Wrestling legend Buff Bagwell has had his right leg amputated from above the knee after struggling to recover from a car crash in 2020.
The sad news was broken by his friend Steve Stasiak on Facebook, who shared an update of Bagwell from his hospital bed.
‘Yesterday morning, Marcus Bagwell – Buff Bagwell – had his leg amputated above the knee,’ Stasiak wrote in a heartfelt post.
‘I’ve known Buff a long time. I’ve seen him in the spotlight, I’ve seen him behind the scenes, and I’ve seen him fight through things most people never even hear about. This one… this is hard. For him. For everyone who knows and loves him.’
The 55-year-old had previously said on his YouTube channel that he was having the surgery after a ‘five-year battle’ not to lose his leg that saw him struggle with alcohol addiction.
Speaking alongside his fiancee, Bagwell opened up about seemingly blacking out while driving and crashing in August 2020 after medical procedures on his foot and knee.
Wrestling legend Buff Bagwell has had his right leg amputated after a 2020 car crash
Bagwell opened up on the horrific crash on his YouTube channel alongside his partner
‘I was heading home (from his father’s house) and I had just had surgery, ironically this foot had pins in it and I had got this knee scoped for a minor meniscus tear,’ he said.
‘I had been drinking, just a few beers but whatever happened, I’m going down the road with a diet coke and I am gone. I am gone. But you don’t realize you are gone.
‘It was like a dream. I remember hitting cars, seeing faces look at me. I got off at the wrong exit and somehow, I drove through a men’s and women’s bathroom.’
Despite years of rehabilitation and multiple procedures, complications from the crash ultimately led to the need for amputation. Nobody else was hurt in the crash, Bagwell said.
‘The wreck runied my kneecap,’ he said. ‘From there, that started this whole journey, trying to fix my leg. At one stage, I was in the hospital for seven weeks and every three days, I had a surgery. It just wouldn’t get better.’
Bagwell admitted he turned to drink to deal with his depression around the injury. He is sober now, and says he found god.
‘I was so angry at what happened,’ he said. ‘I didn’t think I could get sober but August of 2022 I went to rehab. August 2025, 27th, I will be three years sober.
‘The last three years of my life, I get overwhelmed with joy. I have been able to put together three of the best years of my life by putting God, Stacey and myself in that order.’
Buff Bagwell rose to prominence during the Monday Night Wars era as a staple of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), known for his charisma, muscular frame and signature top-hat entrance.
A five-time WCW World Tag Team Champion, he teamed with the likes of Scott Norton and 2 Cold Scorpio and was a regular feature on WCW Nitro.
But Stasiak urged fans to look past the on-screen persona and remember the man behind the gimmick.
‘The injuries from his 2020 accident never fully healed,’ he wrote. ‘He gave it everything he had to avoid this outcome – but that fight led him here. And now begins a whole new kind of battle.
‘Buff was one of the brightest stars of a wild era in wrestling. He made you look. He made you care. But it’s who he is as a person – past the lights, past the persona – that I hope people think about today.
‘If you’re reading this, I just ask that you send a little love out into the world for Buff. No grand gestures. Just something real. A thought, a prayer, a moment.’
