Buff Bagwell went all-in on becoming a wrestler, but he was not the one keeping the lights on while he chased the dream.
Speaking with Kings of the Ring, powered by the Digital Bricks Network, the former WCW star revealed that his wife worked as a stripper and financially supported him while he trained full time. Bagwell was giving advice to a host who had recently started wrestling school when he made it clear that treating wrestling like a weekend hobby was not going to cut it.
“I would say, go at it 100%. It’s going to be hard to work another job and be a weekend-warrior thing. It’s going to take you too long to get in it. If you are not in a situation where you can try to be a professional wrestler 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it’s going to take you too long.”
Bagwell said anyone serious about making it may need to move back home, cut expenses and structure their entire life around training.
“I would advise you to move in with your parents and do whatever you had to do so that you can eat, sleep and live to be a pro wrestler. That’s what I did.”
His own climb happened fast. Bagwell said he went from graduating high school with no plans to become a wrestler to landing in WCW within roughly three years. Bagwell spent 10 months in massage therapy school before throwing everything he had into wrestling. Once he made that choice, there was no backup plan and no normal job taking up his time.
“Nobody really talks about this because it’s not necessarily a good thing, but I was on a fast track, brother, to WCW. Again, it ain’t like bragging. It ain’t necessarily a good thing. It’s lucky, and a lot of times you’re not ready.”
“But, brother, from the time I graduated high school—not thinking about being a pro wrestler—I was at WCW in three years. I was in massage therapy school for 10 months, so it was a fast track, brother, to WCW. And that ain’t three years of wrestling. That’s three years to WCW, bro.”
His daily routine was completely built around becoming a star. Bagwell trained, worked on his body and stayed focused on wrestling while his wife handled the financial pressure.
“It was a real fast track, but I’m telling you, part of that fast track was that I was trying to be a wrestler 24/7. I woke up—it was gym, eat, tan, go to the ring, train, tan. I didn’t have a job. I didn’t do anything else.”
Then came the part Bagwell did not sugarcoat. His wife worked as a stripper, paid the bills and gave him the freedom to chase a career that had no guarantee of working out.
“My wife supported me. She was a stripper, and she supported me. I became a pro wrestler and got her out of the stripping thing. That was our team. That was our plan, and that’s what we did.”
The plan worked. Bagwell reached WCW, became a five-time tag team champion and turned Buff Bagwell into one of the company’s most recognizable acts. Still, he made it clear that none of it happens without his wife carrying the load while he trained. Bagwell may have become the face on television, but his wife was the one making sure the dream stayed alive long enough for him to get there.
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