Buff Bagwell interview

[Loss]

BUFF BAGWELL TALKS ABOUT JAIL, REHAB AND LIFE AFTER WRESTLING

By: Voice of Wrestling

7/19/2005 4:00:24 PM   

 

In what is probably one of the most revealing interviews in Voice of Wrestling history, Buff Bagwell sat down with Chris Cash for over an hour and went into great detail about his recent ten days in jail, going through rehab, his fight with drugs, and whether Ted DiBiase's religious group and those involved are frauds or authentic. Also on the show, Aaron Aguilera (formerly Jesus of the WWE) discussed his recent release from the WWE, his future plans, and other thoughts on life after the big leagues. You can listen to the show by visiting VoiceofWrestling.com. This recap will be sent out in two parts over the next two days due to its length.

 

Be sure to catch a special VOW broadcast live this Thursday from 7-9 EST where Matt Bloom (A-Train) speaks for the first time since his WWE release and Barry "Bull" Buchanan joins the show live to discuss his recent happenings. Lance Storm and The Sandman will then be live this coming Monday from 7-9 EST, leading into Raw. Also, don't forget to join the Voice of Wrestling forums and chat with many wrestlers and wrestling personalities, including Kevin Kelly, D'Lo Brown, Dr. Tom Prichard, Barry Buchanan, April Hunter, Matt Morgan, Colt Cabana, and many others. They are each in there on a regular basis responding to all your questions and comments. More additions are coming soon!

 

To Listen to the Buff Interview: Click Here! To Discuss the Interview: Click Here! To Run Your Own Show: Click Here!

 

After announcing he would not be throwing any "softball" questions at Buff this week, Chris Cash jumped into why Buff spent ten days in jail. "I've got four DUI's," Buff responded, "and not alcohol, it was actually over prescription drugs." Loretabs and Soma's were his drug and choice and after the Internet reported the incident, others were telling Buff to respond a certain way, but he decided that he'd go against their wishes, come clean, and tell the truth. "I can not do it any other way but that."

 

Breaking it down for wrestling fans, as Bagwell put it, there are other people who mess up and it's not just wrestlers. He brought up, as an example, Rafael Furcal who turned himself in to the Cobb County Jail on Tuesday, October 8, 2004 after being arrested twice for DUI's and the second one being while on probation. "He was in the same cell I was in," Buff said, "and it was kind of humbling. But when [he] had the same judge I had, the judge of course, was not going to have any leeway with me." Buff said that he's always been able to get out of trouble, but this time, there was no getting out of it. "So I did my time," Buff continued, "I served ten days in Cobb County...whatever you want to call it...I call it hell." After the ten days, he went and is currently still going to a rehab facility called Narconon.

 

Claiming that all the years Buff has used these drugs, he didn't know what they were until recently and now that he does know, he's determined to make it right. "Just like taking Advil," he explained, "if you take too many Advil, it could be bad for you. If you overeat, it could be bad for you. Moderation is the key to life, whether it's working out, eating, whether it's taking bad drugs, good drugs, having a glass of wine. Whatever it is, moderation is the number one thing in life. I had lost the touch of that because I really didn't know what drugs I was taking." Buff said that after he broke his neck, he had to keep going, so the drugs he was prescribed and took didn't seem like a bad thing. When he learned about the drug, Buff said it was a big deal when he realized it was very wrong.

 

The choice to clean himself up, at first, was a way to get out of trouble. However, Buff claims now it's because he wants to. "I want to do this," Buff said. He's got 90-days on his actual rehab sentence and he's already fulfilled 11 weeks of it, but Narconon is asking him to work with them now and Buff said he wants to do it. "I'm not trying to sound cool because I don't need anymore cool points please," Buff said, "because I get heat when I get cool points, but the bottom line is they want me to come and talk to the classes for morale. I'd actually forgotten how....once again, cool points, so don't judge me for that...I'd forgotten how cool I was sober. I got in this business sober and figured out how to get over sober, so your brain starts putting that kind of stuff off."

 

Buff assures everyone that it's not just because of the rehab that he's clean and will remain clean. "It was actually the fifth day in jail of the ten and was complaining and moaning," he explained, "finally, I said 'you know what...I'm supposed to be here'. I've abused law. I've abused the system. Now, Marc Bagwell - Mister not get in trouble no matter what - is not getting out of trouble for the first time and yes, I will say firmly that it took that for me to start seeing the light. I started thinking...man, I really need to make this right. With all that included, it was just time for people to not have something else against me".

 

Bagwell then went on to discuss what people already hold against him and the "heat" that he's developed. "Bro, for a long time, maybe my whole career, you're talking about doing everything right and I still had heat," he began his brief rant, "and I don't give a sh*t who's listening...the bottom line is I had heat no matter what and the heat that I had was called jealousy. I didn't know what heat was when I was growing up when my parents had money and I was driving a Corvette and I was a good-looking kid going to high school. I didn't know what the word 'heat' was. I knew what the word 'jealousy' was. Let's just call it like it is. The word jealous equals heat. It's the same thing."

 

Chris Cash then asked when the first time he ever took a drug and what it was. "I'll tell you exactly what city and everything," Buff replied, "it was Cleveland, Ohio. It was a Vikadin and the guy that gave it to me actually said when I got in trouble and started getting hooked on them, 'Hey, I want to apologize to ya'. I said 'For what?' and he told me. I said 'Man, you gotta be kidding. You didn't twist my arm so do not count that against you at all. I'm a grown man and I've been a grown man'." Buff continued by saying the first time he noticed he was hooked was after WCW went down and was bought out.

 

"The thing that got me was depression which I never get depressed," Buff continued, "and I hate to even call it that...I guess reality...we'll call it reality. Reality was WCW was gone, a half-million dollar contract was gone, and it was time to face reality and it sucked. And that's when, if you check your calendars brother, around 2001, you start seeing more deaths from Curt Hennig down, God rest his soul. But when the companies binded to one, it really set a whole new stage and guys started falling off because of depression or whatever. I call it reality. The reality was that money's gone and what are you gonna do?" Before WWE bought out WCW, Buff said everyone had a goal and he was very goal oriented. After that is when he got hooked.

 

After being asked why wrestlers start using drugs and whether it was peer pressure from other guys already using or whether it was a choice made by the individual person alone, Buff said that there was no outside pressure in his case. "There may be some people that use that as an excuse or maybe there's some truth to that for some wrestlers," he said, "but absolutely not in my case. There just comes a time that you need some energy...some go...and that's what happens with drugs. Whether it's Cocaine, whether it's Marijuana, whatever drug of choice you have..the bottom line is, you've got to have something to keep going and it starts very innocently. It started with me innocently. They call it 'the invisible line' and the invisible line can be one pain pill, one line of Coke, one joint, but the invisible line gets crossed and there's no going back to that."

 

In part two of this interview with Buff Bagwell, Chris Cash asks him about why the drugs seem to go under the radar in professional wrestling, whether he blames the business for his drug addiction (he does by the way), and whether it's hypocritical to get back in the business now if he's truly trying to get back on the right track knowing what the business forces him to do. Plus, he discusses his current relationship with Lex Luger, why they don't talk much anymore, and why he is no longer helping him with bookings. Buff Bagwell also discusses working with Ted DiBiase's religious group, whether it's a fraud, and whether Buff is one of those that use it as just a ploy to make money. You can head over to VoiceofWrestling.com and listen to the interview in its entirety or wait for part two to come out tomorrow. In the meantime, head over to the VOW forums by Clicking Here and post your thoughts on this in-depth interview in "The Show" section where Buff Bagwell will be sure to read them.

You know, I can't help but think that with better career guidance working around people who had a better head on their shoulders, Bagwell couldn't have been a superstar. He was coming along nicely in the ring early on before totally falling apart, and his career never came back after that neck injury. He also has the distinction of severely altering the course of the inVasion because his match was so bad. Too bad his life has taken the turns it has, but he's pretty much to blame for all of it.

[Coffey]

It's funny because Bagwell is coming to Terre Haute in a couple of days/weeks (can't remember, don't really care) for some SHITTY Indy show. I do mean SHITTY.