’90s Wrestler Buff Bagwell Feels He’s ‘Gained Two Legs’ After Getting Above-The-Knee Amputation

Former professional wrestler Marcus “Buff” Bagwell has had a portion of his right leg amputated, following injuries from a 2020 car accident that led to five of the most difficult years of his life.

“I have a completely new mindset. I’m super excited about the future. I’m overwhelmed with joy that the ugliness is cut off,” the World Championship Wrestling star told PEOPLE exclusively. “I was very ashamed of it.”

In 2020, Bagwell, 55, seriously injured his leg—especially his kneecap—after crashing his car into a freestanding restroom in Atlanta while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. While many injuries eventually healed, his leg never regained normal function because his kneecap essentially “exploded” during the crash. For five years, he lived with a stiff, immobile leg.

“I was faced with something that I had never faced before, which was that I couldn’t fix this injury,” he said. “Amputation was on the table, I think, instantly, but we tried to save the leg.”

Bagwell underwent numerous procedures to save his leg, including more than 40 surgeries—21 of them during a seven-week hospital stay. One notable operation, called “flap surgery,” involved moving his calf muscle up to the knee to improve blood flow. Unfortunately, he quickly developed a staph infection, which he discussed in detail on his YouTube Channel.

After beginning his sobriety journey—he is nearly three years sober—Bagwell faced additional surgeries and infections. In 2024, he underwent a “right knee extensor mechanism repair,” a technical term for kneecap repair.

“I never came out of that surgery well,” said Bagwell, who was a WCW star from 1991 to 2001. “The pain was better and things like that, but now I was dealing with a much stiffer straight leg that was never going to bend again. Again, amputation was the furthest thing from my mind.”

As time passed, Bagwell continued searching for solutions, but the surgery left his knee unable to bend. Simple activities like getting in and out of a car, standing up from a couch, and exercising became difficult.

“When you can’t bend your leg, it’s devastating,” he said. “I was very depressed about how it looked. I would always wear pants. Here’s Buff Bagwell, ashamed to wear shorts. I would not be in public with it.”

Eventually, Bagwell was faced with a difficult choice: undergo three more surgeries in one year, along with skin grafts and a permanent metal rod in his leg, with only a 20% chance of success—or opt for an “above-the-knee amputation” and a prosthetic leg.

On July 10, his leg was removed during a five-hour surgery.

“There’s no preparing you for waking up. When I first woke up, I looked down and I went, ‘Oh my God.’ And it took my breath. I went, ‘Why has my leg gone?’ And your brain’s trying to kick out of the fog of anesthesia and everything,” he recalled. “So I’m trying to kick out, and at the same time having an anxiety attack over looking at my leg. It seemed like a couple of minutes, but it was probably 10 seconds long, and at the end of that 10 seconds, I was like, ‘Do you remember how your leg looked, buddy?’ After those 10 seconds, I knew I had made the right decision. There was no doubt in my mind.”

By the end of August, Bagwell will be fitted for a prosthetic leg and “won’t even look back.”

“I’m about to cry, because I’m thinking I’m losing a leg. At the end of this thing, I have gained a leg. I will have a leg now,” he said. “And when you can’t bend that leg, you can’t do anything with the other leg… I have really gained two legs back by getting this amputation, and that’s the first time I’ve said that, but it’s the truth. I went from not being able to exercise my left leg to exercising my left leg, and I’ll have a prosthetic. I have gained two legs out of this. I feel great now.”

“That leg was in my way. I was miserable,” he added. “I just didn’t realize how miserable I was until it was gone. I am happier right now with no leg than I was with a leg over the last five years of my life.”

Looking ahead, the larger-than-life wrestling personality plans to hit the gym and “get back into Buff Bagwell shape.” He also hopes to return to the wrestling ring, with his ultimate goal being induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.