The American Males
Encyclopedia
The American Males were a professional wrestling
tag team
in World Championship Wrestling
(WCW) composed of Marcus Bagwell
and Scotty Riggs
. Their gimmick was of two "pretty boys" who were fond of their own bodies and popular with women. Riggs was Bagwell's third partner with whom he won the WCW World Tag Team Championship
, the previous two being 2 Cold Scorpio
and The Patriot
. The American Males won the tag team title soon after they began teaming together but soon dropped the belts back to Harlem Heat
, the previous champions. Bagwell and Riggs did not return to main-event status, and they eventually split up and feuded
with each other.
due to the patriotic theme both wrestlers were using at the time. After being left behind by both partners, he expressed a desire to form a new tag team to challenge for the title again. According to WCW's storylines, his former partners believed that he was too demanding, and he was unable to find anyone interested in teaming with him due to his reputation as being "difficult to work with".
s, Antol changing his last name to "Riggs" and Bagwell shortening his name to simply Marcus Bagwell. Once together, they both wore short shorts and leather
vests (later wrestling tights and suspenders) to the ring and began clapping their hands over their head in time with their entrance music
, which sang their praises between choruses of the team name being repeated over and over. They wrestled on the first episode of Nitro
, defeating World Tag Team Champions Dick Slater
and Bunkhouse Buck in a non-title match. Their first major appearance together came at the Fall Brawl pay-per-view, where they defeated The Nasty Boys
in a match that aired on Main Event
. Pro Wrestling Illustrated
magazine stated that the team "work[ed] well as a unit and could soon challenge for the belts". Bagwell commented on the team in a scripted interview, saying that he believed that his previous tag teams had failed because they were in a rush to win the title belts and that he planned to work slowly toward a title victory with Riggs.
and Stevie Ray
) in an upset win in an impromptu match. The American Males had been scheduled to face The Blue Bloods, but Harlem Heat attacked both members of the Blue Bloods prior to the match and volunteered to take their place. As champions, the pair defeated Harlem Heat and the team of Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck. However, Bagwell and Riggs lost the titles back to Harlem Heat one week later on Saturday Night
. The American Males remained top challengers for the title belts for the rest of 1995 but were unable to regain the championship from Harlem Heat.
By the end of 1995, The American Males were no longer being pushed
by WCW; they competed at Starrcade 1995 in a dark match and defeated The Blue Bloods. Through most of 1996, they competed in the tag team division with no major storylines and never reached the same heights as when they were champions. They were able to defeat other mid-card teams like the Faces of Fear
, and they competed in a dark match prior to Slamboree 1996, defeating The Shark
and Maxx
.. They were consistently defeated by the company's top tag teams, and Pro Wrestling Illustrated noted that they were getting lost in a "very deep" tag team division that included the Road Warriors
, Public Enemy
, Harlem Heat, The Nasty Boys, the Blue Bloods, Lex Luger
and Sting
, the Four Horsemen
, The Steiner Brothers
, and The Outsiders, among others.
In October 1996, the team began showing signs of splitting, which intensified over the weeks. At World War 3 on November 24, 1996, the frustration came to a head as Bagwell attacked Riggs following both men's elimination from the three-ring battle royal that served as the main event.
The next night on Nitro Eric Bischoff
, representing the new World order
(nWo) stable, informed all WCW wrestlers that they would become targets of the nWo if they did not join the group within 30 days. Bagwell and Riggs walked to the ring shortly after Bischoff's statement, with Bagwell looking to join and Riggs trying to talk him out of it. Bagwell decided to join the nWo, turning on Riggs and dissolving the team in the process. In a scripted interview, Bagwell stated, "Who needs Riggs anymore when I have the nWo?!" He also later stated that the team's lack of success after their first title reign was the fault of Riggs' ineptitude, stating "I couldn't make up for all his weaknesses."
, while Bagwell formed Vicious and Delicious
with Scott Norton before suffering a severe neck injury that kept him out of action for a while. Bagwell later returned to WCW, teaming with Shane Douglas
to win another tag team championship. After losing the championship, he formed another tag team, pairing with Lex Luger
to form Totally Buff
.
In 2000, when Riggs joined Extreme Championship Wrestling
, he did a parody
of the American Males gimmick by calling himself "The U.S. Male" and using their overhead clap taunt.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
in World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
(WCW) composed of Marcus Bagwell
Buff Bagwell
Marcus Alexander Bagwell is an American professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name, Buff Bagwell. He is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling between 1991 and 2001, where he was a five time World Tag Team Champion.-Professional wrestling career: Bagwell...
and Scotty Riggs
Scott Antol
Scott Antol is an American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling and Extreme Championship Wrestling under the ring names Scotty Riggs and Scotty Anton, respectively....
. Their gimmick was of two "pretty boys" who were fond of their own bodies and popular with women. Riggs was Bagwell's third partner with whom he won the WCW World Tag Team Championship
WCW World Tag Team Championship
The World Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling world tag team championship in World Championship Wrestling...
, the previous two being 2 Cold Scorpio
2 Cold Scorpio
Charles Scaggs is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name 2 Cold Scorpio . Scaggs has competed in Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment and Pro Wrestling Noah...
and The Patriot
Del Wilkes
Del Wilkes is a former American professional wrestler. Over the span of 14 years, he performed in various promotions such as American Wrestling Association, All Japan Pro Wrestling...
. The American Males won the tag team title soon after they began teaming together but soon dropped the belts back to Harlem Heat
Harlem Heat
Harlem Heat was a professional wrestling tag team made up of two real-life brothers, Booker and Lane Huffman. Booker Huffman took the ring name of Booker T, and Lane Huffman took the ring name of Stevie Ray...
, the previous champions. Bagwell and Riggs did not return to main-event status, and they eventually split up and feuded
Feud (professional wrestling)
A professional wrestling feud is a staged rivalry between multiple wrestlers or alliances of wrestlers. They are integrated into ongoing storylines, particularly in events which are televised...
with each other.
Background
Marcus Bagwell had competed in the tag team division in WCW since 1993, during which time he held the WCW World Tag Team Championship with two different partners. Teaming with 2 Cold Scorpio, he held the title belts for three weeks. He later won the title twice more while teaming with The Patriot, a team that was dubbed Stars 'n' StripesStars 'n' Stripes
Stars 'n' Stripes was a professional wrestling tag team in World Championship Wrestling composed of The Patriot and Marcus Alexander Bagwell.-History:...
due to the patriotic theme both wrestlers were using at the time. After being left behind by both partners, he expressed a desire to form a new tag team to challenge for the title again. According to WCW's storylines, his former partners believed that he was too demanding, and he was unable to find anyone interested in teaming with him due to his reputation as being "difficult to work with".
Formation
The team was formed in August 1995 when Scott Antol signed a WCW contract and was placed with "tag team specialist" Marcus Alexander Bagwell. In the process, both men changed their ring nameRing name
A ring name is a stage name used by a professional wrestler, martial artist, or boxer. While some ring names may have a fictitious first name and surname, others may simply be a nickname, such as The Undertaker.-Wrestling:...
s, Antol changing his last name to "Riggs" and Bagwell shortening his name to simply Marcus Bagwell. Once together, they both wore short shorts and leather
Leather
Leather is a durable and flexible material created via the tanning of putrescible animal rawhide and skin, primarily cattlehide. It can be produced through different manufacturing processes, ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry.-Forms:...
vests (later wrestling tights and suspenders) to the ring and began clapping their hands over their head in time with their entrance music
Music in professional wrestling
Music in professional wrestling serves a variety of purposes. The most common uses of music in professional wrestling is that of the entrance theme, a song or piece of instrumental music which plays as a performer approaches the ring...
, which sang their praises between choruses of the team name being repeated over and over. They wrestled on the first episode of Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001...
, defeating World Tag Team Champions Dick Slater
Dick Slater
Richard Van Slater , better known by his ring name "Dirty" Dick Slater, is a retired American professional wrestler who wrestled in the 1970s, 1980s, and mid 1990s for various promotions including Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling .Slater began wrestling with Mike...
and Bunkhouse Buck in a non-title match. Their first major appearance together came at the Fall Brawl pay-per-view, where they defeated The Nasty Boys
The Nasty Boys
The Nasty Boys are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags, active from the mid to late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. Their gimmick was that of anti-social punks who specialized in hardcore wrestling and brawling...
in a match that aired on Main Event
WCW Main Event
WCW Main Event is a televised wrestling program of World Championship Wrestling that aired from 1988 to 1998. For most of its run, it was the promotion's secondary show and aired on Sunday evenings on TBS. The show originally aired in 1988 as NWA Main Event...
. Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Pro Wrestling Illustrated is a professional wrestling magazine. PWI is currently based in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania and published by Kappa Publishing Group.-History:The first issue of Pro Wrestling Illustrated was released in 1979...
magazine stated that the team "work[ed] well as a unit and could soon challenge for the belts". Bagwell commented on the team in a scripted interview, saying that he believed that his previous tag teams had failed because they were in a rush to win the title belts and that he planned to work slowly toward a title victory with Riggs.
World Tag Team Champions
On the episode of Nitro after Fall Brawl, Riggs and Bagwell won the World Tag Team Championship after defeating then-champions Harlem Heat (Booker TBooker Huffman
Robert Booker Tio Huffman , better known by his ring name Booker T, is a semi-retired American professional wrestler and currently signed to WWE, on its SmackDown brand, as part of the announcing team. Booker is best known for his time in both the World Wrestling Entertainment and World...
and Stevie Ray
Lane Huffman
Lane Steven Huffman is a retired American professional wrestler who is better known as Stevie Ray. He is best known as being part of the tag team Harlem Heat with his younger brother Booker T...
) in an upset win in an impromptu match. The American Males had been scheduled to face The Blue Bloods, but Harlem Heat attacked both members of the Blue Bloods prior to the match and volunteered to take their place. As champions, the pair defeated Harlem Heat and the team of Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck. However, Bagwell and Riggs lost the titles back to Harlem Heat one week later on Saturday Night
WCW Saturday Night
WCW Saturday Night was a weekly Saturday night TV show on TBS produced by World Championship Wrestling. The program existed through various incarnations under different names before becoming WCW Saturday Night in 1992...
. The American Males remained top challengers for the title belts for the rest of 1995 but were unable to regain the championship from Harlem Heat.
By the end of 1995, The American Males were no longer being pushed
Push (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a push is an attempt by the booker to make the wrestler win more matches and become more popular or more reviled with the fans depending on whether they are a heel or a face...
by WCW; they competed at Starrcade 1995 in a dark match and defeated The Blue Bloods. Through most of 1996, they competed in the tag team division with no major storylines and never reached the same heights as when they were champions. They were able to defeat other mid-card teams like the Faces of Fear
Faces of Fear
The Faces of Fear was the professional wrestling tag team of Sione Vailahi and Uliuli Fifita. Vailahi wrestled as The Barbarian, and Fifita wrestled as Haku in the World Wrestling Federation and Meng in World Championship Wrestling . They appeared together several times in the WWF as part of The...
, and they competed in a dark match prior to Slamboree 1996, defeating The Shark
John Tenta
John Anthony Tenta was a Canadian professional wrestler known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation as Earthquake and later Golga, and in World Championship Wrestling as Avalanche and The Shark.-Early life:John Tenta was born in Surrey, British Columbia...
and Maxx
Max Muscle
John Czawlytko , better known by his ring name Max Muscle, is a retired Polish professional wrestler best known for his appearances in WCW in the mid-late 1990s....
.. They were consistently defeated by the company's top tag teams, and Pro Wrestling Illustrated noted that they were getting lost in a "very deep" tag team division that included the Road Warriors
Road Warriors
The Road Warriors were a professional wrestling tag team composed of Michael "Hawk" Hegstrand and Joseph "Animal" Laurinaitis. They performed under the name "Road Warriors" in the American Wrestling Association, the National Wrestling Alliance, and World Championship Wrestling, and the name Legion...
, Public Enemy
The Public Enemy (professional wrestling)
The Public Enemy was a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge. The duo competed in many promotions, including Extreme Championship Wrestling , World Championship Wrestling , National Wrestling Alliance , and the World Wrestling Federation...
, Harlem Heat, The Nasty Boys, the Blue Bloods, Lex Luger
Lex Luger
Lawrence Wendell "Larry" Pfohl , better known by his ring name Lex Luger, is an American former professional wrestler and football player currently working with WWE on their wellness policy...
and Sting
Sting (wrestler)
Steven James "Steve" Borden , better known by his ring name Sting, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...
, the Four Horsemen
Four Horsemen (professional wrestling)
The Four Horsemen were a professional wrestling stable in the National Wrestling Alliance and later World Championship Wrestling that was disbanded in 1999. The original group featured Ric Flair, Arn and Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard...
, The Steiner Brothers
The Steiner Brothers
The Steiner Brothers are the professional wrestling tag team of American brothers Robert "Rick Steiner" Rechsteiner and Scott "Scott Steiner" Rechsteiner...
, and The Outsiders, among others.
In October 1996, the team began showing signs of splitting, which intensified over the weeks. At World War 3 on November 24, 1996, the frustration came to a head as Bagwell attacked Riggs following both men's elimination from the three-ring battle royal that served as the main event.
The next night on Nitro Eric Bischoff
Eric Bischoff
Eric Aaron Bischoff is an American entrepreneur, and professional wrestling booker and on-screen personality currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...
, representing the new World order
New World Order (professional wrestling)
The New World Order was a professional wrestling stable that originally wrestled for World Championship Wrestling . The group later appeared in the World Wrestling Federation after the purchase of WCW by the WWF...
(nWo) stable, informed all WCW wrestlers that they would become targets of the nWo if they did not join the group within 30 days. Bagwell and Riggs walked to the ring shortly after Bischoff's statement, with Bagwell looking to join and Riggs trying to talk him out of it. Bagwell decided to join the nWo, turning on Riggs and dissolving the team in the process. In a scripted interview, Bagwell stated, "Who needs Riggs anymore when I have the nWo?!" He also later stated that the team's lack of success after their first title reign was the fault of Riggs' ineptitude, stating "I couldn't make up for all his weaknesses."
Split
Following the breakup, the former partners feuded for a while with Bagwell getting the better of Riggs. Riggs would go on to briefly feud with Raven, later joining The FlockRaven's Nest
Raven's Nest was a professional wrestling stable led by Raven that was present in Extreme Championship Wrestling between 1995 and 1997.Later, Raven created other incarnations of the group in World Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling .-Raven's Nest:Raven's Nest was a large...
, while Bagwell formed Vicious and Delicious
Vicious and Delicious
Vicious and Delicious was a professional wrestling tag team composed of Scott Norton and Buff Bagwell that competed in World Championship Wrestling from 1996 to 1998.-Formation:...
with Scott Norton before suffering a severe neck injury that kept him out of action for a while. Bagwell later returned to WCW, teaming with Shane Douglas
Shane Douglas
Troy Alan Martin is an American professional wrestler and promoter, better known by his ring name "The Franchise" Shane Douglas. In the course of his career, which has spanned nearly three decades, Douglas has wrestled in Extreme Championship Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling and briefly...
to win another tag team championship. After losing the championship, he formed another tag team, pairing with Lex Luger
Lex Luger
Lawrence Wendell "Larry" Pfohl , better known by his ring name Lex Luger, is an American former professional wrestler and football player currently working with WWE on their wellness policy...
to form Totally Buff
Totally Buff
Totally Buff was a professional wrestling tag team in World Championship Wrestling composed of Lex Luger and Buff Bagwell.-History:"Totally Buff" formed in late 2000 when Buff Bagwell and "The Total Package" Lex Luger joined forces after a short feud against each other to both take on Bill Goldberg...
.
In 2000, when Riggs joined Extreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling
Extreme Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001...
, he did a parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of the American Males gimmick by calling himself "The U.S. Male" and using their overhead clap taunt.
Championships and accomplishments
- World Championship WrestlingWorld Championship WrestlingWorld Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
- WCW World Tag Team ChampionshipWCW World Tag Team ChampionshipThe World Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling world tag team championship in World Championship Wrestling...
(1 time)
- WCW World Tag Team Championship