All language subtitles for Dark Side of the Ring - S05E02 - Buff and The Bagwells

Number two, I'm the man. Look at it.
Take your time.

Marcus Bagwell began his wrestling
career as a handsome hero.

A fan favorite for audiences to root
for. But given the chance to become a

villain.

Buff Bagwell of the NWO.

The vain and arrogant Buff Bagwell was
born.

The bigger I made it, the more
exaggerated I made it, the better it

He just turned up the volume on his own
personality.

Marcus, he's really a person to sit down
and talk to. Buff, the stuff is an

arrogant asshole.

Wow, I look good. Working out, tanning,
cars.

This is it, girls.

He's entertainingly obnoxious.

I love myself more than anybody I can
think of.

After his wealthy parents lost their
fortune, Marcus turned to wrestling to

recapture the lavish lifestyle of his
childhood and brought his whole family

along for the ride.

My mom and dad worked for me.

Mama's back!

What's her first name?

Judy. She was like my mom slash
secretary.

There's probably so many stories out
there, it's just blow your mind.

Blow your mind. It was dysfunctional,
yes.

Jerry Springer would just love to go to
their house and hang out.

I come into the picture, WCW shuts down,
and he goes off the deep end.

The combination of injuries and
substance abuse sent Marcus's

career into a nosedive.

Desperate to maintain his lifestyle, he
boldly ventured into a controversial new

profession. I have heard the rumor that
Mark was a male whore.

When gigolos happened, that hurt me to
my soul.

I was the best functioning addict in the
world.

Until I wasn't. I thought to myself, I'm
not going to be shocked when somebody

calls me and tells me Mark is fast.

He achieved so much so fast, and he fell
just as fast.

So this is my mother's office, and it's
full of Bagwell memories, my wrestling

career, my dad's racing.

Back here is working of the year, and up
there is my tag team of the year.

These are just memories that were spread
out throughout decades, and she got

them all into one room.

She did all of this. This is all because
of the way Judy Bagwell was, the

organization, the drive.

Or to kill.

Our family, we were told from a very
young age that we were special.

It was just known that we were going to
be somebody.

Hey, I'm Marcus Alexander Bagwell, a .k
.a. Buff Bagwell. I'm Buff, and I'm the

stuff. Just a freak thing that he got
into wrestling.

Marcus was a... all -county football and
baseball player. He wrestled a little

bit. He wasn't on the wrestling team.

I'm Steve Bagwell, and I'm Marcus
Bagwell's father.

We had three sons.

Marcus was the youngest.

Mark developed slower than they did. He
was so scared he wasn't going to get

big. But I kept telling him, work at it,
you'll get there, you know.

We tried to be like our father. He was a
very successful drag racer.

self -made millionaire.

He just had an aura about himself of
power.

We were always watching sports. We
watched wrestling.

It was definitely on our TV, but it
wasn't even an inkling of doing that for

business or a career.

How well -known around town are the
Bagwells? Back in the day, they were

known. They owned southeastern lumber.

Everyone went to get their lumber there.

This is Mark Slick Johnson from WCW and
TNA Wrestling.

I've been friends with Marcus Bagwell
for a long time.

Probably known him since I was 18, 19.

I don't think there was many people you
met in Marietta that did not know who

the Bagwells were.

My name is Tanya Bagwell, and I was Mark
Bagwell's first wife.

I was 18, he was 18.

And we just hit it off. I would just sit
like a glove.

He's just a loving person.

We all wanted to go over to Mark Bagel's
house. The guy had a pool room, a

theater room, a batting cage, a tennis
court. His dad buys him a brand new

Corvette at 15.

And he's able to drive it back and forth
to school.

I wanted him to have the things I didn't
have.

And I had the money to do it, so I did.

We were spoiled for writing, but we were
not spoiled brats.

He didn't get away with nothing.

He still got in trouble.

Dad wasn't going to raise a pussy.

If we did anything wrong, you got your
ass whipped. My father whipped me once.

My mother whipped me a thousand times,
and we were scared of her.

She's fearsome, for sure, and fearless.

If she likes you, she likes you. If she
don't, she don't. There was no in

-between with her.

This is a woman that ran a 250 -employee
lumberyard.

I've seen a hundred truck drivers walk
in and think.

This lady is the boss?

And within about two minutes, you know,
they knew who the boss was, and they

were shutting up.

Well, let me say this.

You don't with Judy Bagel.

She'll give you the shirt off her back,
but she'll knock you down with the other

hand. Steve's the same way. Steve's more
calm, except when he loses a poker bet.

Yeah, he'll poker over there all the
time.

One time we're all up in Mark's room,
and we just hear, God damn it!

He lost, like, the main card bed.

Goes and grabs the machine gun.

In the front of his house, they have two
doors.

He kicks those doors open, and there's
geese out in the lake in front of him.

just unloads on them.

I hear a machine gun going off.

And so I'm thinking, oh, my God,
somebody's robbing us. I got my .45. I

put one in it. And by the time I get to
the front door with my gun, it's my

father's, like, star face.

Methers are going everywhere.

So he emptied the clip, and I'm going,
Dad?

That's a true story.

I just remember being in Mark's room,
and his dad would come up, and he'd say,

All right, where are y 'all going?

We said, We're going to the club, and
we're going here, and we're going there.

And he'd reach in his pocket and break
out about.

Five or six bags of cocaine. He said,
here you go, boys.

Y 'all have fun tonight.

Stay out of trouble.

He just was scared we were going to get
hurt. And he knew where he was getting

his from and felt better about helping
us.

It was crazy.

Good times, though. Good times.

As the Bagwell's business struggles,
Judy reveals to her husband that the

family's finances are in serious
trouble.

She had gone out and got three or four
loans, 250 grand apiece. She convinced

the bankers that she could pay this back
and it'll all be okay. Well, it all

went kaboom. I had enough money, I
thought, to live the rest of my life,

know, comfortably.

I never would have dreamed it, you know,
that it could happen.

My father made it very clear that we
were going broke.

And the brothers were at their houses at
this stage. So it was just me, my mom,

and my dad at the house. But it was
hard, hard times. I mean, they were

all the time. And it was just things
were getting ready to explode.

You could just feel it.

Basically, the argument just got worse
and worse.

My wife, Judy, went out the door, got in
one of our vehicles and was fixing to

leave. I followed her out, and I said,
where are you going? She said, I'm

leaving. I said, not in my car, you
aren't.

And I said, if you try to, I'll shoot
the tire.

I'm upstairs, and I hear my mom, Mark,
Mark, help me, help me, you know. And I

go running downstairs, you know.

We've been going through shit. Now he's
beating up Mom, and I'm trying to solve

that problem, and I'm just flipped as
well, you know.

And Mark said, Dad, back off of Mom.

And I saw a gun in his hand.

I said, what are you doing with that
gun?

He said, I just want you to back off,
Mom, you know. And I said, you'd shoot

He said, no, sir, unless I have to.

And I always kept a handgun on top of
the refrigerator.

He bolted right for the refrigerator.

So as soon as he got there, we followed
him into the kitchen.

Now he's got a gun on me.

He's like, come on, big man, come on.

I go, put the gun down, man. I said,
you're just going to end up killing one

us and going to prison, bro. This ain't
going to do nothing, you know.

Of course, I was mad at that time, and I
just kept on and on.

First thing I knew, he was popping caps
at me.

My plan was to kill my father.

The first shot probably would have
killed me because it would have hit

there.

But as I could see him fixing to shoot,
I put my hand right there, and it

took an inch and a half of this little
bone right here. You're seeing two scars

there.

And then he shot four more times. I
could hear the bullets zinging by my

It was something that I just couldn't
believe was happening, you know.

Because Mark and I had been so close all
our lives since he was born.

But he was tight with his mom, too, you
know.

Did you go to the hospital?

Oh, yeah, yeah.

They had to take a bone graft off my hip
and put it in here to fill this in.

And I got a silver plate there that
holds it all together.

My mom's like, Please call your dad.
Please call your dad. And I'm like, Mom,

I'm not calling him. I don't feel bad.
I'm not wrong.

I got no remorse at all.

And did you and Marcus end up talking it
out?

It was a little while before we did,
probably three or four months. He called

up. Dad calls me, and he goes, So I want
you to know you're 100 % right on what

you did.

You did nothing wrong. You're protecting
your mom and yourself.

I told him it was all my fault, 100%.

If I'd have backed off, the whole thing
wouldn't have happened, you know?

We had a rough couple years, but we've
been best friends ever since.

With his parents no longer able to
support him, Marcus moves out of the

home, marries his high school
sweetheart, Tanya, and finds a whole new

make a living.

Mark was a male stripper right after
high school.

I wasn't ashamed of it at all. I was
very happy to show my body off and make

money with showing my body.

We had just moved into Poplar Place
Apartments, and that's how we met Missy.

I was looking for an apartment north of
Atlanta, and we pull up, and there's

this hot guy in these, like, short
shorts and a little tank top.

And I was like, wherever he lives, I
want to live by him.

I'm Missy Hyatt, the first lady of
wrestling, and I discovered Buff

I was in WCW. I was the manager for the
Steiner Brothers, Hot Stuff Eddie

Gilbert, and then the Nasty Boys.

But my main part was I was the first
female to be an announcer.

Missy Hyatt's second attempt to get a
locker room interview.

Marcus came up to me one day, and he's
like, hey, Missy, my brother wants to be

a wrestler.

And I'm like, your brother?

I've never seen his brother. And I'm
like, why don't you become a wrestler?

And I go, those guys don't make no
money.

And she goes, our lowest paid guy makes
$100 ,000 a year.

And I was like, what?

So she found a guy named Steve the
Brawler Lawler.

And he trained me.

I was working at a club as a dancer,
which I hated.

But he couldn't work and still train and
do all that in wrestling. So the deal

was, if you work this short period of
time, get me through this wrestling

school.

When I get my first contract, you'll
never have to work again.

She supported me to get me into the
business, and the catch was that I would

take care of her from that point on.

Cried every night coming home from work.
I hated it.

I hated it.

I was going to do anything it took, and
I dove into that and dedicated my life

toward it, and it paid off.

Training to become a professional
wrestler, Marcus Bagwell dedicates

becoming a superstar.

He started working on the indie circuit.

I'm joined by the handsome stranger. And
one day he's like, mister, you got to

see one of my matches. And I watch his
match and I'm sitting there thinking,

like, oh my God, he is really good.

This has only been like three months.

And I'm like, he's got timing. He looks
great. He's got charisma.

I mean, I was really impressed.

Well, the women indeed loved him.

So I go to Mr.

Jim Z.

Bonnet, and I said, here's the tape. And
I sat there and made him watch it. And

he's like, oh, Missy, you should be a
scout. This boy is faboo. And I want to

introduce to everyone out there the
newest rookie sensation in WCW.

With a successful two -year run as a
singles competitor, Marcus proves his

talent to WCW and is put into a tag team
with Two Cold Scorpio.

Me being more of a high flyer with
Pretty Boy, didn't really know how that

going to work, you know, how it was
going to turn out.

This is Charles Skaggs. Y 'all all know
me as Two Cold Scorpio.

I was very surprised how he was able to
step up his game and keep up with me and

stuff, you know.

They put us together, and we were tag
team of the year and world champs that

same year.

And the fans loved him.

You know, the women loved him.

I was madly in love with Tanya. She was
a great woman, and we had a great plan.

The only thing we wasn't quite ready for
was for a 21 -year -old man to...

be, you know, women throwing themselves
at him. I wasn't really ready. I thought

I was ready for that, but I was not.

And so I cheated on Tonya.

Doing all that I did to just help him
get in the business, and then things

supposed to be better after this, and
now this happens.

You know, I was hurt, extremely hurt.

And, you know, I just couldn't forgive
him.

As his marriage to Tonya ends, Marcus is
swatted into a new tag team, Stars and

Stripes.

Determined to reach the top at WCW, he's
convinced that the key is to create the

perfect body.

Awesome.

And then his legs started hurting.

Every time he wanted to poop or piss, I
had to take him to the bathroom on my

back.

Because he couldn't move his legs.

And I'd have to put him on my back.

I had to go down and sit him on the
toilet and let him do his business.

And then he'd wipe his ass, and then I'd
go back, pick him back up, take him

into the living room back in his
favorite chair.

This wound for weeks because he couldn't
walk.

Sure enough, his body's not accepting
them.

He had a fever.

I knew he had a problem. I blew him in
the car and rushed him straight to the

hospital. The doctor that came in to see
him said, we've got less than 45

minutes to get those calves out.

I asked him, is there any way I can keep
them?

And he went, yeah, we can keep them if
you want to cut your legs off.

And I remember thinking, hmm.

Cut my legs off for keeping them. I
swear I remember thinking, how can I fix

where I can keep them?

So he has to have them taken out. So he
still has them at home in the box.

Without exaggerating or sounding corny,
it almost cost him my life.

Even without his dream calf implant,
Marcus's popularity with the female

audience lands him in a new tag team
that fully utilizes his good looks and

muscular physique.

It was not easy being that cheesy.

I'm Scotty Riggs, WCW ECW professional
wrestler.

One half of the American males.

And we've got American males taking it
too.

It doesn't get any better than American
males.

American males.

American males. American males. American
males.

American males.

I'm pissed off that you even brought up
American males because now that song is

going to be in my head until tomorrow
morning.

I'm Eric Bischoff, former president of
World Championship Wrestling.

I'm the highest ranking executive at
WCW. The look is very, very important

probably even more so back in the 90s
when Marcus broke in. You know, Scotty

Riggs, another young, very athletic,
attractive, much like Marcus. We were

appealing to a female demo.

We were looking to shore up what was
otherwise an almost completely male

-dominated audience.

Girls loved it.

The guys hated it, which made it even
better for us.

Who was the second wife?

That was Erica.

It didn't last very long.

Then you had a third wife. That was
Judy.

Another Judy Bagwell. I called Judy
Bagwell the wife and Judy Bagwell the

mother. And at the beginning, it was
awesome.

I'm Jeannie Bagwell, and I'm Marcus
Bagwell's third wife.

I was the top. I mean, he put me on top,
right?

Of course, Mark always comes first.

Having won multiple tag team
championships, Marcus takes the leap to

WCW's most legendary factions.

Here's the NWO!

Ready or not, here we go!

NWO was already pretty hot. Yeah, we
created this heel group, but the heel

was so freaking cool that people were
actually cheering them.

Nash came to me and said, look, do you
want to be in the NWO?

And it wasn't like I had to have a
meeting with Scotty Riggs over this. I

of course I want to be in the NWO. What
is this all about?

I don't know what Bagwell and Riggs is
thinking about. I didn't want to be a

dick and go, man, this sucks. I wanted
to go to the NWO, you know, that type of

thing. So I just kind of went, all
right, that's cool.

Let's make it work for you, brother.

And we did.

Attack by Bagwell. I'm in the ring with
all of the superstars. I mean, it does

not get any better than this. I mean,
it's just, I have made it, man. This is

it, man. This is it.

Changed my whole career, money, life,
everything.

When he became Buff, the stuff was like,
who the fuck do you think he is now?

Buff was Marcus times a million.

He thought that I want to fight. That's
the stuff that I want to fight. So I

think that kind of gave him more heat,
but he pulled it off.

I had always thought that Mark and I
would eventually get back together.

And when I saw the NWO, I remember
saying to myself, now we're over.

That is what that says to me, now we're
over, because I could see him

living out that character in Engelston.

It wasn't an every now and then thing.
He was living it out.

How was your mom involved in your career
at that point? My mom came up with the

idea to just open up a corporation, so
we called it The Real Buff, Inc.

I hired the whole family, and I paid
them a salary.

And so out of that, it was, you know,
from taking me to the airport to making

sure my house was clean to paying my
bills.

One time, I come home, and I see Mark's
mom's car is there.

And I walk in his room, and he's got a
big old bathroom, and he's in a big...

garden tub butt naked and his mom is
behind him with the skin of his

dick pulled up behind his balls and
she's shaving his balls for him he's on

fours and goes oh hey bud what's up even
judy guys shaving his balls she goes

hey mark how you been doing is
everything okay and i'm like not now and

now i've seen it all you people are sick
and i walked right Right out of the

room.

They don't care.

She's going to help Mark out in any way
she can. If she needs to shave his

balls, then she's shaving his balls.

Using his newfound stardom to pursue
other avenues in entertainment, Marcus

takes leading roles in a number of
straight -to -video action movies.

Yeah, I was familiar with at least one
of Marcus's movies. Marcus needed some

time off to do that movie, and I had to
approve that.

Did you ever watch the movie? No, I
never did see that movie. I don't know

missed it.

He said you had a certain flair for the
absurd.

Bless his heart.

He tried.

Still riding high as a member of the
NWO, in April of 1998, a routine match

WCW Thunder goes dangerously wrong.

The finish of the match was, you know,
Rick was going to hit me with a bulldog,

go for the cover. But when he does, he
misses me. And when he misses me with a

bulldog, I hit him in his back and my
neck goes that way. And when your neck

goes that way, it can't go very far. So,
wham, it hit.

Oh, my God.

And when it did, it bruised my spinal
cord and caused me to be paralyzed.

Buff Bagwell apparently is severely hurt
here.

What's going through your mind at that
point?

Everything I've worked for, it's over.

At the peak of his wrestling career,
Buff Bagwell suffers an in -ring

that leaves him with a broken neck.

and an uncertain future.

That's a horrible scene. I was at a
friend's house and we were watching the

show, and I saw that happen, and we all
were like, wait, was that part of the

act? I thought, oh my God, something's
not right.

I mean, it was, yeah, it was brutal.

Next three and a half hours is CAT
scans, MRIs, and all that.

Three hours later, the doctor comes in
and goes, set up. I'm like, what?

And so...

I start trying to move a little bit and
setting up, and I feel totally normal.

I go, what happened?

He goes, when you bruise your spinal
cord and the swelling happens, your body

thinks it's paralyzed so it don't move.

And then when the swelling goes down,
you can move again. So I got two plates

and eight screws in my neck through
here.

So you broke your neck? Broke my neck.

His mother, I swear, she cried until I
didn't think she could cry anymore, you

know.

I went to see him in the hospital. He
looked terrible.

I didn't think that he'd come back from
that, honestly, but he did.

Oh, look at this.

It's Buff Bagwell.

It was crazy, and actually, I was back
on TV from breaking my neck in three

months. To know that these people love
me just as much as I love them, and God

knows I love each and every fan out
there.

Listen to that.

So from that three -month mark to the
ten -month mark, I got back into great

shape and was Scott Snyder's manager.

Returning to the spotlight, Buff turns
to drugs to endure the pain that comes

with the wrestling lifestyle.

You take, you know, two Vicodins, two
somas, and then you come down and drink

some beer, and then you take two more
kinds of pills that get you up to go

wrestle. And then you'll take another
little combo to come back down.

Muscle relaxers is what it is. It
relaxes your muscles. You take too many

you cannot control walking, talking,
nothing.

I didn't like to be around Mark because
he kind of was not the Mark I grew up

with, you know. I was out partying with
all the other wrestlers.

He was in the room with his pills having
a good time. I remember being on a

plane, me and Mark flying to Europe or
whatever, and him laying beside me and

sleeping, but then he'd start doing his
twitches and all that.

I remember one time the stewardess would
say, Is he okay? Is he okay?

Yes, it's just his medicine. It's just
his medicine.

And I almost tried to make it sound
like, Oh, he was really injured, and he

tried to make up excuses.

That's all I ever did. I tried to make
up excuses for him to cover.

It was just...

I didn't like seeing him like that
because that's not Mark, right?

Yeah.

It was tough.

With the success of Buff's return to
WCW.

A new angle is born as Marcus's mother,

Judy, becomes a part of the storyline.

Judy Bagwell.

We made her a star.

A lot of the stuff that we did with Judy
and Mark, I thought it was pretty good

creative, actually. She loved to
perform, too. I can see where Mark has

Rick Steiner and my mom loved each
other. They were great friends.

And he called me up one day and he goes,
look, man, I got this idea.

You being a bad guy, we're going to
bring your mom in and do the, what are

doing, son? Why are you being a bad guy
to all these fans? Your typical mother.

And I said, I love it. Let's do it.

You come to me and you say mother.

Don't you ever.

I enjoyed working with my mom
tremendously.

But, you know, your mom is your mom
still. So working with your family is

of hard sometimes.

She's trying it.

She's doing everything she can to get
away from Positively Canyon.

No, I don't regret Judy getting
involved.

Unfortunately, we leaned on it a little
bit too much and it went a little

farther and a little longer than it
should. But I think initially the things

that we did with Judy were really good.
I couldn't find a pole that would hold

that big, fat battle axe.

After Judy's run comes to an end, WCW is
bought by their competition, the World

Wrestling Federation.

As Vince McMahon only brings some WCW
wrestlers onto his roster, Buff Bagwell

makes the cut.

Before making his debut, Marcus attends
a training session with fellow wrestler

Shane Helms, which erupts into a heated
confrontation.

Shane says something to me like, yeah,
Bagwell happened to be on time today or

something. And I go, wow. I go.

You had a great day today, brother. He
goes, well, I'm hurt.

I go, oh, I know. Yeah. I said, you're
always hurt or something. He goes, well,

at least I'm not a drug addict.

And I said, look, bro, we got two ways
to go here.

We can just drop this and let it go. I
said, or I can just slap your teeth down

your throat.

Following an exchange of insults, Marcus
Bagwell threatens fellow wrestler Shane

Helms with physical violence.

He goes, take your best shot. And he
gets shot out of his mouth. And here

the Bagwell slap.

What's the Bagwell slap?

The Bagwell slap is something my father
taught us. It's just a way

to show instant dominance.

Get a hold of the situation and let
everybody know what's going on and who's

control. And it rolled him into the
corner.

So I go to walk off.

Well, I didn't know it, but he had an
ice bottle under his shirt, a brick, a

frozen brick, and goes, wow.

On the back of my head, me walking away
from behind.

I mean, it was like a sledgehammer.

All of a sudden, I look, and there's
just blood all around me.

I don't tell nobody about it. I go to my
own doctor. I get my own doctor to fix

it. No time all.

I wrestled the night with Booker with 25
staples in my head that night.

I had to get a black Sharpie and cover
the staples in that match.

And that night, I was main event with
Booker T and had a decent match, I

thought.

We're instantly starting to get hit with
how bad our match was. And I go...

What happened?

What do you mean, bad match?

It wasn't a barn burner, but there was
no mistakes.

But they really just kept hammering how
bad the match was. So they called me

that week, and they're like, hey, man,
we got big plans for you on Monday.

Rest up. You know, you're good to go.

And I was fired the next week. I went
from main event one week and was fired

seven days.

Well, the match wasn't great.

The fact is the crowd can't help but
think. What if I had a horrible match?

what?

I'm Buff Bagwell, man. I gave 11 years
to WCW five -time world tag team

champion rookie of the year.

I'm 31 with 20 years coming at me of
wonderful wrestling.

Why would you get fired over a bad
match?

I think they were just trying to get rid
of me.

But see, Mark slapped him first.

So if Shane would have hit him, Shane
would have probably been gone.

The famous Bagwell slap cost him
hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I was going to be one of the biggest
names in pro wrestling, man, ever.

And instead, I was just, I had a good
run. You know, that's all. And that's

to deal with, man, when you're 31 years
old. So I dealt with it.

with pills and alcohol.

So what was already getting really bad,
it just, it got real bad.

I had no, like I said, nobody to answer
to no more. And I was depressed now.

Fired from the WWF in 2001, Marcus
spends the next 11 years wrestling in

independent promotions.

Battling his addictions, Marcus makes
multiple attempts to get clean. But in

2012, while driving home from rehab, he
passes out at the wheel.

The next thing I know, I wake up and I'm
driving my car.

I crank my Jeep and roll it four times.

So I almost kill myself with that, knock
my teeth out.

But they call that a withdrawal seizure.

From being clean, I had a seizure.

They had to put him in a medically
induced coma because his neck was

And they said had he not had that plate
that he had from his original broken

neck, he would have been dead.

When I saw him in the hospital, I
couldn't believe how he looked. His

face was swollen.

And, of course, when his brothers went
there to see him, they were devastated

because, I mean, you would not have
recognized him.

His face was so bad.

You should not be, I'm telling you, you
should not be alive right now.

How did he bounce back from that?

He crawled back up pretty quickly.

My teeth are knocked out of my head.

I have lost 50 pounds, and there's bills
that still are coming in, and I don't

know what to do. We needed money.

We made it make sense that I was going
to be on this show called Gigolos, and I

was getting paid $25 ,000 to do it.
Being a gigolo isn't always easy.

Oh.

Do you remember hearing about Marcus
appearing on a show called Gigolos? I

I was like, what the?

Get the out of here.

How the?

He gonna get on the jiggy -loads and he
got a dick about this big.

Hey, guys.

What's up, man? I don't even have to say
his name.

They told him he was going to make an
appearance and sort of be a mentor to

guys. So we didn't know what I was doing
quite yet.

But I get all the way out there, and all
of a sudden I see what I got to do, and

I'm like, wait a second, what?

Were you shitting me?

Desperate for money, Marcus Bagwell
agrees to appear on the reality TV show

Gigolos. But once on set, it becomes
clear that the show expects more from

Marcus than he anticipated.

He calls me the next day and he said, I
kind of got some

bad news.

I go, what do you mean? He goes, well,
it wasn't what they told me it was going

to be. I did more than an appearance.

And I said, what are you talking about?
I couldn't choose just one.

Or two or three.

Exactly.

He said, well, it's almost like soft
porn.

And I was about to die when he told me
that.

And when he told me what he had to do,
it broke my heart. It really did,

I was like, this is bad.

In my scene, I do remember I had zero
blood.

And my penis, zero blood.

I'm like, what do I do? So I got real
close up to her and acted like we were

having sex.

Well, when the whole thing got done
shooting, I'm down at the bar in Vegas

the guy that's paying us. And I said,
bro, I go, I'm so sorry. I couldn't have

sex with the lady. He goes, you're not
supposed to.

And I go, what?

I go, well, nobody told me, bro.

It's sad.

What a human will do when you're in such
a situation of losing your house, not

having food to go in your mouth. And we
were broke, man.

But this was a show.

I didn't know it was going to be real
later.

At some point, you actually end up on
the website Cowboys for Angels. Cowboys

for Angels. It was a website that you
could hire a gigolo for a date,

for a weekend, for a week. And it was
like...

10, 15, 20 thousands of dollars to do
this. We're trying to pay the bills at

same time, keep a marriage. And it
sounds ludicrous saying it now, but when

you're in it, it just all happens so
fast.

I hate talking about this because it's
just weird, but whenever he did get

called to go on a date, it turned out
that this woman actually fell in

love with Mark.

Very first one out of the gate, fell in
love, and it was crazy. And I would live

there for a week, paying our bills, and
I'd come home for a week.

He ended up seeing her, without my
knowledge.

Judy had a job.

She's got a great job she really likes.
And at this time, it was, I mean, she

was always gone. And I was gone on the
weekends, so we never saw each other. So

the transition from Judy to this...

the person that had money, it seemed
more logical.

And he called me at work one day, this
was a really bad time,

and said, I think I have fallen in love
and I'm going to leave.

Is she still in his life?

No.

Absolutely, I would have stayed with
Judy if I had to do it over, but I

And things happened and it went on.

Dealing with relationship and financial
problems, Marcus's drug use spirals out

of control, resulting in multiple DUIs
and eventually another car wreck.

This last one was devastating. This last
one was, you know, August of 2020.

I, you know, I went through the back of
a building behind Cumberland Mall.

And just, you know, I wasn't there. I
just completely blacked out.

Went through a bus station bathroom.

And how I got out of not killing
somebody on this one, man, is just, I

idea. I mean, but I'm very lucky that
I'm not dead. And really, honest to God,

mean this, more that somebody else ain't
dead.

After these wrecks, you're just like,
when's it going to stop?

You know, it's just never ending.

Already at rock bottom with his
addiction, Marcus receives life

about his mother, Judy.

She was suffering for a while, man. She
had got dementia and was just horribly

bad. I saw the most powerful woman in
the world really going down in

flames, bro. I mean, like bad.

Marcus Bagwell and his family now face
their biggest challenge yet as his

Judy is diagnosed with Alzheimer's
disease.

She was at a rehabilitation place.

She kind of slept into a situation where
she couldn't wake up.

And I had hurt myself and I was in the
hospital.

I mean, he called me to see if I could
get her woke up. And for over an hour,

you know, I kept digging, trying to get
her woke up.

And begging her to open her eyes and
talk to us.

Didn't work out at all.

And at some point, I got a call and
said, I hate to tell you, Mr. Bagwell,

your wife died.

One of the greatest women I ever knew or
anybody else ever knew.

I mean, everybody says their mom's the
best.

My mom was the best.

It was a lot of dysfunction.

But they loved their kids. They really
did.

When Judy passed away, did that kind of
send Marcus in a spiral? Or did that

maybe wake him up? I think it woke him
up.

More than anything.

His niece came into the picture because
Mark needed a place to live.

And so she said, you can stay here, but
you're going to have to get clean.

They just said, look, if you don't get
sober today and you don't go today,

out of your life.

And I said, let's do it.

And then we brought Dallas Page in, and
that's how it all started.

If you're going to run down this road,
which you already are. Yeah, absolutely.

Like, you've got to live it. I do
believe it.

I've talked to him several times. It's
just like the old Mark. I can barely see

hardly any, you know, buff in there. It
was a lot of Mark now, so I do believe

him. I do.

Can you tell us what happened with
Scotty Riggs?

Yeah, I can.

Dark Side of the Ring called me and they
said, hey, man, we're going to do your

story. And they told me some people they
were going to reach out to.

And one of them was Scotty Riggs. And I
said, cool, great. I thought, you know,

I'm going to call anyway. I'm going to
call and just touch base with him.

And he texted me back and said, I'm
living in my car the last six or eight

weeks. My mom got ill and passed away in
2020.

and went through a couple years there
paying the bills, everything else,

to keep the house, all nine yards, ended
up losing the house that I was living

in and was sleeping in my car.

And I was in a really depressed place,
dark state, and was pretty much

maybe a half a day away of putting a gun
to my chest and taking my life.

And Marcus called me up and just
basically browbeat me.

to come to Atlanta.

And he's like, dude, I'm at Tom Dallas'
house.

Get up here.

I said, man, I'm content with not being
there anymore.

And he did not give up.

I love you, man. Get up here. Get up
here.

And that next morning, I drove up here.

And if it wasn't for him, I probably
wouldn't be here today.

Do you still love Mark? I do. I'll
always love. I'll always love Mark.

I think he's just...

Really, genuinely this good guy.

And for so long, people have, you know,
misjudged him.

I think that he has some good people
supporting him.

And he has a wonderful girl in his life
now. I hope that works out for him. I

want him to be happy. I truly want him
to be happy.

Marcus Beck was a lovable guy. That's
why his ex -wives still love him. That's

why his friends still love him.

So I still love him despite his faults
and his flaws.

But at Mark's core, he's a very giving,
generous, loving person.

What do you think drives Mark now?

I think the same drive that made him a
superstar in a year. The fortitude, the

options, the want, you know, the
smartness.

He's done a lot of things in his life
that I was very, very proud of. But I

think getting sober and staying sober is
above all of them.

The future for me is sobriety and my
recovery.

And no doubt about it, I want to be back
in the business. I want to be back in

the ring.

Look, if anybody can pull it off, Marcus
Bagwark.

I'm rooting for you, baby.

I'm rooting for you.