Buff Bagwell talked about Steve Austin’s WCW departure during an appearance on the Who The Fook Are These Guys?! Podcast.
Austin was fired by Eric Bischoff via Fed-Ex while out with an injury. Buff thinks Austin was let go because he was injured a lot.
“Steve was hurt for us a lot. He really was,” Bagwell said. “He tore his bicep. And when you’re hurt with pro wrestling, the deal is, we’re live TV. This is live. So if you got hurt, it’s kind of hard to put you in the thing and keep you going, because you’re doing us no good.
“The main thing that made me successful and a lot of guys’ success was, besides my broken neck, I wasn’t hurt for 11 years. I never missed a match in 11 years. But still, that was his thing. Injuries, they happen. But Eric felt like that was a problem.”
Buff thinks Vince McMahon liked taking WCW talent and turning them into big stars. Austin is one of the biggest stars in the history of the business.
“Here’s the thing, McMahon loved taking guys like Steve Austin and showing WCW, ‘look, I took one of your guys and look what I’ve fu**ing done with him,’” Bagwell said. “‘He’s a fu**ing star. You let him go, I turned him into Stone Cold. You let Vinnie Vegas go, Kevin Nash, and now he’s Diesel, making millions.’
“He got off on taking talent we’d give up and turn them into big talent, to show us what we had fu**ed up on. He loved doing that, he loved it. So if you ever came from us, you went to him and he became the man to push you through the roof.”
H/T to Wrestling Inc for the transcript