Jim Duggan

[8.0] "I love me some Hacksaw! He was one of those guys who was impossible not to love. With the 2x4, the American flag and his trademark HOOOOO! , he had a personality that connected with fans everywhere. He wasn't the most technical wrestler, but he had a ton of heart and always knew how to get the crowd going. A proper wrestling legend who made the most of everything he did."

[6.0] "He's a defining Golden Era guy who unfortunately peaked way before he got to the WWF and especially WCW. Duggan was initially a hard nosed fan favorite, coming up having pretty bloody brawls in the territory days, then heading into the WWF and WCW, he basically became the super pro-American buffoon babyface, but he played that role VERY well. He was never some technician in the ring, but he still had a noticeable decline in his in-ring ability as he got more popular and as the years went by. He had a mind-numbing heel turn late in his WCW career that went nowhere, but he was largely a beloved babyface for his entire career. In his latter here he just broke out the hits -- the "HOOOOOOO", thumbs up, 2x4 and shoulder block, and that's all we could ask for at this point."

[7.0] "Your boy right here is gonna stick to his guns. Yeah, he was a cornball, but Hacksaw was able to transcend this trope like few others. People were inspired by him and he became iconic. He made a freakin plank of wood iconic. Sure he seems a little stiff and limited in the ring, but he was a hero, dammit!"

[5.0] "total rewrite "math route" edit. His humble beginnings as enhancement talent with promise is always fun to relive (8). His tenure as a Bruiser Brody heel clone running rampant in Blanchard's territory wasn't bad but you can only go so far when paired with Tim Brooks (6.5). In Midsouth he excelled, he elevated the company as a whole and became one hell of a hero. One of the best babyface runs ever; his in ring explosiveness, his connectivity with the audience. it's as if the company was made for him, not the other way around (10). Then something happened that no one ever talks about. He had a legitimate concussion near the end of his Midsouth run. He wasn't the same person. He was now oddly goofy, all the time. This was subtle(ish) at first but he came into the WWF already not the same. This didn't fully show until sometime in 1988 (8). By the summer of 88 things started to severely decline at an alarmingly rapid pace - by 1990 he was a shadow of himself (5). His Autumn years in the WWF though, he suddenly seemed self aware and began to help put others over ~ i respect that (5.5). His WCW career ranges from pathetic to insufferable (0). Let's not mince words, the WCW career deserves a DOUBLE ZERO (0). the leaves us with a score essentially unchanged. Watch his Midsouth run, watch him win the inaugural Royal Rumble ~ AVOID THE REST."

[6.0] "I love Duggan. He was super entertaining. He played a buffoon and did it well but he was also an intense babyface. When looking at the babyfaces in wwf in the late 80s and early 90s, duggan was a mainstay because he was consistent and charasmatic. His matches were paint by numbers on TV but he could hold an audience and look tough when dishing it out and taking it. His work in mid south should be studied for generations. His work in WCW was really fun after his wwf run was up. The taped fist finish was great. You could only wish your average worker was as good as duggan."

[3.0] "To be clear I've only seen his WWF stuff so I don't know if he was better elsewhere. In ring I am always underwhelmed when he's on screen. It's peak WWF "characters over wrestling" stuff that I really don't like. I have always found his gimmick so annoying. Maybe I'm biased because of my political leanings but I just groan every time I see him raise his thumb in the air and march around like an idiot and start a USA chant, leading the crowd in a frenzied xenophobic tyrade on the foreign heels. It's the most mindless cheap way to get over. It worked in the 80s, in front of a crowd of mostly right-wing patriotic simpletons brainwashed by the Reagan administration, but watching it now just makes my head hurt."

[6.0] "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! TOUGH GUY! An unappreciated worker who IMO gets very little credit (unfairly, I may add) for the success of the pro wrestling boom in the 1980's. Even his work in Mid-South was unappreciated. Him, Matt Borne & Ted DiBiase were an awesome stable in Mid-South."

[6.0] "Duggan is one of those wrestlers that you never were really able to see their prime on screen. His heyday was in Mid South, and it was very evident any time WCW or WWE traveled around his territory he was one of if not the most over guy on the show in a lot of cases, akin to Jerry the King in Memphis albeit on a lesser note. Looking at the lens of today, he's probably one of the most generic white meat babyfaces that you could imagine, being over the top patriotic, but in the 80's that worked for most crowds. I personally enjoyed his work in WCW more than WWE, but overall it was serviceable, never really a main event guy or someone who would carry a match in ring, but in terms of crowd work he was in the upper tier for a long time."

[6.0] "He was a decent midcard, gimmick, comedy wrestler. His best stuff was probably in Mid South. He never got a huge push in WCW or WWF but this guy was a former football player, good size and a powerfully built body. He was a legit big man who was a little above average in terms of his work. He was mostly used lower down the card because he was good at hearing up the crowd. Had a pretty good career in the independents after his run with the big promotions was over. Kept a job for so long because of his professionalism."

[6.0] "Hacksaw was a brawler and had a charismatic personality. I know he must have giant hands but it just seemed like his hands were just massive! His ability to work a crowd was impressive. As a young boy, I always gravitated toward heels but Duggan was one of the few faces that I cheered for. He had that great ability to get you into the match and believe. There's always going to be a place in wrestling for guys like Duggan. I'm super happy with his role in his WWF times, and while I have no interest in watching his matches again, my memories of him are secure and that's worth something."

[5.0] "Good 'ol Duggan was interesting case. He is everything that internet makes you believe Hogan was. Big guy that waves American flag around, can't work and milks the crowd. Well, as a worker... he sucked. But he had that simple, unbreakable bond with live audience. Patriotism is a handy thing isn't it? Screaming USA in America is bound to get reaction and whoever booked Duggan knew it. I've seen his work in Mid-South, primarily with DiBiase and I wasn't blown away but he did it well and took most out of it, which is a theme for his whole career. Surprisingly nice match catalogue there, thanks to stipulations and great opponents. In WWF there was to me always impression that he is backup for Hogan and well, he existed in that role. WCW run was to me most interesting, he had that big push before NWO turned world around. That push was what you'd imagine it being. I believe he did best as Nitro mainstay that beats up jobbers and fires up crowd among the sea of NWO mindfuck segments. I liked his promos when he actually talked tho. His work and booking in dying days of WCW were, I refuse to say anything. Go listen Nash doing commentary in 1999 on Thunder and enjoy the greatness of Old Glory, highly recommended. Everything after that was hanging on that, if you will, old glory and somehow still existing in the biz and fans scratching their head asking themselves how is it possible. He is still somewhat involved and pops up now and then. Him calling Lita a HOOOOOO was childishly funny and you know he meant it. I can't consider myself a Duggan fan but he draws my attention successfully. It's like a town's drunken fool that you don't really care about but can't help but look at sometimes and laugh and wish him the best. He is a draw brother. HOOOOOO"

[6.0] "Jim Duggan was never the most technical wrestler, but he didn't need to be. He had a ton of heart, an all-American gimmick that connected with fans, and that iconic "Hooo! " and 2x4 that made him instantly recognizable. He played his role perfectly during the 80s and early 90s, delivering solid midcard moments and big reactions. While he wasn't a top guy, his charisma and crowd connection gave him staying power"

[8.0] "Yep, so no 5 star classics out of Jim Duggan (at least not down to him) but he was first and foremost an entertainer. Someone who could be relied on and someone to make the audience laugh. the guy smacked people about with a bit of wood and waved a flag about, so he was in pretty unique comedy spot company. overall he was someone who brought smiles and laughs when necessary. also he won the first rumble"

[6.0] "Through character alone, he is someone who is recognizable even to people who know nothing about wrestling. He's synonymous with 80s wrestling. He wasn't someone who was looking for match-of-the-night accolades, but he didn't need to for him to build a legacy."

[4.0] "Jim Duggan was mega over in the 1980s and is a Royal Rumble winner however his overness was more due to his patriotic gimmick rather than his Wrestling ability. A great character who deserved to go over, however his work was often lacking and not up to the standards of the other top talent of the time."

[4.0] "Wrestling legend, but in-ring wise he's absolutely abysmal. Wouldn't have been so bad in a tag team, but as a singles guy he just didn't have the ability to be a good professional wrestler. Is only really iconic because of his gimmick and the fact he won the first Royal Rumble. Aside from that, as an actual wrestler, he's very bad."

[8.0] "Jim duggan served as a good character for wwf during his time, but i truly think jim duggan was one of the toughest wrestlers in the business at one point. After going through some of his territorial matches and the dude was a straight up brawler, one of my personal favorite wrestlers to watch."

[8.0] "All Jim Duggan could do was punch and take a punch and shout one syllable and swing a 2x4 around but god dammit, he did those things very well. Big fuckin' refrigerator of a man who could connect with the audience in a way only a slight few ever could or ever will, fueled by the rabid patriotism of the post-Miracle, Cold War Reagan/Bush era. Perfect example of right place and right time. I would argue that aside from Hogan, Dusty, and Savage he was the top babyface of the 1980s. When you're that good at getting yourself insanely over you don't need to be a technical wizard or an aerial assassin. Just march around and shout "Ho! " with your thumb up in the air and whack foreign people with a piece of wood and call it a night. Bottom line is dude was exceptional at what he did so he deserves a high rating."

[8.0] "I've completely 180'd on Jim Duggan in the last few years. I definitely was in the wrong with the IWC zeitgeist that thought he was terrible worker who always had pisspoor matches, and to be fair a lot of those are from the more famous part of his career from WWF & WCW. However, if you go back aways to a wonderful time in the early-mid 80s, you will see one of the best brawlers the United States had to offer at that point. Hacksaw Jim Duggan beat the fuck outta dudes, he wasn't just Captain Caveman who shouted out a catchphrase, he was a man of the people ready to punch out the rich and wealthy. This was a blue collar man who may have had one of the best punches in America at that point save for Terry Funk & Ted DiBiase. Speaking of which go watch Duggan vs. DiBiase in their Steel Cage Coal Miner's Glove on a Pole Tuxedo Loser Leaves Town for Thirty Days Match, that may seem like a lot but it's actually pretty simple, and kicks ass."

[8.0] "If you were looking for a take down or a go behind in a wrestling match, you aren't gonna find it with this guy. That's not what Hacksaw's character was about. He was a brawler who was all about punching, kicking, and just all out fighting with whoever he was in the ring with. To me though, his background as a football player, and his physical attributes were never his strongest suit, despite the fact that he was a legitimate tough guy. His strong suit was his charisma, his ability to keep a crowd up, keep them going, and on their feet the entire match. That and his ability to make chicken salad out of a lot of the ideas presented to him were the key to his longevity and why he was always one of the most over acts in any company he was apart of without having to have a title around his waist."

[1.0] "Jim Duggan is one of the worst wrestlers I've ever seen and, worse than that, he was around for a inexplicably long time. He's a prime example of someone who was only over because of the rabid patriotism in the US. The dude couldn't work a match, he couldn't cut a promo and he had no charisma or gimmick but he waved the stars and stripes so that was good enough for fans at the time which I cannot understand."

[6.0] "Duggan was a good character. He had the charisma and the crowd loved him. Mic skills were good as well. In the ring for the time he was alright but in the modern era he lacks abilities with his limited move set. He got ridiculous in WCW and he did not have the same aura when he returned to WWE in the 2000s."

[1.0] "The worst big act of the wwf in the hulkmina era a man who canot wretel and wont lose who has no good matches in his time ar the fed. Yes he was over but it was all cheap pop after cheap pop. His gimik at times steped into being just mean spirted. The less said about his time in wcw the better, all i will say is that he foud a belt in a trash can. Atleast he was over tho thats more of a mark down for the dans of the comppnys he was in. Never disliked a wretler more"

[7.0] "Duggan was always able to win the crowd over even if his in-ring ability was subpar. He will most notably be known for being the 1st royal rumble winner in WWE history but what some people overlook about him was the fact that he had an impressive showing against Ted DiBiase in Houston Wrestling in a steel cage street fight match. I've never seen a match more gimmicky lol, but honestly it was an entertaining match and he showed that if the WWF gave him a chance, he could put on better matches, particularly no disqualification type of matches which at the time was not popular."

[4.0] "Duggan is a legit tough guy and a nice person, but that gimmick was always too goofy for me. Never liked his in-ring style, very poor skills and lame moves. He had a nice physique though specially in the 1980s, and could work a crowd. He shouldn't have exposed himself in WWE in the 2000s."

[4.0] "Jim Duggan was a good example of how to get over without much talent. His run in MId-South was his best, his feud with Ted DiBiase being outstanding. When he came to the WWF, little kid me in the '80s loved him feuding with the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff and yelling HOOOOOO! all the time. But he wasn't fun to watch in the ring outside of his DiBiase feud. He followed Hogan into WCW and showed up on Nitro occasionally until that stupid storyline when he joined Team Canada and decided he hated the USA. Vince Russo pretty much ended his career with that nonsense."

[7.0] "I actually like Jim a lot, though it is easy to see why some can't stand him. Good brawler and crowd pleaser, I don't think people appreciate just how amazingly he works as a mid-carder. The lamest thing about him is usually his weak finishes."

[5.0] "Charisma through the roof, the textbook image of a brawler with those big fists and while his best stuff was in Mid South, he still was fine by the cartoony WWF standards. Had some junky matches in WCW in later years but I really dug his match with Vader at Starrcade 94, the best match on the card by far!"

"I see a lot of people rating Duggan based on his late WWF run and his WCW run. Which I get was seen by more people, but you are sleeping on a heck of a brawler by not checking out his stuff in Mid South. He was one of the elite level brawlers of that era. His feud with DiBiase, and Buzz Sawyer were really good. Him and Sawyer had a great pull apart that went backstage on Mid-South. If all you know is the USA! USA! and HOOOOOO! than you don't know that much about Jim Duggan as a worker."

[3.0] "To be honest, I never liked Jim Duggan. He had a good contact with the audience, but it was rather the specifics of his patriotic gimmick. He made faces and screamed "Hooo" for most of the match. At the same time, he had a more serious persona before and he has a number of good matches on his account, including the famous battle with Ted DiBiasi in a steel cage. In WWF, WCW and later on the indie scene, he became a hostage to his new gimmick, a boring very limited brawler who causes a reaction juat by waving the flag and screaming."

[8.0] "Some real fun stuff in his early career and consistently over once he got to WWF and WCW. Kind of guy you send out to get the crowd going. I have a sneaky soft spot for him. On a Mid South watch and he is actually really entertaining."

[4.0] "Very generic pro-USA wrestler that can either be bad or mediocre. He never really tried because once he got the american gimmick he was always gonna get cheered. Respect for wrestling in WWE full time at 52-53 yrs old and being acceptable"

[2.0] "One of my least favorite characters ever. Sure, he was popular and that's what earns him a couple of points from me. However, I have never ever found myself interested in watching a Jim Duggan match or program, and I've rarely (if ever) been entertained by one. 95% of his matches follow the same lame-ass formula of "early stalling/USA chants - Duggan controls early on - heel cheats - Duggan cheats back - comeback routine - finish" ... most times a disqualification or some kind of inconclusive ending. Not a fan."

[1.0] "One of the most useless and annoying gimmick ever. He was also a total disaster in ring, so I don't really know how he could survive so long in the pro wrestling business and even win the first Royal Rumble match ever."

[0.0] "My god, what can i say about a guy who had the most annoying gimmick ever. Hogan had a bullshit patriotic gimmick too and couldn't wrestle either but this guy was somehow worse than him. While this guy didn't even bother getting in shape (even when he did in a rare occasion he still looked bad), his braindead gimmick somehow got over and i seriously cannot wrap my head around that. All he ever did was shouting annoyingly, carrying a flag while looking like a damn potato. Also considering his awful and limited in ring skills, this guy should've been kept 100 feet away from a wrestling ring."

[2.0] "He was terrible in the ring and got over based on the most mindlessly crowd-pleasing gimmick possible ("USA! USA! ). His mannerisms were like a cartoon character. Not much to grab hold of here."

[4.0] "The oldest era of wrestling I've seen was in the early to mid 90s, when Hacksaw Jim Duggan was still a regular in the WWF. Honestly, he was never over with me. Matches were slow and dull, and the whole gimmick seemed pretty tame and annoying to me. I never looked him up because I didn't care much, but I always imagined he'd probaby already had a pretty solid career at that point, struck me as part of the "old" industry. I never understood why the WCW decided to pick him up after he already had an abysmal time in the WWF."

[5.0] "He was good in Mid South but the WWF version of him was at times dire. Matches used to end in dq majority of the time. They would just involve headlocks and shouting Hooooo! He was then used as the guy to put over top heels moving towards the main event and in this role is where he had some of the worst matches in WWF history. He then went to WCW and was at first put over like he was a big star but he was even worse in the ring there than he was in WWF. The 5 is all for Mid South."

[2.0] "Jim Duggan knows how to work the crowd & he was charismatic but other than that he's terrible in the ring."

[0.0] "Duggan is probably my least favorite wrestler of all time. I could never stand him, even as a kid. He in-ring work was awful and repetitive and every promo he ever gave was the same. Shouting "HOOOOOOOO! , " carrying a 2x4, waving a flag, and carrying a flag might get you cheap heat, but it doesn't actually make a character. Oh, and remember when he was in WCW in the nWo era, and his finishing move was to pull tape out of his crotch, wildly fling it around to tape his fist, and then just punch his opponent? Worst finishing move ever. I mean, there are other terrible finishing moves out there, but none of them involved Jim Duggan's crotch sweat. Nobody needs that."

[2.0] "His easy going and personable shoot personality is at total odds with his baffling and (at times) disgusting refusal to sell for people or put people over. Possibly generous wrestler of all time, which would make him a flawed but respectable worker a la Austin Aries or Bruiser Brody, but since he's so fundamentally lacking everything else it beggars belief. I know he's nostalgic for a lot of people, but since I never watched him growing up I feel no obligation towards protecting him. Horrible."

[6.0] "Make no mistake about it: Jim Duggan in his heydays was a huge star in the sense that people were literally lining up to buy tickets and see him. Duggan was very basic in the ring and to be honest even in his Mid South glory days he was nothing to write home about when it came to promos, but people were 100% behind him because he played the part of the common man ultimately triumphing through sheer perseverance with such sincerity you could really believe he was just being himself with the volume turned up. Like it happened with Big Daddy it wasn't supposed to happen, but it did and Duggan was smart enough to run with it. WWF hired him in 1987 not to make him a clown, but to help them break into what was once Bill Watts' territory: he was bound to be a top star. But something happened (a few versions exist) and he was turned into some sort of joke character who somehow managed to get over anyway: Jim Duggan was simply too huge to fail in those years. The end came with his WCW stint: while his booking usually ranged from bad to abysmal, his health was greatly declining and contributed to his extremely poor showing in Atlanta. He's yet another great overachiever who had a single opportunity and grabbed it to run with it until he could."

[7.0] "Overall, taking into account his entire career and not just the dreadful run he had in the waning years of WCW, Duggan is a 7. Duggan was a top babyface in the Mid-South/UWF. and was a step below that status in the WWF. He best days in terms of ability and work were in the Mid-South/UWF, but his biggest stardom came in the WWF. His run in WCW wasn't that great, and it got awful by the end, but that shouldn't detract from Duggan being one of the bigger stars of 80s wrestling."

[9.0] "Apparently my opinion of Jim Duggan is very different from the average voter. He has always been one of the memorable wrestlers that I grew up with and his gimmick has always stuck with me. He ranks in my second tier (the good but not great) of wrestlers from this era."

[8.0] "Fantastic babyface brawler in Mid-South Wrestling, and his feud with Ted Dibiase is absolutely legendary. Was an entertaining character in his WWF career but didn't have any memorable moments aside from winning the first Royal Rumble, which is a shame, he could have been a great midcard babyface."

[8.0] "A credible pre WWE career. He had a confounding connection with the fans, but he played it perfectly. The everyman, who would sloppily but with determination, compete with the biggest stars of the day. The Trademark HOOOOOOO! , is memorable and upon rewatching the first Royal Rumble, very well done in that match. He had a major run at Sgt. Slaughter, but could not quite get the championship. His WCW career was unremarkable. Painful janitor gimmick offset by the US and TV Titles. Was still quite popular when he left the WWE, after an unsuccessful run at Yokozuna's title, I got the sense the ending was too sudden. His career suffered after that but his incredible longevity, adds a point."

[7.0] "His Mid-South days are absolutely worth watching, they're more telling of how good he was at his best then his work in the WWE. He had a weird charisma about him but it was magnetic. Unfortunately most only know him for his work in Vinces company."

[9.0] "Legit one of the nicest guys in wrestling, still wrestling well into his 60s, and with no signs of stopping. People can say what they like about the incident with the Iron Shiek, this man has had a career lasting 40 years, and if you ever go to a live event with this guy on, you will hear a pop that is bigger than anything else on the card. Seriously knows how the business works, and how to get a reaction. First Rumble winner - And he deserved it that night too."

[10.0] "Entertaining legend of the business, always good for a pop now, and was a good draw back in the day. Nice guy and enough charisma to get whoever he's in the ring with over. Very underrated worker and deserves not only his hall of fame status, but the occasional cameo back in the ring"

[0.0] "I can't get the appeal at all. Never a good wrestler that I have seen, some say his Mid South work is great but the vast majority of his career is horrible. A Hogan hanger-on, he managed to stay relevant mostly due to this connection. His gimmick is mostly nonsense with a hint of jingoism. One of my all time least favorite people to watch."