“Hacksaw” has always been an American favorite and is known for his 2x4 and his
“Hoooo!” Fans love Jim Duggan, no matter what city or territory.  He has always been
brawler and one of the best in the game at straight fisticuffs.

Originally from Glens Falls, New York, Duggan went to school at Southern Methodist
University before taking to the ropes under the guidance of Fritz Von Erich.  He joined the
NFL and played football for the Atlanta Falcons in 1977 and in 1978.  Duggan turned
professional wrestler in September 1977 in the Dallas area.  He ventured through the
National Wrestling Alliance.  In 1979, Duggan played with the Toronto Argonauts in the
Canadian Football League.  He wrestled in Hawaii, Japan and on the Georgia circuit
before landing in Bill Watts’ Mid-South Territory.  Along with Ted DiBiase and Matt Borne,
Duggan formed the Rat Pack.

By 1986, Duggan was one of the most popular wrestlers in the region.  He beat Buzz
Sawyer for the North American Championship and when Mid-South became the UWF in
the weeks that followed, he was one of the organization’s top draws.  He successfully
made it to the finals of the initial UWF World Heavyweight Title Tournament on May 30,
1986 in Houston.  Duggan’s opponent was Freebird, Terry Gordy, who defeated him for
the belt.

In 1987, he left the UWF for the WWF, a national wrestling promotion headquartered out
of Connecticut.  The WWF suspended Duggan after he was caught with possession of
illegal drugs and drinking while driving on May 27, 1987 in New Jersey.  Fans didn’t look
upon him any differently.  He made his return to the sport as popular as ever on August
28th in Houston for Paul Boesch’s Retirement Show.  Duggan was defeated by an old
teammate, Ted DiBiase.  Duggan teamed with Jake Roberts, Randy Savage, Brutus
Beefcake and Rick Steamboat at the first Survivor Series in Richfield, Ohio on November
26th.  The five offered wrestling one of the best teams ever assembled.  Their opponents
that Thanksgiving Night were former NWA World Champion, Harley Race, Ron Bass,
Hercules, Honky Tonk Man and Danny Davis, basically Jimmy Hart’s stable.  Duggan
battled Race in the opening moments of the match and both men were eliminated outside
the ring.  His team went on to get the victory.

Better times were ahead for Duggan.  His best WWF days were not far off.  A special
twenty-man “Royal Rumble” was held on January 24, 1988 in Hamilton, Ontario.  Duggan
was one of the participants and entered the ring at number 13.  He battled his way
through many competitors and eliminated One Man Gang to win the bout.  The victory
was a huge accomplishment.  The event was broadcast on cable television and offered
viewers a chance to see “Hacksaw” in the ring.  His popularity continued to skyrocket.

Duggan earned his way into the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Title Tournament on
Sunday, March 27th in Atlantic City.  Ted DiBiase was his first opponent.  After some help
from Andre the Giant, Duggan was pinned and eliminated.  It wasn’t the first time he had
run into the mammoth Giant and was certainly not going to be the last.  DiBiase would go
to the finals and lose to Randy Savage.  During WrestleFest on July 31st in Milwaukee,
Duggan received a shot at the Intercontinental Title and the Honky Tonk Man.  He won by
disqualification after Jimmy Hart, Honky’s manager, interfered.  The belt didn’t change
hands.

Duggan did not participate in the SummerSlam show in New York City but was a member
of a five-man tag team at the Survivor Series in November.  His team lost and Duggan
had been disqualified for his actions prior to the finish.  Duggan was not a part of the
1989 Royal Rumble in January but wrestled on the undercard in a six-man bout with the
Hart Foundation.  Their opponents were Dino Bravo and the Rougeau Brothers and the
bout was scheduled for two-of-three-falls.  A large crowd watched Jacques Rougeau pin
Bret Hart in the first fall and then Duggan pin Raymond in the second.  Bret pinned Bravo
in the finals to give their team a win.  Duggan wrestled Bad News Brown to a double
disqualification during WrestleMania V in Atlantic City.

Later in the month, Duggan met King Haku for the WWF Crown in Des Moines.  With a
win, he captured the title of King and was coroneted the following day in Omaha,
Nebraska.  He teamed with the members of Demolition on Monday, August 28, 1989 in
East Rutherford, New Jersey to beat the Twin Towers and Andre the Giant.  King Duggan
was overthrown by Randy Savage and his manager “Sensational” Sherri Martel on
August 30th in Portland.  Martel’s interference cost him the Crown and Duggan was
carried out on a stretcher.  

During the Survivor Series, he led a team of four fan favorites against a team led by
Savage.  Duggan pinned Greg Valentine during the match, but was counted out and
eliminated.  The match ended with his ten count loss and Savage was once again
victorious.  Duggan was hit by a nightstick and beat the Big Bossman by disqualification
on January 21, 1990 in Orlando at the third annual Royal Rumble.  At WrestleMania, he
pinned the “World’s Strongest Man” Dino Bravo in Toronto.  There was no questioning
things, Duggan remained one of the WWF’s most popular stars.  During the summer of ’
90, the WWF saw Brutus Beefcake fall to a real world injury and then Hulk Hogan was put
on the shelf by the Earthquake.

The organization needed a favorite to step up and Duggan was there to pack audiences
in.  He was the second most popular man in the WWF behind the Ultimate Warrior.  On
August 27th at SummerSlam, he teamed with Nikolai Volkoff to beat the Orient Express
and his pay-per-view winning streak continued.  Duggan was disqualified during the
Survivor Series on November 22nd in Hartford, but his team, led by Hulk Hogan, went on
to victory.  Finally, in January 1991, Duggan had his first opportunity to win his second
Royal Rumble in Miami.  He entered the ring at number 21, but did not fair as well as he
did in 1988.  Hogan went on to win.  Duggan was left off the WrestleMania VII card in Los
Angeles and then the SummerSlam pay-per-view in New York City.  Duggan competed in
the 1991 King of the Ring Tournament on September 7th and advanced to the second
round before losing to Irwin R. Schyster.

On November 27th, he returned to pay-per-view for the 1991 Survivor Series.  Duggan,
Sgt. Slaughter, Tito Santana and Kerry Von Erich beat The Berzerker, Hercules, Skinner
and Col. Mustafa.  Their entire team survived.  Duggan pinned Berzerker for the win.  He
made his triumphant return to WrestleMania on April 5, 1992 at the Hoosier Dome in
Indianapolis and over 62,000 fans were shouting “Hoooo!!!”  He teamed with Sgt.
Slaughter, Virgil and the Big Bossman to beat the Repo Man, Mountie and the Nasty
Boys.  Virgil pinned Brian Knobbs for the match.  Duggan went to England for
SummerSlam on August 29th.  Another huge crowd, 80,000 plus, packed Wembley
Stadium to see the show live.  Duggan teamed with the Luke and Butch to beat the Nasty
Boys and the Mountie.  He pinned the latter for the win.

The 1993 King of the Ring PPV was Duggan’s last in the WWF.  Bam Bam Bigelow
eliminated him from the tournament.  Duggan remained in the organization for several
more months and even had a memorable music video during the fall of ’93, which was
broadcast during WWF Telecasts.  In 1994, he left the WWF after nearly seven years.

A contingent of wrestlers had defected to World Championship Wrestling and Duggan
joined them.  Shortly after his arrival, he was wearing championship gold and it would be
the first time since 1987 and his stint in the UWF.  On September 18, 1994 in Roanoke,
Duggan wrestled and beat the newly crowned WCW United States Heavyweight
Champion, Steve Austin during the Fall Brawl pay-per-view.  In less than a minute,
Duggan pinned Austin and walked away as the champ.  The win stunned his fans, many
of whom didn’t even know he was even in WCW.  Despite the move, his popularity didn’t
waver a bit.  Duggan gave Austin a rematch on October 23rd at Halloween Havoc in
Detroit, and ended up winning by disqualification.

His biggest challenge to date in WCW came in December at Starrcade in Nashville when
he was forced to defend his U.S. Title against Vader.  Although Duggan had competed
against Andre the Giant during the late ‘80’s, no big man ever compared to Vader.  His
agility and wrestling skill would put him to the test.  Vader pinned Duggan and won the
belt.  On February 19, 1995 in Baltimore, Duggan beat Bunkhouse Buck at the
SuperBrawl event.  In the months that followed, he entered feuds with some of the
toughest men in the organization from Meng to Kamala, Bubba Rogers and the talented
Sergeant Craig Pittman.  He had two matches on November 26th at World War III in
Norfolk.

One of the matches was the sixty-man, three-ring battle royal for the vacant WCW World
Heavyweight Title, which he did not win.  Duggan lost the other match as well, which was a
special taped- fist match against Rogers.  He wrestled prior to the SuperBrawl VI card in
St. Petersburg, Florida on February 11, 1996.  Duggan and the Loch Ness Monster went
to a no-contest.  He lost to the Giant on March 11th during Monday Nitro.  On May 19th in
Baton Rouge, Duggan competed in the Lethal Lottery Tag team Tournament where he
partnered up with a former foe in V.K. Wall Street…aka...Irwin R. Schyster.  They wrestled
and beat David Taylor and Steven Regal.  In the second round, they were defeated by
Robert Eaton and Dick Slater.  At the Bash at the Beach in Daytona Beach on July 7th,
Duggan wrestled Dallas Page in a special taped-fist match.  He lost by pinfall.  Once
again in November, he competed in the three-ring, sixty-man battle royal.  The Giant won
that night.  

Duggan began to miss time due to injuries and it wasn’t long before news that he had
cancer got out into the mainstream wrestling news.  The information spread through the
internet newsgroups and was even reported by WCW reporters.  There was a serious
possibility that he could die from complications, but Duggan prevailed.  His fans
applauded his fight and wished him the best.  They awaited his return to the ring, even if
it were just to give his patented call.  Duggan, amazingly, did return to the squared circle
as an athlete.  He battled Berlyn during WCW’s Fall Brawl ’99 pay-per-view on September
12th in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  Duggan lost, but his showing was more than
ample.

On February 16, 2000, Duggan found the WCW World Television Title in a garbage can
and the organization recognized him as the new champion.  He defended the title and
began to give the belt back it the prestige it once had.  In Denver on April 10th, World
Championship Wrestling was changed forever when Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff
declared all of the championships in the promotion vacant.  Duggan gave up his TV Title
and the belt was never reactivated.  He returned to WCW Television on June 26th in Des
Moines and gave an emotional speech.  He said he wanted to wrestle Goldberg, a man
who had turned his back on the fans.  Ernest Miller, who was booking the show,
scheduled the match.

Later in the show, footage of his wife asking him not to wrestle the former WCW World
Champion was shown, but Duggan went to the ring anyway.  Miller banned his 2x4 prior to
the match, making sure it would not be involved in the finish.  Goldberg landed his spear
and then his finisher.  Duggan was pinned.  The match was over, but the fight was not.  
Everyone was reminded about Duggan’s battle with cancer and his health problems many
times throughout the show, and when it came down to Goldberg continuously pounding
him in the kidneys, fans and wrestlers were outraged.  Duggan began bleeding from the
mouth as numerous officials ran to his immediate aid.  He was carried from the ring and
transported to a local hospital.  Goldberg’s actions proved to make him the biggest
monster in the organization and Duggan was once again given the sympathetic card.  His
fans awaited his return once again.

In Charlotte, North Carolina on September 11, 2000, Duggan went to the ring during a
live edition of Monday Nitro.  He mentioned that for two years he battled the toughest
battle of his life and that he was able to beat it and return to the squared circle.  He went
on to announce that he was going to step aside from professional wrestling and give the
American Flag he had carried around for so long to a younger athlete on the horizon.  
Duggan said the man was General Rection, leader of MIA.  Rection walked out and was
handed the Red, White and Blue of Old Glory.

Team Canada Leader, Lance Storm walked out and halted the ceremony.  He proceeded
to attack Rection from behind.  Duggan performed commentary as Storm wrestled
Rection in a warm-up match for their title encounter at Fall Brawl.  The famous 2x4 was
used on Storm by Duggan and Rection scored the winning pin.  On September 17th in
Buffalo at Fall Brawl, Duggan posted himself ringside to prevent any Team Canada
interference in the U.S./ Canadian Title Match.  He shocked the world by turning on
Rection, using his famed wooden tool to hit him and allowing Storm to win.  Duggan had
turned on it’s fans and adopted loyalty for Canada.  For the first time in more than 13
years, he was hated.  At that point, Team Canada consisted of Storm, Duggan, Elix
Skipper and Carl Oulette.  The self-imposed retirement was over.

Duggan teamed with Skipper on September 27th on Thunder against Mark Jindrak and
Sean O’Haire, the WCW World Tag Team Champions.  Between September and
December, he waved the Canadian Flag and went against everything he had built.  On
December 18, 2000, during a television taping for Thunder in Richmond, Duggan
returned to being what he was good at, making the fans happy.  After returning to the
backstage area and preparing to leave the arena, Duggan was stopped by “That ‘70’s
Guy” Mike Awesome.  Awesome told him to stick around rather than bail out and
“Hacksaw” agreed.  He also later met face-to-face with the man he passed the symbolic
torch to, General Rection, who was the reigning U.S. Champion.  Duggan and Rection
decided to put their anger for each other behind them and move forth.  Later in the night,
Duggan was attacked by Storm and Skipper only to be saved by Awesome.  Awesome
proceeded to join Team Canada in their attack on Duggan, revealing a Maple Leaf under
his shirt.

WCW was sold to the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001.  Duggan was not apart
of WCW when it was relaunched on WWF Television during the summer.  He did make
numerous independent dates throughout the year.

TITLE HISTORY:

-Co-holder of the NWA Mid-South Tag Team Title (1983) w/ Terry Allen
-Mid-South North American Heavyweight Title (1986) defeated Buzz Sawyer
-Co-holder of the UWF World Tag Team Title (1986-’87) w/ Terry Taylor
-WWF Crown (1989) defeated Haku
-WCW United States Heavyweight Title (1994) defeated Steve Austin
-WCW World Television Title (2000-’01) found belt in garbage

PAY PER VIEW RECORD:

-WWF Survivor Series ‘87            Ten Man Tag Team Match                        Won
-WWF WrestleMania IV                vs. Ted DiBiase                                        Lost
-WWF Survivor Series ’88            Ten Man Tag Team Match                        Lost
-WWF Royal Rumble ’89              Six-Man Tag Team Match                        Won
-WWF WrestleMania V                 vs. Bad News Brown                                Double DQ
-WWF SummerSlam ’89               Six-Man Tag Team Match                        Won
-WWF Survivor Series ’89             Eight-Man Tag Team Match                     Lost
-WWF Royal Rumble ’90               vs. Big Bossman                                      Won by DQ
-WWF WrestleMania VI                 vs. Dino Bravo                                        Won
-WWF SummerSlam ’90                Tag Match w/ Nikolai Volkoff                  Won
-WWF Survivor Series ’90             Eight-Man Tag Team Match                     Won
-WWF Royal Rumble ’91               30-Man, Over-the-Top Rope Rumble         Eliminated
-WWF Survivor Series ’91              Eight-Man Tag Team Match                     Won
-WWF Royal Rumble ’92                30-Man, Over-the-Top Rope Rumble         Eliminated
-WWF WrestleMania VIII               Eight-Man Tag Team Match                      Won
-WWF SummerSlam ’92                Six-Man Tag Team Match                        Won
-WWF King of the Ring ’93            vs. Bam Bam Bigelow                              Lost
-WCW Fall Brawl ’94                      vs. Steve Austin                                    Won
-WCW Halloween Havoc ’94            vs. Steve Austin                                   Won by DQ
-WCW SuperBrawl V                      vs. Bunkhouse Buck                              Won
-WCW Uncensored ’95                   vs. Meng                                              Lost
-WCW Great American Bash ’95      vs. Sgt. Craig Pittman                            Won by DQ
-WCW Bash at the Beach ’95           vs. Kamala                                            Lost
-WCW World War III (1995)           Three-Ring, 60-Man Battle Royal             Eliminated
-WCW World War III (1995)           vs. Bubba Rogers                                   Lost
-WCW Slamboree ’96                      Lethal Lottery Tag Team Tournament      Lost
-WCW Bash at the Beach ’96            vs. Dallas Page                                      Lost
-WCW World War III (1996)           Three-Ring, 60-Man Battle Royal              Eliminated
-WCW World War III (1997)           Three-Ring, 60-Man Battle Royal              Eliminated
-WCW Fall Brawl ’99                      vs. Berlyn                                               Lost
-WCW Halloween Havoc ’00            Handicap Match                                      Lost


Research by Tim Hornbaker
Jim Duggan Wrestling History
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