Show: 3 Count Wrestling
Courtesy of www.WrestlingEpicenter.com
Guest: Buff Bagwell
Date: 2/28/07
Your Hosts: Chris Furguson & Bill Farmer
Transcript By: Chris Furguson & James Walsh
He's Buff, he's the stuff, and the Girls still can't get enough!
No matter if you love the man or hate him, Buff Bagwell has left an indellible mark on pro wrestling and continues to have one of the highest Q ratings in the sport today. As has become the norm for Buff Bagwell interviews, this one does not disappoint as he gets the chance to defend himself against the unfair wrestling audience who mocks him.
All this plus all the typical crazy stuff you would expect from a 3 Count Wrestling broadcast!
BUFF BAGWELL
He's still Buff, He's still the Stuff and He's on 3 Count Wrestling! WCW's "Buff Daddy Theme" brings us into the 3CW's Main Event with the one and only Buff Bagwell!
First topic is how 3CW originally scheduled an interview with Bagwell, but due to a scheduling conflict we missed him. Buff called us to reschedule, despite his being busy all throughout March, and here we are! Bagwell is truly a stand up gentleman.
Bagwell doesn't know where he got this reputation, because he's always conducted himself that way.
When talking about what he's currently doing, Bagwell says the following:
"If I'd have known six years ago about the independents, I probably could have got rich again! But I didn't know, I was too depressed at the time, with WCW going down and WWF taking us over and they didn't want me and I was depressed and beat up about that."
Bagwell also goes into how he spent two years on the indies before really taking it seriously, with cool pictures to sell and working the gimmick tables.
Bagwell believes he has another main event run in him and that he's only 37. He played "phone tag" with WWE's Johnny Ace, just to say hello, and that he's been told that if TNA goes to two hours, that they might have a place for him there.
"I would really like to be part of a team, again." Bagwell says. He goes into how he's busy with 10 different promoters in 10 different cities, and that he misses being part of a team, like WCW, where everyone was working for the same goal, like a rating.
Buff Bagwell's last major Television appearance was at the end of 2006 with TNA Wrestling, and Buff was warned of Sting's "shoot" on him. At first, Bagwell didn't see where they were going with it and even has trouble remembering how they convinced him it would make sense!
"It didn't matter what they said, to be honest." Buff adds, "Getting invited down to TNA for the first time in a long time, I wasn't going to say nothing!"
When Buff heard the "on prohbation" stuff while he was backstage, he was confused, but when they did it to Lex Luger, he thought "They can't be ribbing me, they did it to Luger, too!"
Buff Bagwell hasn't seen WSX, but he has heard about it. "I've heard it's like crazy high-flying... sounds like everything that Buff Bagwell don't do and don't wanna do, but I'd have to see it before I could make that assessment."
Wrestling still pays the bills for Buff, but barely. "I, full-fledged, have to go out wide open for it to be my one source of income." Buff later adds that he has to, in essence, whore himself out with polaroids and selling his gimmicks to make enough.
Buff doesn't know why someone with as high a marketability and recognition factor (Q score) as himself isn't currently working WWE or TNA. It's something that Buff gets asked 10 times a month and he has to relive it just as often.
Bagwell then relates a story about how he went to a Smackdown show, just as a fan, and was bombarded with autograph and picture requests from fans the moment he walked inside! The fans even formed a line for pics and autographs WHILE matches were going on! Bagwell also goes into how Johnny Ace sat next to Buff, while Buff was shaking hands and taking pictures, and took him backstage for the rest of the show in order to remove the distraction!
Buff then adds, "If you owned anything that someone showed up and was getting attention at... I want them on my team! And, for some reason, they (WWE and TNA) don't look at it like that. I don't know why."
When asked about the general lack of respect for veterans on the indy circuit, Buff says that he hasn't experienced much of it to his face. However, he relates a story about Kid Kash, who refused to do an angle that Buff had in mind for one promotion, but begged to have his table next to Bagwell's in the promotion area!
Buff Bagwell can be found on the web at www.therealbuff.com.
Other highlights of the interview include Buff's roles in "Day of the Warrior" and his appearance on "Charmed," his opinion of "The Handsome Stranger" and a road story about Steven Regal that has to be heard to be believed!
We end the interview with Metallica's "Phantom Lord," one of several songs Mike Awesome used during his time with ECW. R.I.P., Mike!
This interview, as well as all interviews from 3 Count Wrestling, can be only be found at www.wrestlingepicenter.com in the "Interviews" section! To listen to this broadcast in glorious digital audio, visit www.WrestlingEpicenter.com. Once there, also check out the store where you can find over 100 shoot interviews including a full length Buff Bagwell shoot and hundreds more for $5.99!
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