Thanks to reader Chris Chisum for sending in the following:
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. Part two focuses more on the usage of drugs in professional wrestler, Buff's relationship with Lex Luger, and Ted DiBiase's group. After reading this final recap and/or listening to the show, please head over to the Voice of Wrestling forums by clicking below. In "The Show" area on the forums, Buff Bagwell has agreed to respond to your comments, questions, and feedback from this interview.
Be sure to catch a special VOW broadcast live tonight 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!
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Buff said the most common drug being used in professional wrestling was probably pain pills. "Our schedule is year-round," he said, "that's unbelievable. There is no off-season to eat some pizzas, and to hell with the gym and forget about that...it's year-round. There was never a time the bodies of wrestling...Buff Bagwell, your Scotty Steiner's, your Lex Luger's...there was never a time to really say 'yeah man, let's go have a pizza', because every Monday was show time. That, to me, is the major cause of the drug addiction in professional wrestling. Because it's a year-round go, go, go."
Steroids are not as big of a deal as people make it out to be, according to Buff. "I've talked to so many doctors about it," he continued, "1991 was the first year that steroids were illegal. You could go to your doctor and get steroids until 1991. So I want to make it perfectly clear..check with any doctor you want, check with any cop you want..1991 is when steroids became a felony and a class-3 drug." Bagwell brought up the interview Vince McMahon had with Bob Costas and was asked about the steroids in his company. Vince asked Bob whether he had been drug-tested. When each said no, he asked why he should drug-test his employees. Bagwell said that media questions steroids in companies when that certain company is hot. "That's why it's not fair," Buff explained, "the bottom line is there's sh*t going on everywhere."
Chris Cash then caught Buff off guard when he asked if he blamed the business for his drug addiction. "I wasn't ready for that one," Buff responded and after asking Cash to say it again, he replied, "I blame...God I'm such a black and white guy and never gray...yes, I do. I was gonna say 'no' and give you an example, but yes I do." Buff wanted to say "no" because he specifically blamed schedule, travel, being in shape, and performing. "But that is pro wrestling," Buff said, "so yes I do blame that. I don't want to blame pro wrestling for anything. [It] provided me an income for several years...fifteen to be exact and still going...but no, I want to say no, but yes, it is the pro wrestling schedule."
Cash then asked why he's getting back into the business if he's wanting to shape up his life and end his drug addiction when he blames the business for it happening. "Do you not think that's some sort of hypocritical move," Chris asked. "Excellent, excellent, excellent question," Bagwell replied, "my plan, believe it or not, was to not to do this again. I was going to find another avenue for income which I've got several waiting. What's weird is I'm not sure what my calling still is. I'm caught in a little bit of a transition of really what do I want to do, slash, what is gonna pay the bills and with that combined, I took the whole money of June off for this exact reason and then July came around and I've got 18 cities booked. You know what, I'm gonna stick with this until I have to, I still love wrestling."
Buff does think he's strong enough now to battle temptation while out on the road, but he wants to hear what his fans think about it. "I'm strong enough," he said, "I'm ready to go. The temptation of being around it is not there. If I wanted to find a party, buddy, I could find a party way before going to a wrestling match. Now, it's about personal." Buff encourages everyone to go to his website, TheRealBuff.com, and email him their thoughts about this topic. He said that he had been getting letters from a lot of fans already and then he read one of his favorites on-air.
Cash brought up 7 names of wrestlers and wrestling personalities: Honky Tonk Man, Ted DiBiase, Sting, Shawn Michaels, Superstar Billy Graham, Rick Steiner and Buff Bagwell. He asked Buff to draw a parallel from those names. "You're talking about 6 out of 7 names [that are Christians]...and the first name you give me is Honky Tonk...and the only reason I'm not sure about him is only because..I don't know him very well," Buff replied. After Chris caught Buff up with what's basically been said by HTM and others, he simply asked him whether it was true or false that he used DiBiase's group as only a ploy to make money. "Absolutely false," Buff said, "I was clean during the time (during the time he worked with Ted). Do I think it was a legit thing? Absolutely, it was. Ted DiBiase had the right guys that he thought was going to do the right thing, but at the same time, are you gonna get judged, are you gonna do something wrong..."
This led Buff to a quick example to back up his response. "If you walked out of church," Buff continued, "and, if you're a smoker, what's the first thing you're gonna do if you're a smoker? What's the difference between that and me walking outside and pulling a Coors Light out of my jacket and drinking a beer? What's the difference? But the beer will get judged over the cigarette, so there's no way to ever solve this problem and there never will be. So, to answer your question the best that I can, Ted DiBiase's idea was phenomenal. Was he legit? A hundred percent. But life and humans..we live in the flesh..and there's going to be sin no matter what and that's why Jesus Christ died for us. So, that's a question that really can not be totally answered...and I hate that because I like black and white, but this is going to be one that's kind of gray.
On Lex Luger: "We don't talk much man," Buff said, "I don't really know. I did try to help (Buff tried to help with getting Lex booked). He no-showed me a couple times and it really hurt me physically, mentally, and it hurt me financially. Him not showing up hurt my credibility because when somebody books Buff Bagwell, Buff Bagwell always shows. A lot of guys can't say that. Well, I stuck my neck out for Lex and Rick Steiner...Rick Steiner took the ball and ran with it and now he's doing phenomenal as far as overseas, not that he needed a lot of help...Lex did need a lot of help because he was used to multi-million dollar contracts and then all of a sudden having to do Independent shots. At the same time, he started burning me, not showing up and I could not take the hit anymore of me getting my name hurt. So I've really stepped aside. I consider Lex Luger a friend, but that's about as far as it goes. I'll never book him on something, I'll never stand up for his name again, I just can't do it."
