SLAM! Wrestling recently spoke with WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross, to promote Ross’ new book “Slobberknocker”, and below are some interview highlights:

On the origin of his signature black cowboy hat:

“I put a hat on at the encouragement of ‘the chairman’ [World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon]. Being the typical defiant and ego-centric performer that I have been, I didn’t like the idea. It was stage dress. You can come to Oklahoma anytime you want and you’ll see more people not wearing a hat than do, but the stereotype is that we Okies, we southerners, cowboys and Indians, all that good stuff…we have a hat on.”

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On reinventing himself after leaving WWE in 2013:

“In the 45-minute drive or so, from Stamford, Connecticut, and the WWE Corporate Offices to Laguardia Airport in New York City, I decided that I was going to reinvent. That I wasn’t ready to hang it all up,” he says. “It’s a classic example where you have a bad day and you end your 20-plus year relationship with your company and an hour later you’re thinking of ways to get back into the game.”