Greetings. One of my favorite parts of the WWE’s annual Wrestlemania extravaganza is the Hall of Fame inductions. I’m really looking forward to this year’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which will take place on Friday, April 6th, because one of the inductees is my old friend, Hillbilly Jim (Jim Morris).
I’m proud to relate that Hillbilly launched his career in my dad’s Stampede Wrestling promotion back in 1983, He was sent up to Calgary, from his native Kentucky, by legendary heel, Archie “the Stomper” Gouldie, who had met him in the South and recommended him to my dad.
To set the table for Hillbilly’s first match in Calgary, we shot an angle where we had him planted in the audience and he got into an altercation with a big heel named the Jackal, which led to him getting in the ring the next week. He would make his debut the next week and quickly became one of the top faces in our promotion – which is saying something, I might add, because we had an awesome contingent of faces at the time, including Davey Boy Smith, Leo Burk, Sonny Two Rivers, Dynamite Kid and my brother Bret.
After a successful run in Calgary, Jim headed back to the States and in 1985 he re-surfaced in the WWF, where he worked the same storyline – being planted in the crowd and getting involved in an altercation with one of their heels, which catapulted him into the forefront. Hillbilly would soon be teamed up with the legendary Hulk Hogan, who was the hottest baby-face in the business at the time and his career took off from there.
After a stellar run with the Hulkster, Hillbilly would then join forces with his supposed Hillbilly cousins, Junior and Luke and his “uncle” Elmer and they quickly became one of the top attractions in the WWE during the glory days of Hulkamania.
Jim’s wrestling career was unfortunately cut short not long after, as he suffered a devastating knee injury, which sidelined him for over a year. He eventually returned, but the injury was so severe that he was never really the same after that – which led to his early retirement, which was a shame, because he had the talent and charisma to be a headliner for a long time.
After his in-ring career ended, Hillbilly managed another pseudo hillbilly tandem – the Godwins (Henry and Phineas), who would become one of the most popular babyface teams in the WWE in the late 80’s. During the so-called Attitude Era of the 1990’s though, the style of wrestling in the WWE would change into more hard core extremism, with Degeneration X, Stone Cold and others rising to the forefront and replacing family friendly types, like the Hillbillies.
After his wrestling career wound down, Hillbilly became one of the key behind the scenes mainstays for the WWE, offering invaluable advice to WWE chairman Vince McMahon and his booker, Pat Patterson, as well as overseeing the WWE’s Coliseum Home Video department.
I might add that while Hillbilly is perceived to be this uneducated country hick type, in actuality he’s a university graduate and is one of the most intelligent guys I’ve come to know in the wrestling business.
In recent years, Hillbilly resurfaced, as part of the popular WWE television series, “Legends House”, along with old friends, including; the late, great Roddy Piper, Mean Gene, Pat Patterson, Howard Finkel and Tony Atlas. He also hosts the critically acclaimed Sirius Satellite radio show Moonshine Matinee.
I’d like to take this opportunity to extend my congratulations to Hillbilly on having been chosen for the WWE 2018 Hall of Fame class. Not only was he a superlative performer in the ring, but has remained one of the nicest guys in the business and a class act all the way.
On that note, I’ll all this a wrap, but will look forward to catching up with you next time.
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