Jim Duggan Recalls Vince McMahon Banning Card Games In The WWE Locker Room

Jim Duggan recalls how Vince McMahon would ban card games in the WWE locker room due to it being so distracting.

Pro wrestlers have passed time before their matches and segments backstage in various different ways over the years, with video games being a popular method in the modern era. However, in the 80s and 90s, this would not be an option.

While speaking to ClutchPoints in a new interview, Jim Duggan recalled Vince McMahon banning card games in the WWE locker room due to it being a distraction for wrestlers.

“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,’” 

Elsewhere in another interview, Paul Wight spoke about believing that Jim Duggan would get the role of Captain Insano. You can read more about that here.