WWE Axed Buff Bagwell After One Bad Match Tipped The Scales

When WWE purchased WCW in March of 2001, wrestling fans were at the edge of their seats pondering all of the star power that just might cross over and the dream matchups that might ensue. As we all now know, for a multitude of reasons (most of them contractual), very few of those came to fruition—at least right away—and instead, the first real presence of WCW (in any incarnation) on WWE television featured Booker T defending the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Buff Bagwell as the main event on an episode of "WWE Raw." While the former persevered, eventually becoming a two-time WWE Hall of Famer, whose presence in the company is still felt today, the latter would never again be seen in WWE, in large part due to his performance in that one-and-only televised match.

Ending just shy of five minutes from bell to bell, thanks to interference from WWE stalwarts "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Kurt Angle, the match was widely regarded as an absolute drag, and often thought to be the catalyst for hotshotting the eventual "Invasion" angle, which also fell flat after such high initial expectations. Bagwell would suffer the consequence when, a week later, he was excused from "Raw" tapings and told that his services would no longer be needed by the company. With the Booker T match as the most visible evidence for cause, it was also said that Bagwell had an unsavory attitude in general, participated in a backstage altercation with Shane Helms, and possibly even faked an injury before "SmackDown" tapings the night after his poor showing on "Raw."

Bagwell would continue his wrestling career across the independent circuit, as well as in a handful of matches for TNA as his most prominent showings between 2002 and 2006, most likely wrapping up his in-ring career for Memphis Wrestling in 2024, given the fact that he had to have his left leg amputated above the knee earlier this year after years of complications following a car accident in 2020.