Insane Insights From Dark Side Of The Ring: Buff Bagwell
Dark Side of the Ring this week takes a look at pro wrestler Buff Bagwell. Compared to last week's episode on John Tenta aka Earthquake, this was a whole lot darker and more insane. I came into this episode with little knowledge of Buff Bagwell excluding that he wrestled at WCW and was pretty over, and the stories of behavioral issues, lawsuits, and some of his arrests.
As for the talking heads, they got the man himself, Buff Bagwell. I have to admit Bagwell looks a lot better now compared to the last time I saw him when he arrived at Dimond Dallas Page's house for the first time. Also interviewed are his father Steven, Mark “Slick” Johnson (TNA and WCW Ref/Buff's Friend), Tonya Bagwell (1st Wife), Judy Bagwell (2nd Wife), 2 Cold Scorpio, Missy Hyatt, Scotty Riggs, and Eric Bischoff.
As for this episode, it was well made. As for Buff Bagwell himself, I did hear about some of the issues he had out of the ring, but there were so many things I learned watching this episode.
10. The Bagwell Family Were Already Rich
We will get into his father later in this article, but we learned that he was a millionaire as a famous drag racer. Steve Bagwell was also a notable owner of a piece of a drag racing team, which raked in millions of dollars from the family.
Even the Lumber Company they owned also made them rich as almost everybody where they lived bought Lumber from the Southeast Lumber Company the family-owned.
With the money they had, the family bought a mansion, cars, and the whole package to showcase their wealth. Eventually, the family would have money problems, but it is kind of interesting that Buff Bagwell grew up in an environment where money was not a problem.
9. Missy Hyatt got Buff Bagwell a Job In Pro Wrestling
Missy Hyatt gets introduced. My gosh, she's another piece of work off the mat. The stories that I have heard regarding her, can easily be an episode of Dark Side of the Ring if a Season 6 or 7 gets made.
In this episode, she came off okay. She was mainly here to talk about getting Buff into the business, which is something I did not know about.
So, Buff Bagwell and Missy Hyatt have a conversation as Buff asks if his brother can become a pro wrestler. Well, Missy responds by saying that Buff should become one. At first, he was hesitant, until he found out some can make around 100,000 a year doing it. So, he agreed.
Buff Bagwell then starts in the Indy Scene and 3 Months pass and he is a natural. Missy got the tape to give to Steve "The Brawler" Lawler and Jim Barnett and thus his WCW days began.
Buff told Missy that his brother wanted to be a wrestler. Missy told him he should be a wrestler and he thought wrestlers didn’t make any money. She lets him know their top guys make $100,000 a year.
Indy days and then he went to GWF as The Handsome Stranger. Missy was impressed with how Marcus was developing after only three months. Missy gave the tape to Jim Barnett and that got Marcus a job in WCW.
8. Buff Bagwell Got Calf Implants
Buff Bagwell is fully into wrestling and is trying to make sure that his body looks perfect. However, he only had one complaint regarding his body and that was that his calves did not look great.
No matter what he did Bagwell could not make his calves look perfect, so, he decided that to make his body look good, especially his legs, he decided to get calf implants.
I did not even know that Calf Implants were even a thing. I always heard a rumor that Buff Bagwell got them, but I did not believe that one bit until this episode. Bagwell was in such pain once the implants were in that he had to be carried to the bathroom to do his business.
Yeah, that is kind of a problem. When Buff went to the hospital, he had to get those implants off as they were not having a good effect on his body. The crazy part is that Buff almost lost his legs getting them and debated with himself on whether to keep the implants in or lose his legs. I'd rather have the legs than those stupid implants.
7. His Mother Became His Assistant and Helped Him Shave Everywhere
Oh gosh, you know there are a ton of creepy stories that I have heard about in the pro wrestling industry, but when it comes to family weirdness, this is up there.
So, in the prime of Buff Bagwell's career, he decides to hire his mother to be his assistant. This is understandable as it can help the mom financially and Buff wanted to take care of her as his family would have money problems.
The weird part is what she would do for him including shaving him everywhere. When I mean everywhere I am talking about his testicles. That is so freaking creepy, and he would even do that in the bathtub with the door open like what the hell.
His friend Mark "Slick" Johnson even walked in on them doing it. He was quoted too saying, "You people are sick". No Kidding. It was so strange and if I saw that, I don't know if I would want to be associated with that person.
6. His Father Does Not Come Across Well In This Documentary
The documentary got Buff Bagwell's dad Steve to talk, and I have to say this guy comes across the worst in this episode. There were multiple stories told in this episode and straight up this dude was a terrible parent. Three incidents don't paint him in the best light.
So, Steven would love to gamble and had lost in a big match with I believe it was poker. Steve was super pissed that he lost the bet. What he decides to do is grab a machine gun and shoot geese that are on the front porch.
Yes, because that is such a great way to blow off steam after losing a bet. Let's shoot a machine gun in the front of the porch and at geese. This terrified Buff and the guy grabbed a handgun thinking an intruder was coming in, until he saw his dad on the front porch. The strangest part is that Steve admits this and even laughs about it on the episode.
That's not all, Steve one day speaks to Buff Bagwell and his friends who are going to go out for the night. What does this guy do? He gives everyone a bag of cocaine and says, "Have fun tonight but stay out of trouble.". What type of parent would willingly give his son and his friends cocaine like that?
Now apparently the reason that he wanted to give the cocaine to Buff and his friends, was that it came from a trusted source which was himself. Is this guy out of his mind?
Bro, you're giving them cocaine. It does not matter who gives someone who, you are still giving them a dangerous narcotic that could kill them. If you want to protect them, tell them not to do this and stay away from drugs. Don't just willingly give the drug to them.
It's no wonder Buff Bagwell had problems with drugs and alcohol. This was accepted in all parts of his upbringing.
Those incidents are not the worst thing to have happened though, ...
5. Buff Bagwell Shot a Gun at His Father.
This is insane. With the family starting to lose money, Steve and Judy (Buff's Mom) were not on good terms and eventually got into a fight. Eventually Buff decides to step in to save his mother by pointing a gun at his father.
Steve is pissed and decides to run to get the gun by the refrigerator and they both have a standoff. Buff Bagwell fires first and shoots his dad 4 times. The first one would have killed him too, but the bullet hits his hand.
Steve had to get a bone graph to prepare his hand, which just sounds painful. It took multiple months to recover and eventually, Steve recovers.
Again, Steve Bagwell admits that he was in the wrong, but the dude does not come off well in this episode and is a terrible father.
4. Bagwell's Involvement with Cowboys for Angels & Gigolos
Oh boy, you know, I don't even know how to explain this absolute nonsense. So, Buff Bagwell needed money after he parted ways with WWE. He was super desperate and he decided to make a deal to get paid $25,000 to do a show called Gigolos.
If you don't know Gigolos is a reality television show that focuses on the lives of 5 escorts in Las Vegas and what they do day to day. It's a show where 5 trainwrecks are out in Vegas, selling themselves and getting paid to be a reality TV Show. Why the heck would anybody want to film themselves or go on this show is my question?
Buff's involvement with Gigolos was going to be a brief appearance, but that appearance changed when he arrived on set. What he did was film a soft-core porn scene where he was acting like he was going to have sex with a woman.
Bro, Why? I get you desperate, but why the hell would you think doing this is such a good idea? The worst part is that he apologized to the producer of the show for how awful it looked. Well, the producer said, you're not supposed to have sex with the woman. Wow, it would have been nice for whoever the cameraman was to tell him that.
That's not the worst part, because he was also involved with the Cowboys for Angels. It was a website where women could hire men for a week or weekend for tens of thousands of dollars to "hang'' with them. Gee, I wonder what can go wrong here.
While doing this adventure, he falls in love with one of his clients and Buff cheats on his wife Judy. Where is my shocked face? This worked out so well that he left Judy for the woman and that woman is no longer in Buff Bagwell's life anymore.
The dude was so desperate that he became an absolute trainwreck.
3. How He Survived That Car Crash
The Documentary then talks about the car crash that he had. This was something that I did not know about is that this occurred due to Buff having a withdrawal seizure. I thought this was another DUI incident that resulted in the crash, but no it was Buff trying to get sober and he suddenly had a seizure because his body was not used to being clean.
This wreck was rough, and Buff was in a coma where he had to be put on a ventilator. He looks rough in those photos. The swelling in his face and neck is a scary sight too. He was lucky that he was not killed in that wreck.
How he survived was thanks to that spinal cord injury he had in that Rick Steiner match. Due to that injury, Buff had to get a metal plate in his neck, and it saved his life. He would have been dead if that plate was not in his neck. Again, he should count himself lucky.
2. The Death Of Buff Bagwell's Mother Was The Wake Up Call
I knew how much of a trainwreck Buff Bagwell was, but it seems like he has cleaned his life up compared to where he was a few years ago. If you ignore his recent DUI arrest in 2023 which was somehow not covered in the documentary.
I wondered to myself what the moment was when Buff realized that he needed to get clean. Well, it was the moment that his mother passed away.
What happened was that his mother was battling Alzheimer's Disease and she eventually died from it. Gosh, Alzheimer's disease and Dementia are some of the cruelest diseases in the world today. My grandmother currently has it, and it is super rough.
When she died, Bagwell looked in the mirror and realized that he could either self-destruct or get help. Well, Bagwell decided to get help and his person of contact was Dimond Dallas Page. I wish the documentary could have interviewed DDP, but they did not have enough time. The dude is a saint and he helped save/clean up Buff Bagwell.
1. How Buff Bagwell Saved Scotty Riggs's Life
So with Bagwell in a better place and much cleaner, he decided to do good and help others. The one notable one is in helping Scotty Riggs who was his tag team partner in WCW in the American Males tag team.
Riggs was in rough shape as he was living in his car and not financially stable. He was at the point where he was about to commit suicide. Buff Bagwell called him up and wanted him to come to Atlanta to go to DDP's house to get help. Well, he did and now Scotty Riggs is in a much better place.
Bagwell may have flaws, but he got his life back in order and that is great. With his sobriety, he has gotten a lot of support from his family, and they are proud of him. That is awesome and his saving Scotty Riggs is a great ending in this documentary.
This was another insane story on Dark Side of the Ring. I am glad that Buff Bagwell is in a much better place in his life now than he was back in the day. The talking heads were mainly good excluding his father who like I said earlier does not come across well in this documentary. I wish they got Shane Helms to discuss the fight they had before that infamous Booker T match on Raw.
Overall, this was a well-made documentary, and I learned a lot. As for next week's episode, it is going to cover Terry "Bam Bam'' Gordy who is one of the Fabulous Freebirds.
Read More NFL News From Stadium Rant Here: NFL News
EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNTS:
Order your favorite whiskey or spirit for the big game right to your doorstep and use code STADIUMRANT10 for a 10% discount at Caskers
Use code STADIUMRANT20 for a 20% discount at Bulletproof Coffee, SwingJuice, and Performix.
If you love to shotgun beers, use code STADIUMRANT10 at Wild Man Drinking Company.
MORE FROM STADIUM RANT:
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our newsletter here.
Check out Stadium Rant Original shows on our YouTube channel and subscribe!