Jim Duggan

At 70 years old, Jim Duggan has this physical status:

James Edward Duggan Jr. (born January 14, 1954), better known by his ring name "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, is an American professional wrestler.

He is signed to WWE on a Legends contract.

His best-known character is that of an American patriot, which sees him use a 2x4 length of wood as a weapon, the battle cry "Hooo!" and the U-S-A! cheer. In the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now known as WWE), Duggan was the winner of the first ever Royal Rumble match in 1988 and in World Championship Wrestling (WCW), he was a one time United States Heavyweight Champion and a one time (and the final) World Television Champion.

Personal life

Duggan and his wife Debra have two daughters, Celia and Rebecca. He is a close friend of Willie Robertson who owns the Duck Commanders.

In 1987, Duggan and The Iron Sheik (Khosrow Vaziri) were pulled over by New Jersey State Police before a WWF event, suspecting Duggan of driving under the influence. After a search of the vehicle and the persons, police discovered that Duggan was under the influence of marijuana and alcohol, while Vaziri was high on cocaine. Small amounts of cocaine were also found in the vehicle. Duggan received a conditional release while Vaziri was placed on probation for a year. The scandal that erupted after two in-ring enemies were found drinking and doing drugs together led to the end of the angle, the Sheik's release, and Duggan's temporary departure from WWF. Duggan soon returned to wrestling.

In November 2013, Duggan started an IndieGoGo campaign to cover the cost repairing his torn rotator cuff. Funding closed December 2013 and raised $10,396; well over the goal of $6,500.

In 2018, Duggan was admitted into the ICU and underwent a heart procedure for atrial fibrillation. In 2019, Duggan had a pair of heart surgeries for what was described as a serious infection. On October 20, 2021, he was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery. The nature of the surgery is unknown however his wife posted on Facebook “Back where we don't want to be. Please pray for Jim and his doctors as he has emergency surgery this morning. Thank you, Debra.” On October 28, 2021, Duggan announced via Instagram a week later that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and had been living with it for a couple of months. This led to another surgery on October 29, 2021. "Jim's surgery went as planned. He is resting comfortably now. Thank you for your prayers, good vibes and well wishes. Please continue them as he continues to heal" his wife said. On December 8, 2021, Duggan announced in a video uploaded to his Twitter account that he was cancer-free. On May 15, 2022, Duggan posted a video on his Facebook page to announce that his cancer treatment was not over and he would need hormone shots and radiation treatment for the next 8 weeks, 5 days a week. Duggan said the doctors are very optimistic that they caught it early.

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Early life and career

Duggan grew up in Glens Falls, New York, where he rose to fame in high school. Duggan is of English and Scottish descent. He was born a Presbyterian. His father served as the Chief of Police for the City of Glens Falls. Duggan was a letterman in football, track, wrestling, and basketball. Duggan was the first wrestler from Glens Falls to win the New York State High School wrestling championship in the unlimited weight class division.

After graduating from high school, he was recruited by Ohio State University but decided instead to play football at Southern Methodist University (SMU), where he was eventually voted team captain. Duggan obtained his bachelor's degree in applied plant biology. Duggan was signed by the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League in college, but he was suspended after being plagued by knee pains.

Professional wrestling career

Due in large part to wrestler Fritz Von Erich, Duggan entered professional wrestling. While Duggan was on a recruiting trip to SMU, the two met. In 1979 against Gino Hernandez, Duggan's first competitive match was played. Duggan began his career as a criminal. Duggan, who competed in Samoan wrestling promoter Peter Maivia, attracted Vince McMahon, Sr. and the World Wrestling Federation's attention (WWF).

Duggan began working for Georgia Championship Wrestling after a brief stint with the WWF. During this period, Duggan was known by two in-ring aliases: in the United States as "Big" Jim Duggan and in Hawaii as The Convict, a masked wrestler. Duggan began wrestling in a San Antonio, Texas promotion where he adopted his well-known "Hacksaw" nickname after wrestling for a Birmingham, Alabama-based promotion.

Duggan made his Mid-South Wrestling debut in 1982. Duggan, who made his debut as a heel and bounty hunter for Skandor Akbar, became a member of the Rat Pack crew, alongside Ted DiBiase, Matt Bourne, and Mr. Olympia. Duggan and Reed feud for a time over who would be the true "Hacksaw" after newcomer "Hacksaw" Butch Reed debuts within the organization, but the two groups have fought over who will be the real "Hacksaw" after. Reed, Magnum T. A., and the Junkyard Dog were among the Rats' rivalry. During this period, Duggan interfered in a DiBiase/JYD match while wearing a gorilla jacket during the Louisiana State Fair, causing JYD to miss a "Loser Leaves Town" match in Shreveport, Louisiana. Duggan refused to go along with him and became a celebrity for the first time in his career after DiBiase aligned himself with Skandor Akbar. Duggan began carrying his legendary 2x4 at this moment.

Magnum T. A.'s brother, who was a fan favorite, won the Mid-South Tag Team Championship and then won the North American Heavyweight Championship later. In 1986, Mid-South's North American championship was retired when Mid-South joined the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), and Duggan lost to Terry Gordy in a tournament final to determine the first UWF World Heavyweight Champion. For the second time, Duggan teamed up with Terry Taylor and captured the UWF World Tag Team Championship for the second time. After losing a Loser Leaves Town match to the One Man Gang, Duggan left the United World Wrestling Federation (WWF).

Duggan traveled through Japan under New Japan Pro-Wrestling's banner in August 1981, defeating Antonio Inoki on the first day of August 21, in a losing effort. Duggan would defeat low-card wrestlers such as Haruka Eigen, Kengo Kimura, Ryma G, and Kantaro Hoshino, while losing to main eventers like Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Seiji Sakashi, and Tiger Toyo. At one time, he partnered with Bad News Allen to face Eigen and G's teams in a winning bid, as well as Choshu and Sakachi, who lost in a losing fight.

Duggan's first voyage to New Japan in January 1986, when he was still working under Bill Watts' Universal Wrestling Federation, will meet Inoki once more in the first day of their tour, this time ending in a double count-out. Duggan, a now-established wrestler, was getting a lot of success on the tour, including clashing with top eventers such as Fujinami, Sakaho, Kimura and Choshu, and Choshu to draws, as well as young lions such as Tatsutoshi Goto and Yang-Seung Hi. During the series, he participated in tag team battles, teaming with Tony St. Clair, Johnny Mantell, Black Tiger, Mike Miller, and Madd Maxx's twin-team (1 & 2), with the majority of them ending in the losing side for Duggan's team. In September of the same year, Duggan will be in Japan for the final time, reliving his encounters with Inoki, Fujinami, Kimura, and Sakagano, as well as faceing Umanosuke Ueda and George Takano in tag-team matches, teaming with Madd Maxx, Jerry Gray, and The Angel Of Death together. In a double count-out, he lost his last match against Seiji Sakaguchi.

Duggan was signed to the WWF in January 1987, making his first major appearance with the WWF at WrestleMania III, where he also made his pay-per-view debut. Duggan began his first WWF feud with Nikolai Volkoff in the weeks leading up to WrestleMania. He arrived at ringside ahead of a match between The Killer Bees and Nikolai Volkoff, as well as interrupting Volkoff's pre-match singing of the Russian national anthem. Duggan had previously performed this on TV matches leading up to the event.

In New Jersey, Duggan and the Iron Sheik were arrested for DUI on May 26, 1987. Duggan was on the verge of being fired from the company but was eventually placed in a lower position on roster. Despite the fact that he did not win any major titles in the series, for seven years, he was a fan favorite of his patriotic working class everyman gimmick. His appearance was mainly comedic because he was rarely in major leagues for titles. In 1987, he attended the first major WWF match as a member of the winning team and was a participant in the first Survivor Series pay-per-view.

Duggan's first big push since his return was in the form of a feud against "King" Harley Racing, who was using a monarch gimmick that sneered wrestlers who were believed to be below him in the late fall of 1987. In response to Race's begged to bow, Duggan vowed to never give up on his race's demands to bow to him, and he took Race's crown and cape from him during a live broadcasting contest, but Race will recover them later. Duggan's "Best Ring Apparel," an on-stage shoving match between him and the winner (Race), causing a wild brawl between the two performers, devolving to the main stage before ending the contest with Gorilla Monsoon stepping in to separate the two. In both televised and non-televised programs, Duggan eventually defeated Race several times.

In 1988, Duggan was the 13th of twenty entrants to compete in the first-ever Royal Rumble match. Since being banned from the One Man Bandits last time, he won the game.

He competed in a 14-man tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship, where he lost to Ted DiBiase in the first round due to André the Giant's interference. André duggan, who had upset that André cost him his match, appeared to the ring and thrashed him shortly after WrestleMania IV, Duggan, was knocked out with his 2x4 board, and Duggan was knocked out of the match shortly after. André was generally the champion in their matches, owing to André's manager Bobby Heenan's interference. André also interfered in a number of Duggan's matches against other wrestlers, including Hercules, on Saturday Night's Main Event.

In July 1988, Duggan had a shot at The Honky Tonk Man, but Honky Tonk won the competition, but Honky Tonk Man was disqualified, thus maintaining the title.

In the fall of 1988, Duggan began to fight with several foreign criminals. When Jake "The Snake" Roberts' team defeated André the Giant's at the 1988 Survivor Series, he became involved in a feud with Dino Bravo, and the two teams were on opposing sides. On Bravo, Duggan was disqualified after using his 2x4 on Bravo. The Duggan team eventually lost the match due to their inability. Boris Zhukov, who was defeated in a flag match on Saturday Night's Main Event, was his next rivalry. In a two out of three falls fight, he revived his feud with Dino Bravo, and the 1989 Royal Rumble, Duggan, and The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) defeated Bravo and The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (Jacques and Raymond). He was involved in a rivalry with Bad News Brown that culminated in a match between the two guys at WrestleMania V, where both men fought to a no contest.

In mid-1989, he began a feud with King Haku, who was awarded the crown on the 1988 version of Superstars, when Harley Race was forced to cancel the crown due to injury in a match against Hulk Hogan on Saturday Night's Main Event. On the 1989 version of Superstars, Duggan defeated Haku to win the crown and earn the title of "King of the WWF." Duggan was given a chance against "Ravishing" Rick Rude in the Intercontinental Championship on Saturday Night's Main Event on May 27. Duggan won the match by countout, and Rude retained the name as a title cannot be changed hands by countout or disqualification. In a six-man tag team match with Demolition (Ax and Smash), Duggan teamed with Demolition (Ax and Smash) and defeated André the Giant and The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Bossman).

Randy Savage, who began calling himself "Macho King," eventually lost his throne and started a feud with Savage. At Survivor Series, he captained a team named "The 4x4's" against Savage's team, "The King's Court." The Duggan team lost the game. On the January 27 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, he met Savage once more. At WrestleMania VI, Duggan defeated Dino Bravo, his ex-rival. Nikolai Volkoff, his ex-boyfriend, and the Orient Express (Tanaka and Sato), whom they defeated at SummerSlam, began fighting him. With WWF World Heavyweight Champion Sgt. He began a short feud. On the February 1 version of The Main Event, there was a murderer and a Slaughter for the title. Slaughter kept his position by being disqualified from the sport.

He patched up things with Sgt. The pair formed a tag team after the murderer, who had turned babyface, and the two children. The two teams competed against Col. Mustafa's team at Survivor Series. The Beverly Brothers were defeated by Duggan and Slaughter on Saturday Night's Main Event (Blake and Beau) on February 8. He and Virgil, Sgt., joined him at WrestleMania VIII. Slaughter and Big Bossman against The Nasty Boys (Jerry Sags and Brian Knobs), The Mountie, and Repo Man. Slaughter retired from competitive wrestling, and Duggan continued to pursue his singles career.

Duggan was moved to undercard status in mid-1992. He was involved in a feud with the then nearly 600-pound Yokozuna, the world's top candidate. America's manager, Mr. Fuji, was bad mouthing America, and Duggan challenged his protégé to a match. Even though Yokozuna had fallen off his feet shortly before the 1993 Royal Rumble match, the match was proclaimed by a tweet. If Duggan knocked Yokozuna off his feet, Duggan would win, according to the stipulations to the match. Duggan beat Yokozuna completely, but then was sidelined by four Banzai Drops, sidelining Duggan for about four months.

Duggan eventually returned to television and launched a feud with then-Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels, who is now fighting for the title on Monday Night Raw's May 3 edition. Michaels stormed the crowd and kept the title by countout. Duggan won on a return match in a lumberjack match that Michaels lost on a disqualification, preventing him from pulling the stunt again. Duggan came to and cleared the ring with his 2-by-4 as Michaels and the lumberjacks fought after the match. Duggan then qualified for the King of the Ring tournament, defeating Papa Shango to qualify before losing to Bam Bam Bigelow in the quarterfinals. He continued to appear on WWF until the summer, when he left the organization after losing several pre-Summerslam matches to Yokozuna.

In late 1994, Duggan signed a World Championship Wrestling (WCW). He made his WCW debut at Fall Brawl, where he defeated Steve Austin in a squash match that lasted thirty-five seconds to win the United States Heavyweight Championship. He sparked a rivalry with Austin and then defeated him in a title rematch at Halloween Havoc by disqualification. On the November 16 edition of Clash of the Champions, the two teams rematched for the second time, with Duggan retaining the title again after disqualification. Duggan's reign came to an end in Starrcade (1994), where he was defeated by Vader.

Duggan moved to the mid-card division after losing the U.S. championship to Vader, and started wrestling on Saturday Night. He defeated Bunkhouse Buck in SuperBrawl V, beating former WWF competitor Meng in WWF's War on Saturday in a martial arts match that Meng won. He defeated Sgt. At The Great American Bash. In Pittman's first pay-per-view debut, Craig Pittman was disqualified for disqualification. Duggan lost to Kamala at the Beach (1995).

In late 1995, Duggan began a rivalry with Big Bubba Rogers, which culminated in a Taped Fist match, which Rogers lost. Duggan was invited to the first-ever three rings, 60 man competition royal for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship, but was disqualified. At a Main Event taping before SuperBrawl VI, he defeated Loch Ness to a double disqualification. Duggan then began a brief feud with Diamond Dallas Page, whom he lost in a Taped Fist match at Bash at the Beach. He failed to qualify as the top contender for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in World War III. Before being diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1998, Duggan had no major pay-per-view matches for more than two years.

Duggan returned to wrestling and replaced Buff Bagwell in a match against Berlyn at Fall Brawl, which Duggan lost. Duggan became a janitor for WCW as a storyline progressed. Duggan sparked a rivalry with the anti-American stable the Revolution (Shane Douglas, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, and Asya). At Starrcade (1999), he and his surprise friends, the newly revived Varsity Club (Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda, and Rick Steiner), lost in a losing bid after the club turned on Duggan. Duggan was forced to denounce the US flag after losing, but he refused to do so. The Revolution struck Duggan and began beating him until the Filthy Animals, who were also fighting for the Revolution, saved him.

He found the World Television Championship in a garbage can that had been kicked away by previous champion Scott Hall earlier and claimed it for himself during this period. He would only defend title defenses on Saturday Night, and he would remain champion until the tournament was deactivated. It was replaced by two new groups in WCW, The Millionaire's Club and the New Blood, which began feuding with one another after WCW was revived and the nWo storyline came to an end. Veteran veterans and the New Blood were mixed with young wrestlers of the 1990s. Duggan joined the Millionaire's Club and aided them in their war against the New Blood.

He became involved in more major storylines, including one that involved him becoming a villain by abandoning the patriotic gimmick for a short time to join Lance Storm and his faction Team Canada at the end of his wrestling career. When Duggan first began working with the Misfits In Action (MIA), he turned on MIA's head, Rection, during Rection's title defense against Team Canada's Lance Storm. Duggan, the special guest enforcer for the match, was on the match and was a huge help to Storm in winning the match. During this period, Duggan shaved his trademark beard, cut his hair short, and performed "O Canada" as an adult. Storm, Duggan, and Storm teamed up against GM in a handicap match for Storm's United States. Title. Duggan failed an attack on Rection, which resulted in Rection pinning Duggan to win the match. Duggan continued to win many of Team Canada's victories by mistake, but Storm defeated The Cat in a Starrcade match. However, after the match, Team Canada turned on Duggan, who later began feuding with Team Canada, and Sin he was the special guest referee in a Penalty Box match between Team Canada and the Filthy Animals. Despite Duggan's appearance as the referee, Team Canada won the match after Storm compelled Kidman to surrender.

After the WWF bought WCW in March 2001, Duggan began wrestling in the independent circuit. At LWE Xplosion, Duggan defeated Krusher Kong on December 5, 2002.

Duggan made a surprise appearance and defeated fellow WCW alum Mike Sanders on the pay-per-view of NWA Total Nonstop Action (TNA), 03-12-24. Mike Sanders and Disco Inferno were defeated by Duggan, Moondog Spot on March 19, 2019 NWATNA, Duggan, and Spot. Duggan made his last appearance in TNA on October 29, where he lost to Jeff Jarvist.

Duggan and several other WWF/E alumni appeared on "The Homecoming" in the October 3, 2005 edition of Raw. After Conway came to the ring and insulted Rob Conway, he and the other legends assaulted him. He was also one of the "legends" on the track to select Eugene's side in a match against Conway and Tyson Tomko on Tuesday (Jimmy Snuka was chosen instead of Duggan). "HOOOOOOOOO!" says the WWE superstar after Royal Rumble with a letter from John Cena to Lita after Edge lost the WWE Championship. Edge and Duggan started a brief feud with each other that culminated in a match on Raw two weeks later, which Edge won after Lita provided a distraction.

He became a mentor and tutor to Eugene and Lita after feuding with Edge and Lita, and the two groups feuded with The Spirit Squad. He began working on Heat, but he made a few appearances on Raw with Eugene and The Highlanders. Raw, Duggan, and Eugene clashed with the Spirit Squad on November 6, which stipulated that the losing team would disband and never match back. Eugene snapped and attacked Duggan, who was caught off guard when the other Spirit Squad members interfered and later pinned for the victory. Eugene began a feud, and Eugene took the two guys for a game against each other three weeks later. Eugene won the match.

In a losing effort, Duggan and Super Crazy joined in a tag team fight to determine the top contenders to the World Tag Team Championship at New Year's Revolution. Duggan was dragged out by Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) on the January 15 edition of Raw and was beaten to a pulp. Edge and Orton were concerned that Duggan would help out Shawn Michaels in a handicap match and wanted to lead by example for anyone else backstage who wanted to do the same. He met Chris Masters in a Masterlock Challenge on March 5 in Raw, but was unable to crack the hold.

Duggan returned to Raw in July after months of wrestling on Heat, teaming up with The Sandman and feuding with Carlito and William Regal. The team was short lived, as Duggan returned to Heat shortly and Sandman was soon released from his WWE contract. Duggan was a contestant in the WWE Dating Game, a parody of The Dating Game on August 6. However, Duggan lost when Maria selected Ron Simmons instead.

He lost a 2008 Royal Rumble qualifying match to the returning Umaga on December 31, 2012. He returned to Heat in the early 1970s, defying locals and working with Super Crazy. On the March 17 episode of Raw, he was involved in a 17-on-2 handicap elimination tag team match against John Cena and Randy Orton. All the remaining Raw wrestlers assaulted Cena and Orton after Cody Rhodes was disqualified, resulting in their disqualification. On the March 25 episode of ECW, Duggan was also involved in a 12-on-12 tag team preview match. He had a 24-man fight royal right before WrestleMania XXIV was broadcast to determine the top candidate for an ECW Championship match. Kane eventually won the match.

After Rhodes and DiBiase tried to convince Duggan to resign and let the young talent take the spotlight, Duggan launched a short feud with Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase in the summer of 2008. Soon after, Duggan would come out and announce that he will take Rhodes and DiBiase's advice and resign, but Jerry Lawler stopped him by requesting that Duggan stay. On the August 25, 2008 version of Raw, Duggan and Lawler wrestled Rhodes and DiBiase but lost the match. Duggan confronted Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix during one of Marella's tirades against his three potential rivals at Cyber Sunday (Roddy Piper, Goldust, and The Honky Tonk Man), on the October 20 edition of Raw. Marella took off his clothes and got ready to battle Duggan, despite being interrupted. However, Marella ordered Phoenix to throw the clothes in Duggan's face before a fight could begin, a threat that briefly distracted Duggan. Marella ended the segment with a bang on Duggan's head. During Kung Fu Naki's in-ring dance segment, Duggan would appear on Raw's 800th episode, which also included several other WWE celebrities.

Duggan appeared in the 2009 Royal Rumble match, ranked at #29 and setting a record for the most years between Royal Rumble appearances. Big Show disqualified him from the competition. Duggan made his final television appearance as Sgt. on the August 10 episode of Raw. Because of the incident in Canada, Slaughter had him come out in replacement of Bret Hart, who said, "The best there is, the highest there is, and the best there ever will be" to mock the Canadian fans.

He then returned to wrestling on the independent circuit. He appeared on Pro Wrestling Ohio's "Wrestlelution 3" where he defeated "The Megastar" Marion Fontaine.

Duggan defeated Daivari on November 30, 2013, 13th anniversary of the WrestleCade. He has joined Global Force Wrestling as a "legend" to help promote GFW events and tours. Jeff Jarrett and Duggan of GFW also attended the Dell Diamond on Thursday, May 28 to promote the show. In Wilmington, North Carolina, Duggan appeared in an event for Modern Vintage Wrestling. Duggan defeated Josh Price at AWF Head to the Edge on May 6, 2017.

Duggan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on April 2, 2011 by fellow inductee Ted DiBiase.

With an appearance at the 2012 Royal Rumble and entered the Royal Rumble match as the #19 entrant and was disqualified by Cody Rhodes, Duggan returned to wrestling in WWE for the fourth time. Duggan teamed with Santino Marella in a losing battle against the WWE Tag Team Champions Primo and Epico on February 3, 2012 episode. Duggan appeared on SuperSmackDown LIVE: Blast from the Past on April 10, 2012, where he lost to Hunico by disqualification. Later this year, he appeared on SuperSmackDown LIVE: The Great American Bash event, Teaming with Sgt. Slaughter and Santino Marella are scheduled to meet Hunico, Camacho, and Drew McIntyre.

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