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Here is an interview I conducted with Buff Bagwell for CBS shortly after he announced his impending retirement. We covered the night he found out WWE was taking over WCW and Shane McMahon’s meeting with the roster. He also talked about his ouster from WWE and the issues he has with Jim Ross. Plus, his decision to retire and a little bit about Vince Russo's role in WCW's demise.
A few quotes are below.
Did you guys not get a heads up that WWE was taking over?
We all pulled up [to Nitro], 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.”
That was it.
There’s been so many different stories about why WWE made the decision to release you. We’ve heard everything from the match with Booker T being a stinker to the fight with Shane Helms to a wacky story about your mom calling Jim Ross. Where does the truth lie?
It couldn’t have been the match, because I’ve wrestled Booker a thousand times and never missed a step until that night. That’s out. If my mom called or not, once again I know she didn’t, but let’s say she did, it’s not worth getting fired over. I think Buff Bagwell deserves, “Tell your mother not to ring our phone no more.” Give him a warning.
I basically ended up getting released for … I don’t know. I raised my hand to find out why I was getting fired. They called it released. I said, “Well, what do I do with a release?” And they said it means they could bring me back in three months. I knew that was (garbage), but I still told myself, “I’m going to shake hands, smile and get out of the room before you start crying.”
I waited three months and almost four months just to show I wasn’t bothering them. I called up Jim Ross, and he goes … I swear to God, he went, “What do you want, Marc?” I went from Buff Bagwell to, “What do you want, Marc?” I said, “Jim, let me totally clear the air here. You guys asked me to call you back in three months. I waited three months and three weeks, almost four months, and did what y’all told me to do.” I was scared I’d get heat for that, but I said “I did what you asked me to do.”
Then he said, “We have no openings. We’ll call you if we do.” Click.
Have you had a chance to work things out with J.R.?
No, and there’s way unless he says, “I lied, I don’t like you, and I was passing the truth along.” And I will thank him for telling the truth, and then he’s off the hook. But for him to defend himself and say he likes me after having dogged me out and viciously calling me a mama’s boy and that I can’t wrestle… I don’t think it’s fixable. I just don’t.
The article is here: http://sports.cbslocal.com/2017/12/21/buff-bagwell-wcw-wwf-tna-pro-wrestler-retire/
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