The career of Jim Duggan sees him as one of the most underrated legends of his time. Duggan spent decades in the industry working for WWE, WCW and other noteworthy promotions. Everyone discusses the obvious things about Duggan like his patriotic gimmick, carrying a 2x4 to the ring, and winning the first-ever Royal Rumble match.
However, quite a few things about the legend get overlooked or not discussed with enough reverence. Duggan had the long-term staying power to create a career that is still respected fondly. The interesting tidbits about his time in the industry will provide a deeper look at his legacy. Duggan had the following things associated with his journey in the wrestling business.
8 WWE Started Drug Testing Because Of Him & Iron Sheik
Both Jim Duggan and The Iron Sheik ran into trouble with the law and with WWE when getting pulled over with drugs in the car. The story became public that Duggan and Iron Sheik had marijuana and cocaine in their possession when pulled over.
Bruce Prichard shared that Vince McMahon was so upset about this that it played a huge role in the drug testing starting. Duggan and Sheik also got heat for riding together as opponents, which was frowned upon in the era of kayfabe.
7 Lost A Loser Leaves Town Match Before Joining WWE
Wrestlers started to view WWE as the ultimate goal when the company was growing to new heights with Hulk Hogan as the face of the new era. Jim Duggan receiving the opportunity led to him having a unique way to end his previous stints.
The stipulation of a “loser leaves town” match used to be common when a big name was leaving a territory. Duggan lost a match to One Man Gang in UWF to explain his absence when becoming a full-time WWE star. One Man Gang would join Duggan a few years later to make the win less impactful for UWF.
6 Teamed With Super Crazy During Final WWE Stint
WWE signed Jim Duggan later in his career for a final run in the latter half of the 2000s. A few veteran names like Duggan and Tatanka received contracts to add a familiar face for fans and give the younger talents some older names to learn from.
Duggan and Super Crazy were two faces who always received solid reactions despite not having much television time. WWE eventually placed them together as an odd couple tag team mostly meant to add depth for the house show tours.
5 Hated Vince Russo's Booking Of Him In WCW
The WCW tenure of Jim Duggan saw him taking a few years off to battle cancer. Duggan returned to WCW in 1999 when Vince Russo was now the creative mind in charge of running the on-screen product to controversial results.
Russo booked Duggan to play a janitor trying to find his way back to the ring in an embarrassing storyline. Duggan took a few shots at Russo in interviews claiming he wasn’t trying to put his veteran talents in positions to succeed. It is hard to argue with Duggan given how poorly he was booked by Russo in WCW.
4 Won Both "Most Improved" & "Most Unimproved" Awards
Dave Meltzer has been a relatively prominent figure in wrestling for many decades now. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter gets a lot of attention online with the annual year-end polls voted on by the newsletter subscribers.
Jim Duggan somehow won conflicting awards at different stages of his career. The “Most Improved” award was won in 1982 when Duggan was starting to break out as a star. However, he also won the “Most Unimproved” award seven years later when he started to stall as a wrestler playing the hits. Duggan never received a five-star rating from Meltzer, but he won two unique awards.
3 Broke Character Due To A Stiff Sherri Martel Slap
The underrated career of “Sensational” Sherri Martel saw her thriving as a manager and in-ring performer. Sherri was viewed as one of the toughest women in the business that wanted to earn her success by taking bumps like the men.
The offense from Martel also brought it as seen with an infamous slap on Jim Duggan. Booker T shared the story about Duggan being so stunned by the pain of the slap that he broke character during the spot showing anger. Sherri was not one to hold back and tried to make her offense look as real as possible.
2 Unintentionally Responsible For Steve Austin's Heat With Hulk Hogan
Jim Duggan found his way in the origin story of one of wrestling’s biggest dramas. Steve Austin reportedly refused to work with Hulk Hogan in WWE and made it clear he never wanted to have a dream match with the fellow legend.
The beef went back to their WCW days when Hogan joined the company and instantly influenced the booking. Duggan ended Austin’s impressive United States Championship reign in a squash match meant to make him look foolish. Austin was livid and held a grudge with Hogan for the embarrassing loss to Duggan for many years.
1 Never Won A Championship In WWE
The WWE career of Jim Duggan is likely the place most fans will associate with the legend. Duggan got over as a beloved face, had multiple stints, and even made history as the winner of the first-ever Royal Rumble match.
However, there was never an official title win for Duggan in his WWE tenure. The Slammy Awards and the Hall of Fame induction are the closest Duggan came to winning a title. WWE was more selective with champs and longer title reigns at the time, so upper mid-carders like Duggan had fewer chances to hold gold.