| Assassins | |
|---|---|
 Jody Hamilton and Randy Colley as The Assassins, circa 1980 | |
| Tag team | |
| Members | Jody Hamilton Tom Renesto |
| Name(s) | Assassins The Masked Assassins Bolo and the Great Bolo |
| Billed heights | Hamilton: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Renesto: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Former member(s) | Roger Smith Randy Colley Kurt Von Hess Hercules Hernandez Ray Fambrough |
TheAssassins were a masked professional wrestlingtag team from the 1960s to the 1980s.Jody Hamilton, the original Assassin, was a member throughout the various incarnations of the team, teaming with Tom Renesto, Roger Smith,Randy Colley,Hercules Hernandez andRay Fambrough while donning the masks.
The team had its origins in 1961 in theGeorgia territory, when Hamilton, a five-year veteran, first began competing inAtlanta as the Assassin. Shortly afterward, Tom Renesto arrived in the area and began teaming with Hamilton to form the original Assassins team.
Hamilton and Renesto became a well-traveled heel tandem through the 1960s, competing in theMid-Atlantic territory, Georgia,Florida, California, Arizona, thePacific Northwest, Canada, Japan and Australia among other areas, and winning championship gold along the way. They returned to Georgia in 1968 and wrestled primarily in that state until 1974; they spent the majority of their time competing in Georgia Championship Wrestling during that time, but they also went to work for an independent group called the All-South Wrestling Alliance, with Hamilton going solo at first while Renesto worked behind the scenes, then facing off in opposite corners from each other, then reuniting as babyfaces before All-South closed in late 1974.
After Renesto retired from the ring, Hamilton continued The Assassins with new partners in later years, teaming up with Roger Smith and then Randy Colley, before forming the 1980s version of the masked team with Hercules Hernandez in Jim Crockett Promotions, under the management ofPaul Jones, who used them as part of his feud with the popularJimmy Valiant. That version of the team lasted until Hernandez was unmasked after losing to Valiant in a mask vs. hair match at a JCP/Maple Leaf Wrestling show inToronto, Ontario, on April 15, 1984. Barry Orton replaced Hernandez as Assassin #3 for a few months. Hamilton continued on solo after Barry left JCP, breaking his ties with Jones to turn babyface once again and feud with his former manager, which climaxed with Hamilton teaming withBuzz Tyler to beat Jones' Zambuie Express (Elijah Akeem andKareem Muhammed) atStarrcade 1984 inGreensboro, North Carolina.
Jody Hamilton wound down his in-ring career in the Alabama territory competing under a different identity as The Flame before starting up his own promotion in Georgia,Deep South Wrestling, in 1986, which he ran for about two years before selling the promotion. He then opened up thePower Plant as a training facility forWorld Championship Wrestling and was last seen reprising his Assassin role as the manager of Pretty Wonderful (Paul Orndorff andPaul Roma) in WCW in 1994. Hamilton reopenedDeep South Wrestling in 2005 to serve as a developmental territory forWorld Wrestling Entertainment, but WWE severed its developmental deal with DSW on April 18, 2007, and Hamilton continued running the promotion on his own as an independent until he folded DSW shortly after its October 11, 2007, event.
Tom Renesto retired from wrestling in 1974. On April 25, 2000, Renesto died at 72 years old.
Randy Colley went on to formThe Moondogs tag team (as Moondog Rex), which competed in the then-WWF and in theMemphis area, and he was also the originalDemolition Smash. He also competed inMid-South Wrestling as the masked Nightmare, wearing the same mask he had as one of the Assassins. He retired in 1996 and died on December 14, 2019, at age 69.
Roger Smith went on to fame in Memphis in the mid-1980s under the ring name Dirty Rhodes (for his resemblance toDusty Rhodes in both appearance and mannerisms), both as a heel and a babyface. He has also since retired.
Hercules Hernandez went on to fame under that name inWorld Class Championship Wrestling, Florida, the WWF and Japan, as the masked Mr. Wrestling III in Mid-South, and as the masked Super Invader in WCW. He died in his sleep of a heart attack inTampa, Florida, on March 6, 2004, at age 47.
Jim Ross stated that the Masked Assassins "were the greatest tag team that [he] ever saw."[1]
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