Jody Hamilton obit

Jody Hamilton Death – Undisclosed Causes

Jody Hamilton aka “The Assassin”, dead at 82.

1938-2021 (Age 82)

He was not on the list.

Jody Hamilton had many career options in sports but he chose to become a professional wrestler, eventually transforming into the masked menace known as The Assassin #1.

Teaming with Assassin #2 (Tom Renesto), Hamilton enjoyed exceptional success in tag team competition and became the youngest man to co-main event Madison Square Garden.

Hamilton began training wrestlers after he suffered a career-ending injury, excelling as a trainer as well.

Following in His Big Brother’s Boots

Born Joseph Hamilton on August 28, 1938 in St. Joseph, Missouri, the future masked Assassin watched as his brother Larry broke into the wrestling business.

Larry achieved fame as “The Missouri Mauler” while Joseph would eventually become known as one half of The Assassins.

The two brothers formed a successful tag team, including a run in Vince McMahon Sr.’s Capitol Wrestling promotion. There, they co-headlined Madison Square Garden against the wildly popular team of Antonio Rocca and Miguel Perez, with Jody becoming the youngest man to co-main event the Garden.

The Perfect Partner

In 1961, Hamilton found the perfect tag team partner in Tom Renesto, a wrestler who had worked with Jody’s older brother. In an interview with Slam! Wrestling, Jody recalled:

“Seven or eight minutes into the match, I knew we had a great combination together because he anticipated things that I was going to do, and I could anticipate things that he was going to do, so consequently, we were always in the right place at the right time,”

The Assassins became one of the top draws in tag team wrestling, working throughout a variety of territories, not only in the National Wrestling Alliance, but Australia’s World Championship Wrestling (not to be confused with Ted Turner’s promotion of the same name).

The team had a long-standing feud with the team known as the Kentuckians (aka “Tiny” Smith and Luke Brown), but also feuded with brother duos like the Torres Brothers, Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr., as well as the team of Ray Gunkel and Buddy Fuller.

Tag team gold came easy for the Assassins with the duo holding tag team titles in Championship Wrestling from Florida, Georgia Championship Wrestling (including an incredible 12 reigns as the NWA Georgia Tag Team Champions), NWA All-Star Wrestling, and other promotions.