screws in my neck and therapy, I was already at that stage. I wasn’t even crying, because it was so, so weird.
On his recent surgeries:
I’ve had eight surgeries in the last four years. Eight. Five on one left hip. I went in for a hip replacement and five surgeries later and to this day, I’m only 16 weeks post-op.
On being a one-of-a-kind tag team champion:
I’m asking anybody out there that if they know somebody that’s got six World Tag Team Championships and they did it with five different people, to please let me know. I haven’t got a pat on the back, I haven’t got a trophy for it. I don’t want a trophy for it, I don’t want a pat on the back for it, but I at least want it to be known that nobody else has done it I don’t think.
On wrestling Harlem Heat:
Oh my God, do you realize how many times I’ve wrestled the Harlem Heat? There was [2 Cold] Scorpio in the 90s, there were Stars & Stripes a thousand times, we did American Males a thousand times.
On getting fired by the WWE in his hometown of Atlanta:
So that’s what makes it so funny about the story of ‘Well, Buff’s match with Booker T wasn’t good so that’s why we fired him.’ You don’t fire Buff Bagwell after twelve years of perfect matches, respect and if I tripped or fell or messed a spot up…and you fire me because we have a bad match?
They could have told me, ‘Hey, listen, we do it a little different here and blah, blah, blah,’ but you don’t fire Buff Bagwell in Atlanta. They fired me in my hometown, bro. Hometown. All they had to do was call me and call me and say, ‘Don’t come!’ Instead I had to wheel my bags out with every wrestler going, ‘Where you going?’ Cause nobody rolls their bags out after three o’clock or so, so everybody would ask, I’d mumble. I’d just mumble because I didn’t know what to say. It just was so weird.
Bagwell also goes on to talk about Shane McMahon’s visit to Panama City the day WCW was bought by Vince McMahon and who he enjoyed tagging with the most (which was all of his tag partners).
Full audio is below & if you’re in the Griffin area tonight, more details about the show and how it benefits Operation Lunchbox are also below. Showtime is at 7:30 pm.
ATTORNEY TEAMS UP WITH COMEDIAN TO HELP FEED HUNGRY CHILDREN
by mixing stand-up comedy and pro wrestlers road stories live on stage
Griffin comedian Tim Gonzalez and The Sellers Law Firm L.L.C are hosting Tall Tales at Doc Holliday’s Saloon in their joint effort to raise awareness for Operation Lunchbox and its mission to feed hungry students in the area.
Tall Tales, a live Stand-up comedy show with road stories from some of the biggest, funniest, and most notorious names in sports and entertainment, is hosted inside the historic saloon once owned by the Wild West legend himself, Doc Holliday.
Scheduled guests include 6-time WCW World Tag-Team Champion, NWO member, pro wrestler, and actor Marcus Buff “the Stuff” Bagwell. Actor and former world champion professional wrestler who is best known for his appearances in WWE, WCW, ECW & TNA, Johnny Swinger aka Johnny Parisi. Also, as seen on BET, Bounce TV, Showtime & “Kattpacalypse”, and 6 tours with comedian Katt Williams, & comedian Ashima Franklin. From Rock105.5 and Adult Swim, comedian and actor, Vinny Bucci. Hosted by Tim Gonzalez (NBCsn, MancaveTV)
General admission is $10 and if you bring any nonperishable food item, you will receive a free meet & greet pass. You can also sponsor a kid for $250.00 and insure that for an entire year he/she doesn’t’ go hungry. www.operationlunchbox.org
“I believe that together, we can end child hunger starting in our community.”
Dave Newman- Operation Lunchbox
About the mission: Operation Lunchbox is a non-profit has packed and delivered food to area schools weekly for over four years. Currently Operation Lunchbox is feeding 33% of the 4,800 children that have been identified by their schools as being “hungry” over the weekend.
