Greg "The Hammer" Valentine was the take no-nonsense, ornery, stodgy, tough as nails antithesis of the flashy, gimmick-heavy 80s WWF. It was a promotion was felt the need to make Ricky Steamboat in a kung-fu ninja expert or One Man Gang into Akeem. Everyone had to have a gimmick, even if they were just playing up their ethnicity like Tito Santana or British Bulldogs. The Hammer stood in stark contrast to this newfound, colorful regime. He was a throwback to the territory days where tough men ruled the ring with stiff punches and a scowl. Hell, the only time he did not have a scowl on his face was when he was begging off for babyfaces.
Valentine had actually been first brought in the WWF as an adversary for the Bob Backlund during his run in 1979 and then again in 1981. You can find out more about these runs by listening to the Titans of Wrestling at Place To Be Nation (King of the Shameless Plugs). I have only seen the 1979 draw at MSG, but it is among my favorite one hour draws and a real testament to both men's work ethnic. During these intermittent runs, he worked primarily in Mid-Atlantic where he is especially known for his violent and bloody Dog Collar match with Roddy Piper at the inaugural Starrcade. Until seeing his work against Buddy Rose, this was my undisputed number one Roddy Piper match. Valentine would return to WWF in 1984 working an excellent, excellent match with Backlund at MSG, working with Hogan and then what many have called the greatest WWF Feud of the 80s: Valentine vs Santana over the IC Title. However, this blog begins with the birth of the Dream Team and charts Valentine's work in the late 80s. The Valentine vs Santana feud deserves its own blog.
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| Up there with Hulk Who & Owen 3:16 as the greatest Wrestling Shirts Ever |
When he joined up with Brutus Beefcake to form the Dream Team, it is a perfect example of how well booked the WWF was in the 1980s. They where able to shift the a super hot heel away from the I-C Title and move him into the Tag Division where he can help get over new babyface tag teams and Brutus Beefcake. Valentine is such an effective worker in making his opponent earn his keep and forcing them to wrestle outside their comfort zone that by placing him in a tag team you are essentially tripling his effectiveness because now you have two opponents and Brutus Beefcake get over. Beefcake came out of the Dream Team break up as the No. 3 or No.4 babyface from 1988-90. That's a great run and a lot of it is how well Valentine taught him and put him over (Being Hulk Hogan's best friend does not hurt either). The British Bulldogs would run roughshod over most teams just throwing out offense aimlessly were coerced by Valentine's hard-hitting style to wrestle more complete matches. Valentine reigned in the Bulldogs way better than Bret ever did.
Unfortunately after the Dream Team break-up feud, Valentine wallowed in the mid-card mire without much direction. His team with Dino Bravo was broken up prematurely in my estimation and I think their team could have really been a boon to tag division especially in the lean heel years. What is interesting is that when Vince truly does run out of tag teams, who does he call upon, but Valentine to form Rhythm N Blues with Honky Tonk Man to give the Hart Foundation adversaries. In 1988, you almost get the sense he has a renewed singles push, but he is often placed with babyfaces that have no real upward mobility:over-the-hill Don Muraco, George Steele and Ronnie Garvin. Even though he was meandering, he was still having kick-ass classics with Tito Santana, the Blue Blazer and Ronnie Garvin. It is hard for me to assess what value Vince saw in Greg Valentine. I see a sturdy workhorse heel that can get heat with Jimmy Hart and be trusted to have great matches up and down the roster. Utility players in all walks of life are invaluable and often under-appreciated. Given some of Valentine's post -Dream Team booking, you get the sense he is being under-appreciated and that there were a lot of places he could have been used more effectively. Occasionally, he will be tapped for a big project like Rhythm N Blues or actually given the gimmick of the HeartBreaker that took a year and a half to pay off, but it all feels very stagnant just spinning his wheels. Don't get me wrong, I loved the Garvin matches, but it felt as if was taking place in vacuum neither guy was going anywhere. I just feel Valentine still had a lot more to offer given how good those matches were..
In this era of Rock N Wrestling, Valentine stood out by being a rough and tumble, meat and potatoes wrestlers. He was going to hit you hard, work a body part and sell & bump like a million bucks for the babyfaces. Basically, his gimmick was he was a NWA heel wrestling in the WWF. As watched more and more of the Hammer, he vaulted to top of my list of people I wish had gotten a World Title run. I don't think he could have ever been the WWF World Champion, but I believe he would have been a strong NWA or AWA World Champion. Inside the ring, there a lot of similarities to Flair in terms of spots: hard, stiff blows, Flop vs TIMBAHHH, figure-4, begging off and generally making faces look good. Valentine did it in a different way than Flair. He worked on top and worked at a slower pace. He made the babyface earn it making them look good by having them fight from underneath. I never felt that Valentine ever guzzled a babyface in a match. I always felt he divvied up the match according to the story he wanted to tell to maximize the effectiveness of the match. He reigned in the Bulldogs, made Beefcake look good (no small feat), had brawls with Tito Santana & Ronnie Garvin that felt like they should have been at the Greensboro Coliseum, worked great veteran vs speedy upstart matches against the Blue Blazer and the Rockers. In my mind, he is a mortal lock for the WWF's Top 5 Workers of the 80s (Savage, Backlund and Santana are my other locks). I believe he is underappreciated due to his lack of flash in an era when children were bewildered by these larger than life figure. It is precisely his bruising, ornery disposition that makes him stand out in the WWF because he was unique in this style forcing WWF wrestlers into interesting predicaments and making them all better for it.
The Choice Cuts from Greg Valentine's post-IC Title Run (1985-1990)
The Dream Team vs Tito Santana & Ricky Steamboat - MLG 4/85
WWF World Tag Team Champions US Express vs Dream Team - MSG 9/85
WWF World Tag Team Champions Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - Wrestlemania II
WWF World Tag Team Champions British Bulldogs vs Dream Team - SNME 10/86
Survivor Series '87
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Tito Santana - MSG 11/88
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Blue Blazer - Boston 4/89
The New Dream Team vs The Rockers - 6/89
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin - MLG 10/89
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin - Royal Rumble '90
Just Missed the Cut
Dream Team vs The Islanders - MSG 12/86
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Brutus Beefcake - MSG 7/87
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| The Dream Team! |
The Dream Team w/Jimmy Hart vs Tito Santana & Ricky Steamboat - MLG 4/85
This match sure lived up to the hype and may be the best Beefcake performance I have ever seen. This match was all about tempo. Santana was in his red-hot feud with Valentine who had broken his leg and taken his title. The crowd was molten for that angle. The babyfaces worked their entire end in an up-tempo, fired -up fashion. The Dream Team knowing they could not match this attempted every trick in the book to break their momentum and work a real grinding style. This led to a really good match.
Early on Steamboat and Santana have a hot shine sequence with Beefcake and Valentine just bumping all over the place for them. I have been down on WWF Steamboat, but he was pumped for this match just flying around the ring. You know that Tito is going to bring the hate with his fists balled up. Beefcake and Valentine do their best to stall and break this momentum, but at first there seems like no end to this onslaught. Until, Tito goes for the figure-4 on Valentine, who grabs his trunks and hits a knee in the midsection. Once he hits a shoulderbreaker he consolidates the advantage for the Dream Team and grinds the match to a halt. They work on Santana with some double teams and Valentine slaps on an arm bar. Tito is almost able to make the tag, but Valentine knocks Steamboat off the apron and then Beefcake comes around and beats on Steamboat. The crowd was just eating this all up. The Beefer gets cocky and goads Steamboat. Tito is able to crawl past Beefcake and get the hot tag to Steamboat. IT IS BREAKING LOOSE IN TORONTO! Steamboat with his best hot tag I have seen. He unloads on both the Hammer and the Beefer with karate shots. The crowd was losing their shit for this. Steamboat grabs the sleeper hold, but Beefcake with an eye-rake. Valentine and Steamboat have a good exchange until an eye-rake does Steamboat in and Valentine consolidates with a gut buster. I preferred the Steamboat FIP is a better at selling and the Dream Team really unloaded with double teams and offense. Valentine starts to warm him up for the figure-4, but Steamboat knows his way around the figure-4 and grabs an inside cradle. Steamboat fights out of the corner and is able to Tito. ARRIBA! Double noggin knocker. Tito drops Valentine with a right. Flying Burrito to a huge pop! Beefcake saves. Melee ensues. They are double teaming Tito and Steamboat flies off the top onto Beefcake. Tito blocks Valentine's atomic drop and applies the figure-4 for the submission victory. ARRIBA! Wooooooooooooo, I am out of breathe after that one.
This is babyface wrestling 101, folks. Steamboat and Santana gave maximum effort and I bet it is real easy when you have a crowd as hot as this one at the Maple Leaf Gardens. The Dream Team wrestled a smart match to ensure constant heat throughout the match as they built not one, but two really hot tags. In some of those double FIP AWA tags, the first hot tag is not all that hot, but in this match that Steamboat hot tag is just as red-hot as the following Santana one. Beefcake actually wrestled pretty well here and was not as awkward as usual. The Hammer is going to clog the lane every time and make sure that babyface earns every shot. This up there with the Bulldogs match as one of the best WWF Tags of the 80s.
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WWF Tag Champs US Express vs The Dream Team - Philly 9/85
I am glad I went back and watched these two Dream Team matches because they could contend with the Islanders as my favorite heel tag team in 80s WWF. I will say one of the disappointments of Valentine sticking in one promotion for so long is that we did not get stuff like Valentine vs Windham one on one at length. Also, what I do not understand is why Beefcake seemed to suck so hard in '86. I mean Valentine barely let Beefcake wrestle in Wrestlemania II. He wrestled pretty decently in these two matches. He is still only the fourth best wrestler in these matches, but he is not sucking out loud.
I loved the start to this match as the Dream Team jumps them and a melee ensues. The Windham/Valentine exchange makes me want that singles match so much. The faces send the heels packing. Valentine & Beefcake true to form work smart and try to break their momentum. We get Windham/Valentine proper and the two minutes we get is awesome. Valentine stops the runaway freight train with a knee lift. Beefcake loses this advantage and we go to Heel In Peril with some arm work. I actually think Beefcake sold this pretty well and Rotundo worked pretty well in this segment. The US Express even hits a double dropkick (way better than Rockers one) on Beefer. Beefcake works Rotundo to his corrner and he blind tagged Valentine, who came off the top with a sledge onto Rotundo. Valentine suffocates Rotundo and is relentless on his legs and Rotundo sells pretty well. Rotundo is good at working some strikes in his hope spots in the corner. I dig Dream Team double whip into the corner. We hit the front facelock for a while. I will say the Valentine drop toehold to prevent Rotundo from making the tag is one of the best of those kind. Windham and Valentine get back into it. I just love how chippy this is. Valentine hits his shoulder breaker. I dig the shoulderbreaker I think someone should incorporate it in their moveset, but it is weird for Valentine's moveset. Valentine gets kicked off by Rotundo on his figure-4 into his corner so he can tag Beefer. Rotundo and Beefcake knock heads and The Hammer throws the Beefer on Rotundo and it is a close two! The crowd lets out a collective sigh of relief. But Rotundo escapes and hot tag to BIG BARRY!!! I love how Windham steps through his punches. He hits Valentine with a bulldog, but Valentine KICKS OUT! Now that's a death sentence for a babyface. Windham goes for the second bulldog, but Beefcake puts "Luscious" Johnny V's hair product in Barry's eyes. Valentine hits an elbow to seal the deal. I love how Windham is writhing in pain while he is being pinned, perfect selling.
The other match is definitely the better workrate match and the front facelock stuff does drag, but Windham & Valentine are really excellent. I wish they would some of that beginning melee stuff in other matches it gives matches a more heated feel. I thought this is one of the better title switches I have seen.
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WWF Tag Champs Dream Team vs Killer Bees - Boston 12/85
Holy shit! It is Jim Brunzell with a beard! "He must got tired of looking 16." - Jesse The Body
Valentine is one of the best 80s WWF workers by far and away. He is always great to watch when he is in the ring. He works a great chain sequence with Blair similar to the '87 match. He takes a bunch of suplexes from the Bees He sells well for both Bees as they work over his legs. Of course, he works in TIMBAAAAAAAAH! Blair gets caught trying to put the figure 4 on Valentine. Beefcake comes in. He stomps around and makes a lot of noise but doesnt do much. Valentine forsakes grappling and earns the moniker "The Hammer" with his sledges from the tough. Blair is able to maneuver away from Beefcake to tag in Brunzell. Jim and all his nefwound masculinity overwhelm the Dream Team. His new look does not affect his dropkick, but it does affect his awareness as he gets hit from behind while applying the sleeper to Beefcake. That is the finish. It was a decent match, but demonstrates what could have been with The Hammer.
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WWF World Tag Champs Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - SNME 3/1/86
They show a clip of the Bulldogs beating the Dream Team non-title and the finish was sweet for any time period. Davey Boy did his running power slam on Beefcake and then hoisted up Valentine fireman's carry style and then Dynamite jumped on Valentine while he was on Davey Boy and hit his diving headbutt to win. I marked out.
This was an offensive showcase for all the Bulldogs' high tech offense, plain and simple. Matches like these will never be rated among the greatest, but at the same time I never complain about them especially when a team like the Bulldogs is being showcased because they are so good at offense. It never feels like heel in peril because there are literally no holds. It just slam bang spots from the Bulldogs. The only problem is that it is Valentine and Beefcake taking them. I like Valentine a good bit, but this match isn't exactly his forte. He is much better in even, long-ish brutal or scientific matches. These matches pretty show he has his one "TIMBAHHHH" bump and other than that he doesn't do a great job putting over the Bulldogs. It is serviceable, but not great. Beefcake sucks. I forgot how truly shitty he is.
The best parts of the matches were the Hammer's forearm exchanges with each of the Bulldogs. On the first one, Bulldog answered with a dropkick, but in a nice touch he really sold Valentine's offense (maybe he didnt have to wink.gif ). Then second exchange with Dynamite led to the very brief face in peril segment where the Hammer actually hit his second rope elbow. Dynamite pushes him off on the figure-4 attempt; Valentine takes the Flair gorilla press slam bump off the top. Just as the Bulldogs seem like they are closing in on the titles, Dynamite and Valentine collide on a criss-cross and Valentine falls on top.
If I ever wanted to show somebody the Best Hits of the Bulldogs, so to speak this would be the match. I actually think that was a good finish because the story of the match was how much the Bulldogs dominated, but fell short due to unfortunate circumstances. It makes you want to see the Wrestlemania II match. It is an effective and fun match.
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WWF World Tag Champs Dream Team vs British Bulldogs - Wrestlemania II
Beefcake's total amount of time in this match is literally one minute. Thank God. At one point, Gorilla says Valentine has been in there a while and whilst the Hammer conferring with Luscious Johnny V remarks he can't believe Johnny V wouldn't advise a tag out. All I have to say is Gorilla have you seen Beefcake wrestle? Of course, Beefcake's one big move is actually a nice hammerlock slam that was perfectly fed to him by Davey Boy and perfectly setup by Valentine's arm work, but it doesn't stop Gene and Gorilla from going gaga over the Beefer's one move. Give me Dino Bravo every day over that chump.
This begins as less of an offensive showcase for the Bulldogs. They still get in their assortment of suplexes (Davey Boy- delayed vertical and Dynamite's snap) and Davey Boy does a gorilla press slam, but Valentine is able to get in a few forearms edgewise throughout. I wouldn't go so far to call spot monkeys like the Steiners (who I love, even though I know most people around these parts arent too fond of), but you do get the feeling that don't really give much of a fuck about structure. Case in point, Dynamite forces Valentine to do the TIMBAHHH bump twice, when he could have done a better job to maximize its effectiveness.
Valentine irks me as he randomly just picks up Dynamite at one point and gives him what can be best described as a reverse tombstone piledriver. It just annoys because it felt so much like "Ok now it is my turn" rather him even doing an eye rake to set that up. That does setup Valentine doing his best Flair impersonation, crotching himself and then taking the gorilla press slam. The Bulldogs go for the rocket launcher diving headbutt, but Valentine does some cat and mouse is able to the knee the fuck out of Dynamite (those were pretty vicious). Davey Boy comes in only for his shoulder to eat steel setting up the face in peril segment. Valentine shoulder-breaker and usual hammerlock related offense including Beefcake's sole contribution to the match, I mentioned above. Valentine makes the cardinal mistake of overconfident heels and picks up Davey Boy after the shoulderbreaker.
Davey Boy throws Valentine off who collides with Dynamite head first standing on the turnbuckle. Dynamite takes a wicked bump off-camera and the Bulldogs win the titles. I actually like that finish as a callback to the SNME finish. This match was an outstanding one man effort by Valentine as he was bumping and selling for the Bulldogs better because he made this into more his style match as a brutal strike based match. However, he still let the Bulldogs get their spots in. As evidenced by Beefcake's inability to take Dynamite's hooking clothesline in the last match, he clearly was not the man to do that. I have watched the Funks vs Tito/JYD recently, while that is good. This match is still my pick for the best match at the woeful Wrestlemania II card.
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Greg Valentine vs Davey Boy Smith - 10/20/86 MSG
I was pretty pumped when I found out this match exists, but it never reaches unheralded classic status I hoped it would. If Davey Boy bothered selling, maybe things could have been different, but as the match is it is just a plain 'ol good match between two very good wrestlers. What sets Valentine apart from the rest of WWF at this point is just how stiff he lays in his shots. It really gives his matches a special feel. They trade bearhugs, which is actually a unique way for Davey Boy to show off his power. Valentine really starts to lay into Davey Boy with forearms and then his shoulderbreaker. I am not against the shoulderbreaker, I think it is a move that should be utilized more frequently, but I don't really get why "Master of the Figure 4" Greg Valentine would be using it. Valentine begins working on the leg, but that ends up being no sold as Davey Boy slaps on the Sharpshooter of all things. Had Bret even debuted the Sharpshooter at this point?
So much for that leg work as Davey Boy does a delayed vertical suplex and his powerslam. Valentine does his cat and mouse game trick. Does anyone really believe Valentine could outrun Davey Boy? Davey Boy was struggling to go slow enough to not overtake Valentine, maybe if he sold the leg it wouldn't look so phony. Valentine with some stomps and here comes the figure-4, but Davey Boy gets to the ropes. Davey Boy immediately hits a dropkick. What is selling?
Weird finish as Valentine pretty much out of nowhere double legs Davey Boy and hold onto the ropes to pick up the victory. This match suffered from the 80s WWF hyper-compression issues. Did any WWF match from '84-86 ever go over 25 minutes? The finish didn't make sense because the Bulldogs were about to be programmed with the Harts and the Dream Team shunted down the card. Plus it felt like they just cut the match off prematurely. There is good stuff here and there is no reason to believe that these two could not have delivered an all-time classic, but I just dont think Hulkamania era WWF was the right setting for these two to deliver that.
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WWF World Tag Champs British Bulldogs vs Dream Team - 2 Out of Three Falls SNME 10/86
One impressive thing about this series so far has been that these teams have really gone out and had different matches each time. This match saw the Dream Team in control of majority of the match. Hell, Brutus Beefcake looked shockingly competent. Valentine gets a hold of Dynamite's knee early, but Davey Boy comes in and the Dream Team overwhelm him bringing the injured Dynamite back in. I got to give the man some credit, but the Beefer worked Dynamite's knee pretty well, before Valentine was able to wrangle him into a figure 4 and garner the first fall.
They continue to work over Dynamite's leg at the beginning of the second fall. But Valentine goes for the always tempting second-rope elbow and misses allowing for Davey Boy to come in like the proverbial house afire. Bulldog hits his dropkick, delayed vertical suplex and running powerslam on Valentine before re-doing that wicked bitchin finish from the non-title match with Dynamite leaping off Beefcake and doing a headbutt on Valentine for the second fall.
Towards the beginning of the 3rd fall, there is a strike exchange, which makes me wish there was a Dynamite vs Greg Valentine match. Snap suplex by Dynamite, but he misses the standing headbutt. Valentine is back on the leg, but Dynamite pushes him off on the figure-4 attempt and tags out to Davey Boy. Beefcake gets the tag simultaneously and cuts off Davey Boy (I always want to write Bulldog, but have to stop myself). Valentine hits a suplex and Brutus connects with a high knee, but Dynamite saves. Brutus goes in for a high knee in the corner, but Davey Boy side-steps and picks up the win with a fisherman's suplex.
I would say it is close with the Wrestlemania II, but this is the my favorite match that I have seen between these teams. The match runs through the heels more, which is something I prefer. Hell, Beefcake came through in the clutch and proved me wrong in this match. Valentine was his usually violently awesome self. It is not like the Dream Team ate up the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs got in all of their offense and looked both resilient and impressive in their match. I actually think the other matches were too lop-sided in the favor of the Bulldogs that it actually made the Dream Team look like chumps. This match actually made the Bulldogs look more badass for overcoming the Dream Team in a way that just being on offensive never would. Dynamite sold really well throughout the match and Davey Boy is a really good hot tag. I would say this is my pick for best WWF 80s tag match I have seen so far.
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The Dream Team vs Islanders 12/86 Boston
Tama is looking PIMP at the beginning of the match. That jacket is fuckin *****, maybe that's why I got distracted. beefcake add his one useful contribution drops down to the Superfly pose and does "Up Yours!". Haku/Tama start with early double teams on Valentine's arm. Haku gets him a figure 4 armlock and head headscissors and also a hammerlock pinfall attempt. Tama and Valentine have a nice vicious exchange and Valentine also takes a cross body from Tama. Haku veers off cours and starts going after legs: single Boston Crab and spreading his legs apart. Basically the first half of the match was jaw-jacking and then has been working over Valentine. Valentine has kept it interesting with some stogging, but I really want to see him light someone up. Valentine gets a wicked reverse elbow to turn the tide and send Tama crashing to the paraquet floor. Tama is milking it for all its worth and once back in gets thrown back to the outside to take some light Beefcake offense. Valentine brings him in a with a suplex. Tags in Beefcake, but before exiting steps on Tama. Beefcake distracts Haku & ref for more Valentine offense. Beefcake knew where his bread was buttered.
Beefcake displays why he is a candidate for worst wrestler of all time with his lame offense. Tama is selling incredibly well and really trying to make up for Beefcake's shitty offense. In such a short time period, Tama has proved himself to have more versatility than most wrestlers display in their whole careers as he plays both an excellent sympathetic face in peril and a great douchebag heel. Valentine comes in and hits a reverse tombstone and then gets a figure 4, but Haku sensing the end is near breaks that up. Tama blocks a Valentine suplex and hits his own. Haku gets the tag and the place is rocking. Haku is a Tongan Tribal Fire Fully Ablaze!!! Haku is just killing the Dream left and right. TIMBAAAAAAAH! Beefcake is calling for timeout. The Islanders have the former champs where they want them. Haku hoists Valentine up and Tama comes acorss with the flying cross body and the bell sounds signaling the time limit draw. TAMA IS PISSED!!! He calls for 5 more minutes. The Dream Team tease taking them up on the offer before bailing. Gorilla gets a word with the three of them and it is a pretty non-descript promo.
Maybe I shouldnt watch matches so late because I did not think it was nearly as good, but I didn't think it was bad either. It was just disappointing. I wanted Valentine and Islanders to really light each other up. Haku was more explosive offensively than I had seen before in the babyface run and Tama was his usual badass self. If only the match I originally outlined was the match that took place.
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| The Hammer schmoozing with Hollywood Big Wigs! |
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I have not fully fleshed this out yet, but hear me out. Valentine is like the Flair of the WWF in the 80s. Valentine and Flair have very similar spots: very stiffing, hard-hitting strikes, Flop vs TIMBAHHH, begging off, figure-4. Flair cuts a bit better pace. Valetine prefers to work on top and Flair is more giving in the ring. I think people who's major hang-up on Flair is that as the champ he got his ass kicked too much, but probably love the Hammer because he does all the Flair stuff, but works on top in the majority of his matches. Since the WWF had Hogan as its ace, they needed their "Flair" to be on top, but rather in the midcard and tag division where he can be put in place to have great matches with a whole host of folks. I thought the following match could be viewed as what a Valentine NWA title defense could be like. I don't even think it is anywhere near his best match, but felt more in that vein than any other singles match I have watched. The one issue with being in the WWF midcard and now being featured is you became prone to getting lost in the mire, which is what hurts Valentine in comparison to Flair.
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "The Rebel" Dick Slater - 1/87 Boston
I love how Gorilla and Lord Alfred always goof on Joey Marella. That's definitely something my Dad would definitely do to me if we were ever on TV together.
Valentine works this match in a style that you would believe would be how he would work a NWA World Title defense. Unlike Flair, even though they have similar mechanics and spots, Valentine is going to work the match more on top and make Slater earn his keep. Valentine has vaulted into my Top 5 wrestlers I wish got World Title runs at some point. I will say I believe this is the only Dick Slater match I have ever seen. I know of the tag team with Bob Orton and feud with Jake the Snake in Mid-South, but other than he is a blind spot in wrestling. He definitely lives up to his reputation as a poor man's Terry Funk with how he sells Valentine's chops and blows. Valentine bails early after Slater gets the first punch in. They regroups, but Slater is able to maintain the advantage until Valentine tosses him over the top rope. Before he brings him in, he swings down the hammer across his chest. Valentine goes for the figure-4 after some hard-hitting work, but Slater counters into the small package. Valentine unloads, but here comes Slater with some punches of his own. TIMBAAAAAHHHHH! He even begs off after this. They have a wicked slugfest in the corner. Valentine gets his foot on the ropes and Slater drops down on his knee and goes for the figure-4 of his own, but Valentine eyerakes. Valentine pours it on with a sleeper and a figure-4 with Slater countering each, but unable to garner any momentum. Valentine pulls his trunks into corner gaining the pinfall while Joey Marella is oblivious to Slater's feet on his ropes. That is not going to help his reputation.
Valentine still went out of his way to put over Slater with TIMBAAAHHH and selling the leg of the figure-4, but I did not get a good feel for what were Slater's spots or what him unique. This really felt like Valentine was the champion and they were going to run his match which is a high-intensity slugfest.
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I take it back, this following Tom Zenk match is a better representation of what I think would be a prototypical Greg Valentine NWA Title Defense. Zenk is that perfect mid-card white meat babyface fodder that Flair would defend against (as he would in early '90) often. It was interesting to get to see Valentine in this context.
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Tom Zenk - 2/87 Philly
The Dream Team was programmed with the Can-Ams (I have not found the tag match and we are robbed of Valentine/Martel in '87, my dream match) thus they broke it up to singles affairs for this show. They start off with some hot arm work with a good sense of struggle. Valentine follows up with a Oklahoma Slam into the post and then proceeded to stand on Zenk quite a long time. I was listening to the Titans show, I was laughing so hard during this part. This is a great match to contrast with the Flair match because Valentine is working on top and Zenk is forced to shine via selling rather than through offense. He hung him out to dry with a front suplex onto the ropes followed up with a figure-4. Valentine knees Zenk onto the floor and then swings the Hammer down on the ropes. I loved the bit with Zenk pulling Valentine out to the floor and he holds onto the ref. Even though Valentine prefers to work on top, he still shows ass like the above and then later lets Zenk chase him around the ring. Valentine wins the chase, but Zenk finally fires up and does a poor man's Martel with his highstepping. Finally, Valentine hoists him up and crotches him on the top rope, which the ref signals for the DQ.
I don't think this is as good as the Slater match, but it is not a bad match per se. The Flair-style matches let the opponents look good, but they are just doing the Flair spots and only the cream of the crop were able to actually stand out by contributing. The Valentine-style matches force the opponents to look good at selling and earning it. However, again, his opponents do not show anything that makes them stand out. They look plug-in-play wrestlers while Valentine wrestle around him. You have to hold these wrestlers accountable. I think the Valentine/Blazer match is a great showcase of how the Valentine can get a wrestler over, but it is on that wrestler ultimately to get himself over by contributing interesting and unique spots. Valentine has proved time and time again that he can get good matches out people as disparate as Zenk and Muraco, which shows his style is readily adaptable.
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Brutus Beefcake - 7/87 MSG
I felt compelled to include a match from this series even given my disdain for the Beefer. Valentine must have really not wanted to lose his hair because they put over the ultimate goal being to cut "Luscious" Johnny V instead of Valentine's golden locks. This series is also important because it bridged Beefcake from top heel tag wrestler to #3 or #4 babyface from 1988-90. Shockingly, this is a very good match, but who am I to doubt Greg Fuckin Valentine. They work in this WWF feud style so it is not a Katie Bar The Door Pier-Six Brawl, but just than version of it. Beefcake knocks their heads together and starts teeing off on Valentine. I love how Valentine sells the atomic drop as hurting his body from the tailbone to the top of his head. Valentine uses the leverage move into the turnbuckles to gain the advantage and Johnny V chokes Beefcake. "Luscious" Johnny V taunts the debilitated Beefcake with his hair. Valentine crashes down on Beefer with all his weight. Valentine applies the figure-4 onto Beefcake. He kicks Valentine off on his second attempt into the turnbuckles. I like how in WWF matches this is not an immediate transition, but there is a real sense of struggle. Valentine goes for a desperation suplex, but Beefcake reverses it. Beefcake reels off a nice lariat and follows up with his sleeper on Valentine and then on Johnny V before Dino Bravo interferes. They cut off a couple locks before the Bulldogs save.
It is not an all-time great match, but Beefcake is surprisingly good throughout this match. He brought plenty of energy in his shine and home stretch runs. He actually worked in some hope spots in the heat segment and he sold pretty well. Valentine was Valentine, which is to say he was pretty damn good. I loved him crashing down on Beefcake with all his weight and I thought he sold like a million bucks for Beefcake. Given, the crowd reactions it was to easy to see that Beefcake was getting over and definitely part of that was how well Valentine sold for him and structured the match around him.
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The "Not Yet Fabulous" Rougeaus vs The New Dream Team - 9/87 MSG
"Luscious" Johnny V has to rank among the most worthless managers in history. He is doing the Buddy Roberts wig gimmick since Beefcake chopped off his hair, but way lamer. The three members of the Dream Team do a lot of hugging. In 2012, hugging gets you babyface heat, o society how far you have fallen. biggrin.gif Bravo and Valentine even do a heel miscommunication spot early and hug afterwards warming my cockles of my heart. So Bravo strikes me as an energetic, yet less smooth version of Don Muraco. He isn't half-bad. Valentine does his "TIMBAAHHHH" bump 4 times, but is like "Fuck you, if you expect me to do any other bumps or sell". The heat segment is better than expected even though the Raymond is quite boring as a face in peril because Valentine and Bravo have so much stuff. I guess that is what happens when both your heels used to be singles wrestlers. Jacques gets the hot tag and he is house afire, but his offense isn't impactful. Johnny V gets his wig knocked off, but it takes way from the match rather than add to it because it happens outside the ring. Double bodyslam by Dream Team sets up a Valentine figure-4, but the time limit expires even though the Dream Team thought they had won. Weird finish as it made the Rougeaus look like they were lucky to even be hanging with the Dream Team. It was clear looking at the Rougeaus match listing that they weren't getting over as faces so maybe the finish stems from that. At that same time, I don't think the New Dream Team was going anywhere. Maybe it was just Vince throwing a curveball. This is a better match to showcase that Valentine/Bravo were actually a pretty decent team, better than Valentine's one man show with Beefcake. However, it is not a good showcase for the Quebecois.
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New Dream Team vs The Killer Bees 10/87 MSG
I like Valentine enough that I thought this could be good. Actually before the shit finish, I liked the match quite a bit. Valentine did some really excellent wrestling with both the Bees working in a nice fireman's carry by Blair and grabbing a headscissors on Brunzell before tagging out. It was nice to see some actual grappling as a change of pace. Bravo was a little stiff in the ring, but he showed energy and even did a leapfrog. Brunzell played face in peril after Bravo threw him into the Valentine's elbow. I really felt that the Dream Team had the blueprint for how Demolition should work as Valentine has that similar rough and tumble style with a lot of elbows and general rough housing. He is just way more convincing than either of the Demolition, which look like a bunch of cartoon characters as they stomp on the ring. Valentine got kicked off on his figure-4 attempt. TIMBAAAAAAH! They throw Brunzell on the outside and it is Masked Confusion. It is not an inherently stupid gimmick. I think someone who played it off with a little comedic panache like Eddie Guerrero would have made it into a great gimmick. Instead these two white bread wrestlers just seem like dicks for doing this. This is a decent Valentine match, but it shows after a weak 1987 that 1988 does not look too much better for him. I believe he broke up with Bravo shortly after, but with the Hart Foundation & Demolition turning babyface in 1988 and the onset of the Rockers, I think they could have used a Valentine heel tag team to even the sides.
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Team Hart Foundation (Hart Foundation, Islanders, Demolition, New Dream Team & Bolsheviks) vs Team Strike Force (Strike Force, British Bulldogs, Rougeaus, Killer Bees & Young Stallions) - Survivor Series 1987
I knew this match was well-regarded, but I had no idea what outcome was. I can not believe the two bottom feeding babyface tag teams were the winners. More so, I cant believe the match was booked around the Young Stallions being booked as the stars. There was no reason before or after to understand this book decision as Strike Force and British Bulldogs continued to be the preeminent babyface tag teams for the near future with the Rockers, Hart Foundation and Demolition ending the next year as the top three babyface tag teams. Odd booking aside, this was a really fun match. They did not really try to weave a story, but it was action-packed and they busted out some pretty cool moves. The only story, I really noticed was the resiliency of the Young Stallions. Just because the Young Stallions were booked as the stars, does not mean they wrestled well, mind you. They were the worst wrestlers out there. Notably, Jim Powers was being a huge pussy for not taking the hotshot on 2 occasions.
The match started off with Martel/Volkoff tearing it up shades of how good their SNME match would turn out. Volkoff looked like a monster Tito hit the Flying Burrito to get the pin on Boris. Ax came in and did his usual Demoition bit. They establish the nature of the gimmick with tons of quick tags that keep the action fresh. One notable exchange was the chop exchange between Haku/Dynamite, where the hell was that in their matches. Everyone is hitting all their stuff with a lot of intensity. The Stallions get worked over a little bit. Jacques gets the tag, but crashes and burns on a reverse cross body and Ax gets the pin. The Stallions get crushed by a Neidhart backbreaker/Haku flying chop. The Valentine adds a sweet shoulderbreaker and a vertical suplex (he throws him more than slams him back). Dino Bravo hits like the best gutwrench suplex ever and they still cant pin the Stallions. Demolition becomes fustrated and gets themselves DQ'd by pushing the ref. Bret crushes Dynamite with a piledriver and cant get the pin. The heels just cant buy a win. Tama/Martel have a great exchange as usual, but Martel applies his Boston Crab too close to the heel corner and Neidhart clobbers him. Santana makes a similar mistake on a pinfall attempt and gets whacked in the big of the head by a Bret elbow and gets pinned!?!?!??!?!? That was the first sign something fishy was up.
Now there is a long Stallions heat segment with Valentine that is pretty decent because Valentine stiffing shitty wrestlers is always fun. Powers refuses to get dropped across the ropes properly because he is a mega-pussy. The match gets clipped here and we miss the Bulldogs getting eliminated. According to one review, I missed a Bret backbreaker into a Tama knee and other general awesomeness. Disappointing. When we come back, the Stallions are still getting beat on, so it appears as if you missed nothing even though you missed the number 2 face tag team being eliminated. Valentien goes for the figure-4, but Roma gets a sunset flip (blind tag) for the win. For shame, as the New Dream Team were the best workers. Though Hart Foundation and Islanders have been working pretty friggin well also. The Killer Bees have been non-existent and Young Stallions have sucked but been the crux of this match.
The Bees begin and Brunzell hits a pretty sweet high knee. Roma is back in to be the face in peril. Islanders start busting out their offense and look great. Brunzell is working offense for the faces, Stallions on FIP duty and Blair on the apron, just where he should be. smile.gif This is the best Brunzell has looked in the WWF. Roma gets the first bit of offense for the Stallions with a fist drop on Bret Hart, but that is short-lived with Bret hitting a suplex on him. Islanders again rocking it in the ring. Brunzell is in with the Hitman. He has the Hitman to be slammed. Tama dropkicks Hitman to get him on top of Brunzell, but Brunzell rolls through for the pin. At this point, I was in shock because I expected the top 2 heel teams to easily vanquish the two babyface jobber tag teams.
Islanders jump right on Brunzell to press while they still can. Islanders do a little too much vulcan nerve pinch, but Haku works in a shoulderbreaker and they are doing their best to keep Brunzell in their corner. Stallions get a quick powerslam, but Islanders are able to overwhelm them again. Blair gets tagged and swarmed (pun intended). Islanders always press their advantage. Wicked reverse elbow by Tama. Tama misses a big elbow, the key weakness of all 80s WWF heels. Brunzell, hot tag, double noggin knocker, DROPKICK~! Haku saves. Brunzell attempts sunset flip on Tama and Blair with mask jumps over and gets his own sunset flip to complete the upset. Brunzell puts on his mask too outside as they celebrate. MASKED CONFUSION~!
On one hand, the Stallions looked awesome by surviving and resilient because they got beat on mercilessly. But they only got in like two offensive moves and they sucked in the ring. Bees showed up half through the match and it was the best Brunzell looked in the WWF, but none babyfaces aside from Martel looked all that great. This was a great showcase for the heel teams as they had a ton of offense and really worked crisp and efficient. It is crazy to think in one years time there would be an utter dearth of heel tag teams and an overabundance of babyface tag teams. I went in with high expectations and it was a bit of a let down. It was action packed and 30+ minutes flew by which is a credit to the teams, but it lacked a great story to really make it classic. It was a great fun, action blockbuster.
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| So does Obamacare cover the surgery to reattach your lower jaw to your upper jaw? |
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts - 5/88 Primetime Wrestling
This was a pretty disappointing affair as most Jake the Snake matches are for me. This is a perfect example of an air-tight logical match that is boring as piss. Roberts did not seem up to work at all as there was no babyface shine and he worked the entirety from underneath in holds. The entire match was structured as Valentine works a hold -> mini-Snake comeback ->signals DDT -> Valentine bails & stall. Rinse, lather and repeat. I will say the first couple holds were boring, but the leg work was the most entertaining and Roberts is always game to sell, just not put any effort into anything else. It did not feel like Valentine was really laying in his shots. They built the entire match around the "D-D-T!", which the crowd was chanting at the beginning until they were lulled to sleep. Now I was ready to be pissed if Roberts signalled for the DDT and then finally hit it because the whole bout was built around Valentine bailing when he knew it was coming. Roberts may be lazy, but he ain't stupid. He hit the DDT out of nowhere, which paid off that internal story. Jake the Snake brought the internal consistency and his usual selling, but left Valentine to the carry the workload in a really layout. Valentine did not even stiff him. Booooooooooooo!
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "The Rock" Don Muraco - PTW 06/88
I went in expecting the absolute worst and was pleasantly surprised at how well this came off and yes that is mostly due to the amazing carrying powers of The Hammer. If you let Valentine work his match, you are the very least going to get a good match and thats why the Roberts match was so boring as the wrestled a Snake match. Muraco put himself in the very capable hands of the Hammer and I was entertained for the 15 minutes of the match. Muraco for his part actually worked hard and ended up blowing up, but at first I was impressed with how quick he looked with all that muscle mass. The short shine was a showcase of Muraco's surprising quickness and one sweet sequence on the mat. Only for Valentine to start taking over with nasty, high chops that look at home in Japan. Yes, Valentine goes back to the chinlock a lot, but I liked his striking and the grittiness. He hit a sick hotshot on Muraco and then started landing wicked blows on Muraco. Muraco takes exception to this, but Valentine bails and resumes his offense with harsh strikes. This has to be up there for one of the best striking showcases from Valentine. Valentine crotches himself on Muraco's knees. Muraco still has some energy with some decent strikes and punctuates with a shoulderbreaker, but only gets two. Valentine starts to work the knee, but he crashes on his ass to the mat. Muraco ends up on top of the ref, but moves at the last second so Valentine lands an elbow on the ref. Muraco is totally blown up and the ref calls for a DQ while Valentine has him cradled. This is a match to watch to see Valentine just unleash his arsenal on a willing victim, but nothing especially great.
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "The Rock" Don Muraco - MSG 7/88
"[Muraco] told me it is his lifelong dream to put Valentine out of business" - "Superstar" Graham
"They are not just fighting for a paycheck. They are fighting for morality. MORALITY!" - "Superstar" Graham
I decided to push my luck and watch another for these apparent childhood enemies (Hawaii & Seattle are kinda close, I guess) and once again I thought it was good, but not great. Muraco goes after the HeartBreaker early. It took them a year and half to pay off that storyline thats incredible. Valentine's shoulder eats the post. Muraco very gently rams him into the post. Muraco's arm work is pretty decent and I smile when he hit the Asiatic Spike onto the arm. Valentine revs up and just starts unloading with blows. Muraco turns the tide and Superstar starts talking smack on Valentine while Muraco lays into him. Valentine picks the leg and wraps it around the ringpost. Valentine works the leg and alternates with some nasty forearms and clubbering on Muraco. Muraco keeps fighting out of the figure-4. Muraco mounts his comeback with Valentine begging off. Muraco finally gets the HeartBreaker off only for the time limit to expire. Thus the the Ultimate Battle of Good vs. Evil ends in a draw. Shame. It is a match that I will be probably forget soon, but during it I never thought it dragged, but never really hit that next level. Valentine could still go in the post-Dream Team and I would have loved to see him get a run in the tag division against the Rockers or against Savage for the title in a one-off. Alas.
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Tito Santana - 11/88 MSG
This is the Ultimate Greg Valentine match. You got to give it 10 or minutes before it really kicks your ass. smile.gif The first ten minutes are not that bad, just a bit pedestrian. Valentine is rocking the "Heartbreaker" Shinguard and Ronnie Garvin has not produced the technological innovation of the "Hammer Jammmer" so Tito is left defenseless to the extra pressure the Heartbrekaer will apply. Thus Tito immediately goes after the shinguard this tunnel vision leaves him open for a cheapshot. Tito get a better of this strike exchange sending Valentine out to the floor. We are partying like it is 1985 because their strike exchanges still rule the school. Tito is really good at selling, strikes and comebacks, but he is pretty awful at opening babyface shines. He settles on the side headlock while Valentine settles on the chinlock to begin this match. The work is solid, but uninspiring. Valentine forces Tito into the ropes and kicks Tito's injured right leg. Valentine then wraps Tito's injured knee across the apron. Ok, now we are talking! Back from commercial Hammer is dropping some elbows before relentlessly attacking Santana's knee. Just when it seems like Valentine may be in a toehold too long (crowd is getting restless), Tito pulls down Valentine's trunks and just starts hammering him with punches. The crowd pops like mad for this. However, Valentine is able to catch Tito coming off the second rope. Valentine grapevines the leg and drops back a couple time. He then does the Arn knucklelock spot only he scissors the leg and forces Tito to bridge out three times before taking a shot to the balls. Valentine looks more shocked than hurt. Santana inside cradle only gets 2. Valentine winds up and misses a fist drop.
Vamos Tito! Nasty strike exchange, Tito overwhelms Valentine and TIMBAAAAAAAAAH! Now Tito works over Valentine's knee to set up his own figure-4. I am loving this. Tito gets eye-raked and Valentine fells him with a brutal chop. Valentine back on the legs turning the shinguard around but gets caught in an inside cradle. Valentine with two big shots, but fails to get the figure 4 on twice as he is shoved to the outside. They exchange strikes on the outside, which I wised lasted longer. Valentine rakes Tito's eyes, but as he rolls back in the bell rings signaling a draw. They tease a Valentine victory by Countount, but it is confirmed as a draw. Tito clears the ring of Valentine to keep his heat.
After Martel was "injured", they put Tito in a holding pattern until he got back though he mainly faced Rick Rude, which I am looking forward to watching. Valentine had returned to the singles ranks after his team with Bravo failed to set the world on fire even though I think with the right push they could have been a bigger deal. Valentine was working with Muraco at this point so neither guy was in a major angle, but they pulled busted out a pretty hard hitting match together. Outside, Randy Savage/Ted DiBiase, I cant think of anything else that would get on this level. In a pretty light year for the WWF, I would say this is a serious MOTYC.
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Blue Blazer - 4/89 Boston
WOW! I did not expect this match at all. Pretty much all the pre-94 Owen I have seen has been pretty disappointing as many have pointed out he works too much like a gymnast. He starts off with a backflip off the top turnbuckle and I expected much of the same throughout the match. Instead, we got a hard-hitting, focused and well-paced match. This is the type of match that convinces me that Valentine is the best WWF worker of the 80s. He really wrestles a smart match that makes the Blazer look incredible. The Blazer was a pretty cool gimmick and could have really cashed in on the superhero craze that is going on right now.
Blazer targets Valentine's left arm with armdrags and wristlocks. He gets a nearfall with a cross body block. Blazer has dizzied Valentine with his speed and this is some of the best ground game I have seen in 80s WWF. Valentine is able to send the Blazer crashing to the outside. Valentine comes off the apron with a double axe handle. Owen sucks at selling as he kind of staggers around the outside and is not evoking sympathy rather just looks confused. Hammer plays King Of Mountain keeping Owen at bay with elbows and knees. Valentine hits him with a backbreaker and stomps. He wrenches his knee in the corner and he delivers vicious forearms. Blazer mounts a comeback with a second rope dropkick TIMBAAAAAH. Blazer fighting fire with fire using European uppercuts. He crashes and burns on a dropkick when Valentine hooks the ropes. Valentine realizing that the Blazer is for real wastes no time trying to apply the figure-4 but fails on all three occasions eventually crashing to the outside. Blazer seizing this opportunity works through a series of nearfalls attempting to secure the victory with a series of high spots including a missile dropkick and a top rope elbow drop. On his last move from the top, Valentine catches him and slams him for the victory.
I loved this match! It really felt like two wrestlers struggling working hard to secure a victory. Blazer was able to focus on Valentine's arm early, but Valentine was able to throw him to the outside and deliver some heavy blows, but that does not phase Blazer enough. Valentine regains the advantage tries to go in for the kill, but the Blazer is persistent. The Blazer would not let up with a barrage of moves. Eventually the ring veteran Valentine snaps him up to get the win. It was just a really well-constructed match that was executed beautifully. One of the best matches I have seen from the WWF 80s era.
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Bret Hart vs Greg Valentine 5/89 Meadowlands
Bret Hart was just ostensibly a tag wrestler at this point as he was splitting his time in a program with Mr. Perfect and wrestling random matches with Neidhart against random tag teams. Outside a small program with Powers of Pain isolated to Primetime and the Rockers program at the end of the year, Bret's main focus was against Mr. Perfect and other midcard heels. I think Vince's booking restraint at this point is genius and displays how good used to be. He would never be that patient anymore. After two really awesome matches against DiBiase and Perfect, the bar was set high for the Hammer. I believe Valentine outclasses both DiBiase and Perfect in the WWF so I had really high hopes for this one. However, this came off as one of Bret's more pedestrian matches. I was not expecting a brawl per se, just something a little bit more hard-hitting. DOnt get me wrong, Valentine definitely laying in his shots and Bret gave as good as he got, but did not reach the fever pitch I wanted.
The beginning was some by the numbers Bret control work with a chinlock and wristlock. After a headbutt, Valentine feigned doing his TIMBAAAAAH, but instead stood frozen until Bret's dropkick. Valentine chucked Bret out of the ring. Bret really milks out on the floor and they play King of the Mountain for a bit. I think Bret really liked that in 1989. Bret is a really good sympathetic face and Valentine is great when he is on top. So the match picks up here as Valentine is really laying in his stuff. Valentine is the Patron Saint of Clubbering because he is so damn good at it. Valentine whiffs on a second rope elbow drop. Bret mounts his comeback and shows a lot more fire. He headbutts Valentine again and pushes him over TIMBAAAAAAAH! Bret gets his backbreaker and goes for his second rope elbow, but Mr. Perfect distracts him. Valentine catches him with a high knee and stomps on his ankle repeatedly. Bret is really milking this and he attempts to crawl away that is such a great moment of helplessness. Bret is able to muster up enough to kick Valentine off on the figure 4 sending him into the post, but the bell rings before the 3 count registering.
They were doing a nice slow burn with Bret Hart going to draws with a lot of mid-card heels and it was a good booking decision. The match picked up once Valentine took control and the finish was really well-done, but I felt overall it could have been better. I would liked some more meaty exchanges. Bret is really proving his worth as an underdog babyface.
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The Rockers vs New Dream Team w/Jimmy Hart - 6/89
Rockers have taken over well for the Islanders as the team that just cant have a bad match. This is just good, solid tag team wrestler that is entertaining throughout. I was expecting a little bit more because I think The Hammer may be the best WWF worker of the 80s, but this settles in that good territory. Bravo is incredibly better when compared to Beefcake. He definitely has energy and I won't ever fault someone for that.
The story of the match is as you expect Rockers' speed and continuity versus the strength of Bravo & ruggedness of Valentine. They establish Bravo is stronger than Marty so Marty blind tags Shawn, who dropkicks Bravo in the back into a Marty slam and then a slam for Valentine; Rockers clear the ring. Valentine gets in with Shawn and Demolition wishes they were this good at clubbering offense. Valentine works over Shawn's shoulder and rams it into the post. Shawn creates space and then rams The Hammer's shoulder into the ringpost. I love payback spots. This is a couple minutes of Rockers' targeting Valentine's arm it is well done, fast pace work that never delves into heel in peril. Valentine with a forearm shot tags in Bravo, who takes a monkey flip form Marty. On the second monkey flip, Bravo catches Marty and gives him a reverse atomic drop. Bravo then lets out what can only be described as the "Howard Dean Scream" as he tags in the Hammer. Marty is the face in peril as New Dream Team works over him in entertaining fashion. This heat segment was better than some of Busters' heat segment. They were constantly tagging out and never just settling for choking. Bravo hits a great gutwrench suplex. Bravo misses the elbow. The crowd pops huge. Shawn comes in a house of fire. Ducks punches and punches of his own and suplexes Bravo. Double dropkick on Bravo, dropkicks for everyone including the Mouth of the South. Double fistdrop from the top, but Valnetine breaks it up. Shawn & Dino bump heads; Valentine puts Bravo on top; Jannetty breaks it up. Jannety in as a reverse sunset flip and Valentine clothesline him as the ref detains Shawn so the New Dream Teams WINS?!?!?!?!?!??!?
Wait Valentine/Bravo won? They have not been a regular team since 1987. I just dont get it. It seems like The Rockers have been pushed hard to this point maybe Vince sees they will hit a ceiling since the Demos and Hart Foundation are also faces. I wish Valentine/Bravo got a serious push as the number 2 heel team.
Fuckin' weird finish aside, it was a fun match which cut a brisk pace and everything was well-executed. The Rockers are definitely the best home stretch team in the WWF as that stuff was wicked entertaining to watch.
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs Dusty Rhodes 6/89 - Niagara, NY
With Tony on commentary, this feels like some down-home Southern cooking, baby. Dusty's antics always make me laugh; definitely one of my favorite wrestlers to watch. They establish the elbow early as his signature weapon felling The Hammer instantly. This is a battle of the Bionic Elbow vs. The Hammer Elbow. Dusty misses an elbow and Hammer takes over with a chinlock. Dusty and Valentine exchange blows in the corner. He goes for the Figure-4, but Hammer rakes the eyes enabling him to work over Dusty's leg. Valentine has the Hartbreaker is looking to make Dusty submit to his Figure-4, but Dusty pulls the hair. Dusty mounts the comeback out of the comeback and Dusty proves his work translates well to the North whipping the crowd into the frenzy. Valentine gets his knee in the corner and Jimmy Hart ascends the top turnbuckle!?!?!??! Garvin grabs him off the top. Rhodes gets the roll-up win.
The match is nothing to write home about and you do not have to go out of your way to watch it, but it is cool this match exists. Dusty in WWF is almost as weird as Flair in WWF, but I think Dusty fits a bit better in WWF, but not by much. It is always interesting to watch him in WWF. His bells and whistles still got over with the crowd. Valentine worked his usual stuff in, but I wished he turned it up a bit.
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| Ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle ogle |
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine vs "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin - 10/89 MLG
Well this match did not sneak up on me as I knew how much I liked the Royal Rumble match. This is one of those "Katie Bar The Door, Pier-Six" Brawls, just a drag-out, burn-down, bare-knuckle slobberknocker. You can count the "wrestling moves" on one hand, but who gives a fuck because they bring the heat with every blow. Gorilla tells me Valentine is the one who asked for Garvin's reinstatement after he retired him. Lord Alfred says if he gets his ass handed to him that he would be "hoist on his own petard", which I had seen elsewhere and now know what it means. Who says wrestling can not be educational? biggrin.gif
They lock up and Garvin wins a shoving contest in the corner. Then it turns into a boxing match with Garvin getting the better of that. Valentine tries coming in full bore with some vicious blows and chops, but Hands of Stone cannot be denied, well until Valentine gets a kick that may have been low. Valentine capitalizes on this immediately with elbows, but Garvin spreads his leg on a piledriver attempt. When Gorilla says look at that spread I get a chuckle out of it. Valentine piledrives him anyways, but only gets two. Here comes Garvin again with punches and chops; he attempts a pin after a headbutt/splash combo. Valentine backdrops Garvin on piledriver attempt, but Garvin tries a sunset flip however his legs are too short. Lord Alfred had a good laugh over that one. Garvin Stomp! The Sharpshooter gets blocked by an eye-rake and Valentine tosses him to the outside, we play a little King of the Mountain as Valentine sledges and elbows him. Garvin grabs a sleeper but he is just too damn short. He pokes him in the eyes and gnaws on his forehead. He goes for the kill with the Sharpshooter, but Valentine punches his way out. Garvin walks into a shinbreaker and Valentine applies his figure-4 leglock. Garvin makes the ropes, but is selling the leg for all it is worth. Valentine going for his second rope elbow gets caught and eats a press slam by a debilitated Ronnie Garvin. Garvin removes the shinguard and threatens to strike the Hammer with it, but in the confusion gets rolled up. Garvin beats him down the aisle way with the HeartBreaker.
This was an ugly, brutal wrestling contest and I loved it. I will say that stand up wrestling matches like this are not my absolute favorite, but I do liked them every once and a while. This was a great change of pace from 80s WWF tag scene. I can only think that Savage, Backlund and Santana are serious contenders against him for best worker in the WWF 80s. Backlund obviously is missing half of the decade, but he did run on top for the whole first half. I have watched enough Santana to know he can have a few borefests or clunkers even though his stuff with Valentine, Savage and the Islanders is some of the best stuff of the 80s. Savage was not with the company as long as Valentine and Santana, but he obviously had some great stuff and in addition had a main event run. I am sure if started watching Savage again in earnest I would say he is the best, but Valentine is hard to deny with so many great performances.
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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine w/Jimmy Hart vs "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin - Royal Rumble 1990
Valentine and Garvin staged an all-out, NWA-style war in this one. They are two ornery muthafuckas looking to beat the piss out of each other in a match. I loved the boxing bits at the beginning. At first, Valentine wants to leave due to the Hammer Jammer. After TIMMMMBBAAHHHH, he is giving just as good as he gets. He was never a heel to succumb to the WWF heel tradition of getting steamrolled. He would cheat and stooge, but he always dished out punishment too. Ronnie Garvin is such a great striker. This audience reminded me of the Survivor Series '93 audience for the RNRs/Bodies match. They could not make heads or tails, but stiffness is an universal language and eventually the audience started to get into it. The pinfall attempts to get tiresome after a while and yes some do act as reversals, but I think there were still too many. I didn't mind the Hammer Jammer stuff with mocking faces as much as they had established that was the role for the Hammer Jammer. I loved the struggle for each transition as they were laying into each other. It was smart and entertaining to keep going back to that. The head cracking spot was perfect to get the Hammer Jammer off. Say what you will about the mocking faces, once Garvin got in the figure-4 he sold it for all its worth going above and beyond most to sell it the rest of the match. The Flair press slam off the top was a nice nod to the past. Once Garvin got the Heartbreaker off, I enjoyed the WWF-style antics with Jimmy Hart, hitting the Hammer with his shin-guard and slapping on the Scorpion Deathlock for the finish,
I have no idea why Vince let them go on PPV, but I am sure glad he did because this is great match. It is so different for the WWF given how strike-oriented and vicious it is, but still has the WWF touch with the opposing leg braces. It is a great swan song for both men epitomizing their stiff, vicious style in the ring.
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Since I have been watching singles matches for these tag wrestlers, I thought I would include the rankings of all the singles matches that make the choice cuts. They are as follows:
Best Singles Matches Involving Tag Wrestlers:
1. Bret Hart vs Randy Savage - SNME 11/87
2. Rick Martel vs Tama - MSG 9/87
3. Greg Valentine vs Blue Blazer - Boston 4/89
4. Greg Valentine vs Ronnie Garvin - MLG 10/89
5. Greg Valentine vs Tito Santana - MSG 11/88
6. Greg Valentine vs Ronnie Garvin - Royal Rumble '90
7. Rick Martel vs Bret Hart - Primetime 10/89
8. Rick Martel vs Tito Santana - SNME 11/89
9.WWF Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect vs Tito Santana - SNME 7/90
10. Bret Hart vs Ted DiBiase - Odessa 3/89
11. Bret Hart vs Ricky Steamboat - Boston 3/86
12 Bret Hart vs Mr. Perfect - MSG 4/89
13. Rick Martel vs Tito Santana - Main Event 11/90
Greg "The Hammer" Valentine was a stand-out character by not being a character. At all, much like his arch-nemesis Tito Santana he was repackaged late in his career with a dye job to be Honky Tonk's tag team partner. However, I do not think this brief one year run changes the fact that Valentine never compromised his in-ring style. He forced WWF wrestlers out of their comfort zone by working heated, intense match, which did not focus on just spots, but rather the struggle for victory. In doing so, he got his opponent, himself and the match over with the fans. He did it his way and by laying the Hammer down.
Next up with will be the wrap up of WWF's biggest tag team, Demolition: Walking Disaster.
