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WWE legend Jim Duggan reveals advice on making wrestling great

Posted: Nov 12th 2026 By: Shounak Chakribarti

At 72 years old, Jim Duggan is still going strong and living a happy and jolly life. The inaugural WWE Royal Rumble winner in 1988, he recently appeared for an interview with ClutchPoints, where he reflected on some unheard backstage stories as well as how content he is with wrestling.

Reflecting on his long and successful WWE career, Duggan began our conversation by recalling one of his hilarious backstage stories about playing cards. “?We all used to have so much free time that we all used to play cards.

“Sgt. Slaughter would make these real elaborate card brackets. And I actually have one, too, so it's one of my favorite keepsakes, 'cause you got, like, Mr. Fuji, Arnold Skaaland, Andre the Giant, Bam Bam Bigelow, is part of the tournament. So anyway, Vince [McMahon] finally banned the tournament.

He said, ‘No more, no more card playing. You can't play cards anymore in the dressing room.' And a lot of people were like, ‘Man, that's pretty bad. I don't understand why.' But there's actually a pretty good reason he did that, you know? You'd be sitting there, you'd be playing cards, and you're like, da, da, da, da, da. ‘Is that my music? Oh, s**t That's my music. Oh, s**t. Where's my toolbox for?'

“And of course, if you're playing cards, and you're in your wrestling gear, there's no place to carry cards, right? I mean, where you gonna carry your cards? So I used to carry mine in my knee pads, you know. And so one day I went on, forgot all about them.

“You know, now the show starts, I got a pack of cards in my knee pad. And like, my music hits, so boom, I storm out there. I'm having a match. Bing, bang, boom. I throw the guy in. I pick him up. I drop the big knee. Cards go flying everywhere. Magic trick. I get… Skaaland's like, ‘Duggan, where'd those cards come from?' I said, Fan must have thrown them in the ring,'” Duggan shared the story while bursting out in laughter.

However, while he experienced quite a good time in the locker room and has fond memories to look back at, not every wrestler had a good time in the business. Speaking about his personal experience, Duggan claimed that it has been a great business for him. But for the others who did not, the WWE Hall of Famer has some advice for them.

“?I had a fun time in the business, you know? I see so many guys on the dark side of the ring. They're crying and whining about wrestling. It's been a great business for me. You know, I've been with my wife for 43 years. I never had to go to rehab for booze or drugs. I put two daughters through college. At 73 years old, I travel the world signing autographs.

“How can you gripe? I see these guys: ‘Oh, wrestling's so bad. It's horrible.’ I'm like, ‘You know, it's what you make of it.’ Don't do an eight ball of cocaine every week and get three divorces, you know? And there are other success stories in wrestling. You just don't hear about them. Tito Santana,” Duggan said.
Jim Duggan reflects on winning the first-ever WWE Royal Rumble

In the exclusive interview with ClutchPoints, arranged by Betinia Canada, Duggan opened up about the first-ever Royal Rumble win. He shared that he became aware of the victory on the night of the event.

“?Well, back then they didn't do rehearsals; you didn't know what's going on because it was just another show. We had a show the day before, and it was at Richfield Coliseum in Ohio, one of the hardest buildings in the world to get to. I drive by it about four times going the opposite way, you know? There it is, there it is. But what I remember most is finding out that I was gonna win it. I mean, they put the board up, I'm looking at the board and, ‘I'm winning this thing. Oh, s**t, I'm winning this thing.'”

Duggan further claimed that, immediately after finding out the outcome, he went to a payphone and called his wife to inform her. “Nobody was more shocked than the building. People see that picture where I'm like, ‘Ah.' And they are like, ‘You really look surprised and happy.' I'm like, ‘Yeah, I was.'”

The veteran also claimed that nobody realized how big the Royal Rumble and WWE would become in the future. Since starting in 1988, the Royal Rumble has taken place every year and has turned into an annual tradition.