The Godwinns

### Members

Henry Godwinn/Shanghai Pierce/Mark Canterbury and Phineas Godwinn/Tex Slazenger/Dennis Knight

### Managers

Hillbilly Jim, Sunny, Uncle Cletus

**The Godwinns** debuted in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as "Tex Slazenger" and "Shanghai Pierce" whom wrestled under masks and made their debut in November 1992. Their debut was without much fanfare as they were at best perceived as a mid-card team used to help establish higher-level teams. They did have a “mini-feud” of sorts with Kent and Keith Cole, the Cole Twins. Tex and Shanghai would mainly appear on the WCW “B” shows such as *WorldWide* and *WCW Saturday Night*.

Tex and Shanghai appeared at very few WCW pay-per-view's, 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 pay-per-view victory. Rick Rude and Shanghai Pierce won the match but Shanghai was quickly eliminated in the ensuing battle royal.

In their time in WCW, they helped put over future tag-team champions such as 2 Cold Scorpio and Marcus Alexander Bagwell, and Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne. 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 had joined the WWF in late 1994 and been repackaged with a “hog farmer” gimmick and renamed “Henry O. Godwinn”. Henry first worked as a heel with the Million Dollar Corporation under Ted DiBiase’s management, and then later as a face after being kicked out of the stable.

In the early parts of 1996, Slazenger was signed with the WWF and became “Phineas I. Godwinn”, Henry's cousin (later brother). The team was managed by Hillbilly Jim and actually made their debut shortly before the tournament began to crown new WWF Tag Team Champions after Billy Gunn of The Smoking Gunns suffered a neck injury. The Godwinns made it all the way to the finals at WrestleMania XII, where they lost to the Bodydonnas. The Godwinns feuded with the Bodydonnas for the next couple of months, not just over the tag team titles but because Phineas had become infatuated with the Bodydonnas' manager Sunny, something which initially worked against the Godwinns.

The Godwinns finally got their revenge on the Bodydonnas by winning the WWF Tag Team Championships 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 gold. At In Your House 8, 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. For the rest of 1996, the Godwinns would remain a solid mid-card team.

During a match in April, Henry Godwinn suffered a neck injury when the Legion of Doom botched a *Doomsday Device*. Henry eventually returned but acted more heelish and less cheerful, as the team would slowly turn heel. They ditched their goofy pig farmer gimmick for that of bitter southern boys who wanted to hurt people. They also ditched their manager Hillbilly Jim and for a short time was without a manager. They eventually took Uncle Cletus as their manager and began attacking their opponents with their slop buckets. 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. However, the title run was short-lived as they would lose the titles to the Legion of Doom only two days later in a retirement match thanks to a botched interference by Uncle Cletus. Following their loss, the Godwinns took out their frustration on Uncle Cletus by busting his head wide open, and he was never seen again in the WWF after that.

After the feud with the Legion of Doom ended, they engaged in a short feud with the returning Quebecers. The team soon began to flounder again with no real direction. As a result, the two were repackaged, thus ditching the Hillbilly gimmick and false names. On the June 1, 1998 edition of *Raw*, the two adopted a "Southern Hired Gun" type of gimmick that saw them wear sharp suits and sunglasses and use their real names of Mark Canterbury and Dennis Knight for the first time and backing up Jeff Jarrett. The team was named "**Southern Justice**" and they backed up Jeff Jarrett in a feud with D-Generation X. They even clashed with DX at the Breakdown: In Your House pay-per-view, where they lost to Billy Gunn, Road Dogg, and X-Pac.

Shortly after the pay-per-view, Canterbury herniated his neck 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. Dennis Knight remained with the company until January 2001, repackaged as "Mideon" and later, "Naked Mideon".

On November 22, 2020, they made an appearance at Survivor Series during The Undertaker's retirement ceremony.