James Edward Duggan Jr. (born January 14, 1954), better known by his ring name "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, is an American retired professional wrestler currently signed with the WWE under a Legends contract. He is best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE), where he won the first Royal Rumble match in 1988. In 2011 he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.
In World Championship Wrestling (WCW), he was a United States Heavyweight Champion and the final World Television Champion. In 2004, he won and promptly vacated the IWA World Heavyweight Championship in Tokyo, making him a one time wrestling world champion.
Contents
Early life and career
James Edward Duggan Jr. was born on January 14, 1954, in Glens Falls, New York, to James Edward Duggan Sr., a police officer and Celia Meadows Duggan. He grew up alongside his three older sisters.
Duggan was a letterman in football, track, wrestling, and basketball. In wrestling, Duggan went undefeated his junior and senior year winning a section 2 championship both years, and during his senior season he won the New York State High School wrestling championship, unlimited weight class division – the first wrestler from Glens Falls to do so. He graduated from Glens Falls High School.
Upon graduating from high school, he was recruited by Ohio State University, but would instead choose to play football at Southern Methodist University (SMU), where he was eventually voted team captain. Duggan earned his bachelor's degree in applied plant biology. After college, Duggan was signed by the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League, but was released after being plagued by knee injuries.
Professional wrestling career
Early career (1979–1982)
Duggan broke into professional wrestling thanks in large part to wrestler Fritz Von Erich. The two met while Duggan was on a recruiting trip to SMU. Duggan's first professional match was in 1979 against Gino Hernandez. Duggan began his career as a villain. Training at the Sportatorium in Dallas, Texas as well as with Samoan wrestling promoter Peter Maivia, Duggan gained the attention of Vince McMahon, Sr. and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
After a brief stint with the WWF, Duggan began to work regularly for Georgia Championship Wrestling. During this time, Duggan was known by two in-ring aliases: in the Contiguous United States as "Big" Jim Duggan and in Hawaii as The Convict, a masked wrestler. After wrestling for a Birmingham, Alabama-based promotion, Duggan began wrestling in Southwest Championship Wrestling based in San Antonio, Texas where he adopted his well-known "Hacksaw" nickname.
Mid-South Wrestling / Universal Wrestling Federation (1982–1986)
In 1982, Duggan made his debut in Mid-South Wrestling. Upon debuting as a heel, and bounty hunter for Skandor Akbar, Duggan soon became a member of the Rat Pack faction, alongside Ted DiBiase, Matt Borne, and Mr. Olympia. After newcomer "Hacksaw" Butch Reed debuted within the promotion, Duggan and Reed had a personal feud for a time over who would be the true "Hacksaw". The Rats also feuded with stars such as Reed, Magnum T. A. and the Junkyard Dog. During this time, Duggan interfered in a DiBiase/JYD match while wearing a gorilla suit during the Louisiana State Fair, causing JYD to lose a "Loser Leaves Town" match in Shreveport, Louisiana. After DiBiase aligned himself with Skandor Akbar, Duggan refused to go along with him and became a face for the first time in his career. At this time, Duggan began carrying his iconic 2x4.
As a fan favorite, he won the Mid-South Tag Team Championship with Magnum T. A. and later won the North American Heavyweight Championship. After the Mid-South North American title was retired when Mid-South became the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) in 1986, Duggan lost to Terry Gordy in a tournament final to determine the first UWF World Heavyweight Champion. Duggan then teamed up with Terry Taylor and won 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 UWF for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1981, 1986)
In August 1981, while still wrestling in Georgia, Duggan toured throughout Japan under New Japan Pro-Wrestling, during their Bloody Fight Series tour, facing Antonio Inoki in the first day of August 21, in a losing effort. Duggan would defeat low-card wrestlers such as Haruka Eigen, Kengo Kimura, Ryūma Gō and Kantaro Hoshino, while losing to main eventers such as Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Seiji Sakaguchi, Strong Kobayashi and Tiger Toguchi. At one point, he teamed up with Bad News Allen to face the teams of Eigen and Gō, in a winning effort, and Choshu and Sakaguchi, in a losing effort.
In January 1986, while he was now working under Bill Watts' Universal Wrestling Federation, Duggan would once again venture overseas to New Japan, now wrestling in their New Year Dash tour, coincidentally facing Inoki once again in the first day of their tour on January 3, this time ending in a double count-out. Duggan, a now more established wrestler, was receiving a lot of good results during the tour, clashing with main eventers such as Fujinami, Sakaguchi, Kimura and Choshu to draws, and dominating young lions such as Tatsutoshi Goto and Yang-Seung Hi. He also wrestled tag-team action during the series, teaming with the likes of Tony St. Clair, Johnny Mantell, Black Tiger, Mike Miller and the twin-team of Madd Maxx (1 & 2), with the majority of them ending in the losing end for Duggan's team. Duggan would tour one last time overseas in September of the same year, wrestling on New Japan's Challenge Spirit tour, resuming his encounters against Inoki, Fujinami, Kimura and Sakaguchi, as well as facing Umanosuke Ueda and George Takano in tag-team matches, teaming once again with Madd Maxx, Jerry Gray and The Angel Of Death. His last match came against Seiji Sakaguchi in a double count-out.
World Wrestling Federation (1987–1993)
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. In the weeks preceding WrestleMania, Duggan began his first WWF feud with Nikolai Volkoff. At the event, he ran to ringside prior to a match between The Killer Bees and The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff and interrupted Volkoff's pre-match singing of the Russian national anthem. Duggan had previously done this on TV matches leading up to the event.
On May 26, 1987, Duggan and the Iron Sheik were arrested for DUI in New Jersey. Duggan was released from the company, but was ultimately brought back in a lower spot on the roster. Although he did not win any major titles in the promotion, for seven years he was a consistent fan favorite with his patriotic working class everyman gimmick. His character was mainly comical, as he rarely was in major contention for titles. His first major WWF match was at the first-ever Survivor Series pay-per-view in 1987, when he participated in the first Survivor Series match and was a member of the winning team.
By the late fall of 1987, Duggan received his first major push since his return, being placed in a feud opposite "King" Harley Race, who was using a "monarch" gimmick; sneering at wrestlers he thought were below him. During a televised confrontation, Duggan took Race's crown and cape, though Race would later get them back. At the 1987 Slammy Awards, where Duggan presented the nominees for "Best Ring Apparel", an on-stage shoving match between him and the winner (Race), sparked a brawl, going backstage and eventually reaching back to the main stage before interrupting another award presentation. Gorilla Monsoon stepped in to separate the two. Duggan eventually defeated Race several times in both televised and non-televised shows.
Duggan participated in the first-ever Royal Rumble match in 1988, where he was the 13th of twenty entrants. He won the match after he last eliminated the One Man Gang.
At WrestleMania IV, he participated in a 14-man tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship, where he lost to Ted DiBiase in the first round after interference from André the Giant. Shortly after WrestleMania IV, Duggan—upset that André cost him his match—came to the ring during one of André's matches and challenged him; a feud erupted when André suddenly grabbed Duggan and began throttling him, before Duggan knocked André out with his 2x4 board. André generally came out the winner in their matches, usually by interference from André's manager Bobby Heenan. André also interfered in several of Duggan's matches against other wrestlers, including Hercules on the April 30 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event.
World Championship Wrestling (1994–2001)
Duggan signed a contract with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in late 1994. He debuted in WCW at Fall Brawl, where he defeated Steve Austin in a squash match lasting thirty-five seconds to win the United States Heavyweight Championship. After becoming champion, he quickly started a feud with Austin, and eventually defeated him in a title rematch at Halloween Havoc by disqualification. The two had a second title rematch on the November 16 edition of Clash of the Champions, where Duggan retained the title again by disqualification. Duggan's reign ended at Starrcade '94: Triple Threat, where he was defeated by Vader.
After he lost the U.S. title to Vader, Duggan moved to the mid-card division and began wrestling on Saturday Night. He defeated Bunkhouse Buck at SuperBrawl V. He faced former WWF rival Meng (known as Haku in WWF) in a martial arts match at Uncensored, which Meng won. At The Great American Bash, he defeated Sgt. Craig Pittman by disqualification in Pittman's pay-per-view debut. At Bash at the Beach, Duggan lost to Kamala.
In late 1995, Duggan started a feud with Big Bubba Rogers, which culminated in a Taped Fist match at World War 3, which Rogers won. Duggan participated in the first-ever three ring, 60 man battle royal for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship, but was eliminated. He fought Loch Ness to a double disqualification at a Main Event taping before SuperBrawl VI. Duggan then started a short feud with Diamond Dallas Page, to whom he lost in a Taped Fist match at Bash at the Beach. At World War 3, he unsuccessfully participated in a three ring 60 man battle royal to determine the #1 contender to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Duggan had no major pay-per-view matches for over two years before he disappeared in 1998 after he was diagnosed with kidney cancer.
After being cured of his cancer, Duggan returned to wrestling and replaced Buff Bagwell in a match against Berlyn at Fall Brawl, which Duggan lost. Soon after, Duggan became involved in a storyline where he became a janitor for WCW. Duggan then started a feud with the anti-American stable the Revolution (Shane Douglas, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, and Asya). At Starrcade, he and his surprise partners, the newly reunited Varsity Club (Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda, and Rick Steiner), faced the Revolution in a losing effort after the Club turned on Duggan. As a result of losing, the next night on Nitro, Duggan was forced to denounce the U.S. flag but he refused to do so. In response, the Revolution attacked him and began beating him until The Filthy Animals, who were also feuding with the Revolution, saved Duggan.
Independent circuit (2001–2005)
After WCW was purchased by the WWF in March 2001, Duggan began wrestling in the independent circuit. On December 5, 2002, Duggan defeated Krusher Kong at LWE Xplosion. On January 17, 2003, Duggan defeated Jim Neidhart for Border City Wrestling in Ottawa, Ontario.
On January 29, 2005, he defeated Kamala at WrestleReunion.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003)
On the March 12, 2003 pay-per-view of NWA Total Nonstop Action (TNA), Duggan made a surprise appearance and defeated fellow WCW alum Mike Sanders. on the March 19 NWA-TNA, Duggan and Moondog Spot defeated Mike Sanders and Disco Inferno. Duggan made his final appearance in TNA on October 29, where he lost to Jeff Jarrett.
Return to WWE (2005–2009)
Duggan returned to the now renamed World Wrestling Entertainment on the October 3, 2005 edition of Raw, dubbed "The Homecoming" along with several other WWF/E alumni after a 12-year absence with the company. He and the other legends attacked Rob Conway after Conway came to the ring and insulted them. He was also one of the "legends" available for fans to select to team with Eugene in a match at Taboo Tuesday to face the team of Conway and Tyson Tomko (Jimmy Snuka was chosen instead of Duggan). He returned to WWE again after Royal Rumble, with a message from John Cena to Lita after Edge lost the WWE Championship: "HOOOOO!" Duggan and Edge began a short feud with each other which culminated in a match that occurred two weeks later on Raw, which Edge won after Lita provided a distraction.
After feuding with Edge and Lita, he became mentor and tutor to Eugene and the two feuded with The Spirit Squad. He began working on Heat, but also made a few appearances on Raw with Eugene and The Highlanders. On the November 6 edition of Raw, Duggan and Eugene faced the Spirit Squad in a match with the stipulation that the losing team would disband and never team up again. After Duggan was caught off guard after the other Spirit Squad members interfered and then pinned for the win, Eugene snapped and attacked Duggan. He started a feud with Eugene, and three weeks later, the two had a match with each other, which Eugene won.
At New Year's Revolution, Duggan teamed with Super Crazy in a tag team turmoil match to determine the number one contenders to the World Tag Team Championship, in a losing effort. On the January 15 edition of Raw, Duggan was dragged out by Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) and was beaten to a pulp. Edge and Orton feared Duggan would help out Shawn Michaels in a handicap match and wanted to set an example for anyone else backstage that wished to do the same. On the March 5 edition of Raw, he faced Chris Masters in a Masterlock Challenge, but was unable to break the hold.
After months of wrestling on Heat, Duggan returned to Raw in July, teaming up with The Sandman and feuding with Carlito and William Regal. The team ended when Duggan soon returned to Heat and Sandman was released. On the August 6 edition of Raw, he played The WWE Dating Game, a parody of The Dating Game, losing when Maria Kanellis chose Ron Simmons.
On December 31, he lost a 2008 Royal Rumble qualifying match to the returning Umaga. After that, he began primarily appearing on Heat once again, defeating locals and teaming with Super Crazy. On the March 17 episode of Raw, he participated in a 17-on-2 handicap elimination tag team match as part of the 17 members of the Raw roster against John Cena and Randy Orton. After Cody Rhodes was eliminated, all the remaining Raw wrestlers attacked Cena and Orton, resulting in their disqualification. Duggan also took part in a 12-on-12 tag team preview match on the March 25 episode of ECW. He competed 24-man battle royal was held just before WrestleMania XXIV aired to determine the #1 contender for an ECW Championship match. The match was eventually won by Kane.
Independent circuit (2009–2019)
He then resumed wrestling on the independent circuit. He recently appeared on Pro Wrestling Ohio's "Wrestlelution 3" where he defeated "The Megastar" Marion Fontaine.
On November 30, 2013, at WrestleCade 2013, Duggan defeated Daivari.
He has signed on with Global Force Wrestling as a "legend" to help promote GFW events and tours. To promote the shows, GFW's Jeff Jarrett and Duggan have appeared at Dell Diamond on Thursday, May 28. January 2016, Duggan appeared in an event for Modern Vintage Wrestling in Wilmington, North Carolina. On July 17, he won the Danny Hodge Trophy Battle Royal at IWR OklaMania 2016.
On May 6, 2017, at AWF Head to the Edge, Duggan defeated Josh Price. Duggan continued to compete in various independent promotions all the way till 2019. His final match took place on May 12, 2019, at Destiny Sunday Night Power Slam in Ontario, Canada, where he was defeated by Gursinder Singh.
Second return to WWE (2011–2012, 2025–present)
On April 2, 2011, Duggan was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by fellow inductee "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase.
Duggan returned to wrestling in WWE with an appearance at the 2012 Royal Rumble and entered the Royal Rumble match as the #19 entrant and was eliminated by Cody Rhodes. On the February 3, 2012 episode of SmackDown, Duggan teamed with Santino Marella in a losing effort against the WWE Tag Team Champions Primo and Epico. On April 10, 2012, Duggan made an appearance on SuperSmackDown LIVE: Blast from the Past, where he lost to Hunico by disqualification. Later that year, he appeared on the July 3 SuperSmackDown LIVE: The Great American Bash event, teaming with Sgt. Slaughter and Santino Marella to face Hunico, Camacho, and Drew McIntyre.
In February 2025, Duggan has revealed he signed a Legends contract with the WWE. He then made an appearance on SmackDown on July 25 during the tribute to Hulk Hogan.
Other media
It was announced in February 2012 that Duggan would appear on a WWE original reality show called WWE Legends House. The show premiered on the WWE Network on April 17, 2014.
Duggan worked alongside author Scott E. Williams to release his autobiography Hacksaw: The Jim Duggan Story in 2012. The book goes over both his wrestling career and personal life.
Duggan appears as himself in the film Pro Wrestlers vs Zombies, in which he battles the undead with his 2x4.
In 1991, Duggan appeared in the Harry and the Henderson's TV series' 16th episode.
In 1999, Duggan was a guest panelist for two episodes of the Nickelodeon children's game show Figure It Out.
Duggan appears in the sixth episode of the second season of GamesMaster in the UK, where he played WWF on the Super Nintendo against a boy he picked from the crowd, Hacksaw played as "Macho Man" Randy Savage and was beaten.
Duggan also appeared in the season five finale of Duck Dynasty.
Duggan and former WWF announcer Sean Mooney ran a weekly podcast on the MLW Radio Network called "Primetime with Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Sean Mooney". Duggan left the podcast after 18 episodes and Mooney is now hosting by himself.
In 2017, Duggan released the first issue of a biographical comic book miniseries through Squared Circle Comics, titled Hacksaw Jim Duggan. He also appeared in the Green Jellÿ single, Fr3tö F33t.
In 2022, rapper Estee Nack released the album Nacksaw Jim Duggan on the label Griselda Records, whose name, track titles and album cover are all inspired by Duggan. Track 1 "NACKMANCOLETRANE" features a snippet of Tucker Carlson reporting on Duggan defending his house from a home invader. Track 4 "ANGELDIOR" features vocals from Duggan himself.
Personal life
Duggan and his wife Debra have two daughters, Celia and Rebecca. He is a close friend of Willie Robertson, who is president and CEO of Duck Commander.
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. Given the closely-guarded nature of kayfabe at the time, 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 intensive care unit for a heart procedure to treat atrial fibrillation. In 2019, he had a pair of heart surgeries to fight infection. On October 20, 2021, 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, he announced in a Facebook video that his cancer treatment continued, he would need hormone shots and radiation treatment for the next eight weeks, five days a week, and that doctors were optimistic about catching it early.
In December 2022, Duggan said he detained a home invader at gunpoint at his house in Kershaw County, South Carolina.
Championships and accomplishments
Amateur wrestling
New York State Public High School Athletic Association
Section 2 champion (1972, 1973) out of Glens Falls High School.
New York unlimited weight division state champion out of Glens Falls High School (1973)
CNY Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2015
Pro Wrestling
Heroes And Legends Wrestling
HLW Midwestern Championship (1 time)
Imperial Wrestling Revolution
Danny Hodge Trophy (2016)
International Wrestling Association of Japan
IWA World Heavyweight Championship
International Wrestling Cartel
IWC Tag Team Championship (1 time) –with Scottie Gash
Pro Wrestling Alabama
PWA Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) –with Nigel Sherrod
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
PWI ranked him #66 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1993
PWI ranked him #157 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003
Pro Wrestling This Week
Wrestler of the Week (March 22–28, 1987)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Class of 2018
River City Wrestling
RCW Legends Championship (1 time)
Texas All-Star Wrestling
TASW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)