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Hacksaw Jim Duggan Reveals How Eric Bischoff Tried To Get Him To Quit WCW

Posted: Apr 4th 2009 By: CMBurnham

WrestleMania 25 is in the air and ClubWWI.com is bringing your right to Houston with a special guest who's on location at the big event -- Tough Guy! Hoooo! That's right. WWE Superstar Hacksaw Jim Duggan has come to the Club for a rare and revealing 30 minute uncut shoot you won't hear anywhere else.

Just four days after Kenny Dysktra spoke to ClubWWI for a 49 minute interview, Ol' Hacksaw followed suit. The longtime WWE star spoke openly about his entire career and the business as a whole. Think shoots with people employed by major companies don't address hot button topics? Then you don't know Jim Duggan. Among the topics Hacksaw discussed with James Guttman on ClubWWI.com include: Critics Who Blame Vince McMahon For The Deaths of Wrestlers, Chris Jericho's Fight With Fans and The Online Cell Phone Video, Developing The Hacksaw Persona With Bruiser Brody in Houston, Winning The First Royal Rumble, Bill Watts In The Hall of Fame, Ribbing Cryme Tyme, Wrestlers Who Had Issues Working With Andre the Giant, Knocking Andre Out Cold, His Original Gimmick Under Vince McMahon Sr., Saving Brian Blair From Being Humbled, Lex Luger and Other Guys Promoters Tried To Put His Gimmick On, Beating Steve Austin So Bad That "He Had To Shave His Head And Change His Name," Ultimate Warrior, Eric Bischoff, Kurt Angle, Randy Savage, Tito Santana, and More

While Duggan spoke about his huge list of career accomplishments, James said he would be remiss not to ask about WCW. More specifically - Team Canada. World Championship Wrestling took away his USA gimmick and gave him...a Canadian one? What's that all aboot, eh? Duggan explains to ClubWWI.com members:

"Eric Bischoff and those people were trying to push me out of my contract with WCW. They wanted me out of there pretty much. There was a new influx of people who couldn't even get booked on the Indys - like Tank Abbot and Ernest "The Cat" Miller. They were getting paid a huge amount of money. They were just trying to get rid of me. So they did the janitor deal first. They said, "Well, you're gonna have to clean toilets with a toothbrush and everything else." So I said, "Great, man! You give me my spot on TV, I'll get myself over. I don't care what you have me do." So I was in the water, splashing around. I'll get myself over, you give me the time."

Jim goes on to speak about how he made his situation work and got through it. Just when that picked up steam, they changed their direction again. WCW approached him about an Anti-American gimmick. Duggan assumed they were talking Iraq or Iran. He was wrong...

"They said, 'We'll put you with Team Canada.' Aw, jeez. Not a whole lot of heat there. I think a lot of the people were more disappointed. It wasn't like I had heat. It was like, 'Oh. Come on, Hacksaw. What are you doing this for?'"

Hacksaw touched on much more regarding the highs and lows of his career including the negative view many have of former wresters and how the movie, ";The Wrestler," has played into that. Throughout the ClubWWI.com shoot, Jim talks about successful former stars and how with the death of Andrew "Test" Martin, guys like Bob Backlund get lost in the shuffle. He also speaks about drugs in the business, the mentality of the type of person who would do that, and where the blame truly lies.

Of course, Guttman had to ask about TNA. Despite his job with WWE, does Hacksaw ever get to watch the show? Would he ever show up there?

"I never really watched TNA. I never really, was enemies with (Jeff) Jarrett, but we never saw eye to eye. So I'd never function well down there and I don't watch the program. But it's good for the talent to have another place to go, but they're not really a competitor for the WWE. They're more of an alternative for some of the fans to watch. But they're a little bump in the road, actually."

Tags: WWE, Jim Duggan, Bruiser Brody, Bill Watts, Andre the Giant, Brian Blair, Ultimate Warrior, WCW, TNA, Jeff Jarrett