| Jody Hamilton | |
|---|---|
 Hamilton as The Assassin, circa 1979 | |
| Birth name | Joseph Nicholas Zwaduk III[1] |
| Born | August 28, 1938[2] St. Joseph, Missouri, U.S. |
| Died | August 3, 2021 (aged 82) Griffin, Georgia, U.S.[3] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Jody Hamilton Joe Hamilton Ricky Monroe Assassin #1 Masked Assassin #1 The Masked Assassin Mighty Bolo The Assassin The Flame |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Billed weight | 265 Ib (120 kg) |
| Trained by | Michael DiBiase Sonny Myers Nick Roberts |
| Debut | 1955 |
| Retired | 1988 |
Joseph Hamilton (August 28, 1938 – August 3, 2021) was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and trainer. He was best known as one half of the tag team The Assassins where he was called "Assassin #1". When the Assassins ended, He wrestled as "The Assassin" and "The Flame" both while wearing a mask.[4]
Hamilton teamed up with Tom Renesto in late 1961 to form the masked heel (bad guy) team known as "The Assassins" and, for over a decade, he and Renesto wrestled all over the world with great success. Once Renesto retired, Hamilton kept the Assassins team alive by partnering with wrestlers such as Randy Colley and "Hercules" Hernandez under the trademark gold and black masks of the Assassins.[4]
In the late 1980s, Hamilton founded Deep South Wrestling (DSW), where he also wrestled until a back injury forced him to retire in 1988. After Deep South Wrestling closed, he worked extensively for World Championship Wrestling both on the booking team and later on as a trainer at WCW's Power Plant training facility.[4] In 2005, he reopened Deep South Wrestling, this time as an affiliate of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), to train wrestlers the WWE had signed to developmental contracts. In 2007, WWE abruptly ended their contract with DSW and the promotion suspended operations later in the year.[5]
- ^ "Jody Hamilton - Behind the Mask of the Assassin". August 3, 2021.
- ^ U.S. Public Records Index Vol 1 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010.
- ^ "Joseph Nicholas "Jody" Hamilton, Sr". Haisten McCullough Funeral Home. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
- ^ a b c Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson (2005). "Top 20: #8 The Assassins". The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. pp. 52–55. ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6.
- ^ Mike Mooneyham (April 22, 2007). "End is now for Deep South Wrestling". The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved August 12, 2007.