WRESTLING NEWS
Buff Bagwell's First And Only WWE Match Proved To Be A Low Point For His Career
By JON ALLRED
On July 2, 2001, WWF relaunched WCW, with Booker T defending the WCW Championship against Buff Bagwell as the boos rained down from the audience. The cheers began when Steve Austin and Kurt Angle came to the ring, beating up Booker and throwing him and Bagwell out of the venue — that was the last we ever saw of Buff on WWF TV.
Bagwell said in an interview, "I'm the only wrestler [...] to be the main event one week and fired the next." Bagwell joined WWF after Vince McMahon bought out his WCW contract, and though he never won a singles championship in WCW, Bagwell was a five-time tag-team champion and only 31 years old at the time.
Arriving at WWF at the prime of his career, Bagwell expected success, but because of the match with Booker and reports of his poor attitude, he was fired the following Monday in Atlanta. Believing that Jim Ross had a hand in his firing, Bagwell said, "the only thing that saved me [...] was at least the fans knew I got screwed."
Following his termination, Bagwell toured with "World Wrestling All Stars" before making sporadic appearances for TNA from 2002 through 2006, but he has been in the news for his two car crashes (2010, 2012) and arrests (2004, 2021). With the help of longtime friend Dallas Page, Bagwell entered the Black Bear Lodge rehab center.