‘Held him at gunpoint’ – WWE Hall of Famer confronted intruder in terrifying home invasion

Anyone planning a break-in might have done better than to target wrestling’s original ‘tough guy’.

In the 1980s and 90s, wrestling thrived on the illusion of toughness, larger-than-life characters and exaggerated bravado.

WWE

The stars of the day were men presented as indestructible by design, and few embodied that better than ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan.

Duggan was the gravel-voiced brawler who stormed through WWE at the heart of the cartoon era shouting “Hoooo”, swinging a 2×4 like it was an extension of his arm and bellowing ‘tough guy!’ at all who’d listen.

Duggan’s appeal was never subtle. He wasn’t sold as a technician or a mastermind, but as something simpler and louder: the guy who kept coming.

Away from the ring, though, the version of toughness Duggan was forced to confront proved far less theatrical.

In December 2022, Duggan, then in his late 60s, took to social media to explain a frightening real-world incident at his home in South Carolina.

A man he did not recognise had climbed his fence, ran through the yard and reached the front door before Duggan and his wife could react.

What followed was not a wrestling storyline or a rehearsed hero moment. Duggan described it himself in a first-person post thanking local authorities for their response.

The night danger followed wrestling’s toughest reputation home

“We would like to thank the Kershaw County Sheriff’s Department for their prompt and professional response last week,” he wrote on social media at the time.

“A man who we had never seen before climbed our fence, ran through our yard to our front door, and was pounding on our glass doors.

“Before we could get to the door, he opened it and fell into our house. I held him at gunpoint while Debra called 911. We are safe with no damage.”

WWE

WWE

In an interview after the incident, his relief that the situation hadn’t escalated further was evident when he added: “Thank god we didn’t shoot him.”

The post needed no explanation and, for that matter, it was not the only time Duggan’s public image had been tested by real life.

In recent years, the former WWE star has spoken openly about surviving serious health scares, including cancer diagnoses and heart surgery.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Duggan never attempted to reframe those battles as proof of invincibility.

Instead, they became reminders that even wrestling’s toughest characters eventually have to listen to doctors, accept help and slow down.

While his in-ring career officially ended years ago, Duggan never disappeared in the way many performers of his era did. He remained visible, making appearances, speaking candidly about aging and health, and allowing the cracks in the old persona to show.

WWE/IG:wwehacksawduggan

WWE icon made history with Royal Rumble win

He was a star long before he set foot in WWE, and remained one long after leaving.

Making a name for himself in Mid-South and in New Japan during the early-to-mid 1980s, his signing was something of a coup for Vince McMahon, who at that stage was rapidly building a wrestling empire that put almost all of WWE’s competition on the shelf.

Duggan went on to win the first Royal Rumble pay-per-view in 1988 and was a regular presence at WrestleMania throughout the era. By early 1994 he was out of WWE and off to WCW where, defeating Steve Austin, he won the United States Heavyweight Championship.

A spell with TNA and later returns to WWE have extended his career further, as has his induction into the company’s Hall of Fame. But while his name continues to carry weight in the ring, the 2022 scare showed that no level of profile makes anyone invincible.

Indeed, wrestling thrives on the illusion that its characters are more than human.

Jim Duggan’s story endures because it proves his toughness was never just an act.