In a special jam-packed program on September 11, Wrestling Weekly featuring
Doc Young and Les Thatcher welcomed three incredible wrestling superstars to
the show. Ring of Honor (RoH) Pure Champion, Nigel McGuinness, former Word
Class Wrestling (WCW) and indie Superstar, Marcus “Buff” Bagwell, and the
return of the legendary “King of the Ring” himself, Harley Race.

Nigel McGuinness
Our very own Les Thatcher was the man who contributed his expertise early on
to a young wrestler in training, Nigel McGuinness, seven years ago. Nigel
began training with Les at Heartland Wrestling Association (HWA) in 1998
after inquiring with several wrestling training facilities as an exchange
student attending classes at Kent State University. His visas were limited
to 6 months at a time, requiring him to return to his home in London
periodically, but after two and a half years, Nigel completed his training
at HWA. According to Les, “He’s worked his ass off.”

Inspired as a boy in the mid-80s by the “British-style” wrestling he saw on
TV in England, he was hooked after seeing wrestling tapes from the U.S. And
although many young boys dream of becoming a pro wrestler, Nigel admits he
“never grew up.” Once he contacted Les at HWA in 1998, he chose his training
school because “Les was the only one who wrote him back by hand.”

Once Nigel finished his chemistry degree at Kent State, he pursued wrestling
as a career and has been living in the U.S. on and off for years. Recently,
he became the RoH Pure Champion when he defeated Samoa Joe and made an
appearance September 11 on WWE’s “Heat.” When asked about his RoH Pure
Champ title, Les said he had trouble thinking of Nigel as “pure.” Nigel
joked by saying, “I’m a pure idiot!”

When asked about his backstage experience on “Heat,” Nigel said, “Everyone
was really cool.” He said he’s been at WWE three times for various reasons
and even though he heard that people weren’t happy there, he said everyone
was polite and friendly. He made a point to keep to himself and added, “No
one ‘big-leagued’ me.” He said the locker room was packed with wrestlers and
he had a really good time. It was a professional and fun atmosphere and it
was clear that the people there were trying to make a living at it and took
being there seriously.

Nigel was asked about Paul Heyman and he said, “I have nothing but good
things to say about Paul.” He also complimented him on his booking, saying
that is the best thing about him. Nigel said Paul’s reputation for being a
good booker is warranted. He listens to people and feels that “anybody can
contribute something.” Nigel said Paul has the ability to get the best out
of people because he books according to their strengths.

When the conversation turned to Samoa Joe, the man Nigel defeated to acquire
the RoH Pure title, he said, “Backstage he is a fantastic guy.” He said Joe
is “smart,” meaning he has wrestling smarts. Joe understands the psychology
of wrestling, getting over, and what it means to be a superstar. Nigel
talked to Joe about his own gimmick and he has been enormously helpful to
him in that regard. Nigel summed it up by saying about Joe, “He’s just a
credit to the business.”

Nigel was asked from the chat room about his influences and gave credit to
Les who helped build his love for the sport and gave him a sense of
professionalism and respect for the business. Asked to sum up Les in 10
words or less, he joked, “I can’t fit Les Thatcher in 10 words!”

Doc asked Nigel if he has any plans to return to IWA Mid-South. He said he
hasn’t had any contact with them for about a year. This doesn’t have
anything to do with heat, but it was clear to him some time ago he wasn’t
going to get rich working for them. This brought up the prospect of NWA-TNA.
He is interested in TNA because “They pay money and I like making money.”
But Nigel added, “I don’t know whether my style will fit in there.”

For more about Nigel, check out his Website, www.nigelmcguinness.com.

Harley Race
Harley Race made a return appearance on Wrestling Weekly to discuss the
upcoming NOAH Training/Tryout Camp in Eldon, Missouri on September 21-24.
The training camp features NOAH Superstars Kenta Kobashi, Manufuji, and
KENTA. Two athletes will be selected to travel to Japan and live and train
for three months in NOAH’s Dojo. The camp also promises an appearance by
Johnny Ace as he scouts for fresh new talent. The cut-off date for the camp
is fast approaching, so for anyone still interested in joining the 35 other
students attending, Harley said “if they get off their rears, they can make
it.” For more information, log on to www.harleyrace.com.

Harley talked about some of the legends’ reunion shows he’s participated in,
his training methods, his firearms collection, and the old territories.
Harley recently attended WrestleReunion2 and was pleased at how the events
are becoming better organized and better attended than ever before. He would
like to see some of the “names” booked for these events to be whittled down
for the sake of the fans. He said it’s impossible to talk about wrestling
and take questions from the audience in 30 minutes.

Talk turned to Harley’s training methods. He said he likes to make sure that
the wrestlers he trains are having input in the training process. He
believes this is important because he wants trainees to be happy with the
outcome. Even though he doesn’t focus as much on the workouts as Les does,
he is a big proponent on encouraging elasticity and flexibility in wrestlers
because the more elastic the muscle, the easier it is to bounce back from
injury.

Someone from the chat room asked Harley about his collection of firearms.
Harley said, “I don’t have a real big collection now.” He said even though
he was interested in the guns in the past, as he’s become less mobile, the
interest has waned. He also has an antique violin in that’s been in his
family for years that he plans on passing on to his son.

Doc asked Harley about the old territory days, a subject that has come up
again and again, especially during the “legends” interviews on Wrestling
Weekly. Will they ever come back? Harley said, “Never say never.” He
believes, however, that “the McMahon Dynasty” will have to “slip, stumble,
fall” in order for this to happen. He doesn’t see that happening anytime
soon. He says the problem with the territories and why they fell had a lot
of do with the age of the promoters at that time. Many of them were around
his age at that time—62—and they weren’t interested in re-investing their
life’s savings to fight for the territories. Harley said the confidence
wasn’t there to fight a fight they could lose.

Marcus “Buff” Bagwell
A “no-show” last week, Buff made a point to say he called Doc last week to
apologize for forgetting about his scheduled appearance on Wrestling Weekly
September 4. To make amends, he rounded out the big show September 11 to
talk past the 8:00 pm cutoff about his views of the business, working the
independents, and “crashing” a WWE house show.

Marcus said about the missed show, he always shows, always comes through and
confirmed Sunday that “Buff is here.” Les joked that he was probably caught
up with a real cute girl and Marcus laughed, “It was actually a really cute
guy. A guy named Les Thatcher!”

He alluded to some “personal trouble” as of late, but was not specific about
the nature of the trouble. He said he had taken the month of June off to
deal with it and he’s back working in the independent circuit. He said with
the debut of his Website, www.therealbuff.com, he is on the indie track and
making a living doing it. Even though he would like to belong to something
and misses being part of a team, he is relatively happy working the indies.
And the indies must be happy with him because he is booked every Friday and
Saturday for three months solid. He said, “Not many guys can make a living
working the independents” but he is paying his bills and he can do it
without traveling overseas. He said guys who live out of a nap sack and
travel to places like Japan should be admired for their dedication but “I
can’t do it.” The long traveling and the paycheck just don’t add up for
Marcus anymore.

Les asked Marcus about his start in pro wrestling where he made a meteoric
rise from male stripper to indie wrestler to “big league” pro wrestler in a
relatively short time. He said he was so green then that when Magnum TA
called him to arrange an interview at WCW, he didn’t know who it was. He
said Dusty Rhodes hired him on the spot “because I had pretty teeth.” He
said everybody at WCW liked him but “Bischoff hated my freakin’ guts!” His
initiation with the guys came because he had been in jail more times than
most of the locker room, which many of guys considered to be a cool thing.
And beginning at age 21, he went on to have a good 10-year run with WCW.

Marcus talked about when a buddy bought tickets to a WWE house show invited
him along to watch the show. He said as soon as he walked in the arena in
Greenville, NC, people were all over him for autographs and pictures. He
said he was trying to act normal but it was a “mad house.” He said the show
was going on but no one was watching. Marcus joked that if he were to do it
again he would do a RAW show because those are broadcast live. Eventually,
Johnny Ace approached him and said, “Why didn’t you call me?” referring to
getting tickets for the show. Marcus said, “Your phone don’t ring back.”
Johnny asked him to come in the back and Marcus knew that if he said no he
would get heat and if he said yes he would get heat. Marcus eventually
agreed to go backstage and talked over an hour with them. About the meeting,
he said three months ago they said they would call him the next day.

Marcus was critical of the current WWE product. He said, “I’m not a mark,
but I do want to see a match.” He said every match on Nitro was big and
every match on RAW is WAR was big and now that WWE is the only company, they
feature matches like Chris Benoit vs. Eugene. He doesn’t mind seeing pretty
girls, but most of the show is dominated by the Divas. But asked if he would
accept an offer from WWE, he said, “Absolutely, I would.” Marcus added that
they would have to make it worth his while financially though. Compared to
what he’s making in the indies, he would require making a couple hundred
thousand a year if he were to accept.

He knows that to the young guys just starting out, the $100,000 salary
sounds great but these guys have to sleep four to a room and four to a car
just to make it. He said about McMahon, “I don’t think he would give me
enough money.” Back in 2001 when WWE bought the fledgling WCW, Marcus did
sign with WWE, taking a $50,000 pay cut in order to “seem like a team
player.” He said, “Team player didn’t work.” He was soon released. He wishes
he had done like many of the other WCW guys did and kept the $50,000 Vince
offered and stayed at home instead.

When he talked about his release, he said he was brought into a room with
Johnny Ace, Vince McMahon, and Jim Ross. He thought to himself, “Oh boy.”
Finally he asked them directly, “Are you firing me?” They replied, “No,
we’re going to release you.” Never one to stay quiet in any situation,
Marcus asked them what the difference was. They answered if they release him
they won’t have to re-do his contract when they bring him back in three
months. Jim Ross added that they wished they could capture the heat he had
backstage and put it in front of an audience. Marcus laughed that at the
time he suggested that they start making some heat.

Keep checking Buff’s Website for upcoming appearances including a few with
Scott Steiner as his tag team partner. In Addition, he is slated to appear
October 15 in Christian Wrestling Entertainment’s first-ever “Uniting
Champions” event on October 15 at the John Q. Hammons Arena in Tulsa, OK.
For more about this event, check out www.unitingchampions.com.

Wrestling Weekly Radio featuring Doc and Les can be heard every Sunday from
6:00-8:00 pm EST at http://www.wrestlingweekly.com.
 

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