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Marcus “Buff†Bagwell has spoken out on why WWE’s attempt at the WCW brand never took off, and why his WWE run lasted only one month.
As you know, the WWE bought out World Championship Wrestling just before WrestleMania X7 in 2001. The WWE also took over the talent contracts for many of the younger stars, with Bagwell and Booker T being two of the oldest. Shortly after WM, the WWE started featuring WCW themed matches on their programming. There was a plan to run a separate WCW brand under the WWE header. But this was dropped in favour of a faction feud which lasted for several months instead. Bagwell had one match, and then was released one week later for his “poor backstage attitudeâ€. In a two part interview with the UK’s WrestleTalk TV, Bagwell revealed why he was released and why the WCW brand never took off.
• Buff is aware that most people blame his WWE match with Booker T for making Vince McMahon change his mind about the WCW brand. Even though McMahon poured millions into it, he is convinced that McMahon intended for it to fail. He even praised McMahon as “smart†for doing it that way.
• Their match main-evented a Raw in Tacoma, Washington. If McMahon wanted the brand launch to be successful, they would have waited one more week because Raw was in Atlanta, Georgia. They would have been guaranteed a good reaction from the pro-WCW crowd.
• He admits that he and Booker T were “not even close to main-event status†in WCW. They were not ready to main event a show that also had bigger stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Triple H on it.
• He claims that he never had a bad match with Booker T in WCW, but their WWE match was awful. The fans were right to boo them out of the building. It was the worst reaction that he or Booker T ever received, and they were shocked by it.
• After the match, Booker T said that Buff’s timing was a little off. Buff asked him not to say things like that because they were on the same team. Booker immediately apologised.
• John Laurinaitis and other members of WWE Management apologised to Booker and Buf for how bad the match and accepted responsibility for it. Laurinaitis said that Pat Paterson was supposed to explain how to do a WWE-style match, but he didn’t. The pair thought that they answered to Laurinaitis and that it was his job to explain this to them, but he didn’t either.
• Jim Ross phoned Buff and told him to take 2 days off before the Atlanta show. He said that they had big plans for Buff. However, a rumour started that Buff’s mother had phoned Ross and asked for time off to recover from a head injury.
• Buff had a meeting with McMahon, Laurinaitis and Ross before the show in Atlanta. He was expecting to hear about the big plans that Ross said they had. After 10 seconds, Buff suddenly realised that he was about to be fired. He asked them outright, and they said no. They said that they were going to release him instead. Buff asked them what the difference was, and Ross said that they would have to draw up a new contract if they wanted to fire him. If they release him, they can bring him back within 3 months without having to offer a new deal with no problems. Buff implied that if they released him, he did not expect them to bring him back.
• He has no hard feelings with anyone within the WWE apart from Ross. He blames Ross for starting the rumour about his mother ringing him. He claims that the rumour ruined his career.
• Buff claims that no-one from WWE management has ever been in contact with him since that night in Atlanta.
• He said that if he was made an offer by the WWE, he would take it and do what he could to earn it.
• Buff apologised to wrestling fans for WCW not working out. He believes that fans wound up with just one product that nobody is happy with, and fewer wrestlers can get jobs now.
As you know, the WWE bought out World Championship Wrestling just before WrestleMania X7 in 2001. The WWE also took over the talent contracts for many of the younger stars, with Bagwell and Booker T being two of the oldest. Shortly after WM, the WWE started featuring WCW themed matches on their programming. There was a plan to run a separate WCW brand under the WWE header. But this was dropped in favour of a faction feud which lasted for several months instead. Bagwell had one match, and then was released one week later for his “poor backstage attitudeâ€. In a two part interview with the UK’s WrestleTalk TV, Bagwell revealed why he was released and why the WCW brand never took off.
• Buff is aware that most people blame his WWE match with Booker T for making Vince McMahon change his mind about the WCW brand. Even though McMahon poured millions into it, he is convinced that McMahon intended for it to fail. He even praised McMahon as “smart†for doing it that way.
• Their match main-evented a Raw in Tacoma, Washington. If McMahon wanted the brand launch to be successful, they would have waited one more week because Raw was in Atlanta, Georgia. They would have been guaranteed a good reaction from the pro-WCW crowd.
• He admits that he and Booker T were “not even close to main-event status†in WCW. They were not ready to main event a show that also had bigger stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Triple H on it.
• He claims that he never had a bad match with Booker T in WCW, but their WWE match was awful. The fans were right to boo them out of the building. It was the worst reaction that he or Booker T ever received, and they were shocked by it.
• After the match, Booker T said that Buff’s timing was a little off. Buff asked him not to say things like that because they were on the same team. Booker immediately apologised.
• John Laurinaitis and other members of WWE Management apologised to Booker and Buf for how bad the match and accepted responsibility for it. Laurinaitis said that Pat Paterson was supposed to explain how to do a WWE-style match, but he didn’t. The pair thought that they answered to Laurinaitis and that it was his job to explain this to them, but he didn’t either.
• Jim Ross phoned Buff and told him to take 2 days off before the Atlanta show. He said that they had big plans for Buff. However, a rumour started that Buff’s mother had phoned Ross and asked for time off to recover from a head injury.
• Buff had a meeting with McMahon, Laurinaitis and Ross before the show in Atlanta. He was expecting to hear about the big plans that Ross said they had. After 10 seconds, Buff suddenly realised that he was about to be fired. He asked them outright, and they said no. They said that they were going to release him instead. Buff asked them what the difference was, and Ross said that they would have to draw up a new contract if they wanted to fire him. If they release him, they can bring him back within 3 months without having to offer a new deal with no problems. Buff implied that if they released him, he did not expect them to bring him back.
• He has no hard feelings with anyone within the WWE apart from Ross. He blames Ross for starting the rumour about his mother ringing him. He claims that the rumour ruined his career.
• Buff claims that no-one from WWE management has ever been in contact with him since that night in Atlanta.
• He said that if he was made an offer by the WWE, he would take it and do what he could to earn it.
• Buff apologised to wrestling fans for WCW not working out. He believes that fans wound up with just one product that nobody is happy with, and fewer wrestlers can get jobs now.
