Exclusive Ring Rust Radio interview with former IWGP Heavyweight Champion and international pro wrestling superstar AJ Styles

The hosts of Ring Rust Radio – Donald Wood, Mike Chiari and Brandon Galvin – recently had the chance to speak with former IWGP Heavyweight Champion, former TNA World Heavyweight Champion and international pro wrestling superstar, AJ Styles. After recently challenging Jay Lethal for the ROH World Title at Final Battle in Philadelphia, Styles now sets his sights on the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 10 on January 4. In addition to those matches, Styles discusses his opinion of TNA and his time in the company, his dream matches in professional wrestling, if he would ever consider a run in WWE’s NXT brand and more.

You can listen to this entire interview on the YouTube link below or you can continue past and read the interview right here.

Ring Rust Radio: On Friday, you are scheduled to square off against Jay Lethal for the world title at Ring of Honor’s Final Battle. What are your expectations for your match against Lethal and what kind of atmosphere are you expecting inside the old ECW Arena in Philadelphia?

AJ Styles: I have to tell you man, I love it when I get butterflies. The more you wrestle the fewer butterflies you get and you need that extra energy, know what I’m saying? You have to get pumped before your match. Just talking to you guys I am getting excited about it. Jay Lethal is one of the best in the world. You are not the Ring of Honor champion because you suck. This guy is amazing and I have watched him grow as a pro-wrestler and a human being. He is going down a different path and I understand it, I have been there before. I think it is going to be an amazing match.

Ring Rust Radio: What do you expect from the Philadelphia crowd?

AJ Styles: They probably are one of the best crowds on the planet. These guys know what wrestling is, they respect it and when they see something great, they go crazy. That’s what I want. Every time I have been in front of a Philly crowd they have been amazing.

Ring Rust Radio: Recently, there have been rumors of you working through a back injury. Can you talk about what kind of injury you’re dealing with and how it will impact your status for Final Battle and New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom?

AJ Styles: I’m not going to let it have an impact. I’m going to be wrestling at Final Battle and Wrestle Kingdom and I will find a way. I’m not missing these amazing events for anything. I am going to be there, I have been hurt before, and I just work through it. Everyone has at some point; it’s just what you do as a wrestler. You ignore the pain and when that adrenaline starts running it doesn’t matter what’s bothering you, you will put on the best show you can.

Ring Rust Radio: The demand for you is as high as any wrestler in the world right now. You're a top guy in both ROH and New Japan, and while that's great for exposure, I imagine it can be taxing on the body as well. At this point in your career is there any consideration given to pulling in the reins a bit or taking less dates to preserve your health?

AJ Styles: Maybe less dates because I have been going hard ever since I left TNA. I have been rocking it. Maybe less dates is something that I should look to, but as far as slowing down in the ring; no way. I have one gear and it’s all or nothing with me. That’s the reason why I came home early from the tag tournament over in New Japan. If I got back in the ring, I would have hurt myself worse because I just can’t slow down. It doesn’t matter how many people are in attendance, you are always going to get everything I have.

Ring Rust Radio: I've been a huge fan of yours since I first saw you in WCW and was excited when you joined TNA in 2002 and they quickly pushed you as one of the top talents. Do you recall knowing TNA would look to make you the face of the company when you signed with them, or were you surprised when this happened since you were still just a few years into your career? Also, what are you fondest memories of building TNA in its early years?

AJ Styles: It’s funny cause when it first started I thought it was just another indie. I didn’t worry about what they would do with me; I just knew I was there to put on killer matches. As it grew, I had to ignore rumors that they were going out of business and that I might be done there after I felt like I was part of the company. I don’t know that I was shocked that they were giving me a title. Jerry Lynn, Low Ki, and myself were always having the best matches on PPV. So it wasn’t a surprise they wanted to put us in the main event. As many bad things that did happen at TNA, there were plenty of good things as well. As I walk down to my man cave, I have old posters of TNA. Sometimes I think I should take them down, but then again I’m not ashamed of what I accomplished there. It is what it is and despite where TNA is now, when I look back it was a very positive thing for me and I learned a lot there.

Ring Rust Radio: You have spent almost two years wrestling in New Japan. What has it been like working as a top heel in front of the Japanese fans?

AJ Styles: You try to be the biggest turd you can be over there. The fact of the matter is if you put on a good show they are going to respect you either way. While they are going to go crazy for Tanahashi, Okada, or Nakamura, it’s funny that I still get praise in the same light as them even though I am a heel. It’s because they respect wrestling so much and they really enjoy it. So it’s really fun being over there and you try to be the best heel you can be, but sometimes you just give up and are this grey area of the wrestling world.

Ring Rust Radio: Wrestling from America and Japan is very different. How have you managed to find so much success during the transition to the New Japan’s unique style?

AJ Styles: I think it’s not really a style I wasn’t accustomed to; it’s the same style I have always wrestled. You get in there and do your best and do what you can go entertain the people in front of you. They respect that over there. They are quiet and you can hear everything, but that’s great because I can tell the little girl a couple of rows back cheering for Okada to shut up. I get such a reaction from that. It really is a great place to work from the talent to the office.

Ring Rust Radio: You're perhaps best known for your long, successful stint in TNA. A lot of fans feel like the TNA product has been moving in the wrong direction for the past few years. As someone who was there for the ups and downs, where or why do you think things might have started moving in the wrong direction, and what ultimately led to your departure?

AJ Styles: I think around 2009-10 they were headed in the wrong direction. They were trying to be WWE-lite and you can’t do that, you have to be different. I think that’s where the biggest mistakes were made and they didn’t trust the guys that got them to the ball game in the first place. They had all the talent they needed and didn’t need to bring in other talent. I think people were misinformed about what they could get out of it. The dial never changed when they brought in this higher talent as they thought it would. I will say Christian Cage when he came over was such an asset; he was the start of it. Then they brought in Kurt Angle, which was unbelievable, and they could have stopped there and we would have been fine. They have got to be different and turn it up. If WWE can’t do something because they are publicly traded, then there is your advantage. That just doesn’t apply to TNA, that applies to ROH as well. Everybody can do something different than WWE. I will say ROH wrestling is out of this world and nothing can compete with that. TNA they just have to change it and be different.

Ring Rust Radio: Many fans consider you the pound for pound best wrestler in the world. What does that mean to you and who do you feel is your strongest or biggest competition for that honor?

AJ Styles: It’s tough to even accept something like that because you are only as good as the guys you get in the ring with. For them to say that it makes me feel good. There are so many guys out there that I think are better like Samoa Joe, Nakamura, Tanahashi, Okada, Jay Lethal, these guys have earned that right to be called the best. Not to proclaim it themselves, but for others to give them that name. It’s an honor, but I don’t think I can accept because there are so many other great wrestlers out there.

Ring Rust Radio: Many wrestling fans would love to see you in WWE’s NXT brand. There have been recent rumors about your interest level, but is a run with NXT something that interests you and would seeing several familiar faces booked well make the jump easier?

AJ Styles: I’m going to be honest with you guys. The thing that makes wrestling most interesting to me is going to be the business that occurs after the match is over. A lot of people frown on that and say money isn’t everything. Well I say it depends on how much you have saved. My goal when I retire is to not be in a wheel chair or walk with a limp. Wherever I go, I will do my best, work harder than anybody there, and that’s just what I do. I only have one gear and if someone is looking for that and I can support my family while doing it, then that is what I will do.

Ring Rust Radio: A lot of wrestlers look at WWE as the ultimate goal, and maybe feel like there's a void in their career if they don't make it to that point. From your perspective, what more do you need to do to ensure that your career's complete? Is WWE part of that equation?

AJ Styles: It’s not, it really isn’t. I get to work in the Tokyo Dome on January 4th in front of thousands and thousands of people. That’s pretty awesome. I don’t know about you guys, but the first time I watched New Japan and saw them walk down that long ramp to the ring it was unbelievable. The fact that I get to do that, that is my wrestling moment. I wouldn’t say I would never go to WWE, but if it didn’t happen I wouldn’t go, “Oh man, I missed out. I’m the one guy that missed out.”

Ring Rust Radio: There are a lot of dreams matches fans would love to see from you, but if you could or could have wrestled anybody in history, which would be your top choice? What is your ultimate dream match?

AJ Styles: I think I am going to get the opportunity to have one of my dream matches. I have never wrestled Rey Mysterio one on one. We are going to be in England at Five Star and we are finally going to get the chance to lock up. I’m looking forward to that match, I think it’s going to be fun, and it’s going to be entertaining. It’s Rey Mysterio, this guy is amazing. To be able to step in the ring with him, it’s kind of a dream come true for me. Not because I have watched him for so many years, but he is such a great guy and I never had the opportunity to have that match with him. I would have loved to wrestle Eddie Guerrero, but obviously that can’t happen. I think Rey Mysterio is definitely a big one for me.

Ring Rust Radio: What are your impressions of Lucha Underground and is that something that you may be interested in working for?

AJ Styles: Again, where ever the business takes me that is where I will go. Lucha Underground does great and crazy stuff over there, and it’s a little bit of what we talked about with doing something different. Wherever the business takes me, that’s where I am going to go.

Exclusive Ring Rust Radio interview with former WWE Superstar Kurt Angle as he prepares to retire from TNA

The hosts of Ring Rust Radio – Donald Wood, Mike Chiari and Brandon Galvin – recently had the chance to speak with Olympic gold medalist and former WWE and TNA Superstar, Kurt Angle. In addition to getting Angle’s thoughts on TNA’s move to Pop TV, RRR asks Angle about his upcoming retirement from Impact Wrestling, possibly returning to WWE or NXT, his dream matches in pro wrestling, and more. You can listen to this entire interview on the YouTube link below or continue past to read the interview here.

Ring Rust Radio: TNA has been making headlines with the move of Impact Wrestling to Pop TV and a new set of tapings at the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. What do you think of Impact’s move to Pop TV?

Kurt Angle: This is all new territory for us. Getting into another network, this will be our third in three years. Hopefully it works out and it builds something long term. It is a new network and we are excited for it. I want to be able to sit back and see how it goes.

Ring Rust Radio: Who do you think will win the World Title Series in Bethlehem?

Kurt Angle: I think it will be Bobby Lashley. As far as pro wrestler and fighter goes, he is a beast. He has just a little bit better everything than anyone else. He really is a super athlete, so I always pick him to be the favorite.

Ring Rust Radio: You recently announced your retirement from Impact Wrestling following the company’s tour in the United Kingdom this January. What went into your decision and why did you feel like now was the right time to step away?

Kurt Angle: It was just the best time for me to step away. With me being able to be home a lot more this past year it helped me see what was more important to me, and that’s family. I thought it was a good move on both parts and we are both comfortable with each other.

Ring Rust Radio: You’ve pretty much seen and done it all over the course of your career, but is there anything that you still want to accomplish as a professional wrestler, or do you have any regrets or anything you would have done differently in your career?

Kurt Angle: As far as my wrestling career, I would say no. I did everything I wanted to and it was a fun ride. I never knew how good I was going to become or the status I would achieve, it didn’t really matter to me and I just enjoyed it. It was a fun ride with no regrets and was as good as it could have gone.

Ring Rust Radio: You've recently mentioned that you consider your TNA run better than your WWE run. I respectfully disagree and a much reason for that is because of the entertaining moments you brought outside of the ring early in your career. I was a huge fan of the work you did with Taz, Chris Jericho and Bob Backlund to name a few. I still think it was Essa Rios that ran down Stone Cold. When you were first starting out, do you recall thinking or knowing you would be able to nail that aspect of being a pro wrestler?

Kurt Angle: No, it wasn’t like I was being trained to become that super pro wrestler. I never went over promos or practiced them, it was one of those things that you either have it or you don’t. If you have it, you’re going to be able to do that more often and be a more character driven wrestler than an actual wrestling wrestler. When you have that it’s a positive for sure. Pro wrestling is real difficult, so anyone that knows how to be a decent pro wrestler, they get that other aspect of wrestling like promo skills and stuff. Then they combine that with their athletic ability and they can go really far.

Ring Rust Radio: You have confirmed in past interviews there were discussions with WWE about a possible return, but things fell through. Why do you think the two parties couldn’t come to an agreement and would you be open in the future to a part-time run in WWE?

Kurt Angle: Right now, I am not thinking that far into it. If I feel good after I take my time off, I might want to continue wrestling. That’s why I didn’t say I was retiring from wrestling for good. It was just the last matches I had under contract with TNA. It’s more of a TNA retirement thing rather than anything else. I’m enjoying everything about retirement right now.

Ring Rust Radio: During your recent Q&A tour you mentioned potentially competing at WrestleMania 33, but are you optimistic that another WrestleMania match is a legitimate possibility? How likely do you think it is that it ultimately comes to fruition?

Kurt Angle: I don’t know to be honest. It all depends on how I feel about the situation. Is there a possibility that there will be a meeting in the future? Yes, I’m not counting it out. I think anybody in pro wrestling wouldn’t mind their last match being at WrestleMania.

Ring Rust Radio: A lot of former TNA talent has turned up in NXT as of late such as Samoa Joe and James Storm. If there was no interest on WWE’s part in a main-roster run, but they offered you a spot in NXT, how would you react to that? Is it something that would interest you?

Kurt Angle: No. With all due respect, the talent on the NXT roster is phenomenal. They are doing something right down there as far as getting talent ready. I just don’t think it would be worth it for either side to have me go down there and work on NXT. Not saying I wouldn’t do it, but it is considered the WWE minor league. With that in mind, I think anybody would feel the same way about it.

Ring Rust Radio: If WWE doesn't bring you in for WrestleMania 33 or another run in general, do you think there will be a void left in your career by not coming back full circle?

Kurt Angle: No, absolutely not. I have done it all from WWE to TNA to stuff over in Japan. I enjoyed it and every aspect of my career. It’s just the way the cards fell and right now I needed to get out for my own health. I don’t regret it because I had a lot of fun in TNA and both companies had been really great to me.

Ring Rust Radio: Daniel Bryan is a guy who you’ve mentioned wanting to work with before your career officially comes to a close. Why is that such an attractive matchup to you, and who are some others that you wouldn’t mind competing with before it’s all said and done?

Kurt Angle: Daniel has the rare gift of not just being an incredible wrestler and underdog, but fans flock to him very quickly. It is all about the wrestling ability and he is the very best today. It’s what he brings to the table and that’s a lot of fans. You want a match like that when it attracts a lot of interest and excitement and makes fans choose one way or another.

Ring Rust Radio: Daniel Bryan is certainly the ultimate dream match from today's current wrestlers, but my all-time dream match would be to see you against Bret Hart. Is there somebody in history you've never wrestled, but wish you could?

Kurt Angle: You said his name. We were so close to doing it. We had talked about his return in WWE, but ultimately we just couldn’t make it happen. I understand why Bret took the match the following year with Vince at WrestleMania. I was a little bit offended, but when I talked to him he told me, “Kurt, I didn’t wrestle Vince that night. If I can’t go out there and put on the Bret Hart performance that I know I can, then I’m just not going to do it.” I respected his decision for not wanting to after that. It made me understand that he had been through hell from the head injury to the stroke, he just can’t do it anymore the way he wants to do it. If he can’t be at that Bret level, he just isn’t going to do it.

Exclusive Ring Rust Radio interview with former WWE Superstar Brad Maddox on his time in WWE, his depature from the company, and more

The hosts of Ring Rust Radio – Donald Wood, Mike Chiari and Brandon Galvin – recently had the chance to speak with former WWE Superstar Brad Maddox. Maddox made his debut on the main roster working with CM Punk and Paul Heyman and in addition to speaking about his recent departure from WWE, Maddox talks about his roles in the company, working with legends like The Under taker, his future after WWE and more.

To hear this entire interview, head over to www.Patreon.com/RingRustRadio and for a donation of just $10 a month, you can hear every RRR interview before they air on the show! And not only that – you get every previous tier, including a guaranteed email read on the show per month and the chance to vote for your favorite card in the upcoming fantasy draft! For only $10 a month! So head over to www.Patreon.com/RingRustRadio to see all the reward tiers Ring Rust Radio has to offer.

Otherwise, continue on and you can read the entire interview here!

Ring Rust Radio: The biggest topic of conversation for you recently has been your release from WWE. Will you explain why you were let go by the company and if there are any hard feelings regarding your departure?

Brad Maddox: Well at least I’m making news now. You guys know what it was all about at this point. I called the Indianapolis crowd pricks in the dark match of a SmackDown taping, which I didn’t consider inappropriate or a bad word knowing that it was a dark match. My job is to go out there and work up the crowd get them warmed up. You don’t have the rules you have while on TV. There I can talk to the crowd directly, make fun of their football or basketball team, tell them that they smell bad, and whatever you want to use to get them worked up. I just kind of threw that in there and was going to call them losers, but thought that was a little lame. So instead I called them pricks, and Vince did not take it as lightly as I did.

Ring Rust Radio: If WWE came back to you and said enough time has passed, would you be open to going back to them?

Brad Maddox: Depends on what I am doing. I am certainly not going to close any doors. I have enough experience in my 31 years to know you can never say never. We will see what happens, I have some other plans and things I am working on, but I am not opposed to it.

Ring Rust Radio: You debuted on the WWE main roster in a pretty high-profile spot getting involved with CM Punk as a referee in his world title match and then doing stuff with Paul Heyman and The Shield, but as a fan it didn’t seem like the payoff was everything it could have been. What was your expectation for how that angle was going to play out, and looking back, what do you think could have potentially been done better or differently?

Brad Maddox: I agree with you as far it could have led some where better than it did, but that is where I messed up early on. I wasn’t proactive enough. I didn’t go to Vince in those days or knock on his door; I didn’t go ask questions to the right people or ask where this is going or say, “Hey did you guys know that I can wrestle and came up through your developmental program?” I did all the things there that they said I had to do to get moved up and show that I am qualified. It was a lack of communication on my part with Vince and Hunter and the right people. It probably would have had a totally different impact instead of just sitting around and waiting on the writers to come hand me my script and assuming they had some grand plan for little old me. I can definitely say I could have been more proactive in those early days. I did love working with Paul and working with Vince in his office and working on promos in his office. It was a really cool experience.

Ring Rust Radio: WWE's creative team has been under fire not just from fans recently, but also former WWE legends. What was your experience like with the creative team and what are your thoughts of the creative process as a whole in WWE?

Brad Maddox: I mean, I got along with all those guys really well. It’s a matter that they have a lot of content to get through every week and have a lot story and a roster full of guys to write for. Obviously, I was in a pretty good spot, but I wasn’t one of the most important guys. They are focused on the main angles that are going to make money for the show and then of course everything has to be run through Vince, so there is a limited amount of time there. You can’t rely on someone else to handle your career for you. You have to go knock on Vince’s door and say “this is what I want to do” or “what do you think about this.” That’s where I should have taken care of business for myself. I am no John Cena and not making a ton of money for the company, so I am not going to be a priority upfront.

Ring Rust Radio: While everyone watched The Undertaker on The Tonight Show, starring Jimmy Fallon last month, it was your role as the turkey that really stole the show. How did you get the honor of working with Undertaker on national TV?

Brad Maddox: I knew the Undertaker was there, but I was a turkey on Thanksgiving, I felt that there is no higher honor. It was like, “Let’s book this turkey and see if we can get anyone to work with him.”  It was fun, and I might have been the only guy left in the states at that time since everyone was working the European tour. I don’t know why I was picked for it, but I had fun with it. I assumed at the time that it was going to be a full turkey mask. When I got there they showed me the outfit and I thought, “Where is the rest of it?” I guess everyone is going to know I am a turkey and that’s awesome. I did get to meet Jimmy Fallon and he let me know I had made it in show business. We were talking to their writers and to see what they were thinking about us. There wasn’t much for Taker and I to talk about. We pretty much walked around and just tried not to laugh about it. Then during rehearsal he said this is the part where he was going to tombstone me. I thought that yeah, this is the Undertaker, I’m sure he has done enough tombstones to where he doesn’t have to practice it and I was pretty sure I could trust him. I will say that I didn’t envision my first tombstone from the Undertaker being in that environment. If someone had told me nine years ago when I started wrestling that I was going to be tombstone by the Undertaker but it’s going to be on 30 Rock on late night television I wouldn’t have believed it.

Ring Rust Radio: You weren't given many opportunities to showcase your skills in the ring as a wrestler, but you were certainly able to generate a reaction from the crowd with your speaking skills and natural charisma. Do you think you would have excelled as a manager and why do you think WWE never tried to put you in that position?

Brad Maddox: I would never have stuck around to be a manger. I just wouldn’t have. I love wrestling and that’s why I started. I watched guys like Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho be entertaining in the ring and that’s what I wanted to do. If I had gotten pinned into that role, I wouldn’t have made it very long because I wouldn’t have been happy.

Ring Rust Radio: Now that the WWE chapter in your career is closed, at least for now, what are you hoping to accomplish in the wrestling business. Where do you see yourself going over the next year or more?

Brad Maddox: I plan onto diving into acting. I don’t want to say that’s a priority because I want to do both. I am excited to get back into working on a regular basis and getting into ring shape. Being in ring shape is so much different than being in regular shape, and you can’t accomplish that working a dark match once every two weeks. I have no idea where I am going wrestling yet, but I know I will do both. I am going to focus a lot more on acting now that I have the freedom to do that.

Exclusive interview with former WCW and WWE Superstar Buff Bagwell

The hosts of Ring Rust Radio – Donald Wood, Mike Chiari and Brandon Galvin – recently had the chance to speak with former WCW and WWE Superstar, Buff Bagwell. Over his long career, Bagwell played many parts and goes in depth in this interview on his time in and exit from WWE, the Monday Night Wars, his dream retirement match and more. 

This interview with Buff Bagwell can be heard on the YouTube video below or continue past the link to read the entire interview here.

Ring Rust Radio: There’s always been a lot of speculation and rumors out there regarding your brief stint with WWE, and you said recently on “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s podcast that you believe Jim Ross was responsible for your release from the company. He responded and said he didn't make the decision. What do you make of his response, and what do you think JR or WWE’s motivation was to get rid of you so quickly?

Buff Bagwell: First of all, I actually did read his response. The way Jim responded, which I can respect, I think he didn’t want to watch what I had to say. Therefore he was responding to something that he really didn’t know what he was responding to. I wasn’t saying that Jim’s job didn’t require him to let people go. What I’m saying is I think he is strictly looking at it from WWE terms. Everyone knows that many years ago on the round table special, and I thought Jim and I were always great, but go back and watch that round table special which I encourage everyone to do. Everyone was talking about heat seekers in the business. During that time, Jim kept trying to get his story out. Someone else would always cut him off, though. It wasn’t to protect me, but they felt like they had something to get out. So at the very end of it, Jim sits down and proceeds to bury me and tells a story about how my mother called in and cancelled me on some house shows. I think first of all I was put out there because I had some heat from coming into the business from WCW. Zero heat with WWE, but the perception was I could be a pain in the ass. Remember, they are the one company now. So I’m shaking hands and kissing babies and walking on egg shells. Even though I knew I had a job, there were some things that happened with me and Shane Helms when I first got there, and I felt that I really had to watch my P’s and Q’s. I felt that me and Booker were kind of set up with Booker and the whole invasion angle and us main eventing with a kind of horrible match. I look back and realize it was not as bad as it felt that day. It just felt like there was going to be a setup and a fall guy. I never claimed that I was a big main event star, but Sting and I are the only two guys that did the entire run in WCW. Evidentially, I was worth using and added some value to the product, but came into WWE feeling like I had to re-earn my spot. In fact, I came in and gave Vince back money to show him I was a team player. Fast forward to Jim Ross, I’m gone and still trying to make a living on the scene. Let’s be honest here, if someone tells that your mama called you off of work, what’s that say about a man? That’s just burying somebody. Truth is it never happened. That’s not my opinion or Jim Ross’ opinion. Between Jim, myself and God, all know that didn’t happen. I even had my manager come to me and say what if she called and you didn’t know about it, what if that was the case? My mother was involved with WCW television, but she never made a dime from it. Everything you saw her do that everyone gives her crap about, she did it for free and to help the product. She did enjoy her time there and she was just having a good time.  Just like if your mother was asked to do the same thing, I’d imagine she would more than likely. My mama was out there taking Diamond Cutters at 50 something years old and not making a dime for it. Even if she had done something like that, she would have called me and said that she spoke to Jim and they didn’t need me for those house shows. She would have been working both ends of the spectrum if she did something like that. She was up in the stands the night they did fire me and she had no clue. I don’t know where Jim gets off saying my mother called me in, but those were prime shows for Buff Bagwell. I think they were Columbus, Georgia and Birmingham. Those were both prime shots for me, and I think we had Philips Arena coming up for Monday Night Raw at the time which was right in Ted Turner’s backyard. Booker and I felt we could have gone into there and blow it up. I think they wanted the reaction from the fans to be negative because they were still in that Monday Night War mentality. WCW was the bad guys, but here we are forced to play in their backyard. So you go to Philips Arena and that’s the home of WCW, I don’t care if it’s a Monday Night Raw crowd or not, those were WCW people. Booker and I would have gotten a pop, but it never got a chance to happen. Even the Tacoma show, I was walking out from the back with my music playing, and Shane McMahon comes up and tells me not to look at the cameras. You guys know, that’s 80 percent of my job! I go out there, look at the cameras, pose, boom boom boom, flex; that was my gimmick. When someone tells you don’t look at the camera, that’s like telling Austin not to kick, punch, or shoot birds. That’s why Booker and I felt like there was something strange about that Tacoma show. I still feel like Jim was trying to bury me while I was trying to make a living. Of course my story had never been told, so I never got a chance to answer that. So at the end of the show when Jim said my mama called me off, and that Missy Hyatt brought me into the business. They said, “Oh well that explains it all.” Well what does that explain? Missy helped out a lot of guys in the business and she was at a time the first lady of wrestling.

Ring Rust Radio: You have worked for WCW, WWE and even TNA, so you know the value in competition within the wrestling industry. Do you feel the business will ever reach the level it did during the Monday Night War?

Buff Bagwell: To be honest with you, I think that everyone can have their opinion, but if WWE would have kept that tight lipped and made it look like Shane was running it and kept it as two separate entities, I think wrestling would have stayed hot for a lot longer. Maybe Shane should have actually bought it. There is more wrestling and talent out there than there ever has been right now, but there are limited places to work. I think that it can be again and everything does have its peaks and valleys. Will it ever be that hot again? I really don’t know. It would have to be put at a real competitive level for that to happen. Competition creates business. In the back of Vince’s mind, he is so far ahead of TNA right now they aren’t even a thought to him. If the right people and minds get in there and get the right programming, we could see a lot of things change. With TV open to more of a free market and including the internet, people are going to have more selections and choices. That may saturate the business, but it could captivate the business at a cheaper rate. If you weren’t on a major station on a prime time night, you were kind of screwed. I do think the business itself can go back there again, but I don’t know if the right people are in place to make that happen right now.

Ring Rust Radio: I really enjoyed your run as a single competitor, but you were also part of several entertaining tag teams. Was there one partner you enjoyed tagging with the most and any story that comes to mind from your run with him?

Buff Bagwell: I really enjoyed with Two Cold when I broke in. It was fresh and new; we did a lot of cool things, WCW tag team of the year, and led to my first belt. Everyone I ever worked with added something to my career which helped me develop my character over time. Scott Norton, Vicious and Delicious, that was a lot of fun. That might be on the backburner in a lot of people’s minds, but I had a really good time working with Scott. Even working along with Dale Wilkes, the Patriot and all these guys I worked with I had a blast with. There were a lot of stories of Scott and I working over in Japan for example. I can tell you one time, I had a few beers in me, and Scott Norton was a pretty tough dude. We had our wives with us on a trip one night and Scott’s wife at the time, though I love her to death, there was an annoyance going on. For some reason, I was going to threaten to slap Scott’s wife. This was after drinking and having a good time, but at that moment I thought I was going to die. He made the hot tag with me and came in as my partner and defused the situation. I really did have a good time with everybody. Something that blew my mind, before we did the interview section for the “Good, the Bad, and the Buff,” my manager had found some footage of shoot interview with Too Cold Scorpio. Mind you, I just saw him a few weeks before this and we had tagged together as an anniversary, reemergence, reunion type thing together. I hugged him and everything was good, I even gave him a couple DVDs of our best matches together. After watching his shoot interview, I will say it blew my mind. He called me a cock sucker, every name in the book, and that he poked my wife in the face on an airplane over a seat I told him to get out of. Brother, one thing about me is I always try to treat people with respect. I never was a guy to push his chest around. He said we were all traveling together on some flight overseas, I told him to get out of the seat, and he told me who was I, poked my wife in the nose and told her if she wanted to fuck a real man he would show her why they called him Too Cold. I don’t give a shit if you are the biggest pussy in the world, but if a man is poking your wife in the face with a plane full of wrestlers on an international flight and some guy is standing up telling some guy’s wife he can fuck her better than you can? Don’t you think you would have heard about that story? We would have made a world press release because he and I would have gone out the fucking exit door on that plane. So when I heard this, I thought what the fuck is he talking about or what is he on? They literally show this to me live during filming, and then go right back live with my response. I never saw it before and I did know it was out there, but they waited to show me live to get my rebuttal. You want to see some real deal situations? It’s on the film. I promise you, you have never seen anything more real than this in your life.

Ring Rust Radio: If you could pick anyone to wrestle against for a retirement match, who would it be and why?

Buff Bagwell: So many people to pick from. Steve Austin. He would be the majority of the draw, but that’s not the reason why I would work with him. Steve and I had a lot of tag matches together with Brian Pillman and Too Cold Scorpio, and we worked a lot of matches with those guys. We were always friends and respected each other so of course it would be a good match and a good draw. Before the film, I never saw Vince in there with the thumb up, thumb down deal. I had never seen that because I was in Panama City Beach, Florida, when that happened. When he goes through that whole list of guys, Buff Bagwell got a pretty good pop. When he asked the crowd there about Bagwell, I was really proud of that. It meant that I meant something to those people and that pop made me feel really good. We’re all human and love to get over with the crowd.

Ring Rust Radio: A lot of fans look back and wonder how you would’ve fit in WWE and how they would’ve used you had your stay not been short. Were you ever given any indication of what storylines or feuds you might have been involved with, or is there anything you would’ve liked to have done in that respect?

Buff Bagwell: Well of course everybody wants to see how Buff Bagwell could have evolved in WWE. It was more of at the time, “Hey you guys are the invasion, play off the enemy thing, put you and Booker out there, and just roll with it.” As time changed, they were very good at connecting to an audience and be able to change. I think I was pretty good at it. If you look at Marcus Alexander Bagwell who broke into the business, to Mark Bagwell the tag team guy, to the evolution of Buff, I think I could have very well fit in there to make those changes as generations of fans change. I think I would have been perfect for that. I was always open-minded, not afraid to make an ass out of myself, wasn’t scared to be a jester and I didn’t need to be the man, I just wanted to be part of the team. It would be very hard today to go out and wrestle wearing a top hat to the ring. I got a top hat over brother. You know how many people would book me and then ask, “Do you have the top hat with you?” It’s got its own case and flies with me on Delta.

Ring Rust Radio: I enjoyed your run with Lex Luger as Totally Buffed. It made perfect sense given your physiques and you two were part of the reason I started to go to work out when I was a teenager. Is there one moment or match that stands out to you the most from you career?

Buff Bagwell: I was still working singles matches, and something that really gave me an opportunity for a major push was working a lot of singles matches with Chris Benoit. All of a sudden when I was working with Chris, who was a very technical wrestler, they got to see Mark Bagwell do the up-and-overs, fish out of water, the reversals, the pin and the boom boom boom. I go to the back and they never knew I could do any of that. Chris Benoit gave me the opportunity when I worked with him to show that I could go with someone like him. Vader was in the back and came up with the idea of putting me with Scorpio thinking it was a good idea. So a match that I did with Chris to show I could do the aerial moves, led to me and Scorpio doing tag team moves that people like the Hardy’s ended up doing after us. That gave me my break into my tag team run. Before then I was getting beat up by the Dangerous Alliance and then getting saved by Sting. The match that sticks out the most in my career would be the tag match when I broke my neck with Scott Steiner. It brought a lot of attention on me, but I felt WCW really dropped the ball with it. They really could have took it and made it a reality driven type of wrestling angle. I was telling them to follow me to surgery and film these things. It wasn’t about getting myself over, but WCW taking advantage of me breaking my neck on live TV. Take advantage of doing that even they want me to flip on the people afterwards, but put some investment into it. To break my neck on live TV then make a comeback and they really didn’t even focus on that as well as they could have. I would of said the same thing had it been anybody that broke their neck on TV, it just happened to be me that it happened to.