The Godwinns

Infobox Wrestling team
article_name=The Godwinns
type=T
members=Henry O. Godwinn Phineas I. Godwinn
Cousin Ray
names=The Godwinns Southern Justice Tex Slazinger & Shanghai Pierce Tex Sallinger & Master Blaster
heights=Canterbury:
height|ft=6|in=4
Knight:
height|ft=6|in=3
Gordy:
height|ft=5|in=10
weights=convert|585|lb|kg st|abbr=on|lk=on
debut=1991
disbanded=1998
promotions=DSW USWA WCW WWF|

The Godwinns was the most well known gimmick of the professional wrestling tag team composed of Dennis Knight (Phineas I. Godwinn) and Mark Canterbury (Henry O. Godwinn) that they used in the WWF. The team has used other gimmicks before they joined the WWF and had a gimmick change in the WWF shortly before disbanding. Their WWF gimmick was that of two cousins who were hog farmers from Arkansas. Their names were a rather unsubtle joke as a reference to this; Phineas' initials spelled PIG while Henry's spelled HOG.

History

The two men who would later be known as the Godwinns first started teaming in the United States Wrestling Association under the names Tex Sallinger (Phineas) and Master Blaster (Henry) in 1991. Master Blaster was masked while Sallinger was not. Due to their stature and ring outfits, some mistakenly believed that Sallinger and Blaster were a well traveled team known as The Texas Hangmen under a different gimmick as the Hangmen had recently left the USWA. The team feuded mainly with Jeff Jarrett and Robert Fuller as a part of the “Texas/Tennessee” storyline. After achieving little notoriety in the USWA, the two men were signed by World Championship Wrestling in 1992.

Tex and Shanghai

The duo was renamed Tex Slazinger and Shanghai Pierce who remained masked and made their debut in November 1992 [cite web| url = http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw92.htm | title = WCW Show Results 1992 | accessdate =2007-04-16| author = Graham Cawthon | quote = (November, 1992) Tex Slazenger & Shanghai Pierce defeated Ricky Nelson & the Italian Stallion at 4:17 when Slazenger pinned Nelson with a reverse DDT] . Their debut was without much fanfare as they were at best perceived as a mid-card team used to help establish higher level teams [cite web| url = http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw92.htm | title = WCW Show Results 1992 | accessdate =2007-04-16| author = Graham Cawthon | quote = (November 26, 1992) Johnny Gunn & Tom Zenk defeated Shanghai Pierce & Tex Slazenger ] [cite web| url = http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw92.htm | title = WCW Show Results 1992 | accessdate =2007-04-16| author = Graham Cawthon | quote = (December, 1992) Cactus Jack & Johnny B. Badd defeated Tex Slazenger & Shanghai Pierce at 3:50] . They did have a “mini-feud” of sorts with Kent & Keith Cole, the Cole Twins [cite web| url = http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw93.htm | title = WCW Show Results 1993 | accessdate =2007-04-16| author = Graham Cawthon | quote = (March 8, 1993) after the bout, Slazenger grabbed the mic and made a challenge to the Cole Twins; moments later, Grizzly Smith came out and said they could have the Cole brothers for 5 minutes, with the Coles then coming out and clearing Tex & Shanghai from the ring] (who’s biggest claim to fame was that they were identical twins). Tex and Slazenger would mainly appear on the WCW “B” shows such as WorldWide and WCW Saturday Night. Tex Slazinger somehow got a cult following among the fans of the “Saturday Night” tapings who’d chant for him when he was in the ring. During one Saturday Night show, color commentator Jesse Ventura nicknamed them the Texicans although the name never became official.

Tex and Shanghai appeared at very few WCW PPVs losing every time they were in the spotlight except for one occasion: Battlebowl in 1993. Tex and Shanghai found themselves on opposite sides in a “Lethal Lottery” tag-team match, which meant that one of them would actually get a PPV victory. Rick Rude & Shanghai Pierce won the match but Shanghai was quickly eliminated in the ensuing battle royal [cite web| url = http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/miscppv.html#battlebowl | title = WCW Battle Bowl Results 1993 | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = prowrestlinghistory.com] .

In their time in WCW, they help put over future tag-team champions such as 2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell [cite web| url = http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/miscppv.html#blast93 | title = WCW Beach Blast Results 1993 | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = prowrestlinghistory.com] and Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne [cite web| url = http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/starrcad.html#93 | title = WCW Starrcade Results (1993) | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = prowrestlinghistory.com] . In 1994, Shanghai Pierce was unmasked during a bout with Johnny B. Badd and from that day forward appeared unmasked. Sometime after the summer of 1994, Tex and Shanghai left WCW; Shanghai was signed by the WWF while Tex worked a stint in the independent circuit that included a return to his old stomping grounds of the USWA.

The Godwinns

Mark Canterbury had joined the WWF in late 1994 and been repackaged with a “Hog Farmer” gimmick and renamed “Henry O. Godwinn” [cite web| url = http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/94.htm | title = WWF Show Results 1994 | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = Graham Cawthon | quote = (Superstars 12/10/94) featured a vignete promoting the debut of Henry Godwinn] . Canterbury first worked as a heel with the Million Dollar Corporation under Ted DiBiase’s management [cite web| url = http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/95.htm | title = WWF Show Results 1995 | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = Graham Cawthon | quote = (June 26, 1995) Lex Luger & Davey Boy Smith defeated Henry Godwinn & Tatanka (w/ Ted Dibiase) at 5:49] and then later as a face after being kicked out of the stable [cite web| url = http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/95.htm | title = WWF Show Results 1995 | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = Graham Cawthon | quote = (August 15, 1995) Henry Godwinn pinned AC Conner at 2:20 with the Slop Drop; late in the bout, Ted Dibiase appeared in the aisle; after the match, King Kong Bundy came out and attacked Godwinn from behind and held him for Dibiase to slop but Godwinn moved and accidentally slopped Bundy] .

In the early parts of 1996, Dennis Knight was signed with the WWF and became "Phineas I. Godwinn”, Henry’s cousin. The team was managed by Hillbilly Jim and actually made their debut [cite web| url = http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/96.htm | title = WWF Show Results 1996 | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = Graham Cawthon | quote = (January 22, 1996) Henry & Phineas Godwinn (w/ Hillbilly Jim) defeated Skip & Zip (w/ Sunny) when Phineas pinned Zip with the Slop Drop; after the bout, the Godwinns briefly had Sunny square dance with them against her will (Phineas' debut)] shortly before the tournament began to crown new tag team champions after Billy Gunn suffered a neck injury. The Godwinns made it all the way to the finals at WrestleMania XII where they lost to the Bodydonnas [cite web| url = http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/mania.html#XII | title = WWF WrestleMania Results (XII) | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = prowrestlinghistory.com ] . The Godwinns feuded with the Bodydonnas for the next couple of months [cite web| url = http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/miscppvs1990s.html#7 | title = WWF In Your House Results (7) | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = prowrestlinghistory.com ] , not just over the tag team titles but because Phineas had become infatuated with the Bodydonna’s manager Sunny, something which initially worked against the Godwinns.

The Godwinns finally got their revenge on the Bodydonnas by winning the tag team titles from them in May 1996. Sunny also joined with them at this point, although she specifically joined to use Phineas and remain near the tag team goldcite book | author=Royal Duncan & Gary Will | title=Wrestling Title Histories | publisher=Archeus Communications | year=4th Edition 2006 | id=ISBN 0-9698161-5-4 ] . At , the Godwinns lost the titles to the Smokin' Gunns, and Sunny moved on as she paired up with Billy Gunn and kept close to the tag team titles. The Godwinns would feud with the Gunns over the summer but would not regain the titles [cite web| url = http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/kingring.html#96 | title = WWF King of the Ring Results (1996) | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = prowrestlinghistory.com ] . For the rest of 1996, the Godwinns would remain a solid mid-card team.

During a match in April, Henry Godwinn suffered a cracked C7 vertebra when the Legion of Doom botched a Doomsday Device [cite web| url = http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/97.htm | title = WWF Show Results 1997 | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = Graham Cawthon | quote = (April 21, 1997) the Legion of Doom defeated Henry & Phineas Godwinn after Henry sustained the Doomsday Device; as a result of the move, Henry sustained a broken neck and was out of action for several months] cite web| url = http://www.wwe.com/inside/news/archive/godwinnreturns | title = O Henry! | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = WWE] .

Henry was told to take at least 15 weeks off to fully recover from the injury but returned in less than 8 weeks. Shortly after Henry returned to active duty, the team would turn heel, ditching their fun loving pig farmer gimmick for something more dark and sinister. They took Uncle Cletus as their manager and began attacking their opponents with their slop buckets [cite web| url = http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/97.htm | title = WWF Show Results 1997 | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = Graham Cawthon | quote = (June 30, 1997) Farooq & D-Lo Brown (w/ Kama) defeated the Legion of Doom at 3:02 when Farooq pinned Road Warrior Hawk after Henry Godwinn, who watched the entirety of the match with Phineas Godwinn on the entrance stage, hit Hawk in the back of the head with his slop bucket] . The turn and subsequent feud with the Headbangers would pay off as the Godwinns won tag gold once more on October 5, 1997 at Badd Blood . Unfortunately, their joy was shortlived as they would lose the titles to the Legion of Doom only 2 days later in a retirement match thanks to a botched interference by Uncle Cletus [cite web| url = http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/97.htm | title = WWF Show Results 1997 | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = Graham Cawthon | quote = The Legion of Doom defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Henry & Phinneas Godwinn (w/ Uncle Cletus) to win the titles at 8:50 when Road Warrior Hawk pinned Phinneas with the flying clothesline, as Phinneas attempted to piledrive Road Warrior Animal; moments prior to the finish, Cletus accidentally hit Henry with the horseshoe; pre-match stipulations stated that if LOD did not win the titles, they would have to retire; after the bout, the Godwinns bloodied Uncle Cletus for costing them the titles (The Life & Death of the Road Warriors)] .

outhern Justice

After the feud with the Legion of Doom ended, the team began to flounder again with no real direction. Direction came during the summer of 1998. The two teamed up with Jeff Jarrett and adopted a “Southern Hired Gun” type of gimmick that saw them use their real names of Mark Canterbury and Dennis Knight for the first time [cite web| url = http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/98.htm | title = WWF Show Results 1998 | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = Graham Cawthon | quote = (June 1, 1998) Jeff Jarrett (w/ Tennessee Lee & Southern Justice) pinned Farooq after hitting him with Lee's belt buckle as Southern Justice distracted the referee; prior to the bout Tennessee Lee introduced the repackaged Godwinns as Southern Justice] . The team was named “Southern Justice” and they backed up Jeff Jarrett in a feud with D-Generation X. They even clashed with D-X at the PPV where they lost to Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, and X-Pac [cite web| url = http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/miscppvs1990s.html#24 | title = WWF In Your House (Breakdown) | accessdate=2007-04-16| author = prowrestlinghistory.com ] .

Shortly after the PPV, Canterbury herniated his C7 vertebrae and pinched a spinal nerve; this necessitated spinal fusion surgery, a result of Canterbury returning to the ring before he should have. After the neck injury and spinal fusion, Canterbury left the WWF and retired from pro-wrestling. Dennis Knight remained with the company for a couple of years, repackaged as ”Mideon” and later, ”Naked Mideon”

Deep South Wrestling

In September 2006, Canterbury wrestled several tryout matches with World Wrestling Entertainment. On September 15, 2006, WWE announced that he had been signed to a contract . He debuted in Deep South Wrestling on 11/30 as a tag partner for Ray Gordy. Gordy was known as Cousin Ray as the team used the ”Pigfarmer” gimmick; Gordy would later be moved to the SmackDown brand under the ring name Jesse.

In wrestling

*Finishing and signature moves
**"Country Thunder" (Henry performs a pumphandle slam followed by a diving top rope splash by Cousin Ray) - Henry and Cousin Ray
**"Double Slop Drop" (Double reverse DDT) - Henry and Phineas

*Managers
**Hillbilly Jim
**Sunny
**Uncle Cletus

Championships and accomplishments

*World Wrestling Federation
**WWF Tag Team Championship (2 times)

*Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards:*Worst Tag Team (1996, 1997)

References