| J. J. Dillon | |
|---|---|
 Dillon in 2008 | |
| Birth name | James Morrison |
| Born | June 26, 1942 Trenton, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | J. J. Dillon James J. Dillon Jo Jo Dillon Jim Dillon Jim Valence |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Billed weight | 238 lb (108 kg) |
| Trained by | Eddie Graham |
| Debut | July 11, 1962 |
| Retired | February 19, 2003 |
James Morrison (born June 26, 1942) is an American retired professional wrestler and manager, better known by his ring name, J. J. Dillon. [1]
J. J. Dillon had an extensive wrestling career. He broke into wrestling at the age of 29, starting out in the early 1970s as a referee before transitioning into a wrestler and then a manager, while winning many championships and managing a variety of wrestlers throughout many different territories around the country. He made his Madison Square Garden debut on April 23, 1984, when he challenged Tito Santana for the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, losing by pinfall after a flying forearm by Santana. [2] Dillon is most remembered in pro wrestling as a manager. He guided many wrestlers to singles and tag team titles in the NWA. Dillon, who became manager of Tully Blanchard, [3] achieved his greatest success as the manager of the Four Horsemen which consisted of "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, Blanchard, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, Lex Luger and Barry Windham. After leaving WCW in February 1989, he was a front office executive for the WWF until 1997. On April 21, 1997, he returned to WCW as an on-camera commissioner, a position which lasted until fall 1998. He returned to this role in 1999 before his final departure. In 2003, he had a short stint as an NWA representative in TNA.[ citation needed ]
In 2009, Dillon made a one-night appearance at Deaf Wrestlefest 2009 to team with "Beef Stew" Lou Marconi and "Handsome" Frank Staletto in a six-man tag team match against "Franchise" Shane Douglas, Dominic DeNucci and Cody Michaels. [4] [5] [6]
On December 29, 2019, Dillon joined the Board of Directors of the International Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame. [7] On March 3, 2021, he returned to TNT to act as manager for Tully Blanchard on an episode of AEW Dynamite . [8] In 2022, he appeared on Judge Steve Harvey with wrestler Kevin Sullivan. [9]
Aloysius Martin Thesz, known by the ring name Lou Thesz, was an American professional wrestler. Considered to be one of the last true shooters in professional wrestling and described as the "quintessential athlete" and a "polished warrior who could break a man in two if pushed the wrong way", Thesz is widely regarded as one of the greatest wrestlers and wrestling world champions in history, and possibly the last globally accepted world champion.
Martin Anthony Lunde, better known by his ring name Arn Anderson, is an American professional wrestling road agent, author, and retired professional wrestler. Although he is widely regarded as one of the greatest tag team wrestlers in history, he also had a successful singles career and became a four-time NWA/WCW World Television Champion, which he often called his "world title".
The Four Horsemen is an American professional wrestling stable who originally consisted of Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, and Tully Blanchard.
Yasuhiro Kojima, best known by his ring name Hiro Matsuda, was a Japanese professional wrestler and trainer.
Brian Leslie Blair is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name B. Brian Blair as one half of the tag team The Killer Bees in the 1980s.
Barry Clinton Windham is an American retired professional wrestler. The son of wrestler Blackjack Mulligan, he is best known for his appearances with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
Tully Arthur Blanchard is a Canadian-American professional wrestler and manager. He is best known for his appearances with Jim Crockett Promotions and the World Wrestling Federation in the mid-to-late 1980s as a member of The Four Horsemen and The Brain Busters. Championships held by Blanchard over his career include the NWA World Television Championship, NWA World Tag Team Championship, WWF World Tag Team Championship, and NWA United States Heavyweight Championship. He was inducted into the NWA Hall of Fame in 2009 and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2012.
Nikita Koloff is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with Jim Crockett Promotions and its successor, World Championship Wrestling between 1984 and 1992, where he was billed from Russia. During his career, Koloff held championships including the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, NWA World Tag Team Championship, NWA United States Championship, NWA World Television Championship, and UWF World Television Championship. He was inducted into the George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006 and the National Wrestling Alliance Hall of Fame of 2008.
Terry Wayne Allen is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Magnum T. A. Allen won the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship twice and was being groomed for a potential run with the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, but a car crash in 1986 forced him into retirement. After retiring, Magnum T. A. continued to appear in non-wrestling roles for multiple promotions.
Dorrance Earnest Funk, known professionally as Dory Funk Jr., is an American professional wrestler and wrestling trainer. The son of Dory Funk and brother of Terry Funk, he was the promoter of the Amarillo, Texas-based Western States Sports promotion.
The Brain Busters was the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) name for the professional wrestling tag team of Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. Anderson and Blanchard adopted this name after joining the WWF in 1988 after leaving Jim Crockett Promotions, where the two men had wrestled as part of The Four Horsemen stable and had won the NWA World Tag Team Championship twice. As a team, Anderson and Blanchard are regarded by WWE as three-time world tag team champions, having won the WWF Tag Team Championship during their time in the WWF.
Floyd Gerald "Jerry" Brisco is an American retired professional wrestler. Brisco is best known for his time in the wrestling promotion WWE, where he was a backstage producer, and, during the 1990s, an on-screen character, working alongside Pat Patterson as the "stooges" for the Mr. McMahon character. He was most recently a WWE talent scout where he focused on exclusively recruiting amateur wrestlers into the company.
Dorrance Wilhelm Funk was an American professional wrestler. He is the father of wrestlers Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk, and was a promoter of the Amarillo, Texas-based Western States Sports promotion.
Robert Herman Julius Friedrich, better known by the ring name Ed "Strangler" Lewis, was an American professional wrestler and trainer. During his wrestling career, which spanned four decades, Lewis was a four-time World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion and overall recognized officially as a five-time world champion. Considered to be one of the most iconic and recognizable sports stars of the 1920s, often alongside boxer Jack Dempsey and baseball player Babe Ruth, Lewis notably wrestled in over 6,000 matches and lost only 32 of them.
Freddie Joe "Jack" Brisco was an American amateur wrestler and professional wrestler. As an amateur for Oklahoma State, Brisco was two-time All-American and won the NCAA Division I national championship. He turned pro shortly after and performed for various territories of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), becoming a two-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, and multi-time NWA World Tag Team Champion with his brother Gerald Brisco.
Claude Patterson is an American retired professional wrestler, known by his ring name Thunderbolt Patterson. He began his career in 1964 and wrestled primarily in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. During the early 1970s, he was blacklisted by the National Wrestling Alliance for repeated appearances with outlaw promotions, his complaints of institutional racism and attempts to form a wrestlers' labor union.
Lawrence J. Simon, better known by the ring name Boris Malenko, was an American professional wrestler and professional wrestling trainer. He is best known for his appearances with Championship Wrestling from Florida and Big Time Wrestling in the 1960s and 1970s as a Russian heel. He was the father of professional wrestlers Joe and Dean Malenko.
Lawrence Michael "Mike" Rotunda Jr. is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling in the 1980s and 1990s under the ring names Mike Rotunda, Mike Rotundo, Michael Wallstreet, Irwin R. Schyster, and V.K. Wallstreet.
Joseph Edgar Blanchard was an American football player, professional wrestler and promoter. His son is original Four Horseman member Tully Blanchard and his granddaughter is former Impact Champion Tessa Blanchard.
Dale Folsom Lewis was an American wrestler who competed in the Greco-Roman heavyweight division at the 1956 and 1960 Summer Olympics. He won the 1959 Pan-American Games in Greco-Roman wrestling. Lewis was also a two-time NCAA wrestling champion at Oklahoma.
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