After nearly three decades in the squared circle, former WCW wrestler Buff Bagwell is finally retiring. The reasoning is due to a shoulder replacement from two years ago that isn’t doing so well. The former WCW Tag Team champion will have his final match in May. His opponent is unknown at the moment. Here's the highlights of Bagwell's interview with CBS Sports:
Did you guys not get a heads up that WWE was taking over?
I don’t know. I couldn’t believe the talent that I’m around, which is your Kevin Nashes, your Scott Halls, your Goldbergs, your Lugers, your Stings. When you’re around those talents, surely something’s going leak and get to you. But we all pulled up, and we all saw the WWF trucks together, and we all looked at each other and went, that’s not good. We were seeing people crying and taking pictures with Ric and the belt. We knew it was bad, but we just didn’t know how bad. Then Shane [McMahon] calls a meeting in five minutes. In five minutes of us trying to find out what was going on, Shane had a meeting, and he comes walking in with the entire company inside this room. It was about 45 seconds long tops.
He said, “Hey, my name’s Shane McMahon. I own the company. My dad bought the company today, so we now own the WCW. We’re going to keep some wrestlers. We’re going to get rid of some wrestlers. We’re going to keep some referees. We’re going to get rid of some referees. We’re going to keep some office talent, and we’re going to fire some office talents. Good luck. See you later.”
They put us through school, and that’s where me and Shane Helms got in a fight. And the story goes downhill from there. But long story short, I think that Vince was done with WCW way before we knew, and he made us go out and do the match in Tacoma, Washington when he could have waited a week for Atlanta. I mean, if you own the company and you call it “the invasion” and the other owner lives in Atlanta, you can do it 5,000 miles away or you can wait seven days and do it in their backyard.
But instead, we do it where WCW’s never been, and me and Booker get booed out of the building. We knew what was going on, but you didn’t go to Vince and say you’re not doing this, of course. You’re a main event on Monday Night Raw. I mean, you just don’t ask those questions. [Steve] Austin’s the one who gave us our finish. I don’t think it was as bad as people say it was, but it was just an average match or even below average. You don’t fire a Buff Bagwell for a below-average match. I mean, after 11 years of world tag team championships and doing everything right and being in shape. You give him a warning. You give him a smack on the hand. You don’t fire him. You know? I really believe, with all my heart, there was a decision made around the Tacoma airtime, and they just made us go out and put it on us like, “Well, didn’t work, they got booed.” Well, if you’d have waited a week and put us at the Georgia Dome, it would have worked.
The big thing for wrestlers is to be in the WWE Hall of Fame. Is that something you think should happen for you? Is that even a realistic possibility politically speaking?
I 100 percent couldn’t care less, and I don’t mean that ugly. Let me give you a great answer why. Teddy Long is in the WWE Hall of Fame, and The Total Package, Lex Luger, that is in a wheelchair, that everybody in the world knows, is not. Take those two, and it diminishes the WWE Hall of Fame tremendously. I mean, don’t get me wrong. If I got in it, I’d be very proud and say I made it and here’s my ring. But at the same time, if I didn’t get called by them, I won’t lose an ounce of sleep over not getting in the WWE Hall of Fame.
Click here to read the rest of the interview: http://sports.cbslocal.com/2017/12/21/buff-bagwell-wcw-wwf-tna-pro-wrestler-retire/