Eric Bischoff On Buff Bagwell’s Neck Injury, Decision To Turn Buff Heel
Eric Bischoff went over Buff Bagwell on a current episode of his 83 Weeks podcast, and the neck injury Bagwell suffered in 1998. Bischoff likewise discussed the choice to turn Bagwell heel after the injury, and more. You can check out highlights of his remarks listed below:
Bagwell’s neck injury in 1998: “Go back and enjoy what occurred with Damar Hamlin a couple of weeks earlier. That was basically the ambiance in WCW backstage at that point. We didn’t understand. It looked awful in Hamlin’s case, it was terrible. He really passed away on the field and was restored, I think. With Buff, we weren’t in worry of his life however we were scared he was incapacitated from the neck down. He was due to the fact that he was in that specific minute. If he ‘d ever be able to stroll once again or even wheel himself around in a wheelchair once again, we didn’t understand. It was really frightening.”
Bagwell appearing on television in a wheelchair: “It was a genuine minute. That’s often when wrestling is at its finest, when it discovers best consistency in between character and story and truth. This was a severe variation of that undoubtedly, and one that plainly wasn’t prepared. I believe being able to accept it and bring it forward in a sincere, genuine method was the best thing to do.”
If turning Bagwell heel was the best choice after the injury: “Nope. Nope. Not going to sugarcoat it. I might attempt to validate it. nope with hindsight. You can figure anything out. You can figure a method to make something much better in hindsight, however definitely that would have been a much better story. There’s absolutely nothing I can state, however you’re definitely right.”
Bagwell being challenging to work with at the end of WCW: “Yeah, not a lot. It wasn’t like a big issue, however in the course of a discussion… … For example, I would remain in touch with Johnny Lauranaitis who I did generate from All Japan. Johnny was quite included with imaginative in All Japan and I desired somebody. I actually was hoping Johnny might generate a much richer method to surfaces in WCW. That was constantly like my huge difficulty at that point. Yes, we would discuss, you understand, a few of the skill since I was attempting to determine what we were going to do moving forward and I sometimes would hear recommendations from Johnny about Marcus, however not in such a way that made me go, ‘‘ Oh my God, now what am I going to finish with him?’ Simply sort of like notes.”