Buff Bagwell

[6.0] "One of the more over-hated wrestlers of his era in my opinion. His matches were never anything better than average, but his personality was so large that it made up for it. He was an entertaining part of WCW for some of its better years and had several memorable and/or funny moments that stand out during that time. A really entertaining guy that would probably be better remembered if he hadn't been presented so seriously. He should have leaned more into the comedy and over-the-top stuff he was so clearly skilled at. It's a shame he didn't try to hone in on this side of things in the post-WCW years."

[8.0] "Buff had everything going for him. He had a larger than life personality, he was charismatic, had a cool factor, he had a great physique, could hold his own on the microphone, and was also a great hand in ring as both a singles and a tag. Unfortunately, he kinda got derailed by questionable booking, politics, and injuries, and never really recovered from it. Still though, highly entertaining, and his stuff holds up."

[6.0] "Buff was a very entertaining obnoxious heel. It took him several years to get there. He toiled for a while in several odd tag teams with 2 Cold Scorpio and The Patriot. As Buff I found him to be very funny. He was really over in 1999 but the combination of inept booking, tanking business and turnover in leadership railroaded his only chance of being a major star."

[5.0] "Buff Bagwell was decent during his time in WCW. He was apart of the best version of the NWO and had some great moments with Scott Steiner. He had amazing charisma and a great look."

[6.0] "Buff gets a bad rap. He progressed through the years; early years where he was right out of high school and Sting was his mentor; American Males and others where he solidified himself as a very good tag team wrestler; NWO - I though he played a great role as one of the early WCW wrestlers to jump to the other side; feud with Scott Steiner People remember his WWE match and that is unfortunate."

[7.0] "A company man who pretty much started off around 92 when WCW was beginning to take off and stayed with them all the way until the promotions collapse. Solid mid carder early in his WCW career who put in work in the singles and tag divisions and later even main evented a Nitro or two at the height of his career. Did a great job in Vicious & Delicious. Had the looks, the charisma, solid promo skills and he definitely knew how to work the crowd. The girls just couldn't get enough."

[6.0] "The rating on here is absurd. I know about his personal issues and his backstage issues but Buff Bagwell was a competent worker who left a mark for anyone watching WCW around 1997-2001. A great look, nice physique and great charisma, he had the tools to become someone big and showed promise when he started early. He's worked WCW, NJPW, WWA, XWF, WWF/E & TNA. He was mostly a tag guy but showed potential to be a TV champ or something like that. From 1995-96 he was working his ass of and catched the eyes of WCW. He was repackaged from Marcus Bagwell to Buff Bagwell and what came was a lazier, sloppier version of Marcus which showed great charisma but managed to have shitty matches with the likes of Lex Luger, Scott Steiner, Disco Inferno, Roddy Piper, The Cat, Shane Douglas and was part of notoriously bad stipulations like Judy Bagwell on a pole match. His was positioned as an upper midcarder but always had a glass ceiling because they were afraid to pull the trigger. After WCW's buyout, he had 1 match on WWF TV before being released and faded into obscurity."

[7.0] "In my opinion, a very overhated wrestler. He wasn't all that bad in the ring and was a good hypeman for guys like Scott Steiner. He stayed loyal to WCW, and despite what people today might say, was definitely over. He definitely could have achieved more, if his personality had been better."

[6.0] "Bagwell was a good wrestler for WCW. He had the crowd that reacted to him and a good physique. In the ring he could go with someone good but wasn't anything overly impressive to me. Stupid storylines towards the end of his WCW run and the wrong attitude in WWE hurt his career."

[6.0] "Marcus Alexander Bagwell was an enjoyable rookie babyface on the undercard. He got lost for a bit after that and found himself and a role with Buff. Like most of WCW, he went completely off the rails in the dog days of the promotion and was insufferable but it doesn't negate his prior work I actually enjoyed. It never really was up to much once the bell rang but I am the only person on earth who enjoyed his match against DDP at Superbrawl '97."

[5.0] "Had the look, and decent enough charisma with acceptable skills but back stage personality influenced by toxic WCW politics lead to a very short tenure when they got bought out by the WWF. The WWF firing him over refusing to ditch his top hat might have just been an excuse because he was already rubbing people the wrong way upon arrival and they wanted to test and see if he would play ball? Bagwell blew off his new employers and did his thing, then was literally thrown out of the WWF by Angle and Austin."

[5.0] "He was gonna get a 4 because he's another generic wrestler, but his personality is what was impressive from him, so I'm raising it to a 5. An asshole out of the ring, inside of it can be fun to hear. I think his lower card matches were pretty okay"

[2.0] "I should not need to leave a comment to justify this rating. Man has wrestled for over a decade and shared the ring with bitw talent and still looks terrible"

"Been listening Buff's podcast lately and I have gotten a new respect for him. I never liked him but I think it was because he was such a good heel. Unfortunately he had very short run in WWE. I hope he gets signed to AEW very soon. Very good promos and body."

[3.0] "This guy just annoys me. Never saw the hype behind him even during his heyday in WCW. Plus, he seems to have a really weird relationship with his mom."

[4.0] "Riddle me this: how can i love Marcus Alexander Bagwell, but detest Buff Bagwell? When he started as The Handsome Stranger in Global, as a Male Stripper wearing a tiny mask (LOL! ) i loved it - so cheesy, so white meat baby face, brazenly unsubtle and unwittingly homoerotic. Then he came into WCW as the ultimate newb, somehow winning rookie of the year a record 3 straight times. Great tag teams with Tom Zenk, 2 Cold Scorpio, The Patriot and then it came... the transition. The dreaded American Males who came to slam yer grandma. I somehow did not fast forward at this point, but lord were they cringe. Then he shed the Marcus Alexander persona altogether and became BUFF. Somehow, in my mind these are two different men, One i always watch and even cheer for (well, i do NOT cheer for the American Males haha! ), the other? NEEEOOOO! KILL IT WITH FIRE!"

[8.0] "And I am gonna give him an 8, because I loved his work in WCW. He was funny, especially his work with Scott Steiner. His tag team with Scott Norton was great, should have been given belts at least for a while. He was quite basic in the ring, but Buff Blockbuster was one of the coolest finishers back then. He had a good physique, and was OVER as a babyface in 99. Should have totally been given a TV belt, or even a US belt - seriously Konnan, Steve McMichael, Jeff Jarrett, One Man Gang and Hugh freaking Morrus! for crying out loud? were US champions, guys with personality of a wet cloth, extremely limited in the ring, all of them, yet they were given a US title run, although they didn t get much of a reaction, ever (maybe except of Jarrett s go away/change the channel heat and Konnan s same promo every single time, that people got used to, so they popped a bit, because he involved them in it. Buff s attitude probably prevented him from having way more success, which is a shame."

[0.0] "Can't stand his matches, his promos, his gimmick, the guy is just unbearably annoying to me, and he never succeeded unless he was paired with someone much more talented like 2 Cold Scorpio or Scott Steiner."

[1.0] "He was over as fuck so I'll give him that but I'm not in December of 1999 in my watching everything since mid 1998 watchalong and he's unbearable most of the time"

[3.0] "Buff was ok-- he had the look, and some basic charisma. But he couldn't do a ton in the ring for a lot of his WCW run and never grew as a character or noticeably improved."

[5.0] "It's funny to find out that Bagwell's gimmick apparently was very similar to his real personality. Big ego and all. He had the look goin for him and seemed to be all right early in his WCW career, but then nothing really changed, other than his in-ring skill seemingly going down."

[5.0] "He was pretty entertaining in his heyday and definitely had a weird charisma behind him, that being said he was a fairly decent worker back in the day but needed guys around him to elevate him to anywhere beyond ok at best, and was mostly just known as a tag specialist. nWo Bagwell is mostly all in the way he comes across outside of the ring and the extra mass he put on helped with his push: not so much for his wrestling, which mostly went very much downwards. Didn't really have anything else to give beyond that."

[6.0] "Hall of fame name right here lol. He looked it to. He was always a cool character and was decent on the mic. But those kinda of guys were everywhere back in those days. Good tag team guy and fit in well with the nwo angle. I? m not sure why his rating is so low he was entertaining to me."

[0.0] "I was originally pretty excited about Buff Bagwell because he had a ton of promise. Unfortunately that didn't last long: all the slack I could have cut him started run short as the years and the matches piled up. At one point it became evident the guy was basically a miniature Kevin Nash: he was just interested in making friends in high places and playing politics. That worked in WCW but once WCW went belly up... it was basically over for Buff Bagwell. It took Vince McMahon mere days to realize how toxic the guy was and after a couple matches with poor Booker T Vince got rid of him and mercifully we never saw him back in a major promotion or even a good quality indie. It's guys like Buff Bagwell that sometimes make me ashamed of having been a wrestling fan for so long."

[7.0] "Buff had impressive charisma, and was a solid midcard worker. His career ran out of steam at a young age due to ego and personal issues, but Buff was a mainstay of the WCW tag division for nearly a decade. He was a decent worker with excellent charisma."

[8.0] "Incredibly Entertaining. I'm genuinely surprised that he never won a Singles Championship in WCW. He could've very easily of been TV Champion or United States Champion"

[6.0] "I don't think Buff was quite as bad as most people remember. Sure he had that stinker of a match against Booker T. And he was involved in some pretty terrible stories back in WCW. But I remember him being fairly athletic and being a rather believable midcard talent who could work with most anyone. American Males was goofy, but it was during the "where the big boys play" era of WCW and fit with the brand."

[7.0] "I am a massive fan of bagwell, yes he wasnt the greatest worker but he was so entertaining i believe. His work on the mic was greatest even though he wasnt the biggest player in nwo his buff gimmick was by far my favourite."

[3.0] "He was very good in the beginning of his career as a crusierweight. He was exciting to watch from 1991-1995/96. Teaming up with the Patriot and 2 Cold Scorpio was exciting. That all changed in 1996 when he went "Buff" and joined the NWO. Although he was an icon for WCW and NWO he was no good anymore. He could have been a memorable crusierweight if he had not gotten muscular. His match with Kanyon "Judy on the Pole" match was stupid. His mother treated him like mama's boy. Attitude problems effected his career especially in WWF. After being fired from WWF he was just never the same after that. I was never really interested in him. I can't believe he's still wrestling today."

[4.0] "Marcus Bagwell had a great look, but his in-ring ability was never above average. Maybe if he'd put in the time to improve his craft and less time shooting up steroids, he'd be known for being something other than Shane Helms' bitch."

[8.0] "I'll admit I'm a bit of a Bagwell mark. He definitely has the look and charisma to be a big star and for a while he was. While many feel he was lacking in the ring, I believe his matches with DDP show what he can do when motivated. However his poor backstage attitude and laziness in the ring ultimately derailed him and now he's remembered primarily for his his awful match with Booker T that many feel destroyed the Invasion angle."

[7.0] "He was never a particular favorite of mine but he was one of the bigger stars in WCW for a time. His personality made him noticeable but it never won me over."

[3.0] "All of the look with none of the skill. Had chrisma, but couldn't get by on that alone. Single handedly killed WWE's planned reboot of WCW."

[5.0] "When Bagwell first joined the nWo, I found his Buff schtick very entertaining. He ended up stagnating, though. A number of factors hurt him: lack of development in his character, the neck injury which cost him a year and greatly limited his in-ring skills, and WCW's mishandling of his return from the injury, when they turned what could've been a huge face turn into a ho-hum return to the by then past its prime nWo. His attitude probably didn't help either."

[7.0] "When I think of the face of WCW I think of Sting, then next I think of Bagwell. He was a great in ring mechanic. Most of the time his job was to almost win a match, and just come up short. He was good at it. Was never a fan of the Buff gimmick. It made him 9th fiddle in the NWO. If he would have stayed Marcus Alexander Bagwell the baby face. And been in the U. S title seen with Eddie, Benoit, Booker and Finley. He would have had a better later carrier."

[4.0] "started off as the pretty boy gimmick and has the right look to get the promoters in his corner. was a serviceable worker considering he was expected to be green... but then as his career advanced he became friends with the right crowd... got some political connections... got himself a guaranteed contract... and suddenly he was a problem for the company. Bagwell didn't do business the way business was supposed to be done. Couldn't be counted on to do an important angle as a result. Really wasn't anything special as far as his ring work went. He had a good body, and he had his fans for that reason alone, but he is pretty much the perfect example of a guy who keeps his job only because he has a good body and they need guys to fill 4 to 5 hours of tv each week these days."

[6.0] "While Buff might not have truly made it as a main event singles wrestler, he had the physique and personality to do well as a mid-to-upper-midcarder. As a babyface he had a certain infectious enthusiasm that made him easy to root for, and also made a good obnoxious heel as a member of the NWO. In terms of ring-work he probably was at his best in the tag team ranks, whether with the NWO (where he mainly teamed with Scott Norton) or earlier tag runs with 2 Cold Scorpio and Scotty Riggs. After WCW closed he went to WWE for a single appearance that crashed and burned and never really returned to the national spotlight on a regular basis, but he did have a few appearances for TNA and continues to appear on the indies."

[8.0] "Always thought he was better as a tag team wrestler. Very underrated with Stars and Stripes and American males. Shame he never got a proper run at the wcw title. Had the company not folded his career would have looked a lot different"

[6.0] "Sure, he was an egotistical jackass behind the scenes, but in the ring he was always solid and was charismatic enough to get the fans on his side. A near-perfect mid-carder."

[9.0] "A great charismatic wrestler if there ever was one."

[4.0] "Very unprofessional and as a wrestler average at best."

[5.0] "Average wrestler. 5 times Tag champion in the WCW, but apart from that he achieved nothing both in WCW and WWE."