WWE Alum Buff Bagwell Discusses Difficulty Of Living His Character 'At All Times'

WCW veteran Marcus "Buff" Bagwell had a unique gimmick during his time in the promotion and was considered by some to be one of the top stars on the roster. Unfortunately, Bagwell's battle with substance abuse is well known, but during an appearance on "Busted Open Radio," he recalled losing himself in his character.

According to Bagwell, his character tends to get a lot of blame for what he did back then, but he admitted that he was being himself when he began to speak up about his addictions. "It just happened to be that Buff got the blame for it... And he should of. But I think he gets a lot of heat. Buff gets a lot of heat where he really don't deserve." 

Bagwell urged others to speak up but warned that it would be something that would come back to them. "I spoke up, and I realize that by speaking up, it hurt me. And I really thought that other guys were speaking up, so I thought, 'Hey, I'll speak up, too.' I tried to apologize for my mistakes as I was going."

Bagwell then recalled where he went wrong and claimed he thought his lifestyle with WCW worked and that using his "Buff" persona might have been funny, but it caused him to lose balance. "Through addiction, I lost that balance and just became a 24/7 wake-up –- just when the knee happened, it was so depressing to me, and I finally did what every addict does. I isolated. Drinking was never a problem to me, but it became my number one problem because it's easiest to get."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.