WCW Nitro Debut Wrestlers: Where Are They Now?

Bunkhouse Buck and Dick Slater were WCW Tag Team Champions when they wrestled the American Males on Nitro’s debut show, and they took a non-title loss to the duo. Having toured the southern regional territories for his first few decades as a wrestler, Buck joined WCW in his mid forties, and played an important role on the company’s midcard for a few years. Age inevitably started catching up with him, however, and Buck left WCW in 1999.

That wasn’t the end of his wrestling career, however. The former Jimmy Golden went straight back to the independent circuit, and while his appearances have become increasingly sparse, he’s still available for bookings at the ripe old age of 66. He was teaming with his cousin Col. Robert Parker as late as 2005, and was crowned Tennessee Mountain Wrestling Heavyweight Champion in August 2011.

Buck enjoys a quiet semi-retirement, and it’s unclear what (if anything) he does for a living in 2017. He last big televised appearances came in 2010, however, when he played the role of Jack Swagger’s father on a couple of episodes of SmackDown. Appearing in July, Swagger Sr.’s night ended when Jack Jr. walked out on him, allowing Kane to obliterate the old man with a Tombstone Piledriver, but Buck reprised his role in September, when he was promptly flattened by MVP.