From pwtorch.com


Hacksaw" Jim Duggan says he believes he would have risen to World Title level had it not been for a routine traffic stop in 1987 that led to him and his passenger, The Iron Sheik, being arrested when marijuana and cocaine was discovered. Duggan volunteered to the officer there was some marijuana in the car, but he didn't know Sheik had cocaine.

Both Duggan and Sheik were fired, an incident Duggan talks about at length in his new autobiography that came out this month.

In an exclusive interview with PWTorch.com's Wade Keller on the PWTorch Livecast last Friday (subscribe in iTunes by clicking here), he expanded on what he wrote about in his book regarding how the arrest diminished the heights he'd reach in the WWF.

"I don't think I ever regained the momentum I would have had before the arrest with the Iron Sheik," he said. "I think I was on the fast track [before the arrest]. I think I would have been World Champion, Intercontinental, or Tag Team Champion. I never regained the momentum. I think a lot of guys it would have totally crushed their career, but I was lucky enough to survive it and actually thrive after the arrest."

One of the issues that complicated the matter was that he was feuding with Iron Sheik at the time, and back in the late-'80s the mainstream media seized the chance to mock pro wrestling because two wrestlers in a bitter on-air feud were caught driving together. Of course today, WWE cares so little about that type of thing, they have Alberto Del Rio and Mark Henry on Raw giving anti-bullying speeches and coming across as heroes to kids. Vince McMahon cared back then, and fired Duggan and Sheik on the spot because of the embarrassing publicity the arrest created.

"For a while I didn't think I would be given an opportunity to come back to WWE," Duggan told Keller. "My good friend Jake Roberts called me I was screwed and would never be brought back. So I thought that was going to be the end of my career with Vince. But I made the call to Dusty [Rhodes] after Jake called me. I made plans to go down and see Dusty Rhodes in Atlanta. Before I made that move, Bruce Prichard called me from the office and told me to keep my head down and they were going to bring me back. They brought me back, but never gave me the huge push."

Duggan also talked about the big controversy in WCW between him and Steve Austin, and whether he or Austin still hold a grudge today over the incident that contributed greatly to Eric Bischoff firing Austin from WCW. Austin was asked to drop the U.S. Title to Hacksaw Duggan. Duggan says Austin was upset and faked a knee injury and cut the match short in order to express his disagreement with the bookers.

"The deal with Austin, yeah, we had a little heat over that," he saide. "The match was supposed to go 12, 15 minutes. Austin wasn't happy about doing the job so he went down with a bogus knee injury and it kind of took away from me and everything... He said, 'I blew my knee out, I blew my knee out. Cover me, cover me.' I did the cover and got the 1-2-3. That's, as I point out in the book, there was a change in wrestlers' attitude then. It wasn't about passing the torch and what can you do for the company, it was more of a me type of time where you wanted to make sure what you did didn't hurt your chances of going somewhere else rather than the old school deal where, 'Hey, I'm passing the torch to someone else.'"
(except the fact that Duggan was so much older than Austin at the time.)



He said part of the issue was the politics behind the scenes. At the time in WCW, Austin was perceived to be part of a fading political power-base led by Ric Flair, and Duggan being booked to beat Austin was part of Hulk Hogan exerting his power and helping his friends, such as Duggan.

"Yeah, there was definitely two camps at WCW," he said. "There was the Hulk Hogan camp that I was proud to be part of, and of course the Ric Flair. Me, the Hulkster, Jimmy Hart, Beefcake, we all made the moves to WCW. The guys down there, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, [Johnny B. Badd and Sable], and 'Stunning' Steve Austin, they all made the move to New York. That shows what a master Vince [McMahon] is by repackaging those guys. After two or three years he regained the momentum over WCW."

He says the two are cordial today, though. "I wouldn't say we befriended each other. We're run across each other a few times and they were always congenial. At this stage there's no heat I have with hardly anybody. Those of us who have survived this business and thrived in it, so we let bygones be bygones. I hold no hard feelings toward him and I don't think he has any toward me, to tell you the truth... I joke about it now-a-days. I say I beat 'Stunning' Steve so bad he had to shave his head and change his name. I should be getting a kickback. He'd still be Stunning Steve if I didn't get him

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I blame Wade Keller.

Who gives a shit what Hacksaw Jim Duggan thinks about anything?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

I thought the arrest happened when Duggan was still in Mid-South. Didn't know he was in the WWF at that point. But I doubt there was any real plan to push him to any title, especially the WWF Title. Hogan had that top spot locked down.

And also, Bischoff bringing Hogan and the Rock 'N Wrestling retreads into WCW in '94 was the best thing he could've done for Vince, although it would take 3 1/2 years for it to manifest. So if I were Duggan, I wouldn't exactly be bragging about being in the Hogan camp. The Hogan camp is what rotted WCW from the inside out.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

Duggan was a second tier star in the WWF at the time. Very popular with the fans. he'd go "hoooo" and the fans would go "hooo" back. I know this b/c I was about 13 years old and hadn't gone through puberty yet.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Yeah I could just Vince saying that he would have Hogan drop the strap to King Kong Bundy so Hacksaw Jim Duggan could main event WM 4(ish). There were about 20 guys that I would have said that could have gotten the belt before Jim fucking Duggan. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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If you really think about it, this may be the least creative gimmick ever. It was entirely built around what he was carrying and even that wasn't creative as it was just a piece of wood.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

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It's even less creative considering he stole it from the original Walking Tall movie.

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And yet I recall his act being made into a "20/20"-like show's segment. I think the thing was filmed in GA and/or Mid South.

The problem with Duggan is, he's limited in what he can do. Both as a talker and a worker. Kinda hard to write for that. THEN you find out about the bust. IMO, the highest he could have possibly been pushed is the intercontinental belt. The heavyweight belt should be for those who can tell stories..

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

oh you guys.... comeon. is this picture not like, symbolically, the most apropos picture EVER in terms of the meaning of life? find me one that does better than this:

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