Hacksaw Jim Duggan has revealed that Gorilla Monsoon did not like him and would barely acknowledge him backstage, telling the Everybody’s Got a Pod podcast that the legendary announcer and former WWF President would hardly say hello to him.
The topic came up when host Marcus D’Angelo showed Duggan a photograph of the two of them at WrestleMania VII, where Duggan had appeared dressed as Uncle Sam to conduct brief commentary with Monsoon rather than wrestle on the card.
“Gorilla didn’t like me at all. No, wouldn’t hardly talk to me. Hardly say hello to me.”
D’Angelo told Duggan he was surprised, figuring Monsoon would have taken to someone with Duggan’s big, physical presence. Duggan had a simple explanation.
“Big loud mouth.”
He was candid about the fact that the version of himself who worked alongside Monsoon was a considerably more volatile personality than the one fans encounter at conventions today. He described running with a crowd that included Steve Williams, Roddy Piper, and Terry Gordy, and painted a picture of what life on the road looked like during that period.
“I was a whole different guy. I drink Jack Daniels. I carry that 357. Me and Gordy, we throw the little bottle of whiskey out of the van. Fights in bars. Yeah, I was a whole different… You talk about the transformation from Big Jim Duggan to Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Deborah transformed me. She pulled me from the dark side.”
He said without that transformation he likely would not be alive today. All three of the men he ran with most closely during that era are gone.
“Doc and Gordy, Piper, all three of them, God bless them. My three best friends are dead. I would have been dead.”
He credited his wife Deborah specifically with the turnaround, saying she entered his life at the right moment and changed the trajectory of everything that followed.
Monsoon passed away in October 1999. He served as WWF President from 1995 to 1997 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1999 as part of the inaugural class.
The full interview is available on the Everybody’s Got a Pod podcast.