This weekend past, Royal Ramblings were lucky enough to join the wrestlers at the London Film and Comic Convention (winter) in Earl's Court. We were delighted to have some time with Marcus 'Buff' Bagwell, still sporting an impressive physique, animated and on the ascendency again. He plans to be spending more time in the UK and so wrestling promoters and fans alike will need to look out for the Buff Daddy.
It's now nearly three years since your car accident, in which you were seriously injured. Is Buff Bagwell getting back on top?
Well to be exact, the accident was April 22nd 2012. People don't know this but that was the exact same day I broke my neck 14 years earlier. The exact same day. April 22nd 1998, I broke my neck on live television and April 22nd 2012 I break my neck in my car wreck. Long story short, it took me two and a half years to come back. For about six months now I have been what I would consider Buff Bagwell and I'm back in shape and ready to go. I've been wrestling for about a year but not to my liking, not to my speed and agility. I felt like there was still enough to get paid and for the fans to feel like they were getting the full buff but I am really, really wide open now and in the best shape of my life. Well, second best shape, I'm 44 so it's hard to get in that 25 year old shape but I'm still in Buff Bagwell shape and I feel great!
What has the fan reception been like for you in London?
The fans in London are fantastic. I wasn't able to get a lot of promoters this time because I came over at such short notice that it was difficult for them to jump on board but I will definitely, definitely be back a lot in London, so I'm real excited about that!
What's the best rib that was played on you?
It was the Nasty Boys - I kept messing with them one day and people knew what I was doing. So they got a padlock and they padlocked my bag to the ceiling. If you've noticed, there's not a whole lot of bolt cutters in dressing rooms and nobody knew the combination except for the Nasty Boys. They tortured me for nearly a whole day and I was scared they weren't going to let me have it. Finally they had to do it and they came in with bolt cutters and cut it down for me. I was scared to death, I was a rookie and was scared I was going to get in trouble. So that was the best rib ever! They bolted my bag to the ceiling.
Jeff Jarrett is launching GFW- what are your thoughts on his new promotion?
I'm really excited about it. Me and Jeff are good friends and go way back. We've never been great friends in a business sense but I hope and pray that we can rekindle our friendship. Hopefully I'll fall into his demographic and I would love to be on his team. They never really used me a lot in TNA but they had good reasons. Now my life is totally in order, I feel great and I'm ready to give something to somebody again and hopefully it will be Jeff Jarrett's group.
You were on the Gigolos programme in the states - what motivated you to take part and what's next?
What happened was, I had the car wreck and my phone quit ringing. People didn't know if I was dead and they didn't know if I was gone from wrestling. I was injured really bad, my teeth were knocked out, my jaw was broken and my neck was broke. So my wife of all people, went online and found this gigolo show. Neither one of us to be honest really knew what it entailed. So I did one episode and it was a little more than we thought. We've had to have a discussion about whether we'd do another season if they have one but it was a lot of fun, good PR and it let everybody see that I was back out there again. Now I'm getting ready to do Magic Mike 2, Magic Mike XXL so I'm really excited.
Bagwell was certainly full of energy and excited about his comeback, you can be sure that his return to the UK and US scene will make an impact.
Above: Marcus Bagwell set upon by some predators at the convention