J. J. Dillon

J.J. Dillon's career in professional wrestling began in 1958 when he started a fan club for Johnny Valentine.  Four years later, on July 11, 1962, to be exact, he wrestled in Vineland, New Jersey, against Juan Rodriguez in his first professional match.  A return match against Rodriguez followed soon after that, but young Jim Morrison didn't have another venture into the wrestling business until 1963, when he refereed the television matches at Channel 3, the NBC affiliate in downtown Philadelphia.

Jim's career finally went into high gear on December 6, 1968, when he wrestled in a tag team match on Dayton, Ohio, TV with partner Ron Sanders against Chris Colt and Ron Dupree.  He made a career for himself under the name Jim Dillon as he competed through several territories, including Pittsburgh, the Carolinas, the Maritimes, Amarillo, and Florida, before winding up in Dallas, Texas.

In November, 1975, two events took place that changed the direction of his career.  Archie Gouldie, who was wrestling as the Mongolian Stomper, asked Jim to be his manager.  Red Bastien, the booker for the territory, agreed to the idea and changed Jim's name to J.J. Dillon.

J.J. is best known as the manager of the Four legendary Horsemen, but his career as a manager saw him in action in Texas, Georgia, Australia, New Zealand, West Texas, Kansas City, and finally, the Carolinas for WCW.  A short list of the names he managed included Tully Blanchard, Ric Flair, Ole Anderson, Arn Anderson, Lonnie Mayne, Abdullah the Butcher, Brute Bernard, The Spoiler, Kendo Nagasaki, Bruiser Brody, and Ron Bass.

In 1989, J.J. moved from the spotlight into the realm of the "wrestling office," going to work as an in-house agent for Vince McMahon and the WWF.  He worked closely with Vince and became a "man of many talents" as he oversaw talent relations, show production, travel routing, production of promos, and booking of arenas.  In 1996, he left Connecticut and went to work for WCW in Atlanta, Georgia.  Five years later, he was watching television when Vince McMahon appeared on WCW television and made the announcement that he had bought WCW.

J.J. is currently a correctional officer with the Delaware Department of Correction, working his first blue-collar job since his graduation from college in 1964.  He makes appearances at reunions and conventions that honor the wrestling legends, and occasionally manages Tully Blanchard on wrestling shows.

At the 2007 CAC reunion, JJ became the Goodwill Ambassador of the CAC.  He has made it his mission to tell every wrestler and wrestling fan he comes into contact with about the brotherhood of the CAC.

The Cauliflower Alley Club is grateful to JJ for both his work on behalf of the club and his willingness to host the 2008 Reunion banquet!

To visit the JJ Dillon photo album, click here!