Buff Bagwell Talks Steve Austin, Jim Ross, Monday Night War and More

The wrestling industry is all about personality, and there are few men who had as much charisma as Marc "Buff" Bagwell.

While many wrestling fans remember the comedic segments and acts featuring Bagwell, he was one of the most reliable talents in WCW for a long time, and he built himself a reputation as a versatile performer.

Whether it was comedy or a serious storyline, Bagwell was an asset to WCW. On the other hand, WWE completely wasted his talent.

Bagwell recently released his docushoot, “The Good, The Bad, and The Buff: The Marc Bagwell Journey,” which tells his life story through the eyes of the man who lived it. With plenty of home videos and great insider anecdotes, Bagwell finally has a platform to tell his story.

Bagwell spoke with Ring Rust Radio (quotes courtesy of the News of Delaware County's Joe Arcidiacono) about a dream match against "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, his beef with Jim Ross, the Monday Night War and so much more.

At only 45 years old, Bagwell still has the ability to get in the ring and wrestle despite overcoming several serious injuries throughout his life. When asked about who he would want to square off against in a retirement match, he was quick to pick his challenger:

"

Steve Austin. He would be the majority of the draw but that's not the reason why I would work with him. Steve and I had a lot of tag matches together with Brian Pillman and Too Cold Scorpio and we worked a lot of matches with those guys. We were always friends and respected each other so of course it would be a good match and a good draw.

"

Bagwell has a history with Austin, but most fans are left asking "what if" when it comes to his WWE career. He was part of the WCW crop of talent coming into the company after the buyout, and he was never given the opportunity to shine.

One man whom Bagwell believes shoulders some of the blame for the abrupt end to his time in WWE is Jim Ross. Bagwell was open about his issues with Ross on Austin's podcast, and Ross responded to his comments.

Bagwell was open about his thoughts on Ross' response:

"

First of all, I actually did read his response. The way Jim responded which I can respect, I think he didn't want to watch what I had to say. Therefore he was responding to something that he really didn't know what he was responding to. I wasn't saying that Jim's job didn't require him to let people go. What I'm saying is I think he is strictly looking at it from WWE terms. Everyone knows that many years ago on the round table special, and I thought Jim and I were always great, but go back and watch that round table special which I encourage everyone to do. Everyone was talking about heat seekers in the business. During that time, Jim kept trying to get his story out. Someone else would always cut him off though. It wasn't to protect me, but they felt like they had something to get out. So at the very end of it, Jim sits down and proceeds to bury me and tells a story about how my mother called in and cancelled me on some house shows.

"

Wrestling fans will never know what the truth is in this situation, but Bagwell is adamant in his position. He never got the chance to respond when Ross buried him in the past, and at the very least, he deserves to have his side of the story told.

Another unique perspective Bagwell offers is about the Monday Night War. As a major player in the battle between WCW and WWF for many years, he saw the waves of popularity in the wrestling industry.

Bagwell described what could have helped the Monday Night War continue and what could have been done to keep WCW hot long enough to continue being a viable competitor to WWE:

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To be honest with you, I think that everyone can have their opinion, but if WWE would have kept that tight lipped and made it look like Shane was running it and kept it as two separate entities, I think wrestling would have stayed hot for a lot longer. Maybe Shane should have actually bought it. There is more wrestling and talent out there than there ever has been right now, but there limited places to work. I think that it can be again and everything does have its peaks and valleys. Will it ever be that hot again? I really don't know. It would have to be put at a real competitive level for that to happen. Competition creates business. In the back of Vince's mind, he is so far ahead of TNA right now they aren't even a thought to him. If the right people and minds get in there and get the right programming, we could see a lot of things change.

"

Wrestling fans can say what they want about the character Bagwell portrayed, but the man has a smart mind for the business and should still be involved in some capacity. He knew how to get himself over with the crowd, and there are many Superstars these days who could use a lesson from the former five-time tag team champion.

Bagwell never got his fair chance to get over as part of the WWE, and that robbed the wrestling world of what could have been the prime of his career. Instead, the WWE Universe will always wonder what could have been.

The hope is that Bagwell continues to wrestle and contribute to the business. As part of the industry for almost 25 years, he has a wealth of knowledge that today's current crop of stars would be wise to embrace.

Bagwell may have played a comedy character at times, but his impact on wrestling was serious.

For more wrestling talk, listen to Ring Rust Radio for all of the hot topics or catch the latest episode in the player above (some language NSFW).