Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Buff Bagwell Is Sober Thanks To DDP & He Has A Hilarious New Gimmick "Mr. Bagwell's Neighborhood"

Episode Date: October 25, 2022

Marcus Bagwell (@marcusbuffbagwell) is a professional wrestler better known as Buff Bagwell from his time in WCW and WWE. He joins Chris Van Vliet from Diamond Dallas Page's house in Atlanta, GA to talk about his recovery from an addiction to alcohol and prescription pills and the gratitude he has to DDP and Steve Yu for helping him get sober. He also discusses the docuseries he is part of with Butterbean called "Change Or Die", his career in WCW, why he only had one match in WWE, what he thinks lead to him being fired by WWE, the infamous Cameo that he sent to a fan, the recent passing of his mother Judy Bagwell and much more! For more information on Diamond Dallas Page visit: https://www.diamonddallaspage.com/ If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. For more information about Chris Van Vliet and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris. And here we go. Welcome back, my friends, to another audio adventure on Insight. I'm CBV, Chris Van Fleet. Thanks for being with us and for listening to the show on whatever platform that you're on right now. If it's Spotify or Apple, it would be amazing if you could take a second out of your day to leave a rating or review on there. On Spotify, we're so close to a thousand ratings.

So if this is open on Spotify or if you have Spotify, it means so much to me if you could go in and click those stars on there. All right. Where do we begin with this one? This is such a deeply personal and deeply honest conversation with Buff Bagwell. He struggled with addiction for decades. And with the help of Diamond Dallas Page and his team, Buff, or I guess I should call him Marcus, because he's such a very different man. Marcus has now been clean and sober since August 27th. And the person that you hear during this interview is a very different Buff Bagwell

than the one that we've seen over the last 30 years. It's amazing seeing his progress. And a lot of it, so much of it is because of DDP. His heart is so big and his mission in life is to help people. It's well documented how much he helped Jake the Snake Roberts and the late great Scott Hall. And now he's helped Marcus Bagwell turn his life around. And he helps so many people.

He helps so many people turn their life around all around the world from so many different walks of life. And DDP, he's just so kind. He extended an invitation for me to not only do this interview at his house in Atlanta, but he also invited me to stay there. So it just, what a guy, right? I love Diamond Dallas Paine. What?

an amazing human. Also, we filmed a very crazy workout. I mean, the man just doesn't stop. And we filmed this amazing workout of what a day in the life of DDP is like and all the things that he does to combat aging, to reverse aging, and to be as flexible as he is in his 60s and almost 70s now. If you enjoy this conversation, please share it with a friend. Take a screenshot, tag us. I know Marcus would love to see that. He's at Marcus Buff Bagwell. I'm at Chris Van Vleet. And here we go. A very raw, very real conversation with Marcus Bagwell. You look really good. Thanks, man. I appreciate it, bro. It's been like, I think the last interview we did was like 10 years ago. So a lot has changed, right? It's a decade, bro. Think about it. Yeah. It's a decade. But it's Marcus now.

Yeah, Marcus. Yeah. That's a big shit. Bagwell. When I first saw Mr. Bagwell's neighborhood, I was like, this is so good. I sent it to my buddy. He goes, no way that's about Bagwell. Right. I said, yeah. Where did that all begin? You know, Dallas is, Dallas is so great, and he's got such a great team, man, with Steve Yu and all of his family. They don't call him people or employees. It's family. You know, it's from the camera guys to Nodia, to Nate, to everybody. It's a team. It's a team and a family. And Steve

just, he's just, we call him Yoda, bro. He's Yoda. And, uh, and you know, it just um, it, it just happened, he picked out basically in the change or die docu series. It was like, what can we do this completely opposite

of Buff Bagwell? And Steve came up with Mr. Rogers. I mean, how much more different can you get that? R-rated Mr. Rogers. Right? The R-rated Mr. Rogers. The jiggle-o Mr. Rogers, right?

Okay? So-you-speak. And so we kind of just, we didn't really know. He just threw it out there. And, man, we put the outfit on, and I just felt like, I felt like Mr. Rogers. I was like, I started going like, and everybody just started laughing.

Yeah. So, of course, you know, Steve, it was camera was on. And we were taking little puppets, little puppets came into the scene. And I'm going like, this and like this and you know all the mr rogers stuff and it just it just it just it just happened man it just it was magical it was really magical and then we went to alaska me and dallas did and you know of course we still had that we knew we had it but we didn't really think we were going to open the can on it yet

and then um everybody in alaska was like i mean like top guys when we were on top said like scottie chahaddy He came up to me, he goes, why are you not doing the Mr. Rogers thing, man? I mean, I go, well, you know, it's in our back burner. We're going to do it. And he said, man, it was tremendous. It was great. Everybody's laughing about it. It's really good.

And so, you know, so we're going to do it. So this guy in Baltimore, Danny, Danny McDevitt. MCW, you know, Baltimore, Maryland. And he shoots Dallas's text, and Dallas just catches on fire about it. He's being Steve were like, you know, like, wow. unbelievable, I excited Dallas is about this. He was really excited. So, of course, he knew I would be ready.

So he talked to me about how he wanted to do it, you know, Danny did and everything. So, you know, the debut of Mr. Bagel was going to be in Baltimore, Maryland, you know, with the, you know, with Mr. Bagel's neighborhood, you know. At what point did you think you needed to change? Like, you know, you were buff for almost 30 years. Yeah. You know, buff's got me a long ways in life, you know. But Buff's also, you know, got me in a lot of trouble.

you know and um i think everybody was just thinking you know that it was just time for a change you know know and the show came out with dallas you know the dockey series with the change or die thing you know and to the point dallas and the get go way too way early um was wanting not to call me buff anymore and uh you were even calling yourself buff for so right right yeah i'm buff i'm the i mean it was all about me you know and And that got me a long ways. But it just, you know, I think, I think Dallas saw it before anybody, and Dallas and Steve saw it before anybody. But I think, I think Buffett had maybe his run.

And Dallas was like not wanting me to bring my hat out and stuff. I said, Dallas. I go, people want to wear that hat all the time. And he goes, I know, but just leave it on the table, man. Let them see it. Don't wear it. And he actually said to me, and it hurt my feelings a little bit. He said, you know, he said, I.

feel sorry for guys that walk in, the older guys that are holding on to things. He said, and I kind of feel sorry for you when you walk in with your top hat on. And I said, I kind of feel sorry for me too, but we're doing what we do. And the fans still love us and stuff. He goes, yeah, but I just think we recreate you, man. And I mean, and I'm thinking, well, to what? you know, and then all of a sudden this, this Mr. Rogers thing came more to life to us. And so, of course, we started messing around with it. And then when Danny put the spin on it for MCW,

now we're actually doing the debut in Baltimore, Maryland, with Mr. Bagel's neighborhood, you know. So it's just, you know, I said, Buff is just something that was great. I mean, man, to be Buff Bagwell with the frame and body I had through the 90s. It's so much luck, but, man, it was a lot of, a lot of work, too, bro. And a ton of discipline.

I mean, I was sitting in the gym one day after the first photo shoot I had done, and I said, and I was just looking at the ground. And my trainer goes, hey, Mark, he goes, what's wrong? I said, I just realized that I've got here, but now I've got to stay here. And I went, and he goes, well, that's okay. I said, no, it's not. I said, we presented us to the world, and I was in tip, top, like maybe the top five bodies of the wrestling history's bodies and stayed there for three or four years, man. And it was fun at first, but it was a lot.

It was a lot to stay there, man. And I think that burned me out. And, you know, the addiction and things started coming out of that with Buff. And he got me into a lot of trouble, you know. And so I think when it started, when Dallas started saying, let's change and think about it. You know, with the, you know, he really wanted to call me Mark again or Marcus, you know. And he said, you know, he said, everybody at the change your eyes show, they were, he was saying like, no, he's Marcus now. And they would go buff.

I mean, Marcus. And it was so annoying. I said, no, no, no, just call me buff, man, because it's just easier. They already been calling me, buff. It was buff on my room and all that on the door. So I said, don't try to change it. it's uncomfortable. Let's just go with that. So it kind of took over there, but not quite. But now, I mean, you know, he just wants me to not do away with Buff, but it's just time to move on,

you know, with everything in my life. And, you know, with this, you know, with me going to, you know, getting, you know, this trip to Black Bear, you know, to get, you know, to get cleaned up this last time. It was a big deal. You'd been to rehab. How many times before? four or five. I've been four or five. Out of those four or five, I didn't know what was wrong on me at all for three of them, meaning I didn't know about my sleep apnea. And I had severe sleep apnea and didn't know it. So the fourth one, I took my actual CPAP with me. And if I would have listened and I would have been a little more ready, I probably could have got clean there. I probably could have. But I didn't. I didn't. I came home. I was 20-something days clean. My sobriety date is August 27th of this year. So I'm clean 40-something days today. Congratulations. Yeah, thanks so much.

I appreciate it. And I'm not a big counter, but I know my sobriety date, bro. I do know that. And I'll never forget it. You know, so that's a big day, August 27th. So I am, you know, everybody decided it was just time for me to go. And it was time. It was time.

So, you know, I went. But you have to be ready. I think that's the biggest thing. I've heard that from so many people. Well, the main thing in your eye, you do got to be ready. And that's what happened before. I just wasn't ready. I wasn't ready.

And everybody, of course, wants to know why is this time different? You know, why is this time different, Mark? I mean, tell us what is so magical about you being clean this time when you said you've been clean, you know, three or four times previously. This time, I had a lot on the line, man. I had a lot on the line, along with my age, along with my maturity. and I was ready. I was tired.

I really was tired, man. I was tired, and I would have asked for help if I would have known really all about it, you know, but I was just so much was going on. I was still making a lot of money and trying to manage my life and trying to do all these things that keep going, but my life became unmanageable. I mean, I started seeing videos of myself that my friends were taking, where I was just, and I was in that, in this,

position going. I mean, I've got to, I've got to straighten my life out. I got to get going. At that level. So in my mind, even though I was blacked out right there, I was still thinking, come on, Mark, you've got to do something here, man. You've got to kick out, you know. And so when they, when they said, you know, we're going to take you to, you know, they've told me, they came in on me, you know, and said, look, you know, it's time to go, man. Like an intervention. Yeah, intervention style. And, you know, Dallas led it. And Steve was there and my niece and everybody. So they ran it, they ran an intervention on me and they had every answer, bro. They had them. They were ready. And they were like, you know, I said, what about the podcast?

They're like, we got that, we got that covered. I said, well, what about the dates? I got a bunch of dates, guys. We got it covered. And, you know, and but, you know, in the big book, you know, of, you know, alcohol, in an AA book, it says that, you know, your life should become unmanageable and my life had. It had become unmanageable. So my niece took it. over and, you know, that was the first step was to get me there. And this was after you had already done the docu-series with Dallas? Yeah. So I came in to change or die.

Yeah. I came in to change or die and had gotten cleaned up. I really kicked out my, you know, I wasn't as bad as everybody thought, so to speak, and really was had a handle on it more than people think. And I was really like, you know, stay out, staying sober down there, but I was coming home on Thursdays. and my my my main drug of choice is um is you know is benzos which is you know most relaxers x that kind of thing and um and you mix that with alcohol i mixed it with alcohol and alcohol and i've

been in trouble with with alcohol several times but never never had an alcohol from out from never had a DUI with alcohol never um and so it's not like i wasn't trying to get a a DUI with alcohol. I was drinking, but obviously there must not be a big problem there with the drinking if you never got to eat you out with alcohol. So, or you just didn't get caught. Right. Well, no, I blew. It was just, it wasn't over the limit. So I was like, wow, you know, I came, but I couldn't believe it, but it wasn't. So they were like, you know, so that transferred into this time it was more alcohol because I was, I wasn't abusing the pills. I just raised my alcohol. And so this time, it was just, it was really the alcohol that I was seeing become a problem. So,

So it was definitely, that was a new, that was something new for me, that much alcohol intake. So that's when, you know, my niece started seeing, you know, their sleeves of vodka in my refrigerator and, you know, the little bottles of the sleeve and things like that. So, you know, it was just, like I said before, it was just time. It was just time this time. She knew. And so she kind of let it and called Dallas and called Steve. And then I think they weren't, I don't think they were fully sold that I would go. But I went pretty quick.

I went with too much of a fight at all because I was, like I said, I was, I was ready, man. So what do you think it was? What was, what was your reason for drinking? Uh, to escape. I was just so depressed, man. I was, and I was depressed, uh, about my life. I was, I think this is the main key. I was extremely lonely, man. I was lonely. And I've, do you know many times Marcus or Buff Bagel has been lonely in his life? I mean, never. I mean, a woman from the time I was a kid, whether it be my mom or a wife, a woman took care of me. And I'm so thankful for that.

It's not even funny. But all of a sudden, there was nobody there. And I had ran off everybody. My addiction had ran off everybody except Dallas Page and Steve You. And they stood by my side through the whole. whole thing. And so, you know, just, just I, so I started isolating. You know, I got so lonely and so depressed. Then I was, I just stayed by myself and just drank, you know, but I still was staying professional or trying to. I would, you know, I would go, I would call Steve to come down to the,

to the PC center, the performance center and do some work or do something. And he wouldn't return my calls all of a sudden because he didn't know what to say to me. He was like, Mark, I didn't know what to say to you had screw it up. I knew you were probably drinking or drunk, and I just didn't want to, I didn't know what to say to you. So, you know, I didn't know what, so I just didn't answer. And I said, I get it, man, I get it, you know. So, you know, they came down and, you know,

John is just the best thing in the world that's ever happening. Even Dallas said, man, if you did one thing right in your life, was being sweet to your niece, man, because she's wonderful. I mean, her family's wonderful. They're her and her husband's ship are just phenomenal, you know, and I love them so much. Is there a certain part of, and I think this happens to wrestlers, it certainly happens to athletes, where you had your prime, and then your body says you can't do this anymore. Is there a certain part where you go, man, I want to be 1990s WCW Buff Bagwell? You have no idea, and that was a big part of my depression, too.

I just, I mean, to talk bluntly about it, I couldn't get my abs back. And I was like, I can't believe this. This is unbelievable. Medicaid. And it's crazy to say that, but it just, it is because you don't have the tools to battle that. And this time, I was sent to a place that was literally they give you the tools there. And they may have gave you the tools at other rehabs, but I wasn't ready or I didn't listen. Yeah.

Because they make you go to class at Black Bear. Blackberry Recovery makes you go. And where is it? It's up in like hell in Georgia, like North Georgia, the mountains in North Georgia. It is beautiful up there, and it's just, you know, it's got, you'll sit in a lot of cabins and stuff, but, I mean, it's rehab.

I mean, there's no TVs, there's no radios. I mean, no TV in your cabin. There's one TV on the whole place. There's from 6 a.m. when you wake up till 9 o'clock at night, you are going class to class to class, and you learn, man, you learn things. And you learn things.

Like one thing I learned was a thing called pause is post-addiction, post-addiction withdrawal syndrome. And what happens with that is it's like if you have a feeling of a withdrawal symptom, that happens a lot. It can happen for 18 months after you get clean. And it could be like, for me, my triggers and stuff of having that symptom and feeling weird is like sweating or it's a certain kind of sweat, though. sweat where somebody touches you on your back, you're just like, hey, man, what's up?

You know, it's a different kind of sweat eye. You know, it's just weird. And it's a withdrawal. And but it's called, you know, it can happen for 18 months. And that kind of symptom would have led me right back to like a Xanax or something. But now they give you the tools of Black Bear to fight that off, you know, to, okay, now breathe. Let's weave it out. Let's relax. Don't let it. You don't let it play tricks on you. It'll go away. It will go away. And it does. And, you know, and those kind of things that I would never do before didn't know about, I knew how to fight in this time, you know. And that's why I was able to successfully complete this thing, I think. What do you think is the biggest thing you learned about you during this process?

It's okay to be lonely. It's okay to be by yourself. It's okay to, you know, that you've got a bunch of notes that you're not marking off every day. It's okay that you didn't make it to the gym today. It's okay that you don't got your abs back like you did when you were 25 years old. It's okay, Mark. I learned that you didn't have to push myself as hard as I was pushing myself and setting my goals way too high. I wanted to look like Buff Bag 1, 1995 now, and it wasn't happening. It wasn't happening at all. And then you throw the knee in with it.

you know, a two-year-old, you know, injury that was not getting any better at all. And, I mean, people, guys that see me in at the locker rooms and then like, how long are you going to be on this crutch, man? And I was like, I mean, I ran out of stuff to say. And so that became really depressing. This is from the car accident. Yeah. August, yeah, August 2020.

And I just, the main thing was, and what led to all of this was to go, was to get, got to get clean before this was going to get better at all. So, you know, we, we sent me to, you know, rehab just to get this done was one of the main reasons was my, because this thing is like, it's dealing with my life right now. What's the actual injury? Yeah, I mean, the actual injury is, I, my pettler tendon exploded. It's not there. So they cut you down your calf and they bring a piece of your calf muscle to your knee and they rebuild. your patelor tendon. And it's called a gastronomeneas flap. It starts with a G and it's got flap in it. Well, as I went to the doctor of the day, the flap is not even there anymore. And now there's like

all kind of stuff, chips and arthritis and osmosm, I mean, all kind of stuff's going on. And it's bad news. I mean, it's like, you know, I mean, like amputation is on the table. Still? It's on the table. Not that they're going to do that, but it's, I mean, it's the table. I mean, we've got an infectious disease doctors that we're seeing right now. And everything's not saying it now, but if it sways one way, it's back in the conversation.

So right now the deal is we're going to keep it clean, keep the wounds good and clean, and we're getting blood tests every four weeks. And that's going to tell us whether it's getting better, stabilized, or getting worse. And we ride that as long as we can. And when the wounds heal, there's a lot they can do. But the wounds have got to heal. Wow.

It's been a lot, man. I've been telling you the story back. I mean, can you imagine going through this now? I saw the original photos. Yeah. It looked like someone had taped a rib-eye steak to your knee, like that much was exposed. Right. It looked like a steak.

It was crazy. When I first text, Sting, Sting with that, and he never, he's a big, he hates phones. He called me right back, and he went, what is that on your knee? He said, I wouldn't, I wouldn't, I won't, I won't call you back except it said that that was your cap. I go, it is. So the meat you saw in that picture was my calf muscle, bro. And nobody, they're like, what? And I'm like, they bring it up the whole nine yards.

Well, it seemed awful good, but it just never healed, man. And so I'm dragging this out two years and two months now, you know? When that came out right around that time, I think a lot of fans are really concerned. Oh, yeah. That was really bad, man. Wow, I saw that back. Maybe the day I got out or, yeah, it was. day I got out of Black Bear.

And either I turned away or didn't watch the whole thing or what. But man, I watched that thing back. And I almost, when it was playing, I almost said, cut it off. I mean, it was that bad. I just, I mean, you just so, so much is going on when you're doing what I was doing with drinking and taking pills and all that. You're in such a fog. Your brain's in a fog kind of.

You think you're thinking clearly, but you're just not. And, you know, and it's just, it's just a real crazy place to be. But, man, it was like, you make it make sense like we always do. And addicts are the best at it. We make it make sense. And we're like, you know, I was like, you know, this guy had this boy, this young boy, had a cameo needed it done. It's not about the money.

It's this kid. I'm doing the right thing because this kid needs this. No, bro, you're not doing the right thing. I mean, Dallas gone to me the next thing goes, what are you doing? I go, what? He goes, bro, don't get on the, don't do nothing. If you're, if you're doing anything, don't get on the camera. I mean, it was brutal when I saw it.

My bruised face and licking teeth, and I don't know what I was thinking, bro. I don't really don't. I was just, I was just screwed up. I was screwed up. Your interaction with fans has always been so great. And, like, fans are so important to you. It's so legit. And you make it such a memorable moment for them.

Yes, it means so much to me. And Dallas is the same way, but it means so much to me that even when at the shows we go to, I stand in front of my table. Every other person there. And this is not saying nothing bad about anybody. It's just the way they do it. They sit down in a chair behind their desk or behind their table. And I just want to get up and be a part of it and make their day better.

And anybody that's ever seen me do that, it's just, just, it's from the heart, man. It's from the heart when I do that because I really care about the fans and what they think and I want to make the best out of them, you know? And, you know, and, and I feel like, I do that, you know, and it means a lot to me, man. It means so much. Me and, me and Dallas are the one, I don't think we've ever turned an autograph down. I know I have it. And I could, I wish to God I would have a camera on people that have gone to their mailbox and opened it up and looked in there and like, what is this? And opened up at the, and saw an 8 by 10 of me. Well, any exaggeration

I've done that a thousand times where I've took a name down on an airplane or something or a card and then them walking off thinking, right? Like he's going to send me an 8 by 10 and I did it. I mean, I never failed I don't think. Wow. And it just meant so much to me. I mean, that card,

as soon as I'd walk in from Australia or Canton, Georgia, it was instantly, you know, get 8 by 10, sign it, fill it out, get it, and mail it, you know. It just meant so much to me. Where do you think you go from here? Like you look great, sound great, you're healing up your knee. But I remember talking to Jake about this, Jack the snake, and he's like, it's just one day at a time.

Yeah. And you know what? Man, it's really hard for me to do that. But it is one day at a time. But I am so excited about being sober for the first time of my life. Is this the longest you've been sober for? Absolutely. I mean, maybe, I mean, they actually asked me at Tangu.

my aftercare place, they asked me, you know, how far back? And I was like, I think maybe 16, I think to be totally sober. I mean, I think 16. And that's really sad and pathetic. I know, but I think that's the facts. I think, though, that our relationship with alcohol changes, you know, when you're 16, it's to have fun, drink, meet girls, whatever, party. Party, whatever. Yeah. I mean, like, I mean, I got arrested at 16 for long. is zero point zero one. I didn't even drink, that's when you took the beer

around at the party, but you never drank it. You know, you just kind of had it because you were trying to be cool. Yeah, and I probably had a sip. Yeah.

And I get in my Jeep and I'm driving down 41 and the big chicken, you've heard of the big chicken, right, Marietta? The big chicken, I get pulled, my first ticket

and the first time I getting arrested, I said the big chicken. I get pulled over and I'm thinking, what's this guy doing? Back then, my parents owned Marietta just about.

And so I was like, Like, you know, what's the guy going to do? And I blew in the thing and I blew a 0.01 and I got arrested. I was like, you got to be because I got minor possession. So it's just been, I've had bad luck and been at the wrong place at the wrong time, a lot of times, you know. And back to what you said a minute ago, it really struck me is where do I go now? And, you know, the sky's the limit, man. I'm excited again and that's dangerous.

To me, that's great and dangerous. I mean, you got me and Dallas together and we're both. Dallas is always excited. But to get me excited with him and Steve, it's just like the sky's the limit. I mean, recovery, I've never been able to use recovery or sobriety in a sentence form. And I can't. I can use that in a sentence form without being embarrassed and say that, you know, my recovery, you know, is so important. And your sobriety is so important.

And it's just to be able to say I'm a recovering addict and know what those things mean. And you say recovering, it's not recovered. You know, it's recovering. And there's a big difference in that, you know. And I don't think any attic is really recovered. You've always, I mean, you've always inspired people throughout your life. Right. You're going to inspire people on a whole new level.

Oh, okay. I'm going to make recovery cool. You know, I really am. I mean, I'm going to walk. I walked into Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska Airport. And I was there. And, of course, two hour layover. And there's a bar right across from my, right across from my gate,

course, and I go right over there because I'm hungry. And of course, seat comes available right at the bar. And I said, why not? I said, absolutely. I go belly up to the bar and I order a diet over and water. And the guy like goes like, I was wasting the seat, you know? So Coors lights right here, Coors Light's over here. Guys one that's shot over here. And I actually take a picture of where I'm sitting and a picture of my hamburger with no bun, no carbs, of course. And my diet Coke and then I said me, my knees talk and everything. And, you know, it just, it just was just, it's amazing how much it's out there. And really, I see now what they really go to try to get you ready for because it's there. It doesn't change you?

Man, it just didn't. I mean, the tray came down. You know, they call those triggers. And I kind of just, it was just amazing how many times I saw I could drink. It's, it's, it's a hundred times a day that I could take a train. I could have drank a hundred times. And so it went like a hundred times. I was like, oh, my God, this is a trigger. Oh, my God. It was just almost comical. I was like, this is unbelievable.

I mean, like, the drawer was halfway open on the cart, and it was where the vodka was, and I went, and my hand was that far away, and I went, this is unbelievable. And I was laughing, and the stewardess goes, it was so funny. I said, I said nothing. I said nothing because there's no way to explain it.

It was just like, this is comical. But so, yeah. This is that same discipline that you had transferred into something completely different. That's what Dallas told me. He said, bro, he said, think about the discipline you had to look like you in the 90s. This is the same discipline you're talking about that you're going to have during this. This is the same exact. He said, think about how you live with your discipline.

And now you got to use that same discipline with this, and I am. Was there a part of you that was upset with how things ended with WCW? Obviously, you guys had zero control over that. Yeah. Then you only had one match in WWE. Yeah, well, I think the question would be, I'm upset about the WWE. And at the time, it was the WWF. You know, so, you know, how it broke, absolutely I am to ask your question.

That's in the depression part of drinking. I mean, that's in there with the rest of it. I mean, you throw it in a big pile and you set it on fire. That's, that's in there. And it's like, you know, I mean, it was so depressing to me. And the only thing that saved me from getting worse, being a lot more depressed was at least the fans knew I got screwed. The fans know and still know that the buff bagel got jiped, man. They know that. And without that, I would be like completely

depressed. But they know that as the only savior at all. But man, I did get jiped, man. I mean, I was buffed bagel, bro. And I got fired in Atlanta, Georgia. And, you know, I think a lot of guys may have the same story, but I can tell you, this. don't have this one. I'm the only, to my knowledge, I'm the only wrestler. I've been told this by a lot of guys that know the business a lot. I'm the only wrestler in the history of time to be main event one week and fire the next. I mean, where do you sign up for that? I mean, Buff Bagel was the main event with Booker T. Yeah. And they fired me in Atlanta, Georgia the next week. Why wouldn't they have you in Booker T? In Atlanta. In Atlanta, WCW's.

You know, every main city. Every podcast I did after that was like, guys, think about it. They put us in, they put us in. You were in Seattle. Tacoma.

Tacoma. Very good. Tacoma, Washington. And then next week was Atlanta. Now, you're Vince McMahon. Are you going to put us in Tacoma? Are you going to wait seven days and put Booker Tia and a bag when Atlanta joy?

And they call it the invasion. Yeah. What are we invading out there? Alaska? We're invading in Canada. Yeah, right? We're invading Ted Turner in Atlanta, right? Yeah. But no. So, and the little things I never told anybody, bro, like this, right before my music's playing, okay? I can't remember why, but Booker went out first. Think about that. He had two belts. Yeah. And I went out second. I've never seen that done before.

And it's funny when you watch the match back on YouTube. Yeah. It starts with Booker in the ring and just your end. entrance. Right. It don't show his entrance. No. He may not have got music. And I don't know that part. I'm going to check on it, though. But if you remember, my pyro was off the chart. Yes. But here's what I got told that nobody knows 30 seconds, 10 seconds before you saw me come through the curtain. I had nowhere. I mean, like a ghost, Shane McMahon appears. And he goes, Mark, I go, yeah, he goes, you can't look into the cameras. My music's playing. And I went, what? He goes, you can't look in the cameras. I go, Shane, that's all I do. I said, I look in the cameras. I pose and I wear a cop-out. I said, that's my whole gig, bro. He said, you can't do it or you're fired. So the next time you watch it back, I want you to see a match, I want you to watch a match of Buck Bagwood anywhere in sight of the year before. Yeah. And then watch that match. I don't look anywhere near that camera for the only time in three years. I come down, keep mind. Now, that takes me completely out above my world. So I come out, I do the pyro, I do the posing, but then it's like, where's the camera? And I see it, and I'm going, and I start talking to somebody over here.

So you, that camera, I'm right up in it, bro. Look at me. Yeah. Offside of my game. Right there. So they took my leg off right there, back there. Nobody even knows through the curb. Wow.

So play it back and watch it. It's really weird that I'd never look in the camera that night. I was told Notchard be fired. Wow. So, but nobody knows that. You know, that's the kind of stuff we were going through. You know, Jim Ross called me on Wednesday that week before Atlanta and said, hey, man, we got big plans for you in Atlanta.

So we want you to take all the house shows. That got to be my mother got me out of them. Yeah, that's the story. And it stuck, bro. He started a rumor that stuck so it stuck so much. I started saying, you know what, guys, let's say that my mom did do it and she's lying to me. Do you fire buff bagel over that? And they were like, no, you don't.

And the bad match thing, I go, let's say it was a worst match ever. I go, how about the five years of never tripping, stumbling, or anything previous? I said, you don't fire somebody over a bagel, fire a buff bagel over one match. So the match and the mother stuck, bro. It stuck to the point I was like, let's say she did it. You don't fire Buff Bible over that. You say, Buff, tell your mother to leave us the hell alone. You don't fire me over that or what another human does.

It's 20 years later. I feel like that still must just hurt. Can you realize what that 20 years is? It's about 20 million. Without any exaggeration, it's 10. It's 10 million just joking around. So Jim Rawls in my book, I hate to say it. played a part in that.

I just, I love Jim to death. He's one of my best friends in WCW. So I don't know what happened with that. I just know what I, I just did what everybody told me. And Jim told me not to go to the shows. But out of that came, my mom did it. If your knee heels up to where you want it to be, do you want to wrestle again?

I've loved wrestling again. I think I got another run left. I really do. As Mr. Bagwell? I know I do, yeah. I mean, I know I've got a little bit of a career left, and I hope I do. I think you could go.

But, oh, yeah, I know. I took a bump with crutches at Game Changers, pay-per-view a year and a half ago. At their pay-review, I can't remember what it was called, but I came out first and took a kick from Joey. And took a, well, you got a super kick from him and took a good, clean bump. So it's not about the bump, and it's just about running. So if I get my leg underneath me at all, which I think I can, I'm going to have another run at this thing, man. I mean, to bring it back full circle to where we started. Yeah.

Last time I saw you in the ring in person, right, JT. You did a Canadian destroyer. Right? Yeah. And I remember the guy was like, holy shit. He said, oh, my God. You both by what is it?

The Canadian Union. And that was a stuff. That was a spot that nobody, 220, 220-pound guys didn't do that kind of spot. I mean, it's kind of been beat to death. Yeah. Everybody does the Canadian Destroy. Right, right. But back then.

10 years ago, it's like P.D. Williams and a few other people. Right. Yeah. And I remember my manager at the time. he came up and said, can you do this? And he showed me it on a, all I've never, I've never done it. I've never tried it. That was the first time you tried it?

I swear to God on my life. In the ring? In my, I never, I didn't know what it was. I didn't know what I, if you told me, said, Mark, explain what a Canadian destroy is. I'd say, I've got no idea. I have no idea what that is. Swear to God on my life. And my manager goes, hey, look at this.

Can you do that? I go, I said, I said, well, if they can do it, I can. So, me and the guy hooked, just kind of, I just kind of hooked him. the dressing room. And I said, now right there, I said, that first push is going to be, it's all your world. I said, on me getting over, but you got to really push right there. And so we do a front flip. I hook him. You squat. And when you go, I just tuck. He's got to do the push. And then it's up to me to get us around. And I mean, we were 99% around when I got it there. So we almost stuck it. Perfect. But, you know, 220 and first time doing it, I was very pleased with it. Yeah. And

And then it kicked out. Isn't that great? Everybody's going to go watch it now. Right. That clip on YouTube after you hearing this. I mean, all the stuff came across, you know, all the, the internet was like, you know, the handsome destroyer because the has a stranger and the, you know, the buffback will destroyer. And so it got a lot of, a lot of publicity, you know, by then. Yeah.

And, but it was a lot of fun, man. I love doing things. The Blockbuster. I've never done that in the ring in my entire life, except the first time I did it, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Scotty Riggs. We had practiced it a little bit in the hotel room, like how we were going to land and stuff. But the first time I did it was in the ring. I did it. Boom.

Me and Scotty Riggs. So I found in the wrestling business, man, if you just didn't overthink it, it would come out better. Did you see that Logan Paul did the blockbuster? No. I've seen a lot of guys doing it for high spots. I love it. Logan Paul did it at SummerSlam and his match against the Mids. I love it.

For a finish? No, it was a hot spot, right? Howie won that match. But, you know, the two good tag team guys, the Bowens are, or, it comes out with, they come out with the jerseys and AEW guys. Oh, the acclaim? The acclaim? Yeah. The acclaim, bro. Love them.

They did. I did one double blockbuster with Sonny Ono and Ernest McCut, Miller. And one time at a, at a nitro. And this guy did a double blockbuster when I end Alaska. I thought it was super great. Man, I was like, hey, man. I said, good move. And he goes, the blockbusters.

That's it, brother. It was cool. It's cool to see that. I know a lot of people have been telling you how proud they are of you. Right. I'm so proud of you. Thank you. It's come such a long way from the last time that I saw you.

Right. How proud are you of you? A lot. I really am. This is a big deal, bro. I mean, I've been on some form of drugs for the majority of my life. And now here I am at 52, 40 plus days sober. And, I mean, totally sober.

A sip of alcohol, not one pain pill, not one nothing. That's big. That's huge. I mean, at rehab, they clap when you say that every time. They clap. And it's like, well, they clap. It's a big deal. And I remember at one day they would clap.

So it's a big deal. One day at a time is what they say. And that's what I'm doing just like Jake is. It's one day at a time, even at eight years. It's still one day at a time. And so I'm very happy about everything for the first time in a long time, though. And I'm excited again for the first time in a long time. And I think all those things is what makes this time different.

The tools, excited, and the right team. Right team. You always would put on a face in front of the crowd that you were happy. Right. Maybe you weren't happy, you know, when you went home. I think when I was in front of them, I was. Yeah. But, you know, that was my job.

And so, you know, I think you get caught in the middle of that character, too, a little bit. You know, I definitely lost my, I definitely lost Marcus a little bit with that, with the buff. And, you know, I didn't, I probably didn't know it or didn't think it, but I did, you know. And, and reality is, I do know the difference now. And I'm just, it's just, it's hard to say for addicts because they always say, you know, it's different this time and this is, this is why and everything. But this is different this time. And it's just because it's nothing, no big thing came over me, no special light. I didn't see a light in the far distance or anything.

I just, it's just everything's lining up again. I mean, when I did the buffback run, everywhere I stemmed. was gold. Everywhere. I couldn't step off. And now, but then it started after that run, it started happening where I stepped was bad. And now again, it's everywhere I'm stepping is good again.

And so with that said, I think we, sometimes we don't have the possibility of what's happening with what's going on, with the timing, with the, it is what it is. Everything. We just don't have the, we don't have the, we don't have the, we don't have a crystal ball. Yeah. But this time is so different just because of, I'm excited, I think. I'm excited and I got the tools and I don't know. I just, I just got the right team, everything. And just, everything's lined up this time. And it's just lined up right. And I just feel so good inside and I'm sleeping again. That was a big thing. You know, Dallas always said the story you tell yourself. And, and that's, I didn't quite know what he meant. I was listening, but I what, I didn't hear him. And it's big. It's huge to, you know, to listen to the story you tell yourself. And I was telling myself, I can't sleep.

You know, I got to have Xanax to sleep, guys. I can't do it, you know. And repeatedly hearing that over and over again, you're going to say, you're probably not going to be able to sleep. All of a sudden, now I can say, I can't sleep. And I can't. It's bizarre. Earlier Dallas asked me if I was going to, you know, stay over.

And I was like, and I actually, like, got nervous. I went, what? And then I thought, wait a minute, I ain't got nothing. Before it be like, do I got my pills? Do I have alcohol here so I don't go through, you know, the hebi-jibis in the morning and the shakes and feel bad in the morning? I mean, I don't, you know, you got to plan all that because you're an attic. But I went, oh, my God, I can sleep on the couch and these clothes and wake up and drive home tomorrow. And what up?

Do you know what kind of feeling that is coming from a drug addict? It's huge, man. And so I said, I can't. I said, I can do that. So he got to sleep apnea machine out for me and said, look, check these. I said, I can put something together with that. So I think we're going to stay over. But anyway, it's just, it's just great to be able to do that.

And it's just, there's nothing to hold me back anymore. And that's what that does. It handcuffs you, bro. Yeah. And it grabs you. And it can grab anybody, man. And it grabbed me. Yeah.

But I broke that grip. And now I'm free from it. So, man, I'm free from it. I'm so happy. to hear that. I appreciate it, ma'am. I'm really sorry to hear about the passing of your mom. Yeah, man, that was a biggie, bro. That was huge. Yeah. And I'm sure. She'd be so proud of you now. Yeah. She was always so worried about me, man. I mean, my dad, my dad and her, you know, of course, I took care of them during my run. And I was like, you know, they were constantly trying to get me, you know, to quit, you know. And they knew that, you know, that was part of it that I needed for some injuries and stuff. But they knew it, it was gotten, had gotten out of hand. And, you know, and they can't, how can they come talk to me? They work for me, you know. So my dad was like, what do I say to him?

He goes to the gym every day. He looks phenomenal. His cars are old changed and clean. His house is spotless, and we work for him. So they came at me with how much I was spending. And I never looked at it, Chris, never. Because I knew I wasn't ready to stop. And I didn't want to be depressed about the amount of money I was spending.

So I just shoved it away. I said, now that I don't want to see it. and but she would be so proud. And, and I wish she was here to see it because it would be like beyond her, it'd be like out of her mind, belief. Yes.

So I wish she would be here to see it. But talking about her for a minute, um, the second appearance I've made through all of this, Alaska was the first. The second was in Canton, Georgia this past week. And I, uh, I, uh,

I didn't realize it until I was on the way. You don't even know this. But as I was on the way, I kept asking my agent slash manager. I was like, hey, man, I said, where's this place at again? He said, it's called action. Action. And I went. I said, wait a minute.

I said, is it? As it isn't a church? He goes, yeah, I think it is. I went. I said, oh, my God. I said, that's what my mother's funeral was. No way. The second signing I've been at is where my mom's funeral was less than a year ago.

Wow. So I signed autographs in a building where my mom's funeral was, and I didn't know how to take it. It was like, it was kind of settling to me. It was like comfort a little bit. It wasn't like, oh, my, now, John, my niece was flipped and like, oh, my God, how's more going to take this? But, you know, I made it make sense. And for some reason, it did. It was almost like my mom was there and it was okay.

And I didn't tell, I didn't even tell Steve Yu about this all thing until the next day. It wasn't that big a deal. But to me and Johnny, it was huge. A mother just got her funeral, had her funeral there less than a year ago. So she's there still. And I know she's looking over me, man. But I do wish she could have been here to talk to her about me being sober. It would have been cool.

Yeah. But I miss her, man. She was special. She was a great woman. Great mother. Great mother. I'm just really proud of the progress you've made. Congratulations. Forty-something days in. Next time I see you, it'll be, you know, who knows? A year, brother. It's going to be a year. I end every conversation talking about gratitude because that's such an important thing to me. I wake up every day I say out loud three things I'm grateful for. Oh, that's great. And I do it before I go to bed as well. Wow. I love that. So, Marcus, what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now?

my sobriety Steve you and Dallas page God I mean that's that's three big ones man that's the three that came in online first so I said them that's great if I had a bigger list

it'd be my niece and sure we can be grateful for as many things as you want but the top three that came to my head was that and that's three big ones man that's Steve you is so special man I can't explain it Dallas say the same thing, and he's a friend that is so unconditional, it's unbelievable. I love him so much.

And to have Dallas with him, the two together are exactly what Dallas always wears on his shirt. They're unstoppable, and they are. They are. And just for them to love me and care about me the way they do, when everybody else, men, turn their back on me. And I don't blame them for turning them back on me the other people, but they didn't. and, you know, all the doubters out there that didn't believe in me and stuff, you know, you know, I kind of, I kind of dig that, you know, I don't mind that. It don't make me mad.

It's just, just, I'll see you at the finish line, you know, and let's see how it goes. And you say that as we're sitting in Dallas's house. Right. The man on the other side of the camera is Yoda. It's Steve here. That's the other reason why he said that. Yeah, right. No, it didn't.

I even got teared up. Thank you. Thank you, brother. Hey, man, I love you, bro. I love you. I love you so much. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, there we go, my friends. A massive thank you to Marcus for being so real during this conversation. It's been incredible seeing his progress and his growth since the last time I saw him. And thank you to DDP for all the amazing work that he's doing and for allowing us to record this in his home. And just in general for being so welcoming and hospitable. What a guy.

Please share this with a friend. Please tag us so that we can share it out as well. Marcus is at Marcus Buff Bagwell. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. If you haven't seen these Mr. Bagwell's neighborhood videos that he's talking about, go immediately to YouTube right now and check them out. They're hilarious and he's just getting started in this new chapter in his life. Abraham Lincoln said it best.

I'll leave you with this. The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. Be great. Be grateful. We'll see you. on the next one for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports.

Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and

moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.