WWE Hall Of Famer “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan spoke with Wrestling Inc for a new interview where he discussed his recent home invasion and another battle with cancer. Here are the highlights:
The break-in:
“Yeah, it was terrifying. We were here at the house. We were going on the road the next day. My wife Debra was in the bedroom packing. I was in the living room watching TV. We’re down a dirt road. We got 10 acres all fenced in with a big gate. We’re 50 yards off the road, off the dirt road, but the only house on the whole road with Christmas lights on. And all of a sudden, there was this huge pounding on the door, on the front porch and me and Debra were running. And as I get to the foyer, the doors break open. And this … 25, 26-year-old man comes falling through the front door because there was a step to come in the house. And he tripped over the step. So when he fell in, now I’m coming at him, if he had a gun, he would’ve shot me because I couldn’t have stopped myself. I was charging him. And he got up and on his knees and I got him. I got him by the throat and the arm. And for some reason, I’m running him out of the house and I’m throwing him out of the house, out of the porch. And now he’s screaming, ‘Help me, help.’ And Debra thinks he’s afraid of me, that I’m going to kill him. I said, ‘Watch him,’ she puts her foot on him. I reached inside the house, we got ducks and chickens. I got a pond. So I have the big .44, Model 29. The ‘Dirty Harry,’ exact ‘Dirty Harry’ gun… It’s just because it’s so loud to scare off the foxes. But that’s right there on the front door.
“So I grab that and I got this guy, I got him spread eagled on the front porch. Debra, I tell her, ‘Turn off the light. Turn off the light.’ She turns off the light. So now I hear two guys out on the street yelling, ‘We’re going to get you. We’re going to kill you.’ And so my first impression was obviously a home invasion. So that’s just when I got my gun, I’m waiting for at the back door. Nobody came in. So I went back to this guy. So now I’m thinking, ‘Well he’s a drug dealer or something. And these guys are going, what did he bring to my house? Are these people coming in my house to kill him?’ So Debra’s on the phone with 911. We got to deal next week with a sheriff here. We’re going to go back and meet the dispatcher and the deputies that responded. But she was like, ‘Send the firetruck, send the ambulance, send everybody.’”
Defeating cancer for a second time:
“It has been a rough year. I had my prostate cancer deal, so I want to throw that out there for folks. I had zero symptoms. I just had a blood test. They found my PSA level was high, had prostate cancer, they took the prostate out. I still had cancer. Had to do eight weeks of radiation, and they got all the cancer. I’m cancer free. So I tell folks, ‘Get checked out. They can save your life now.’ It’s a scary, terrifying time. But they can then save your life. This was my second bout with cancer, and earlier detection there. They removed my kidney. I lost a kidney way back there in WCW. And then of course I had the heart issue, which was the big one there a couple years ago. At 65, I was still in the ring. 66, the wheels fell off. But they’re like, ‘Hacksaw, you look a little rough.’ I said, ‘Compared to a lot of boys, I look great.’”
