Andrew Lutzke
Presented by Sean Oliver and the Kayfabe Commentary Crew
The Man: Born from the loins of legendary double tough wrestler Johnny Valentine, Greg was bred and fed with the notion that pro wrestling should be stiff and realistic. Valentine traversed the country with his father as a teenager and stunned his dad by dropping out of college and telling Johnny he wanted to be a wrestler. Johnny frowned on this at first, but came around on the idea and sent Greg to Calgary in 1970 to train under Stu Hart. By July Greg was working in the ring and in early 1971 Greg moved on to Detroit to continue his seasoning.
Early in his career, Greg chose not to take his father’s name – instead working as “Baby Face Nelson” and John Fargo – teaming with Don Fargo as a fake family duo. They teamed for several years in the Northeast and Mid-west before heading to Texas. By 1974, Greg felt confident enough to change his name to Johnny Valentine Jr. and try to live up to his father’s legacy. Eventually his name was changed to Greg and he was named Johnny’s brother, as promoters feared exposing Johnny’s advanced age. Greg worked in Florida for much of this period, along with making trips abroad to work for New Japan.
Johnny Valentine was crippled in 1975 in a plane crash and Greg was brought into Mid-Atlantic Championship to replace his father. Valentine feuded with Johnny Weaver and was credited with temporarily retiring Weaver with a top rope elbow drop – billed as a deadly move, with Valentine smashing boards with his elbows to prove it.
Valentine formed a legendary team with “Nature Boy” Ric Flair – a tandem that would go on to hold the Mid-Atlantic tag belts twice, during a period where the promotion was overflowing with talent – and the focus of the upper card was largely tag team oriented. They had a violent feud with Ole and Gene Anderson, who both suffered significant injuries during matches with Valentine and Flair at different points. They remained a dominant team until being stripped of the titles in April 1978 by NWA President Eddie Graham for “unprofessional conduct”. Flair moved on to chasing singles gold, while Valentine teamed with Baron Von Raschke to win the tag belts again before that year was through.
Greg also feuded with Chief Wahoo McDaniel over the Mid-Atlantic’s top singles belt during this period – Wahoo had cost Flair and Valentine the tag gold in ’77 and Valentine broke his leg as revenge. Wahoo’s legs were said to be too thick to have Valentine’s figure four leglock be effective, and thus Valentine broke his ankle instead. This led to Valentine wearing his infamous “I broke Wahoo’s Leg” T-shirt. Wahoo returned in August and sought revenge- taking the MACW Heavyweight gold from Valentine, before losing it back to Greg in September. Valentine would go on to lose the title in April of ’78 to Ken Patera.
Valentine started to split time between MACW and the WWWF. In Vince Sr.’s WWWF, Valentine injured Chief Jay Strongbow and chased Bob Backlund’s World title, taking him to sixty minute draws and even “winning” the World title during a goofy angle where Backlund pinned Greg, but the ref was woozy and gave Valentine the belt instead. Backlund’s title was held up until a rematch a month later could determine the “real” champ. Valentine also “injured” Pedro Morales during this run – leading to more matches near the top of the card for Greg.
Meanwhile in MACW, Greg asked Flair to reform their team in late ’79. Flair was a babyface by this point and declined. Valentine turned to Ray “Crippler” Stevens to replace Flair and they captured the tag belts. It was revealed that the promoters had film that proved that the illegal man was pinned during the title change, and that NWA President Bob Geigel should be given the film for review. Stevens and Valentine attacked Crockett and took the film from him, cutting it up to destroy the evidence.
Eventually Greg claimed that he wanted to make amends with Flair and the fans. Flair agreed to reform their team – a move that proved to be a mistake as Greg turned on Flair during a tag match then broke Flair’s nose with a cane. This led to the two men trading the US title back and forth over the next several months. Eventually Wahoo and Valentine renewed their feud in ’82 and Greg beat McDaniel for the US title in November
Valentine’s final significant feud in MACW was with Roddy Piper – Piper beat Greg for the US title in April of 1983, two weeks later Greg busted Piper’s ear open during a rematch and this caused his equilibrium to be ruined. A hobbled Piper lost his title that night as the ref chose to step in and stop the match. Once Piper returned from injury, he hung Valentine with a rope during a TV taping. Eventually Piper would introduce Valentine to the concept of a “dog collar chain match” which led to the culmination of their feud at Starrcade ’83 – a match Piper won, albeit without the title on the line. Greg would lose the title a few weeks later to Dick Slater and Valentine then jumped to the expansion minded WWF where he and Piper “made up” on “Piper’s Pit”. More on that next time….
The Shoot: Valentine puts over Jesse Ventura’s announcing.
Greg speculates that Vince wanted to turn Blackjack Mulligan heel and go after Andre.
“The Hammer” hates Canada. Driving stunk.
Tonga Kid no shows some WWF events and jumps to Pro Wrestling USA. May have been $$ related.
Valentine missed a show thanks to not remembering a schedule change due to some narcotics of some sort.
Vince Jr. was hard to contact during the crazy expansion era.
The Hammer wasn’t big on the idea of the WWF having a female ref.
Greg says Vince had things planned out months in advance, while WCW didn’t know what was happened the day of TV tapings.
Lou Albano’s drunken rants are discussed.
Hillbilly Jim was lucky to receive the push he did, as he had limited in ring talent and somehow is still making money with Vince to this day.
Beefcake and Valentine facing the Hillbillies was brutal as the hicks stunk in the ring.
Uncle Elmer sold the guys fake Rolexes.
Greg liked Fuji in his managerial role.
Valentine hated Japan in the 70’s before they became westernized. The travel was terrible.
David Schultz tried to attack Mr. T twice in the same day and was fired.
Valentine also notes that Mr. T was a primadonna and the locker room hated him.
Schultz felt he was being screwed by the booking so he planned on shooting on Mr. T to force himself back into the main event angle.
Bruno Sammartino was a good guy who let Valentine get heat on him. Bad hair weaves though.
Andy Warhol was frequently at MSG. Danny Devito and Gene Hackman also paid for ringside seats.
Valentine was upset that 20/20 “exposed” the business. Greg makes fun of all the ways people used to think they “faked” blood.
The Hammer says blading could and should be used as a climax to a match.
Greg liked Jimmy Hart as a manager – although Jimmy woke him up way too early at hotels.
Davey Boy Smith set the tail of Damien the snake on fire and then the snake attacked Jake and tried to suffocate him.
Valentine mocks Dusty Rhodes’ weight and says Dusty sunk JCP.
WTBS studios was a huge step down from the other, larger arenas that WWF was taping TV shows at.
Vince didn’t offer up any special speech for Wrestlemania 1 – Vince personally checked on the condition of his more troubled stars to try and see if they were intoxicated or high that night.
Orndorff was miscast as a babyface.
Saturday Night’s Main Event was exciting to be part of – but the interview scripting annoyed most of the guys.
Pedro Morales was hard to get good matches out of, but Valentine could work around anyone.
Valentine suspects Ken Patera was suffering from roid rage when he tossed a rock through a McDonald’s window and attacked several police officers.
Edouard Carpentier got a TV squash win at age 59 as a favor to Dino Bravo and the Montreal office.
Mel Phillips’ foot fetish was well known, but the locker room didn’t really care.
Flair sent gifts to PWI for their promoting of him.
Monsoon came up with the famous finish to the Valentine and Santana cage match where Valentine has the cage door kicked in face as Tito escaped over the top of the cage.
Tito and Ron Garvin were Valentine’s favorite WWF opponents.
Lanny Poffo and Randy Savage were strange people. Greg saw Lanny doing his infamous “contortions”.
Valentine says he and Dino Bravo were booked to steal Matilda from the Bulldogs, but Valentine turned the angle down and asked for he and Bravo to be split.
Beefcake was put with Valentine to learn how to work.
Greg didn’t like using a gimmick finish when The Dream Team won the titles.
Valentine says he wasn’t on the WWF cartoon because the show’s characters were each representing an ethnic group.
Lou Albano wrestled Fred Blassie in a cage match in ’85 – the combined age of the men were 119.
Greg made $80,000 in royalties for his first action figure.
A New York politician tried to ban wrestling in late ’85.
Dan Spivey’s toughness is discussed – as well as the beating he gave Adrian Adonis during a legit scuffle.
Rick McGraw would pass out in his food at restaurants due to drug use.
The taping of the “Wrestling Album” music video was an all-day affair as Meatloaf was stooging too much and Iron Sheik was blowing his lines.
Valentine wishes he had saved more money and not spent so much on drugs.
Final Thoughts: This shoot was like the Hammer himself, solid but unspectacular. I appreciate Valentine’s old school views and the Timeline series almost always delivers. Greg offered enough interesting tidbits and perspective to seek this DVD out- especially if you want to reminisce about one of the most pivotal years in WWF history.
