Andrew Lutzke
Presented by Sean Oliver and the Kayfabe Commentary Crew
The Man: HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Growing up in Glens Falls, New York, Jim Duggan became a letterman in high school in the sports of football, track, wrestling and basketball. He even won the New York State high School wrestling championship. His stellar athletics led to Ohio State recruiting him, but Duggan would choose to play at Southern Methodist instead – playing well enough to be voted team captain of the football squad.
In addition to his on the field success, Duggan was a successful student – he earned his bachelors degree in applied plant biology. After college, Duggan would be signed by the Atlanta Falcons but knee injuries ruined his football prospects.
Fritz Von Erich first spotted Duggan when Jim was still being recruited to SMU, and once the opportunity came to have Duggan join the wrestling business, Fritz was instrumental. Duggan’s first match was against Gino Hernandez in 1979 and much of his early grooming came working in Texas and Hawaii.
Duggan worked as a heel early on and with his natural size Jim garnered attention from Vince McMahon Sr. despite being pretty green yet. Duggan made the trip to the WWF and worked preliminary bouts – losing to the likes of Stan Hansen in TV squash matches.
Duggan would soon move on to Georgia Championship Wrestling – but Duggan also appeared in Hawaii around this time, under a mask as “The Convict”. Jim continued the nomadic life of a wrestler by then competing in an Alabama based promotion, before Bruiser Brody and Buck Robley called Duggan up and offered him a push in the San Antonio area they were involved in. It was here that he adopted the “Hacksaw” nickname.
Duggan moved on to Bill Watts’ Mid-South Wrestling and joined up with Ted Dibiase, Matt Bourne and Mr. Olympia as the “Rat Pack”. Duggan ended up in various feuds based on his villainous alliances and ended up in wars with Butch Reed (Over the “Hacksaw” moniker), Magnum T.A. and the Junkyard Dog. Jim donned a gorilla suit and cost JYD a match versus Dibiase with “Loser Leaves Town” as a stipulation. Duggan would remain on the side of evil until Dibiase chose to align himself with Gen. Skandor Akbar, which upset the ultra-patriotic Duggan and led to the unit splitting. Duggan turned babyface and became one of Watts’ most popular attractions – adopting the habit of carrying a 2X4 like Buford Pusser in the “Walking Tall” movie series. The turn was somewhat ironic as Duggan made his Mid-South debut by acting as a bounty hunter for Akbar – attempting to take out Dick Murdoch on Akbar’s behalf.
Duggan would go on to feud with DiBiase for a long series of matches eventually earning them the fan vote as feud of the year in the 1985 Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Duggan would also do battle with Hercules, Krusher Kruschev, Kamala, Dick Slater, Buzz Sawyer and many others over his run in Mid-South. Duggan’s wife even got into the fray in 1985 when Dick Slater and Buzz Sawyer had Dark Journey – a female valet in their corner and Duggan’s wife came to his aid during an attack by them and ended up injured herself – leading to the women being in opposite corners of a wild tag team encounter.
Duggan would win the Tag belts with Magnum T.A. and the North American Heavyweight title – which was stripped from Duggan when the Mid-South became the “Universal Wrestling Federation” in an effort to make the promotion sound more wide reaching during a time where Watts was attempting to expand nationally. A tournament would be held to name an inaugural UWF champion and Duggan would make it all the way to the finals of the tourney – ultimately losing to Terry “Bam Bam” Gordy.
Duggan would find tag team title success once again with Terry Taylor but ultimately Duggan’s contract would be determined to be too rich for the struggling promotion and Duggan was allowed to leave for the WWF after losing to the One Man Gang in a loser leaves town match.
Duggan went right into a jingoistic feud with Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik upon arriving in the WWF in January 1987.
Duggan and Sheik would make a huge error in the spring of that year and choose to ride together between shows in the middle of their feud. Duggan was driving and was seen by a cop chugging a beer while behind the wheel. The cop pulled Jim over and discovered Jim’s marijuana along with Sheiky Baby’s cocaine and had the men arrested. Both would be fired by Vince McMahon almost right away after that kayfabe breaking incident.
Duggan would take several months off but by summer Vince gave him a second chance and gave Duggan his job back. Jim would go on to feud with wrestling legend Harley Race, chase Honky Tonk Man’s Intercontinental title, win the first televised “Royal Rumble” match by tossing his old foe One Man Gang out last, participate in the 14 man World title tournament at Wrestlemania 4, have a headlining feud with Andre the Giant, and return to his jingoistic roots by battling Dino Bravo and Boris Zhukov….all within the next year and a half!
In 1989 Duggan battled fellow brawler Bad News Brown at Wrestlemania 5, then shocked many fans by beating “King” Haku in a match in which the monarchy was on the line. “King” Duggan would go on to battle IC Champ Rick Rude on a nationally televised Saturday’s Night Main Event – besting the champ by countout, then renewing his beef (pardon the pun) with Andre the Giant as Duggan and the mighty Demolition teamed up to face the Twin Towers (the Big Boss Man and Akeem) and Andre the Giant in one of the largest six man battles on record at Summerslam ’89. The “King” would be cheated out of his crown by “Scary” Sherri Martel and the “Macho Man” Randy Savage and go on to feud with Savage in numerous rematches over the crown. Duggan and Savage would captain competing teams at that year’s Survivor Series.
Duggan would float around a bit after that – battling the Big Boss Man at the ’90 Royal Rumble and re-engaging in a feud with Dino Bravo at Wrestlemania 6. Duggan kept up the pro-America feuds by aiding newly turned patriot Nikolai Volkoff – the 2 men battled The Orient Express at Summerslam ’90 and then defended America against Iraqi turncoat Sgt. Slaughter over the next few months. Duggan’s personal highlight of this period was headlining a “Main Event” special against World Champion Sgt. Slaughter – Duggan takes a vicious beating in an illegal fashion from the Sarge until Hulk Hogan makes the save to help build heat for the upcoming Wrestlemania 7 main event. Duggan’s post match selling really struck a chord with me as a child – a really memorable moment for me.
Duggan would be de-pushed after this big angle and would be stuck in the lower card for most of the rest of his WWF run. He and Slaughter would patch things up the following Fall and form a tag team. The original plan for Wrestlemania 8 was for Sarge and Duggan to wrestle tag team champions Money Inc., but booking plans changed and the Natural Disasters ended up getting the match while Duggan was stuck in a time filling 8 man match with other mid-card guys.
In late 1992 Duggan would once again have to defend America – this time against the 505 pound Sumo star Yokozuna. Duggan would be credited with being the first man to take Yoko off his feet – only to be injured by Yoko in retaliation. Duggan would return long enough to put over Bam Bam Bigelow at the 1993 King of the Ring, but by the end of that summer would be gone from the WWF.
Duggan worked the independent scene and rested up until late summer of 1994, when Hulk Hogan’s arrival in WCW opened the doors for Hacksaw to join for a fat paycheck. Duggan would beat future mega star Steve Austin quickly for the US title – a move that infuriated many hardcore WCW fans and insiders alike.
Duggan would be part of Starrcade’s “Triple Main Event” when he defended and lost the title to Big Van Vader and for the next 6 years Duggan would be a reliable mid-card guy who could get a good response, put over “stars” and beat lesser men in entertaining bouts. Meng, Big Bubba Rogers, and V.K. Wallstreet were among his frequent opponents during this period.
Duggan had to put his career on hold in 1998 when he was diagnosed with kidney cancer. His return from this illness made for his last memorable angle, as Bill Goldberg’s heel turn needed some additional juice and a cancer weakened Hacksaw Duggan was the perfect opponent to garner sympathy through a beat down:
Duggan was very protective of his career by this point, refusing to lose to Alex Wright’s new “Berlyn” heel gimmick cleanly and doing a mini shoot on Nitro telling the soon to be in control “Powers that Be” how over he still was with the fans.
“The Powers that Be” Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara, ended up giving Duggan a “janitor” gimmick – scrubbing toilets and picking up trash on TV. Jim would find the TV title that Scott Hall had thrown away and declare himself the TV champ – wrestling main events on the WCW B shows and defending the belt against Robert Gibson, The Cuban Assassin and other random low card guys. The belt was removed from Duggan when Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo “re-booted” WCW in April of 2000.
Duggan’s final significant act in WCW would be to turn on America and join the “Team Canada” faction. Duggan stopped bringing the 2X4 and shaved his beard. Considering this involved a feud with a guy named “Hugh G. Rection” – the less said the better.
After WCW closed down, Duggan worked the independent circuit as well as random WWF shows – even participating on PPVs occasionally. The most interesting occurrence of Duggan’s indy run was a match with old partner/foe Matt Bourne – a match that apparently broke down into a shoot as both men stared one another down before the whole thing abruptly ended:
Duggan was deservedly inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame:
The Shoot:
Sean and Hacksaw share a “HOOOOOOOO!” to start.
Bad News Brown was a quiet guy and Duggan didn’t know him well.
Prelim guys were called “carpenters” or “jobbers” – Hacksaw says he was a job guy too, so no shame in that. Guys had to break in the business somehow.
The British Bulldogs had to take care of Matilda. The dog drank beer, was given steroids, somas and who knows what else. She survived, unlike Damien who had to be replaced several times.
Duggan found Damien in a trunk frozen solid after a night of partying with Jake in a cold city.
Jake had a lot of heat so the other guys would kick and drop the snake to get back at Jake. Duggan and Roberts were best buddies on the road.
Duggan talks about the “Bunkhouse” battle royals WWF ran in response to the NWA’s “Bunkhouse Stampede” PPV that January.
Duggan and the Bossman had the Ultimate Warrior cornered during a battle royal a few years later – Mr. Perfect snuck behind Warrior and tied his nylon tassels to the ropes so Warrior was tied down. The nylon would cut him if he tried escaping, so Chief Jay Strongbow had to get a scissors to free him. Vince personally scolded the men after that.
Duggan says the money is much better in the WWE now than his day, so the current guys don’t sleep five to a room and travel in packs like Duggan’s prime.
The 1988 Royal Rumble set the USA network’s rating record.
Hacksaw felt Gorilla Monsoon buried him too often on TV.
Harley Race was a tough guy and always carried a gun.
Magnum T.A. and Randy Savage are compared to the Ultimate Warrior as far as buying into their own gimmick and losing themselves to ego.
The Bulldogs picked on people who couldn’t fight back. Knobbs ripped on everyone from Hogan and Flair down to the jobbers.
Tossing guys into the guard rail was banned at this time – stemming from lawsuits.
WWF released promotional materials prior to “The Main Event” that revealed that Hogan was losing to Andre and word spread on radio prior to the live show.
Andre’s lack of hygiene and drinking habits are discussed. Duggan accidentally got a mouthful of Andre sweat and threw up at ringside.
Honky Tonk Man would wear the IC belt while banging ring rats.
Terry Taylor would rather have a title than more money.
Duggan has heat with Lex Luger for abusing Elizabeth.
Macho Man would keep track of the mileage in his car to see if Liz used it.
While on a European tour, Saggs farted in front of Liz and Macho freaked out and sent her back to the US, then Vince sent her right back and charged Saggs with the airfare.
WWF ran a series of shows to help Mad Dog Vachon out after he lost his leg.
Bruiser Brody and Buck Robley gave Duggan the “Hacksaw” nickname.
Bad News Brown chased David Sierra “The Cuban Assassin” out of a building during a TV taping due to lingering heat from their Stampede days.
Bruno Sammartino quits and is quickly informed that “Living Legend” is a WWF trademark.
Duggan and Iron Sheik ended up in their infamous road trip arrest incident because Iron Sheik didn’t have his credit card and bummed a ride. They weren’t really friends otherwise. Sheik had cocaine and Duggan had marijuana.
Vince laid a guilt trip on Duggan and sent him home.
Vince held a talent meeting and declared “This business is bigger than a 6 pack and a blow job!” and said Sheik and Duggan were barred for life.
Hacksaw thinks the arrest cost him a bigger push long term.
A fan punches Duggan and Duggan punches him back twice and is sued for assault – Duggan loses $40,000 for using “excessive force in defending himself”.
George Steele would critique the guys on their interviews. Duggan mocks Steele’s simpleton promos.
Hacksaw covers the angle that led to he and Andre feuding around the horn. He makes it sound pretty epic:
Duggan’s wife was a wrestler and ended up subbing for an absent lady wrestler who missed a shot due to a snow storm in the Midwest. His wife ended up with a quick DQ win over Sherri Martel.
“Wrestlers have one night stands, their wives have affairs.”
Duggan shared apartments with Gino Hernandez, Terry Gordy and “Dr. Death” Steve Williams at different times.
Eric Bischoff made Duggan a janitor to try and get him to quit because he had a fat contract. Duggan welcomed the challenge because he had no fears of getting over.
Donald Trump would hob nob with the workers; other celebrities had private dressing rooms and avoided the guys.
Duggan and Mickey Rourke had a confrontation at the hotel the wrestlers stayed at for Wrestlemania weekend. Frank Shamrock broke it up.
They joke about homosexuals in wrestling and getting a push from giving in to gay promoters.
Randy Savage got a huge ego from doing the Spider-man film.
While on an overseas flight, Knobbs shaves a single eyebrow off a bunch of wrestlers. He then shaved BOTH of his own eyebrows to hide his guilt and/or take heat off himself.
“Mighty” Mike McGuirk – the WWF’s first female announcer probably got her gig because Vince likes to support wrestling families.
Duggan got distracted once while tossing his 2 X 4 up in the air and ended up smashing his face with it when it landed.
Vince delivered a speech on the “evils of steroids” in May 1988. Nobody bought it.
“Brother Love” Bruce Pritchard broke in as a gopher, worked his way up to announcer and as the territories started to get sucked up in the WWF’s vacuum, Bruce was able to find a role with Vince.
Haku would tell bar room tough guys that “First I kill you, then I eat you.”
Jake the Snake put on Hacksaw’s bachelor party.
Duggan says he “borrowed” much of his act from Bruiser Brody.
Terry Taylor was made the “Red Rooster” to embarrass him since he was worried about his looks and his mouth got him heat.
Frenchy Martin would pretend to get his hand caught in his luggage and get sucked onto the airport luggage rotating rack as a rib.
One Man Gang was given the “Akeem” gimmick as punishment after requesting time off.
Duggan says Jake the Snake was faking his religious conversion and was happy to reap in the benefits of his new “re-birth”.
Bill Watts liked to hurt rookies.
JCP is sold to Ted Turner for 9 million, that same month Forbes magazine names the WWF value at 100 million.
When the World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF) got swinging Duggan and others had to help promote it. The body builders were paid better than a lot of the wrestlers.
The WBF and the WWF had a “tug of war” publicity contest and Mr. Perfect watched the body builders cover themselves in oil to look good on camera – then told the WWF team to purposely let go of the rope so the oily body builders would be covered in sand.
Duggan closes by talking about how fantastic his career was, how much fun was had and how much money was made and Duggan wants to hang on and appreciate it for as long as possible.
Final Thoughts: The Timeline series is usually excellent, and this is no exception. Duggan was fantastic here, telling tons of stories and jokes and filling up a lot of time with side bars. Due to time constraints August through December are covered in a mere 20 minutes after the first half of the year took up one hour and forty minutes. Hard to complain about over 2 hours of entertainment though. Strongly recommended!
Photo Credit to dailywrestlingnews.com
