Hacksaw : The Jim Duggan Story

If you have been a fan of professional wrestling since the 1980s boom period, you certainly would have heard of 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan.

Duggan has recently published his autobiography. I found it an enjoyable read.

The book covers his upbringing in New York state, his time playing American football at high school up to the NFL as well as what he is most famous for.

I enjoyed reading about his stints in Mid South Wrestling because I had heard so much about that territory but didn't get to see many matches from there.

Duggan's time in the WWF was covered. He pulls no punches and doesn't hide from telling the story of when he was first fired by the company after being caught driving under the influence of alcohol with the Iron Sheik (who was nabbed for cocaine possession). I always thought the pair were both charged with carrying the drug but it was all made clear reading this. The real conviction from this bust, however, was the fact that the pair were feuding on TV at the time so the arrest became a huge media story and broke kayfabe at a time when it was protected.

The latter part of his WCW days were marred with silly ideas for him that he felt were ways to force him to quit. Instead, he took his pay cheque and did what was asked of him. His battle with kidney cancer during this WCW run took up another chapter in the book. Thankfully, he has won that fight but the scars are still there. He lost one of his kidneys so has to be extra careful when wrestling nowadays.

The autobiography ends with his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.

He packed a lot into this hall of fame career and it's all here in his story.