10 Wrestling Facts We Didn't Know Last Week (Sept 15)
7. Buff Bagwell Gave DDP The WWF Buyout Idea
Remember when Diamond Dallas Page and Booker T crashed onto the WWF roster and helped kickstart the 'Invasion' angle in 2001? Up until now we've been led to believe that both men gave up guaranteed contracts with AOL/Time Warner to make the jump. They did, but according to Buff Bagwell those deals weren't as lucrative as the popular narrative tells.
Talking to Wrestling Inc about his memories of signing on the dotted line with Vince McMahon, Bagwell said Booker, Page and he were all in the same position. Their contracts were about to expire with WCW, so the trio would only have collected between $60-80,000 before having to look for more work anyway. That made the decision easy for Buff.
Calling Brad Small (his attorney), Bagwell wanted to show he was a team player by saving the WWF even a small amount of cash and signing there and then. As Small also represented DDP, Page became aware of the idea and agreed to do the same. In Buff's words, Page only thought of that because he had first.