"HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
"As far as I can tell his character is an unfrozen caveman they tested the Captain America serum on."
James Edward Duggan Jr. (born January 14, 1954), better known as "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan is a Ring Oldie who had his most memorable run in WWE in The '80s, known for his goofy demeanor and his relentless patriotism. He was rarely seen without an American flag in one hand and his trusty 2x4 in the other, and at one point wearing a crown to the ring after defeating King Haku in mid-1989.
While he never won any titles in WWE, he's still known as a major figure in the Rock & Wrestling era, with the distinction of winning the inaugural Royal Rumble. He also spent some time wrestling in WCW in The '90s, where he made his PPV debut at Fall Brawl '94 by beating "Stunning" Steve Austin for the WCW United States Heavyweight Title
in about 30 seconds, after Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat had forfeited the belt to Austin due to a career-ending injury. He made a brief comeback to WWE several years later, and is still frequently seen on the independent circuit.
Nevertheless, he is a former 2x Mid-South/UWF World Tag Team Champion, (1x w//Magnum T.A. and 1x w/Terry Taylor), former and the last-ever Louisiana Heavyweight Champion, former and the last-ever Mid-South North American Heavyweight Champion, a former International Wrestling Cartel (Western Pennsylvania) Tag Team Champion (w/Scotty Gash) and a former IWA Japan World Heavyweight Champion.note
In a rather funny and endearing way, he was also the former and last-ever NWA/WCW World Television Champion, inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2011, and to the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame class of 2018.
He's also a kidney cancer survivor.
"HERE'S SOME THINGS RELATED TO OL' HACKSAW... TROPE GUY!"
- All-American Face/Eagleland: Flavour 1 and THE personification of this trope, possibly even over Hulk Hogan and Sgt. Slaughter.
- Arch-Enemy: His single most hated rival was André the Giant in WWF, Besides of this he had feuds exclusively with foreign heels Nikolai Volkoff and Dino Bravo.
- Back in Mid-South, he and Ted DiBiase had a major feud.
- Audience Participation/Once per Episode: Once a match, he just has to shout "U-S-A!" once, and the crowd takes it from there.
- Badass Boast/Third-Person Person: "HACKSAW'S GONNA DO WHAT HACKSAW CAME TO DO! BEAT PEOPLE UP! WHAT YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT, TOUGH GUY?"
- Bash Brothers: DiBiase again, in his Mid-South days. Jake Roberts and The Large Sarge in WWF/E.
- Battle Cry: All together now: "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
- Berserk Button: You disrespect America (hell, you even sing another country's national anthem in America), you disrespect Hacksaw.
- Brick Joke: John Cena gave a Shout-Out to Hacksaw while making fun of Edge and Lita. Hacksaw made his return shortly afterward, and the sole purpose of his first few appearances was to call Lita a "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
- Canada, Eh?: Briefly declared his allegiance to Canada at WCW Fall Brawl 2000, turning heel during the match between WCW "Canadian" (United States) Heavyweight Champion Lance Storm and General Rection (William "Hugh Morrus" DeMott).
- Carry a Big Stick: His trusty 2x4.
- He employed the pole of his flag for the same effect at times.
- Catchphrase/Crowd Chant: Once Again, with feeling! U-S-A... U-S-A... U-S-A!!!
- Calling "Tough guy" to any one who dared to face him count as both, too.
- Cloudcuckoolander: He is perhaps remembered better as the WWF's goofball who never was really stated he was a face to begin with and went over by taking his antics to legendary proportions. But according to Jim Cornette in his Mid-South days Jim was a completely unhinged looney. He went away with things that today could be considered way over the top as to wanting to spray Chavo Guerrero Sr. with an insecticide sprayer and a can of "hot taco sauce". Providing maybe one of the earlier examples for "A can of whupass" ever.
- Crowd Song: They sang the American National Anthem during his FanFest/Toy Drive match against “Canada’s National Treasure,” Nick Crane in Pittsburgh for KSWA.
- Demoted to Extra: Told by the Powers That Be (Vince Russo doing an imitation of Dr. Claw) that he wasn't "marketable" and saddled with a new gimmick as a janitor.
- Determinator: He beated kidney cancer up back in 1998-1999.
- Double Standard: Stopped Volkoff's rendition of the Soviet national anthem at Wrestlemania III by chasing him out of the ring, then told him:Duggan: "You're not singing that song, BECAUSE THIS IS THE LAND OF THE FREE, AND THE HOME, OF THE BRAAAAAAAAAAVE!!!!!"
- Dreadful Musician: Hijacking The Maestro's grand piano to play "Chopsticks". Don't quit your day job, Jim.DDT: It sounds more like "Trash Can Full of Silverware".
- Expy: He was the Closest Thing We Got to a
Spiritual Successor of Bruiser Brody back in the day, albeit Played for Laughs. Mainly the same character except for their motivations, Brody liked to went over stomping his opponents up for big bucks when Jim wanted to give the best fight he could only for patriotism. - Extremity Extremist: In the same vein of Honky Tonk Man, he traded as less holds and throws as possible, relying solely on his fists, forearms, elbows and shoulders most of the time.
- Fighting Irish: In 1995 WCW, he talked about how his great-great grandmother was a taped-fist champion in Ireland.
- Finishing Move: "Three-point-stance Tackle" (Running clothesline), playing upon his Football background.
- Added "Old Glory" (Jumping knee drop) in late 1990s.
- Game Show Appearance: In 2000, he, Jimmy Hart, Hugh Morrus, Bryan Knobbs and Buff Bagwell appeared on an episode of Family Feud against a team of Playboy Bunnies. To say it was a Curb-Stomp Battle is putting it mildly, as the Playboy ladies didn't know anything. Duggan even got to be one of the contestants in the bonus round.
- Grail in the Garbage: Found the WCW World Television Title in the trash after Scott Hall threw it out. Hacksaw being Hacksaw, he claimed it as his, and began defending it. In fact, he was never beaten for the title. It was abandoned when Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff returned on the April 10, 2000 WCW Monday Nitro and declared all the titles vacant.
- Good Old Ways: Even to his own detriment, Duggan was a performer true and true, not a prima donna, as he stated it clear back in his WCW stint.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Big Van Vader defeated Duggan for the WCW United States Heavyweight Title at Starrcade 94 after Duggan collided with his own 2X4.
- Idiot Hero: The Hacksaw character was never the sharpest tool in the shed, but fans loved him anyway.
- He was much more serious in his Mid-South days, though.
- Jobber: The recent uploadings of Duggan during his 1980-1981 stint in the WWF as a jobber are a vintage find, especially since one can watch him get squashed by Hogan and easily submit to Slaughter in the latter's $5,000 "Cobra Clutch" challenge.
- Large Ham/No Indoor Voice: Well, duh!
- Last of His Kind: As noted:
- He was the last-ever Louisiana Heavyweight Champion.
- The last-ever Mid-South North American Heavyweight Champion.
- And The last-ever WCW World Television Champion.
- Odd Couple: Tag-teamed with Eugene and Super Crazy.
- Plot Hole: Him finding WCW's Television Championship in the garbage of WCW's headquarters, despite the fact Kevin Nash threw it away in Denver Colorado.
- Power Stable:
- (in Florida): Kevin Sullivan's Army of Darkness
- (in Mid-South): Devastation Inc.
- (in WWF):
- Survivor Series '87: with "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat and Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Managed by Miss Elizabeth.
- Survivor Series '88: with Roberts, Ken Patera, Tito Santana and Scott Casey.
- Survivor Series '89: "The Four-by-fours" with Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Hercules Hernandez and "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin.
- Survivor Series '90: "The Hulkamaniacs" with The Hulkster, The Big Boss Man and Tugboat.
- Survivor Series '91: with Slaughter, Santana and Texas Tornado.
- (in WCW): Lance Storm's Team Canada.
- Power Trio: (In Mid-South/UWF), "The Rat Pack", with DiBiase and "Maniac" Matt Borne.
- Put on a Bus/The Bus Came Back: In the WWF after a drug bust in 1987. Since he was a big draw, Jim wasn't gone long, but he believes this is why he never won any titles with the company.
- Signature Move: Sparsely, but believe it or not he employed a top-rope variant of the Flying Shoulder Block years ahead Ultimate Warrior. Also Atomic Drop and a variant of a Camel Clutch.
- Squash Match: Famously (or infamously) beat "Stunning" Steve Austin in 30 seconds while in WCW.
- Star-Spangled Spandex/Underwear of Power: In 1993 he sported a blue singlet with an American flag on his back. This extended to his knee pads, emblazoned one with the stars and the other with the stripes.
- Still Got It: The man's pushing 70, and still wrestles like he always does.
- Throwing Down the Gauntlet: An early episode of WWE Raw saw Hacksaw pull this on Shawn Michaels, who was in full-on cowardly Heel mode at the time.
- Verbal Tic: Spouts out "Tough guy" and "HOOOOOOO" in pretty much every promo.
- Victory Pose: Either a big thumbs-up to the crowd, raising the American flag, or both.
- The Worf Effect: Just about every monster heel in the 80's went through him on their way to Hogan. But he would win matches against bottom to mid-card heels to keep his tough guy rep up for when this happened.
Hacksaw: U-S-A!!!!!
Crowd: U-S-A!!! U-S-A!!! U-S-A!!!
