The Texas Hangmen consisted of wrestlers Frank Vizi, who had been wrestling as Rick Gantner in the AWA and World Wrestling Federation primarily as a jobber, and Tom Benninghaus. Both men were put under wrestling masks to hide their faces, and carried nooses to the ring to emphasize their characters as executioners. Vizi was given the name Psycho while Benninghaus became Killer.
American Wrestling Association
Killer and Psycho wrestled in the AWA for several years, beginning in 1987, and contended for the AWA World Tag Team Championship but never won it. They were also participants in the company's ill-fated Team Challenge Series that eventually resulted in the AWA's downfall.
World Wrestling Council
After the AWA folded, Vizi and Benninghaus carried their Texas Hangmen characters with them to Puerto Rico. On September 15, 1990, Killer and Psycho challenged the newly crowned WWC World Tag Team Champions, The Super Medicos, for the titles. The match ended controversially, with the titles being held up, and the champions regained the title over the Hangmen one week later. Killer and Psycho would return the favor one week later, winning their first championship together. They would hold the belts until February 3, 1991, dropping them to El Bronco and Invader I. The Hangmen won the rematch on February 10 and kept the belts for three more weeks, losing a Luchas de apuestas match on March 2 where El Bronco and Invader I put their mask and hair on the line against the tag team title belts.
Both Vizi and Benninghaus would move on to different companies. Vizi eventually became known as Bull Pain and have a successful singles career as an independent wrestler, first in the original Extreme Championship Wrestling and then in IWA Mid-South. He would also appear from time to time as an enhancement talent in World Championship Wrestling. The team made one last run as WWC World Tag Team Champions in 1996, only to split during their reign as Vizi and promoter Carlos Colon fought over his salary and left. Vito LoGrasso replaced the former Psycho for the remainder of the team's reign. Benninghaus is perhaps better known to modern wrestling fans as Tough Tom, one half of the team Disorderly Conduct in World Championship Wrestling. He teamed with Mike Moran, who took the name Mean Mike, and the two served primarily as a lower-level tag team that primarily wrestled on the company's syndicated programming and WCW Saturday Night. On occasion, Benninghaus and Moran would don masks and wrestle as the Texas Hangmen with Moran taking on the role of Psycho.
