Hacksaw Jim Duggan Talks Global Force Wrestling, WWE, WCW, Legends' House & More

Few professional wrestlers are capable of transcending eras and age groups, but thanks to his colorful and unforgettable character, WWE Hall of Famer "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan remains an influential figure in the wrestling business more than three decades after his debut.

The 61-year-old legend is currently serving as an ambassador for Jeff Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling, and he joined Ring Rust Radio (quotes courtesy of the News of Delaware County's Joe Arcidiacono) to discuss the future of GFW in addition to WWE, WCW and his stint on the popular WWE Network reality show Legends' House, among other topics.

While WWE is the king of sports entertainment, which is a throne it promises to occupy for many years to come, wrestling fans are always looking for an alternative. TNA, ROH and Lucha Underground are among the top secondary companies in the United States right now, but another is starting to emerge in the form of GFW.

Global Force Wrestling is the brainchild of the same man who helped start TNA, and Jarrett is hopeful he can build a brand that wrestling lovers gravitate toward. Duggan is attempting to help in that regard, and he truly seems to believe in the type of product GFW is trying to present.

Although there is a cross section of fans who complain about the PG nature of WWE programming and long for the days of the Attitude era, Duggan believes the majority of those who watch wrestling are in favor of family-oriented shows:

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I think GFW is offering an alternative to the product that's on TV today. I think a lot of folks are tired of the show that's on and want something different.

I think GFW is going to do that as a family-friendly organization: no obscene gestures, no profanity—the kind of show wrestling used to be, one that you can bring kids to and have a good time.

My role is flexible at this time, but I am sure they will have me do all sorts of things. I'm excited to hook up with Jeff and be part of GFW.

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In fact, Duggan is of the mind that GFW has an old-school feel that hearkens back to his heyday as the flag-waving, two by four-wielding, larger-than-life character fans came to know and love:

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I think that will be something different and people are hungry for a PG type of program. Everybody is tired of pushing the envelope, the graphic violence. I think people want a traditional-style show. The type of show my generation of guys did: myself, Jake the Snake [Roberts], Junkyard Dog, Macho Man [Randy] Savage. People are hungry for that again, and GFW is going to give them that.

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Duggan's career has spanned across five decades and has included runs in several different companies, but he is certainly best known for his time in WWE. Hacksaw wrestled for Vince McMahon from 1989 to 1993 and had various stints with the company from 2005 through 2009 as well.

It has been quite some time since Duggan was a regular character on an actual wrestling show, but he returned to prominence last year on the WWE Network original series Legends' House. Hacksaw was one of several WWE Hall of Famers and legends who appeared on the entertaining show, and he is grateful for the exposure he received from it:

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I think Legends' House gave [Roddy] Piper, Hillbilly Jim, Jimmy Hart, myself, the whole household just being on TV again brings you back into people's minds. Of course, the whole [WWE] Network helped bring back the first Royal Rumble and programs from different libraries of different territories.

The longer you're off TV the more steam you lose. Being part of Legends' House is great because not only did I have a great time, [it] brought me back into people's minds [and got] my name going again, but I also met one of my best friends [Piper] in life. It was a good time for me.

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There is no question Legends' House provided fans with a refresher course with regard to Duggan and his counterparts, but he made a name for himself long before reality television was even part of the American lexicon.

Duggan made the rounds in various southern territories throughout the 1980s, but it wasn't until his time in Southwest Championship Wrestling that he truly hit his stride. The Glens Falls, New York, native had tested out several different gimmicks, but none of them seemed to truly hit home.

That changed when he started to carry around his signature two-by-four as a means of protection at the urging of the late Bruiser Brody:

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Getting to and from the ring was a challenge. You would get spit on by people, kicked by people, even punched by people. I was sitting in the dressing room covered in loogies and bruises from the fans and Brody came in and told me to carry something to the ring that I could actually use instead of those sequined feathers and boas.

So I looked and said, 'Well here's a piece of wood.' Then I came out yelling with that two by four, and it was like parting the Red Sea, man. People scattered. I went back and forth to the ring with no problem, and I have carried it ever since. It turned out to be a great gimmick for me.

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Hacksaw and the wrestling business went on to enjoy unprecedented success shortly after that. The former Southern Methodist University football star joined WWE in 1987 and instantly became a fan favorite because of his patriotic nature.

His popularity allowed him to accomplish arguably the greatest accolade of his career: winning the very first Royal Rumble match in 1988. Looking back on that moment, Duggan can hardly believe how big the Rumble and the wrestling business have become:

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I think everyone is surprised by the success of not just the Rumble but wrestling in general. I don't think anybody back in the day could see it becoming the worldwide phenomenon it is today.

...  

It's an amazing appeal wrestling has. So I had no idea back then where the business or even the Royal Rumble would go from there. Looking back at it, it is one of the biggest feathers in my cap. That Royal Rumble I will always remember, and it was instrumental in my career.

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As significant as winning the inaugural Royal Rumble was, Duggan knew he had truly made it when he locked horns with one of the most recognizable stars in the history of professional wrestling on one of the world's biggest stages:

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The thing that sticks out most in my mind was growing up in a small town in upstate New York, as a kid my dad would take me down to the NIT basketball tournament at the Garden. To wrestle a main event in Madison Square Garden was it.

I pulled up to see my name on the marquee: Hacksaw, Jim Duggan versus Andre the Giant as the main event. That was a double whammy. Not only was I main eventing at the Garden, but it was with Andre. That was a highlight of my career.

I was never a world champ, tag team champ, intercontinental champ, never a big spot at WrestleMania or anything like that. But main eventing a match at the Garden with Andre is the highlight of my career.

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When Duggan left WWE in 1993, he could very well have called it a career and still been deserving of a Hall of Fame nod, but he found new life when he signed with WCW. Hacksaw caught on with the burgeoning company as it was entering a boom period.

Things ultimately didn't end well for WCW, as it lost the Monday Night Wars to WWE and folded in 2001. That left many who competed there with bad tastes in their mouths, but Duggan appreciates what WCW did for professional wrestling:

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I really enjoyed coming in with WCW because it really revolutionized the business. [Former WCW owner] Ted Turner started giving guys contracts, and that was a motivating factor for myself and also other guys to leave the WWF at that time. Most of us didn't have contracts, and it was just if you worked you got paid, and if you didn't work you didn't get paid. Turner offered no-cut contracts so a lot of us went down there. 

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From his ascent in the southern territories to his time in WWE and his eventual transition to WCW, Duggan has seemingly always been on the cutting edge of the professional wrestling business. That certainly bodes well for the future of GFW.

Hacksaw has long attached himself to successful enterprises in the world of wrestling, and his endorsement should go a long way toward lending some credibility to the ambitious startup.

Duggan is one of the most respected voices in the wrestling industry because of everything he has accomplished, but it is clear his contributions to the sport that helped make him a star are far from over.

For more wrestling talk, listen to Ring Rust Radio. Catch the latest episode in the player above (Warning: some language NSFW).