Buff Bagwell

Marcus Alexander Bagwell (born January 10, 1970) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Buff Bagwell.

He trained under Steve Lawler and debuted in 1990, working for North Georgia Wrestling as Fabulous Fabian.

He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1991 to 2001, where he was a five-time World Tag Team Champion.

Missy Hyatt helped Bagwell break into the wrestling business.

Growing up, Bagwell was a standout baseball player during his tenure in Sprayberry High School, and worked for his family's lumber company.

Upon graduating from high school, he started an amateur boxing career.

When the lumber company went bankrupt, Bagwell became a certified massage therapist before deciding to become a wrestler.

In 1991, he began wrestling with the Global Wrestling Federation (GWF) as The Handsome Stranger, a gimmick suggested by Bill Eadie that saw Bagwell don a Lone Ranger-style mask, and hand out roses to the female fans.

In 1991, Bagwell was hired by World Championship Wrestling, where he wrestled under his full name.

Bagwell made his WCW debut on November 5 in a non-televised match, losing to Mike Graham.

He would then wrestle a tryout match on November 11 and made his televised debut as a fan favorite at Clash of the Champions XVII, where he was interviewed by Missy Hyatt.

He made his televised in-ring debut by defeating Rip Rogers on the December 14 episode of World Championship Wrestling.

Bagwell made his pay-per-view debut at Starrcade, where he was paired with Jimmy Garvin against Michael Hayes and Tracy Smothers in a Lethal Lottery match, which he and Garvin won after Bagwell hit Smothers with the fisherman suplex to qualify for the Battlebowl battle royal later in the night, which Sting won.

Bagwell received his first title shot on the January 11, 1992 episode of World Championship Wrestling against Steve Austin for the World Television Championship, but failed to win the title as the match ended in a ten-minute time limit draw.

Bagwell would then begin feuding with the Taylor Made Man, which led to a match between the two at SuperBrawl II, which Bagwell won.

Bagwell formed a tag team with Tom Zenk on the February 15 episode of World Championship Wrestling, to feud with Taylor and his partner Greg Valentine over the United States Tag Team Championship and received several title shots, but failed to win the titles.

Bagwell would then lose a match to Scotty Flamingo at WrestleWar.

The duo would participate in a tournament for the newly created NWA World Tag Team Championship, where they would lose to Rick Rude and Steve Austin in the first round at Clash of the Champions XIX.

Bagwell would then face Greg Valentine in a losing effort at Beach Blast.

Bagwell and Zenk would fail in several title shots and after limited success as a team, they split up quietly and focused on their singles careers.

He would then form a short-lived tag team with Brad Armstrong for the remainder of the year until the two split up in early 1993.

Bagwell participated in a tournament for the vacant World Television Championship on the February 20, 1993 episode of Worldwide, where he lost to Maxx Payne in the first round.

On the February 20 episode of Saturday Night, Bagwell teamed with 2 Cold Scorpio and Steve Regal to defeat Scotty Flamingo, Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce in a six-man tag team match.

This would lead to the formation of a tag team of Bagwell and Scorpio.

During this time, Bagwell began a feud with the Hollywood Blonds (Brian Pillman and Steve Austin), which led to Bagwell teaming with Erik Watts to take on The Hollywood Blonds in a tag team match at SuperBrawl III, which Bagwell's team lost.

Bagwell resumed teaming with Scorpio and the team gained success unlike Bagwell's previous teams as they defeated various teams including Bobby Eaton and Chris Benoit at Slamboree, Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce at Beach Blast and The Equalizer and Paul Orndorff at Fall Brawl.

As a result of their success in the tag team division, they quickly became contenders for the World Tag Team Championship.

On the October 23 episode of Saturday Night, Bagwell and Scorpio defeated the Nasty Boys to win the World Tag Team Championship, thus marking Bagwell's first title win in WCW.

They lost the titles back to The Nasty Boys at Halloween Havoc.

Bagwell would be paired with Tex Slazenger against Rick Rude and Shanghai Pierce in a Battlebowl qualifying match at the Battlebowl pay-per-view on November 20, which Bagwell's team lost.

Bagwell and Scorpio would then begin feuding with the newly formed team Pretty Wonderful, which led to a match at Starrcade, which Pretty Wonderful won.

Bagwell and Scorpio defeated Pretty Wonderful in a rematch at Clash of the Champions XXVI to earn a title shot for the World Tag Team Championship against The Nasty Boys on the January 29, 1994 episode of Saturday Night, but failed in regaining the titles.

Bagwell received his first world championship title shot on the final episode of Power Hour on March 5 against Rick Rude for the International World Heavyweight Championship, which he lost.

Shortly after, Scorpio was released by WCW, thus dissolving Bagwell and Scorpio's tag team.

On the May 28 episode of Worldwide, Bagwell formed a new tag team with The Patriot called Stars and Stripes as they defeated Dick Slater and Chris Sullivan in their first match as a team.

They were quickly put in contention for the World Tag Team Championship and entered a feud with the champions Pretty Wonderful over the titles.

After losing to Pretty Wonderful in a title shot at Fall Brawl, Stars and Stripes defeated them in a rematch on the September 25 episode of Main Event to win the World Tag Team Championship, thus marking Bagwell's second reign with the title.

They lost the titles back to Pretty Wonderful at Halloween Havoc but won the titles a second time at Clash of the Champions XXIX.

They lost the titles to Harlem Heat on December 8, which aired on the January 14, 1995 episode of Saturday Night.

Stars and Stripes failed in regaining the titles from Harlem Heat in rematches at Clash of the Champions XXX, the February 11 episode of Saturday Night and the March 5 episode of WorldWide.