Pro wrestler Marcus "Buff" Bagwell says he's sick of watching former competitors wind up dead.
"I've actually wrestled 36 dead guys. I mean in this industry what's got to happen before someone steps in to change things?," said Bagwell.
The death Saturday of pro wrestler Chase Tatum makes Bagwell's number now 37.
Tatum was found dead in his Buckhead home Sunday. His father has said he believes his son overdosed on pain pills. Tatum was recovering from back surgery, but friends say he endured a long battle with addiction. One of those friends is Bagwell who says the two were childhood friends, one time roommates and shared the same destructive routine with pills. He recalls downing 40 to 60 pills a day to "just maintain". Bagwell is now clean and coming up on 8 months of sobriety. It's a victory he wishes he would have shared with Tatum.
"Maybe if I would have talked to him about how it's worked for me, he'd still be here," said Bagwell.
He hopes a book that he's working on right now will help get the word out to others in the wrestling profession. It's about his life as a wrestler and what he says is the rampant use of all sorts of drugs. He blames the demanding year-round schedule, chronic injuries and pressures of staying strong as you get older and your competitors get younger.
"There's too many people dying in this industry. In the past 15 years, more than 100 professional wrestlers under the age of 45 have died. If that happened in any other sport there would be outrage," said Bagwell.
Last year, professional wrestler Chris Benoit killed his wife and son then committed suicide. Authorities later found steroids in his home and a toxicology report showed elevated levels of testosterone and the anti-anxiety medication Xanax in his system.
With the death of Chase Tatum, Bagwell now wonders how many more of his friend and former competitors he'll lose.
