Jerry Sags

Jerry Sags
Birth name	Jerome Saganowich
Born	(1964-07-05) July 5, 1964[1] Allentown, Pennsylvania[1]
Residence	Tampa, Florida[2]
Spouse(s)	Laura Runnels
Children	4
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Jerry Sags[2]
Billed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1]
Billed weight	290 lb (130 kg)[1]
Billed from	Allentown, Pennsylvania ("Nastyville")[2]
Trained by	Verne Gagne Brad Rheingans
Debut	1987[1]

Jerome Saganowich^[2] (born July 5, 1964)^[1] is an American professional wrestler best known as Jerry Sags. He is one half of the tag team The Nasty Boys along with Brian Knobbs.

Career

Sags graduated from Whitehall High School in Pennsylvania. He started his career in the American Wrestling Association as a referee in 1985. In 1986, he formed a tag team called The Nasty Boys with Brian Knobbs and wrestled in the Tennessee territory until they moved to Championship Wrestling from Florida, where they won five Tag Team Titles from 1988 through 1990.

In 1990, they went to the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions, which had been purchased by Ted Turner and would be renamed World Championship Wrestling before The Nasty Boys left a few months later. They feuded with Rick and Scott Steiner over the U.S. Tag Team Titles, but could not defeat them. In late 1990, they went to the World Wrestling Federation where they were managed by Jimmy Hart. They won the World Tag Team Titles from The Hart Foundation before feuding with and losing the titles to the Legion of Doom. Knobbs and Sags then feuded with all of the WWF's top face tag teams, including The Rockers, The Bushwhackers, and High Energy. They turned face in the fall of 1992 to feud with Jimmy Hart's Money Inc. over the tag team titles, but were unable to recapture the gold.

They left the WWF for WCW in 1993 and were quickly placed with manager Missy Hyatt, who led them to the World Tag Team Titles. She left them, and they went on to feud with Harlem Heat, The Blue Bloods, and the team of Dick Slater and Bunkhouse Buck. In 1996, they were tricked by the nWo into thinking they were going to become members, but were attacked as soon as they received their shirts. Sags had been injured previously and had to retire due to this injury.^[3] Sags said in an RF shoot interview that he nearly got into a fist fight with Ken Shamrock in the fall of 1997 at an airport. The two had dissension based on an earlier incident in which Sags hit Shamrock from behind.

Sags returned to wrestling in 2001 as a trainer and with Knobbs as The Nasty Boys to wrestle in the short-lived X Wrestling Federation. He retired again after the promotion folded in 2002. Sags returned to action with Knobbs to reform The Nasty Boys on June 16, 2007, at Pro Wrestling Unplugged. On November 20, 2007, Knobbs and Sags reformed as The Nasty Boys at the SmackDown! tapings from Tampa, Florida to wrestle their first WWE match in years. According to reports, the match was disastrous, and the team were accused of unprofessionally working stiff with their opponents, Dave Taylor and Drew McIntyre.^[4]

On January 4, 2010, The Nasty Boys made an appearance on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's television show, TNA Impact!, starting a feud with Team 3D.^[5] On the January 21 edition of Impact!, the Nasty Boys competed in their first match for TNA, defeating the team of Eric Young and Kevin Nash.^[6] At Against All Odds The Nasty Boys defeated Team 3D in a tag team match, when Jimmy Hart made his return to the company and interfered in the match on the Nasty Boys' behalf.^[7] On the February 25 edition of Impact!, Team 3D defeated the Nasty Boys in a tables match, when Jesse Neal interfered on Team 3D's behalf.^[8] The Nasty Boys and Hart continued their feud with Team 3D by defeating them and the returning Brother Runt, a replacement for Jesse Neal, whom the Nastys attacked prior to the match, in a six man tag team match. After the match Neal attacked the Nastys and helped Team 3D put Sags through a table.^[9] On March 29, 2010, news broke that the Nasty Boys had been released by TNA following an incident at a TNA function with Spike executives present.^[10][11]

Personal life

Sags and his wife Laura have four children: daughters Chloe and Madison, and sons Seve and Jax.^[12] They reside in Treasure Island, Florida near his friends Brian Knobbs and Hulk Hogan.^[13] He is the brother-in-law of the late pro wrestler Dusty Rhodes.^[14] He is one of the two uncles of Cody Rhodes, the other being Fred Ottman.^[15]

Sags appeared in an episode of Man v. Food Nation, in the Tampa, Florida episode where he won his challenge.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Diving elbow drop^[16]
  • Pumphandle slam^[6]
• Signature moves
  • Bulldog
  • Corner clothesline
  • Diving leg drop
  • Front powerslam^[16]
  • Nasty Clubberin' (Multiple punches to a cornered opponent)^[17]
  • Neckbreaker
  • Piledriver^[16]
  • Pit Stop (Sags rubs an opponent's face in his armpit)^[16][18]
  • Pumphandle drop^[16]
  • Sidewalk slam
• With Brian Knobbs
  • Double DDT^[19]
  • Trip to Nastyville^[19] (Running powerslam by Knobbs followed by a diving elbow drop by Sags)
• Managers
  • Jimmy Hart^[20]
  • Missy Hyatt
  • Theodore Long

Championships and accomplishments

• Championship Wrestling International
  • CWI Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brian Knobbs
• Continental Wrestling Association
  • AWA Southern Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Brian Knobbs
• North American Wrestling Association / South Atlantic Pro Wrestling
  • NAWA/SAPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brian Knobbs
• NWA Florida
  • FCW Tag Team Championship (5 times) – with Brian Knobbs
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1994 – with Brian Knobbs^[21]
  • PWI ranked him # 420 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003^[22]
  • PWI ranked him # 53 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Brian Knobbs in 2003.^[23]
• Professional Wrestling Federation
  • PWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brian Knobbs
• World Championship Wrestling
  • WCW World Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Brian Knobbs
• World Wrestling Federation
  • WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brian Knobbs
• X Wrestling Federation
  • XWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Brian Knobbs^[24]

References

External links

• Jerry Sags's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database
• Official Nasty Boys website
• TNA profile