Buff Bagwell
Marcus Alexander Bagwell is an American retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Buff Bagwell. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling from 1991 to 2001, where he was a five-time World Tag Team Champion.
Professional wrestling career
helped Bagwell break into the wrestling business. Growing up, Bagwell was a standout baseball player during his tenure in Sprayberry High School, and worked for his family's lumber company. Upon graduating from high school, he started an amateur boxing career. When the lumber company went bankrupt, Bagwell became a certified massage therapist before deciding to become a wrestler.Early career (1990–1991)
He trained under Steve Lawler and debuted in 1990, working for North Georgia Wrestling as Fabulous Fabian. In 1991, he began wrestling with the Global Wrestling Federation as The Handsome Stranger, a gimmick suggested by Demolition Ax that saw Bagwell don a Lone Ranger-style mask, and hand out roses to the female fans.World Championship Wrestling (1991–2001)
Early years (1991–1992)
In 1991, Bagwell was hired by World Championship Wrestling, where he wrestled under his full name. Bagwell made his WCW debut on November 5 in a non-televised match, losing to Mike Graham. He would then wrestle a tryout match on November 11 and made his televised debut as a fan favorite at Clash of the Champions XVII, where he was interviewed by Missy Hyatt. He made his televised in-ring debut by defeating Rip Rogers on the December 14 episode of World Championship Wrestling. Bagwell made his pay-per-view debut at Starrcade, where he was paired with Jimmy Garvin against Michael Hayes and Tracy Smothers in a Lethal Lottery match, which he and Garvin won after Bagwell hit Smothers with the fisherman suplex to qualify for the Battlebowl battle royal later in the night, which Sting won. Bagwell received his first title shot on the January 11, 1992 episode of World Championship Wrestling against Steve Austin for the World Television Championship, but failed to win the title as the match ended in a ten-minute time limit draw. Bagwell would then begin feuding with the Terry Taylor, which led to a match between the two at SuperBrawl II, which Bagwell won.Bagwell formed a tag team with Tom Zenk on the February 15 episode of World Championship Wrestling, to feud with Taylor and his partner Greg Valentine over the United States Tag Team Championship and received several title shots, but failed to win the titles. Bagwell would then lose a match to Scotty Flamingo at WrestleWar. The duo would participate in a tournament for the newly created NWA World Tag Team Championship, where they would lose to Rick Rude and Steve Austin in the first round at Clash of the Champions XIX. Bagwell would then face Greg Valentine in a losing effort at Beach Blast. Bagwell and Zenk would fail in several title shots and after limited success as a team, they split up quietly and focused on their singles careers. He would then form a short-lived tag team with Brad Armstrong for the remainder of the year until the two split up in early 1993.
World Tag Team Champion (1993–1996)
Bagwell participated in a tournament for the vacant World Television Championship on the February 20, 1993 episode of Worldwide, where he lost to Maxx Payne in the first round. On the February 20 episode of Saturday Night, Bagwell teamed with 2 Cold Scorpio and Steve Regal to defeat Scotty Flamingo, Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce in a six-man tag team match. This would lead to the formation of a tag team of Bagwell and Scorpio. During this time, Bagwell began a feud with the Hollywood Blonds, which led to Bagwell teaming with Erik Watts to take on The Hollywood Blonds in a tag team match at SuperBrawl III, which Bagwell's team lost. Bagwell resumed teaming with Scorpio and the team gained success unlike Bagwell's previous teams as they defeated various teams including Bobby Eaton and Chris Benoit at Slamboree, Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce at Beach Blast and The Equalizer and Paul Orndorff at Fall Brawl. As a result of their success in the tag team division, they quickly became contenders for the World Tag Team Championship. On the October 23 episode of Saturday Night, Bagwell and Scorpio defeated the Nasty Boys to win the World Tag Team Championship, thus marking Bagwell's first title win in WCW. They lost the titles back to The Nasty Boys at Halloween Havoc.Bagwell would be paired with Tex Slazenger against Rick Rude and Shanghai Pierce in a Battlebowl qualifying match at the Battlebowl pay-per-view on November 20, which Bagwell's team lost. Bagwell and Scorpio would then begin feuding with the newly formed team Pretty Wonderful, which led to a match at Starrcade, which Pretty Wonderful won. Bagwell and Scorpio defeated Pretty Wonderful in a rematch at Clash of the Champions XXVI to earn a title shot for the World Tag Team Championship against The Nasty Boys on the January 29, 1994 episode of Saturday Night, but failed in regaining the titles. Bagwell received his first world championship title shot on the final episode of Power Hour on March 5 against Rick Rude for the International World Heavyweight Championship, which he lost. Shortly after, Scorpio was released by WCW, thus dissolving Bagwell and Scorpio's tag team.
On the May 28 episode of Worldwide, Bagwell formed a new tag team with The Patriot called Stars and Stripes as they defeated Dick Slater and Chris Sullivan in their first match as a team. They were quickly put in contention for the World Tag Team Championship and entered a feud with the champions Pretty Wonderful over the titles. After losing to Pretty Wonderful in a title shot at Fall Brawl, Stars and Stripes defeated them in a rematch on the September 25 episode of Main Event to win the World Tag Team Championship, thus marking Bagwell's second reign with the title. They lost the titles back to Pretty Wonderful at Halloween Havoc but won the titles a second time at Clash of the Champions XXIX. They lost the titles to Harlem Heat on December 8, which aired on the January 14, 1995 episode of Saturday Night. Stars and Stripes failed in regaining the titles from Harlem Heat in rematches at Clash of the Champions XXX, the February 11 episode of Saturday Night and the March 5 episode of WorldWide.
Bagwell would enter a tournament for the vacant WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, losing to Meng in the opening round on the April 29 episode of Saturday Night. The Patriot left WCW in May and Bagwell resumed to singles competition while making makeshift tag teams with Jim Duggan, Johnny B. Badd and Alex Wright to regain the World Tag Team Championship but could not regain the titles.
On the September 16 episode of Saturday Night, Bagwell formed a tag team with Scotty Riggs called the American Males as they defeated State Patrol in their debut match. The newly formed team defeated Harlem Heat to win the World Tag Team Championship on the September 18 episode of Monday Nitro. They lost the titles back to Harlem Heat on the October 28 episode of Saturday Night. Bagwell participated in the first-ever World War 3 battle royal at the namesake event for the vacant WCW World Heavyweight Championship, which was won by Randy Savage. The American Males received a rematch for the tag team titles against Harlem Heat on the December 4 episode of Nitro, which they failed to win. The team would find no success afterwards and would lose most of their matches throughout 1996. During this time, Bagwell made only two pay-per-view appearances; the first at The Great American Bash, where he lost to Diamond Dallas Page and the second at World War 3, where he participated in the namesake match with the winner earning a title shot for the World Heavyweight Championship, but failed to win the match.
New World Order (1996–1999)
On November 25, 1996, Bagwell joined the New World Order after turning on his partner Scotty Riggs. He soon renamed himself to Buff Bagwell. To go along with his name change he developed the habits of flexing his muscles and would talk to the camera insulting his opponents while complimenting himself. Bagwell began feuding with Riggs, defeating him in a match at Souled Out. Bagwell then represented nWo against Diamond Dallas Page at SuperBrawl VII, which he lost via disqualification after nWo members interfered in the match. Following the event, Bagwell resumed his feud with Riggs, which culminated in a strap match between the two at Uncensored, which Bagwell won. Shortly after, Bagwell formed a tag team with nWo teammate Scott Norton called Vicious and Delicious. The team feuded with established teams like Harlem Heat and Steiner Brothers including a loss to Harlem Heat at Road Wild. While with the nWo, he also competed for New Japan Pro-Wrestling as a part of nWo Japan, the NJPW version of the nWo. When he returned to America, he began a feud with Lex Luger, which later saw Bagwell defeat him, with the assistance of nWo, at Starrcade.On the April 22, 1998 edition of Thunder, Bagwell wrestled a tag team match with Scott Norton against Rick Steiner and Lex Luger which they won when Scott Steiner interfered on his behalf. Just before that, Rick attempted his diving bulldog finishing move, which was not executed correctly and resulted in Bagwell's head striking Steiner's back, jamming his neck and severely injuring him. Bagwell was diagnosed with several damaged vertebrae and developed spinal shock, leading him to use a wheelchair and neck brace for months. He returned for an interview only to be ridiculed by Hollywood Hogan and shoved to the entryway floor. On July 6, after recently having neck surgery, the wheelchair-ridden Bagwell returned to WCW in his home state of Georgia. Bagwell seemed to have a new attitude and even called out Rick Steiner to offer him his forgiveness. Bagwell restrained Rick while fellow nWo member Scott Steiner assaulted him with a steel chair, reaffirming his loyalty to Hogan and the nWo. Bagwell then rose from his wheelchair and helped Scott beat down Rick. Later that same year, on the October 19 edition of Nitro, Bagwell claimed to be done with the nWo after saving Rick during an attack by Scott in the ring. This led to Bagwell convincing Rick to team up together at Halloween Havoc against Scott and The Giant, who were defending the tag team championships per "nWo rules". During the match, Bagwell once again turned on Rick to again reaffirm his loyalty to the nWo, but their tactics were unsuccessful as Rick would find a way to win the match by himself. In January 1999, the nWo factions reunited, leading Bagwell and Steiner to side with the nWo Wolfpac. Their alliance ended at Uncensored when Bagwell accidentally hit Steiner with a chair, costing him the World Television Championship.