When the WWE bought WCW, it looked like the two biggest companies in the world would compete under one banner. However, the WWE had a minor invasion, although the biggest stars in WCW sat out and collected their contracts rather than joining the WWE at the time. The first WCW match to ever appear on WWE television was a match between WCW world champion Booker T and former nWo member Buff Bagwell, a match that is considered one of the worst of all time. In a recent interview with Cult of Whatever, Bagwell said the match was set up to fail and referred to Vince McMahon as “Satan.”
The failed WCW match
According to Buff Bagwell, the WWE knew that his match against Booker T would fail and actually set it up to fail.
The match was made the main event on Monday Night Raw live in Seattle. WCW was a Southern-based wrestling company and Seattle was not an area of the United States that they normally worked. Add to that the fact that the WWE fans had been trained to hate WCW over the years during the Monday Night Wars, and fans were ready to boo everything WCW.
The WWE then threw out Buff Bagwell and Booker T in Seattle as the main event of the show and the fans hated it. Bagwell mentioned that it could have worked better if they waited one week because the WWE was in Atlanta, Georgia, the very next week – the home of WCW. That could have resulted in a better-received match and the crowd could have made all the difference in the world.
However, Bagwell said the powers-that-be in the WWE wanted the WCW invasion to fail and set it up so that Booker T and himself had no chance of getting over with the crowd.
Vince McMahon is Satan
When asked about Vince McMahon, Buff Bagwell basically referred to him as “Satan.” Bagwell worked the final episode of Monday Nitro and he said that no one knew before that show what was going to happen.
He said that it took the entire roster by surprise when Shane McMahon showed up and it soured the entire atmosphere in the locker room because no one knew if they were going to have a job anymore or not.
On the other hand, Buff Bagwell called Eric Bischoff the best boss he had. Buff said that other people have said different things about Eric, but he said that Bischoff was the best to him.
It seems like Bagwell sees the difference between working in WCW and the WWE in totally different ways. As Bagwell said, he is his own boss now and just takes independent bookings and has a good following. He said that he doesn’t miss the politics of big time wrestling at all.
