Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine: WWF 1984-85

Greg "The Hammer " Valentine

Best of 1984-1985 in World Wrestling Federation
Feud with Tito Santana & Intercontinental Championship Reign

 

BEST MATCHES:

 

1.  Bob Backlund vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine - MSG 4/23/84

2. WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs Greg Valentine - MSG 6/16/84

3. WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine  vs. Tito Santana  - Baltimore 7/6/85 Steel Cage Match

4. The Dream Team w/Jimmy Hart vs Tito Santana & Ricky Steamboat - MLG 4/21/85

5. WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs Greg Valentine - Philly 3/31/84

6. WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine  vs. Tito Santana  -MSG 1/21/85

7. WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs Greg  Valentine - Philly 5/5/84

8. WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine  vs. Tito Santana  - MSG 3/17/85 Lumberjack Match



WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine -

 Philly 3/31/84
 

I am pretty sure this is their first major encounter with each other. This bout did not have the "I want break your fucking leg because you broke mine" element to take it to the next level, but still this is physical as all hell. These two are just so different from the rest of the WWF roster and just had such great chemistry. Everything is such a struggle. Little things like Valentine swinging and actually missing because Tito moved. Unlike most wrestlers who will half-ass their misses, if Valentine connected he connected; if he did't he didn't. During some of the comebacks, it really felt like Valentine would just wrangle Tito and drop  a vicious elbow. You really got the feeling how much the Intercontinental Championship meant to each competitor.

 

Santana frustrates Valentine with speed like the armdrags, moving from elbows and dropkicks. Valentine catches him with a kneelift, which is one of my favorite transitions. He does some quick great work in the abdomen including hanging him out to dry on the top rope. Santana starts to mount a comeback and Valentine finally drops a huge elbow to quell him. It feels almost shooty. Valentine starts to work over the legs with Indian Deathlock and then attacking legs. Santana would grab a headlock and a kneecrusher would stop him. I loved stuff like Santana launching his body at Valenine just any thing he could do. Santana was selling so well, but always working hard from underneath. Valentine even took time to revel in his glory while Santana is crawling around the ring.  Santana goes for the leg, but Valentine quashes that with a inverted atomic drop. Valentine of course misses his second rope elbow. Huge rights by Santana and slams his head into turnbuckle. TIMMMMBBBBBAAHHHHH! I love Valentine because he is an ornery, mean asshole during his control, but when it comes time for that comeback he is always game for bumping,  stooging, and begging off for the babyface.  Santana works some side headlocks pinfall attempts, but is always energetic. I love the spot where Santana does an atomic drop, but did it on the hurt knee and Tito sells it so well. HUGE ATOMIC DROP BY THE HAMMER! Wow, I don't think I ever seen a heel hit that move. Tito sells the fuck out of it and you really believe Valentine has a shot now. Valentine big butterfly suplex, repeated shots to abdomen and a toehold as the 20 minute time limit expire. What?!?!? Valentine delivers some heavy shots, but repeatedly misses elbows and Santana challenges to come back and finish it.

The finish really threw me a loop because you expect the babyface to end the match on top before the time limit expires. It is also interesting that Santana was making his comeback and Valentine was actually able to surmount this surge in momentum and regain control. The whole finish was a real curveball. Add on top of that the whole match had a real anything could happen feel to it. You never knew who was going to take control at any point. There were no neat little segments where one guy who take control and then a nice little transition would cause the next control segment. Still it never felt back and forth because of how well Santana sold everything from the abs to the knee to fatigue and how Valentine sold he could be overwhelmed. I really enjoyed this match, but I think the next matches in their series benefit from having extracurricular heat. ****1/4

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Bob Backlund vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine - MSG 4/23/84

A lot of people say this is the least of their series, I am the polar opposite, I think it is the best match of their series. I pretty much love all Backlund/Valentine matches and I do need to rewatch the draw so it definitively, but I really, really love this match. This is my third time watching it and it has not lost any of its luster. Where it succeeds where so many matches fail is the natural transitions between limb work through the match and the sustain selling in and out of segments by both men. The commentators are going on that Backlund may have to hang it up if he loses this one. I think Backlund had no place in Vince's WWF and that commentary shows it, but I wish he stayed wrestling elsewhere full time because he was so damn good.

The early part of the match is fun with Backlund doing single leg pickups to show up The Hammer and they have some fun amateur exchanges. Backlund gets into a forearm exchange with Valentine, which is a bad idea. Backlund has a lingering arm injury from when he lost the belt to Sheiky Baby and Valentine focuses his attack on it. It is very compelling arm work and it is nice to see Backlund on the defensive. Backlund does his bridging spots, but Valentine stays on the arm. Backlund cant backslide because of the bad arm. Huge clubbing blows to the arm. Valentine misses a second rope leg drop. Meaning his leg is susceptible to work and Backlund jumps on it. It becomes a massive struggle to see if Valentine can re-establish arm control or if Backlund can gain a foothold in the match by working the leg. Backlund does a great job selling the arm as he ties Valentine up. He can do a crossface. but he is able to use a deathlock to at least by himself time and then he picks Valentine up and throws him down. Valentine escapes to outside. He trips Backlund up and wrenches Backlun'ds leg against post and then throws a chair at it. AWESOME! Valentine was desperate he grabbed whatever limb he could get and it also sets up for figure-4. The Hammer keeps selling his own leg as he works Backlund's leg. Backlund is fighting from his back to attack Valentine's injured leg. This is so awesome. Valentine tries figure-4 multiple times, does get Boston Crab on onre, but Backlund powers out because he is a stud. Valentine is frustrated that he tried the figure-4 three times and no success. BACKLUNDZIGUIRI!!!! Valentine is dazed and pissed. He recovers and ties Backlund up. He wants the damn figure-4. He misses a second rope elbow. Backlund's knee gives out on an atomic drop. FIGURE-4!!!! Valentine is finally going to one over his archrival. Valentine uses ropes for leverage and ref breaks it up. Backlund O'Connor Roll for the win. As is his MO, Valentine is a sore loser. He decks the ref and puts Bob in the figure-4.

Awesome match! Incredibly compelling loved the selling, the work and the transitions from body part to body part. I thought the finish was a little anti-climatic. I guess they were not exactly ready to put Bob out to pasture yet. ****3/4

 

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WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine
Philly 5/5/84

By watching this match, I have watched every major recorded match these two had during their red hot 84-85 feud. The first two matches in the series are from Philly and are from before the feud really gets kicked off when Valentine breaks Tito's leg with the figure-4 and then Tito swears revenge by learning the figure-4 to break The Hammer's leg, which I still think is like the coolest angle ever. I think besides the cage match that these Philly matches are better than the MSG matches, which feel more like angle advancement. These matches are hard-hitting, almost shoot-style contests. I am going to go back and finish this series off, but that's my recollection. When Greg Valentine initially gets Tito in the corner and just pops him hard with elbows and then just tears into Tito's knee, I fell in love with The Hammer all over again. He is just the consummate bruiser. He was introduced as the master of the figure-4 and wasted not time targetting the leg. Tito sold the pain, but it was early enough that he was going to fight back and fight back he did with shoulder tackles. Valentine caught with a quick uppercut and then in as true heel started to attack the throat. It is such a cheap and nasty thing to do. He dropped Tito throat first on the top rope, dropped elbows and did the little catapult move that is so nasty. Santana was fighting back, but also selling by coughing really well. Once Santana could get a head of steam he blasted him with the Flying Burrito and then he just came at him with those fists of fury. Valentine started to go toe-to-toe with him but quickly realized that begging off maybe more effective. Santana caught his kick, spun him around and absolutely levelled him with a right. It was a perfect worked punch. I love that in desperation Valentine got the knee up when Santana charged into the corner he immediately went for the figure-4. He knew that he almost lost the match and it was now or never he needed to take the opportunity to win the match with his best shot. Furthermore, when Tito valiantly kicked him off, Valentine remained undetered and just tortured the leg of Santana, who kicking off with all his might. It was intense struggle and that was incredibly gripping to watch to see who came out the better. The finish of the match was incredible. Tito Santana took a HUGE HOLY SHIT BUMP! I thought they were going to do the whole crossbody and the momentum takes both men over, but Tito fucking clears Valentine and just went flying to the outside with nothing to break his fall. I thought that was the finish, but then he got back on the apron and they have a war on the apron. Valentine just grabs and him crotches him on the rope. This was not any crotch job. The Hammer threw him down balls-first on this top rope. I don't how much that Tito even had to "sell" he might have just been in straight up pain. This is just badass, logical pro wrestling that builds drama based on the strengths of both wrestlers it grips you as the match takes different turns. I think I liked the March Philly match a hair better, but awesome stuff again. ****1/4

 

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WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs Greg Valentine - MSG 6/16/84

They had two matches in Philly that preceded this bout, but this is the first match in MSG so this should be treated as a first match in a series that would culminate in a six match series at the Garden finishing in a lumberjack match in March of 1985, which I think is unheard of in length.  This match and these two wrestlers epitomize struggle. Not just in their manly, hard-hitting slugfests, but in the way they tussle in gritty holds. Santana is relentless on the arms and the crowd is going wild as he is wringing it out. Valentine misses a knee into corner and two armdrags into an armbar. That's a great way to create movement by Valentine. He is stodgy on offense, but he knows how to create excitement. Santana has that fire. Valentine bullies him out through the middle rope to the floor. Tempers flare! The fists fly! THE GARDEN IS ROCKING! They should have kept it up, but both go back into the ring. Tito says don't sing it, just bring it.  The Hammer misses the elbow and Tito wrings out the arm and DRAGS him to the ground and does it again. That's what I am saying. The struggle is real. Valentine forces you to earn everything. Valentine shoots him off and Santana bulldozes him over. Tito goes for another, but The Hammer picks him up and ATOMIC DROP! Great selling by Tito and as Valentine hits him with those hammer shots. The verbal selling from Tito is incredible. Hammer really connecting with those blows. Knee to the hamstring we all know what that is for. Love Tito's selling! Tito throwing a right so Hammer with those piston shots. Love that reaction by Valentine and he is working the hamstrings. Valentine wants to slam him in the turnbuckle and Santana sends him into the buckle. TITO IS ALIVE! Big shots and TIMMMMMBBBBAAAHHHHHH! Tito sees red, bullies him through the ropes and punching him ferociously. Valentine has no recourse but to poke him in the eye. LOVED THAT SEQUENCE! Tito is the best at those fiery comebacks. Tito into buckles because Hammer ducks, but on the figure-4 attempt he is sent into the buckles. Love how Valentine will throw this nasty forearms to set up move. Tito backdrops Valentine out of the piledriver and a big elbow. I love how Santana has had to earn this comeback and his fire. Crossbody gets two and MSG is roaring. Santana back into an armbar which is an odd choice as the energy was at a fever pitch, but it leads to Hammer picking him up and dropping him throat first on the top rope. Brutal spot! LOVED IT! Made Valentine look amazing. Hammer tortures the arm and Garden is chanting TITO LOUDLY! Hammer working over the arm. I feel like they put this first and the Tito comebacks after that this would be a five star match, but still this is great Valentine arm work. Valentine is just suffocating him. Valentine comes crashing down on his nuts on Tito's knees. Crowd loves it. So do I! SLUGFEST! HERE WE GO! TITO IS ROCKING! THIS IS AMAZING! Tito is pouring it on. The ref is breaking it up because Valentine is on ropes. Hammer gets a hard shot and backdrops him to the floor. Atomic drop and Santana cant respond to the count! Amazing first match!

The struggle. The fire. The selling. Brutal shots (reverse atomic drop and drop across top rope were great). Amazing slugfest at the end and red hot finish. Best match of their insanely great series. ****3/4

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WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine

w/ Capt. Albano - MSG 7/23/84

You don't think "physical" when you see Hogan's name on the marquee, but then Valentine could make a man out of anyone in that ring. Valentine and Hogan went to war in MSG and Hogan gave as good as he got. His punches looked like some of the best he ever thrown and once he took over from Valentine's initial sneak attack, he was all over him. His follow-up back elbow in the corner looked great and his bodyslam over the ropes into the ring was impressive. Valentine takes over with a back suplex out of a side headlock. One of my main complaints of later Hogan is that he sells too much too soon. Here Hogan, powers out of Valentine reverse chinlock as a hope spot only for Valentine to beat him back down with great forearm and elbow shots. Valentine is so brutal. Again, at the right opportunity, Hogan fights from underneath with the suplex and then takes it out to the floor with some great, great punches. Hogan throws his carcass back into the ring first. Rookie mistake as Valentine cuts off Hogan with a wicked knee. This has been a fight from the beginning. There is a great exchange after the failed Valentine sleeper with Valentine clubbering and Hogan throwing rights and back fists. He throws this massive right and Valentine falls on his ass, but in desperation grabs Hogan's leg trips and yanks it against the apron. Then he goes to hit it with a chair and a fan grabs the chair out of his hand. Now worries as there is another. So now we get some nice leg work, but it is for naught as Hogan knows of the power of the figure-4 and pushes him off twice. Work like that puts over a finish just as much as winning with it. The Hammer drops the Hammer elbow, but just for two. Hulk Hogan does one of the most subdued Hulk-Ups ever catching The Hammer coming off the top and hitting the legdrop for the win. Tack on a classic Hulk-Up and this match would be one of my all-time favorite Hogan matches. As it stands, I would submit this as one of his best matches from the peak Hulkamania period 84-88 as it does not feel like standard Hogan. There are two reasons for that as Hogan still has not refined his formula yet and how Valentine always brings people out of their comfort zone. Hogan has a lot of Clash of the Titans, summer blockbuster like matches, but rarely does get gnarly and rough. Valentine will bring that out of you. Hogan went toe to toe with the Hammer and it was one entertaining fight. ***3/4

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Greg Valentine vs Sgt Slaughter - WWF 7/28/84

1984 WWF is a gift that keeps on giving with its loaded roster and seemingly endless combination of dream matches. Clocking in at 13 minutes, you really couldn't ask for much more from two all-time greats in a random house show setting with no angle behind them. Albano is great on the mic before the match. The Hammer jumps Slaughter but ends up being punched in the face with his belt. TIIIMMMMMBBBBAAAAAAHHHHH! Slaughter lets us know his bionic elbow is red hot because he licks his finger touches his elbow and makes the OW face. I love the 80s! Slaughter goes hard into the post. Valentine is awesome working the arm. Just great. Gorilla does his best to piss me off that it is impossible to pin someone with a half nelson/hammerlock combination while camera clearly shows both shoulders down and this is a very common Mid-Atlantic spot. He is the worst. Like the absolute worst. Slaughter makes his comeback getting knees up into the Valentine's family jewels. He tries to come off with a top rope kneedrop, but crashes and burns and this leaves him prone to the Hammer's onslaught to the knee. Now we are in Valentine's wheel house. This is when the match goes from good to awesome. Slaughter's selling here is incredible. Valentine is amazing working the knee. These two are just so in sync. This is Greg Valentine 101 on why he is one of the best wrestlers of all time. The way he switches up working the leg, how he feeds Slaughter hope spots, the nasty forearms to the face, it is all amazing. He had someone in Sarge who was totally game in selling. The hope spots finally catch up to the Hammer and leave him open to the SLAUGHTER CANON~! Sarge still selling the leg, signals for the Cobra Clutch as the crowd comes alive. Valentine pulls the ref into him for the cheap DQ. It is the 80s so the finish was going to suck, but God the match was awesome beforehand. Sarge does some great selling. This is a basic introduction into why Greg Valentine is just so damn good both on offense and feeding. Check this out! ***1/2

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WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine  vs. Tito Santana  - WWF, MSG 10/22/84

I have watched the 6/16 MSG and I liked it so much that I want to sleep on it and watch it again before i give my final thought because I thought it was a total barnburner. The August MSG match was not up by I have watched it previously and ready my review from years ago (my how times flies!) it sounds like it was a strong angle based match. Valentine thought he had won the title (he had the same problems against Backlund, you think he'd would learn ) only to have Santana upend him. He was a sore loser so he broke Tito's leg with the figure-4. Then up in Canada about a month later, Tito being a fighting champion defended against The Hammer, who relentlessly attacked the knee. Tito was able to hit the Flying Burrito, but Valentine's foot was under the ropes and he thought he had successfully defended his title. Only to have Valentine knee him from behind and win the match by hooking the injured leg. Here we are in October with Tito getting a hero's welcome from the MSG faithful!

Tito was red fucking hot to start as expected. Valentine tried wildly swinging the belt, but to no avail as Tito just kept firing away at his face. Then Hammer tried to match him blow for blow and Santana forearmed him so hard he was sent reeling through the ropes all the way across the ring. When The Hammer did get control, he was nasty about with fishhooks and eyerakes, but Tito was just a man possessed in this match. Valentine got a big atomic drop and was looking to attack that injured leg, but Tito fought him off.  The match had a wild finish with them brawling on the outside. Valentine missed with chair bouncing it off the apron. He returned to the ring and Santana did not miss with a big chair shot. Santana repeatedly punched the open wound only to have the ref finally disqualify him. Santana got a modicum of revenge, but is thirsty for more. This was a great angle-based match to set up the next MSG match. It was super heated and short. It should be short. They were beating the piss out of each other and no reason for this to last long. Cant wait for the next one. ***1/2

 

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WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine  vs. Tito Santana  - WWF, MSG 1/21/85

Could not find the November draw again on line, which means that is the only Valentine/Santana singles match that I have not seen from this run. We skip ahead to January of the following year and while this is still a very heated feud, the storyline has taken a turn to being more about the Intercontinental Championship. Santana was able to attack Valentine savagely in October, but after a draw in November the chances of rematches would be less and less probable. Thus why this match is a much slower pace. Tito does not want to risk disqualification like he did in October because his emotions got the best of him. In addition, when you get emotional that's when you make mistakes. As a challenger, he cannot afford mistakes. The inherent problem with this strategy is that plays right into the hands of the methodical Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Don't get me wrong when Tito gets the chance he is going to pop Valentine in the face, but the match definitely shows the cautious side of both men. Valentine for his part as the champion is content to bide his time and pick his spots.

Early on, Tito is able to wrangle a leg after the Hammer missed a drop toehold playing up the angle that Santana had learned the figure-4 from Jack Brisco in order to break Valentine's leg. That is some great sick shit!

 We get some victim blaming from that buffoon Gorilla on why Tito lost the title. How about the promoter or I don't know they man who perpetrated such a heinous act like Greg Valentine. It is a bit of a weak transition into a very good heat segment which sees Valentine just scoop Santana with a body slam. Valentine tries to hold him down in a wristlock, but Tito bridges our exposing the ribs which The Hammer knees with delight. This begins a really well-worked ribs heat segment. Valentine has it all the gutbuster, bearhug, ab stretch (Tito with a nice bit of pscyhology by grabbing the ankle to turn it over) and he throws in a couple slaps for good measure. Santana starts to get a head of steam, but Valentine really digs his fingers into the eyes and goes back to work on the back. He sets him up to come crashing down with all his weight, but misses.

ARRIBA~! Tito capitalizes big time and just pours it on with punches atomic drop, chop...TIMBAAAAAHHHH! Valentine ends up on the apron and Santana brings him in the hard way, but is so fatigued that he does not pin right away and only gets two. Santana looks to kill two birds with one stone (injuring Valentine and winning the title) by working the knees with repeated knees to the knee. Valentine yanks the trunks on the figure-4 attempt and rolls to the outside. Tito gives chase and unloads with two rights. He throws him back in, grabs the foot and Valentine yanks the tights again to avoid the figure 4. He rolls back out and Santana again throws him back in. Now, Tito comes flying across with the Flying Burrito but Valentine had collapsed so Tito crashed and burned and ended up on the outside. I LOVED THAT SEQUENCE! The while thing just dripped with urgency and that complete and total commitment to winning the match. Valentine does what he does best once Tito finally crawls back into the ring drops the Hammer. I think they may have slowed the match back down too much and then when Tito is using Valentine's trunks to pull himself up, Greg slaps Tito before unloading on him with MONSTER FOREARM SMASHES! HOLY SHIT! He chucks Tito to the outside. He swings the Hammer Down on his chest and then fishooks him back in. Nasty shit. Valentine goes for the figure-4, but he gets shoved off into the turnbuckles. Double clothesline! Valentine crawls over for cover kick out. Tito with a head of steam FLYING BURRITO~! Sends Valentine crashing to the floor for the countout victory.

I love Valentine selling the loss huge because he knows this means Tito will get another rematch when he himself was so close to winning the match. It really plays into how wins and losses matter even the DQ and countout ones. Tito was just so spent from this war he was going to have settle for the countout victory. This match had a different feel from the other ones and was wrestled at more deliberate pace, which only heightened the importance and magnitude of the match. Valentine had some great midsection work and Tito was his great fiery self. The sequence with Tito trying to get Figure-4 on only to wipe out on the Flying Burrito is one of the all time best sequences. I wish all the limb worked played more into the finish as both guys kinda stopped selling and Valentine even did a shoulder breaker after he was just selling the knee. Right up there with all their kick ass matches and different from their other bouts thus far. ****1/4

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WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine  vs. Tito Santana  - WWF, MSG 3/17/85 Lumberjack Match

Here is the fun, popcorn match of the series. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of hard blows from each men, but this was definitely more of a crowd pleaser until the ending. Valentine cheapshotted him at the beginning, but Tito came back and just popped Valentine really good right in the face. The Hammer was dazed and confused. TIMMMMMMBBBBBAAAAHHHHH! Santana just poured it on in the early going to the delight of the crowd while Valentine tried to figure out ways to get by the lumberjacks. Big John Studd was a helpful ally, but The Dragon quite the thorn in his side. I really liked Valentine trying to leap over the lumberjacks and the railing to get through the crowd. Valentine was really hamming it up in this one. Santana was on fire in terms of offense until he charged in and ate a hard knee. Valentine went to work on the leg. Santana and the babyface lumberjacks really sold the peril Tito was in. I liked when Santana was trying to mount a comeback that Valentine just starting trying to cave Tito's face in with these vicious forearms. He was fucking smoking Santana. I like Hammer's two prong strategy of working the leg and levelling him with big, heavy blows. There is a cool transition with Tito dropping down and popping up with his legs so Valentine lands face first into the turnbuckle.

Absolutely awesome slugfest. Great camera angle of Santana's left jabs right into the face of Valentine. TIMMMMMBBBBBBAAAAAHHHHHH! Suplex from Tito, but it takes a lot out of him. Santana knee drop right to Valentine face and some really great detailed selling by The Hammer on. Santana thinks figure-4, but Valentine yanks the hair and bails, but the lumberjacks do their job. Flying Burrito and Valentine falls backwards and he applies to the figure-4! HUGE POP! Big John Studd pulls The Hammer to the ropes. Santana goes after Studd and Valentine comes crashing down with a forearm. Another heated slugfest leads to them knocking head and Valentine falls on top for the win.

They were forced into a tough corner. They needed a finish and they wanted Valentine to go over to continue the feud into the summer. Not the best finish, but not a horrible one. It was representative of the war of attrition that these matches are. I think this is right in the same ballpark as most of the Santana/Valentine matches. I think the cage match & 6/16/84 stand out of the pack. This is more of the fun one. Besides the October return/revenge match, I thought this was the most fun shine and the figure-4 got a huge pop. Another humdinger of a match in one of all time favorite feuds! ****1/4

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The Dream Team w/Jimmy Hart vs Tito Santana & Ricky Steamboat - MLG 4/21/85

 

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. ****1/2

 

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WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine vs Ricky Steamboat - WWF, MSG 6/21/85

Gorilla Monsoon is the fucking worst. Nobody could take the sails out of hot comeback faster than him with his nonchalant "Nope, he is not going to get him." I will take Vince's bombastic and naive belief that every nearfall is a potential winning fall than Gorilla's constant undercutting of drama.

This is the Superstar Sleeze dream match on paper and I think this would be a dream match for most wrestling fans. It does not quite live up OMG RICKYSTEAMBOAT VS GREG VALENTINE~! The beginning is pretty pedestrian surprisingly. For whatever, Valentine did not seem very engaged in the beginning of the match. He was content to bump and sell, but he was not his usual chippy self. Then Steamboat kept locking these holds on Valentine as if to contain him, but Valentine was not supplying energy. I think those clamps are perfect to keep a runaway babyface down or I guess really any explosive wrestler. Valentine was not demonstrating that on this night. I think Steamboat needed to provide more of the energy. He was at times, but he needed to go full throttle. The Valentine heat segment was good. I expect greatness out of The Hammer, so I could not help but be disappointed. It was the standard stiff shots and then setting up for the figure-4. On the flip side, it was standard great Steamboat selling. The entire match up until the finish felt very routine. Basically, it was each guy doing what he did well, but not really responding to each other. Then Steamboat wakes up on the outside and sort of Hulks Up and the crowd's interest is piqued. Then all of sudden it becomes a couple Carolina boys doing Carolina boy things in the ring when they fucking start wailing on each other. This is what I wanted. Steamboat had a tremendous comeback showing great fire and exuding charisma. It was either on a big karate chop or the top rope cross body when the crowd and the match were at a fever pitch that fucking Gorilla said "Nope, he is not going to get him." What a fucking asshole.Valentine had a brief spell of offense before Steamboat Karate'd his ass out of the ring to lose by countout. I will say Steamboat's kicks look aesthetically pleasing in the sense that when his kicking the air it looks smooth and well-executed, but man he just is not connecting at all. Of course, kicks were never part of his repertoire, but hey now he is the Karate Kid so he needs to do KICKS~! This reminds me Jimmy Hart was great in this match first worrying about all the Karate bullshit and then when Steamboat was down and out taunting by calling him the Karate Kid. Great Mouth of the South performance. It is a good match, but not at level I wanted it to be at. ***

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WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine  vs. Tito Santana  - WWF, Baltimore 7/6/85 Steel Cage Match

YES! I FINALLY FOUND IT! I loved watching the Valentine/Santana matches about two years ago, but couldnt find the big steel cage blowoff. The whole Valentine breaking Tito's leg only for Tito to learn the figure-4 to do the same to Valentine is one of the best damn angles I have ever seen. I have been watching a lot of WWF, but no Valentine so far. My God, he is playing a whole different game. He absolutely crushes Tito with those blows. The cage seems weird or maybe it is just Tito was super awkward trying to climb the cage but it seemed both men were having a hard time climbing it. I loved how they were just constantly beating the shit out of each other near top of the cage or the door. It was nasty and gritty. Valentine was dropping the hammer down on Santana with a big clubbering blows, but couldnt get Tito eat steel. Tito did not get much of a shine he was revved up but Valentine really blasted him to start. Tito was great fighting from underneath. There were some really awkward falls that added to the realism of the fight for the Intercontinental Championship. The amount of struggle in this match just blows everything out of the water in WWF at this time. I love the Hogan popcorn matches, but those are fun like a summer blockbuster. This is the Oscar film. Valentine clobbers Tito when he tries to get out. I mean he is just reigning the blows down on Tito. He is going to apply the figure-4, but Tito kicks off. Valentine is so awesome. FLYING BURRITO~! It was a beauty really nailed him in the forehead and great bump by Valentine. I was starting to think Tito of Savage is the best WWF worker but Valentine has reminded me why he is right there. Santana droptoehold stops Valentine. Valentine hotshots Tito into the cage. Nasty. Now he is just ramming  him into the cage. TI-TO! TI-TO! TI-TO! The Hammer is brutalizing him and Santana is showing his worth a selling, underneath babyface. Tito lunges at the last minute to stop Valentin from getting through the door and once again it is a gritty struggle at the door. VALENTINE FUCKING SMOKES TITO! THEN TITO PUNCHES VALENTINE SO HARD HE SMACKS THE BACK OF HIS HEAD INTO THE CAGE! AWESOME! Hammer tries figure-4, but shoved off into the cage. Santana climbs the cage from the center and again it seems like the cage is further away from the ropes. Valentine gives up on trying to stop Santana and tries to beat him out the door. TITO SLAMS THE DOOR SHUT ON VALENTINE'S HEAD WITH HIS FOOT! Best cage match finish ever! Totally lives up to the hype. My two favorite WWF wrestlers having a total war for the Intercontinental Championship in a Steel Cage with the best steel cage match finish ever! ****1/2

Missing Matches:

Greg Valentine vs Rocky Johnson - Philly 9/84
WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine vs Junkyard Dog - Boston 5/85