The night terror that haunts every wrestler’s dreams became reality for Marcus “Buff” Bagwell. A single moment behind the wheel. A devastating crash. Five years of agony that ended with surgeons sawing through bone and flesh. Thursday marked the day the WCW legend lost his right leg forever.
The wrestling world watched in stunned silence as news broke Friday morning. Former WCW star Marcus “Buff” Bagwell has undergone an above-the-knee leg amputation following a long battle with complications from a severe car accident in 2020. His longtime friend Steve Stasiak delivered the crushing announcement through Facebook. The golden boy of wrestling’s Monday Night Wars had finally surrendered to five years of unimaginable pain.
Faced with a choice between having three more surgeries over the next year and still only having a 20% chance of saving his leg, or getting an above-the-knee amputation now. Bagwell chose to have the leg removed now and focus on the rest of his life. The 55-year-old wrestling icon made the ultimate sacrifice. Doctors offered him slim odds and endless suffering. He chose amputation over false hope. The decision came after years of watching his body betray him, surgery after surgery, each one promising salvation that never arrived.
Buff Bagwell Loses Battle to Save Limb After Five-Year Medical Ordeal
The nightmare began in 2020 when fate intervened with brutal precision. The car went off the middle line, tore down a fence, and hit a restroom building at a Cobb County Transit place. Bagwell allegedly passed out while driving, sending his vehicle smashing into a brick wall in Georgia. The impact shattered his knee and foot, launching him into a medical nightmare that would consume the next half-decade of his life. What started as routine recovery from foot and knee procedures became a fight for his very mobility.
Praying for Buff Bagwell this morning. He managed me on his first day in the wrestling business. He’s a kind, sweetheart of a person and this breaks my heart. I hope everyone subscribes to his YouTube channel to show him love. pic.twitter.com/ccjJqlVJN8
— Leilani Kai (@realLeilaniKai) July 18, 2025
Stasiak’s emotional Facebook tribute painted a picture of relentless struggle behind closed doors. The man who once commanded arenas and captivated millions had spent five years battling invisible demons. “The injuries from his 2020 accident never fully healed,” Stasiak revealed. “He gave it everything he had to avoid this outcome—but that fight led him here.” The wrestling legend who made crowds roar had been screaming in silence, enduring procedure after procedure, clinging to hope that doctors could save what the crash had destroyed.
Now begins Bagwell’s greatest performance. Not in the ring, but in life itself. Stasiak’s plea for support echoed through wrestling communities worldwide, “If you’re reading this, I just ask that you send a little love out into the world for Buff.” The man who once flexed for cameras now faces a different kind of strength test. In a pre-recorded video, Bagwell addressed his fans with characteristic determination, acknowledging this “five-year-long journey of trying to save my leg.” The Buff Bagwell era of wrestling may have ended, but his fight for normalcy has only just begun.
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