The Assassins The Assassins were a masked professional wrestling tag 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 and Hercules Hernandez while donning the masks . Career . The team had its origins in 1961 in the Georgia territory , when Hamilton , a five - year veteran , first began competing in Atlanta , Georgia 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 the Mid - Atlantic territory , Georgia , Florida , California , Arizona , the Pacific Northwest , Canada , Japan and Australia among other areas , and winning championship gold along the way . They returned to Georgia in 1968 and competed in that state primarily until 1974 ; they spent most of their time competing in Georgia Championship Wrestling during that period , but they also went to work for an independent group called the All - South Wrestling Alliance , with Hamiilton going solo in the beginning 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 of Paul Jones , who used them as part of his feud with the popular Jimmy 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 in Toronto , Ontario on April 15 , 1984 . Hamilton continued on solo after Hernandez left JCP , breaking his ties with Jones to turn babyface once again and feud with his former manager , which climaxed with Hamilton teaming with Buzz Tyler to beat Jones ' Zambuie Express ( Elijah Akeem and Kareem Muhammed ) at Starrcade 1984 in Greensboro , North Carolina . Post - wrestling career . 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 the Power Plant as a training facility for World Championship Wrestling and was last seen reprising his Assassin role as the manager of Pretty Wonderful ( Paul Orndorff and Paul Roma ) in WCW in 1994 . Hamilton reopened Deep South Wrestling in 2005 to serve as a developmental territory for World Wrestling Entertainment , but WWE severed its developmental deal with DSW on April 18 , 2007 , and Hamilton has continued running the promotion on his own as an independent . Randy Colley went on to form The Moondogs tag team ( as Moondog Rex ) , which competed in the then - WWF and in the Memphis area , and he was also the original Demolition Smash . He retired several years ago . Roger Smith went on to fame in Memphis in the mid - 1980s under the ring name Dirty Rhodes ( for his resemblance to Dusty 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 in World Class Championship Wrestling , Florida , the WWF and Japan , and as the Super Invader in WCW . He died in his sleep of a heart attack in Tampa , Florida on March 6 , 2004 at age 47 .