Hillbilly Jim Reveals Why He Almost Skipped WM 34 Before HOF Induction

WWE Hall Of Famer Hillbilly Jim was recently interviewed on The Toddcast Podcast to talk about several professional wrestling topics. Jim revealed that he nearly skipped out on WrestleMania 34 this year after having a difficult time in Orlando the year before. That all changed, of course, when he got the Hall Of Fame call:

“I wasn’t really gonna go to WrestleMania this year because I had such an awful time last year,” said Jim. “I said to myself, if I get home, I’m not gonna go to this again this year, I’m gonna stay off a year because we were in Orlando, Florida last year and I had the worst time getting up there and getting back from it.

“I was three hours delayed out of the airport getting in to Orlando. Then, the whole weekend down there, I was just out of sorts. Whatever I did, I seemed like I couldn’t get caught up. It seemed like it was stressful and I didn’t enjoy it. Then, lo and behold when I came back, tried to get back home, I was four hours delayed. So, I said, if I get home, I’m not going next year.”

Jim tried to avoid WWE, who were relentlessly trying to get ahold of him, as much as he could just prior to WrestleMania. He told Mark Carrano in a voicemail that he thinks he’s going to skip out on “The Show Of Shows” this year:

“8:30 that morning, [WWE] started calling me, and I was curious,” said Jim. “Cause I know [WWE], when they want something, man, they’re like the government… finally, they start calling again, I’ve gotta make a decision. I picked up the phone, and I call one of these numbers back for this guy named Mark Carrano.

“He was the one calling me, and he had Howard Finkle trying to call me and everybody. I said, I might as well handle this now. So here’s what I did on that Sunday morning. I got his machine, I said Mark this is Billy, blah blah blah. Hope you had a good Christmas and a good New Year, I haven’t talked to you a while. But look. I know you’re trying to get me for WrestleMania in New Orleans, but I think I’m gonna pass this year.”

After hanging up the phone, Carrano called Jim right back and told him something that completely changed his mind – “Vince wants you in the Hall of Fame”:

“That was like getting hit in the ear by George Foreman,” said Jim. “I wasn’t ready for that. I totally was just trying to get out of going in the first place. I had no idea about this. I did not know this was in the workings.

“I didn’t know they would offer this, I didn’t know they had this going on. And my brain just knod of shut down, and I was talking like I had marbles in my mouth. And I said, ‘Mark, I gotta reboot my brain, here. And so that’s how I found out about it.”