In 1991, Bagwell was hired by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Championship_Wrestling, where he wrestled under his full name. Bagwell made his WCW debut on November 5 in a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_professional_wrestling_terms#Dark_match, losing to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Graham_(wrestler).https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buff_Bagwell#cite_note-WCWbio-2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buff_Bagwell#cite_note-Guttman-8https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buff_Bagwell#cite_note-Accl3359-9 He would then wrestle a tryout match on November 11 and made his televised debut as a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Face_(professional_wrestling) at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clash_of_the_Champions_XVII, where he was interviewed by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missy_Hyatt. He made his televised in-ring debut by defeating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rip_Rogers on the December 14 episode of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_Saturday_Night. Bagwell made his pay-per-view debut at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starrcade_(1991), where he was paired with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Garvin against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Hayes_(wrestler) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Smothers in a Lethal Lottery match, which he and Garvin won after Bagwell hit Smothers with the fisherman suplex to qualify for the Battlebowl battle royal later in the night, which https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sting_(wrestler) won. Bagwell received his first title shot on the January 11, 1992 episode of World Championship Wrestling against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Cold_Steve_Austin for the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_World_Television_Championship, but failed to win the title as the match ended in a ten-minute time limit draw. Bagwell would then begin feuding with the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Taylor, which led to a match between the two at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperBrawl_II, which Bagwell won.
Bagwell participated in a tournament for the vacant World Television Championship on the February 20, 1993 episode of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_Worldwide, where he lost to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxx_Payne in the first round. On the February 20 episode of Saturday Night, Bagwell teamed with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Cold_Scorpio and Steve Regal to defeat Scotty Flamingo, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tex_Slazenger_and_Shanghai_Pierce in a six-man tag team match. This would lead to the formation of a tag team of Bagwell and Scorpio. During this time, Bagwell began a feud with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hollywood_Blonds (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Pillman and Steve Austin), which led to Bagwell teaming with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Watts to take on The Hollywood Blonds in a tag team match at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SuperBrawl_III, which Bagwell's team lost. Bagwell resumed teaming with Scorpio and the team gained success unlike Bagwell's previous teams as they defeated various teams including https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Eaton and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Benoit at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slamboree_(1993), Tex Slazenger and Shanghai Pierce at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_Blast_(1993) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Sullivan_(wrestler) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Orndorff at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_Brawl_(1993). As a result of their success in the tag team division, they quickly became contenders for the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_World_Tag_Team_Championship. On the October 23 episode of Saturday Night, Bagwell and Scorpio defeated https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nasty_Boys to win the World Tag Team Championship, thus marking Bagwell's first title win in WCW. They lost the titles back to The Nasty Boys at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_Havoc_(1993). On the September 16 episode of Saturday Night, Bagwell formed a tag team with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotty_Riggs called the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Males as they defeated State Patrol in their debut match. The newly formed team defeated Harlem Heat to win the World Tag Team Championship on the September 18 episode of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_Monday_Nitro. They lost the titles back to Harlem Heat on the October 28 episode of Saturday Night. Bagwell participated in the first-ever https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_royal_(professional_wrestling) at the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_3_(1995) for the vacant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_World_Heavyweight_Championship, which was won by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Savage. The American Males received a rematch for the tag team titles against Harlem Heat on the December 4 episode of Nitro, which they failed to win. The team would find no success afterwards and would lose most of their matches throughout 1996. During this time, Bagwell made only two pay-per-view appearances; the first at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_American_Bash_(1996), where he lost to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Dallas_Page and the second at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_3_(1996), where he participated in the namesake match with the winner earning a title shot for the World Heavyweight Championship, but failed to win the match.
On the April 22, 1998 edition of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_Thunder, Bagwell wrestled a tag team match with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Norton (representing the nWo) against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Steiner and Lex Luger which they won when https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Steiner interfered on his behalf. Just before that, Rick attempted his https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_aerial_techniques#Diving_bulldog finishing move, which was not executed correctly and resulted in Bagwell's head striking Steiner's back, jamming his neck and severely injuring him. Bagwell was diagnosed with several damaged vertebrae and developed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_shock, leading him to use a wheelchair and neck brace for months. He returned for an interview only to be ridiculed by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk_Hogan and shoved to the entryway floor. On July 6, after recently having neck surgery, the wheelchair-ridden Bagwell returned to WCW in his home state of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_(U.S._state). Bagwell seemed to have a new attitude and even called out Rick Steiner to offer him his forgiveness. Bagwell restrained Rick while fellow nWo member Scott Steiner assaulted him with a steel chair, reaffirming his loyalty to Hogan and the nWo. Bagwell then rose from his wheelchair and helped Scott beat down Rick. In January 1999, the nWo factions reunited, leading Bagwell and Steiner to side with the nWo Wolfpac. Their alliance ended at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncensored_(1999) when Bagwell accidentally hit Steiner with a chair, costing him the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_World_Television_Championship.