Why was Greg The Hammer Valentine ever a thing?

[Dusty Bake Activate]

This pear-shaped swagless motherfukker was a NWA US and tag team champ and a WWF IC and tag team champ, was in a match at every WWF PPV for like a decade and is in the WWE Hall of Fame.

His ring skills seem aight... about the same as any midcard NWA 80’s mainstay. He looked doofy as fukk and the only promo he cut that anyone remembers was a racist rant about Junkyard Dog. I don’t get it.

 

[White City Black]

Breh, Vince trying to intergrate some of these bland stiffs into 90s WWF was ridiculous. I remember Rhythm & Blues, when Valentine had his hair dyed black and was teaming with Honky Tonk Man. I get Vince tryin to put money in some of these dudes pockets, but still that shyt was something else

 

[stro]

He was pretty good before 1985 or so when he turned into a remote controlled statue.

 

[GiantGonzalez]

He had a Down syndrome jawline

 

[Kidd Dibiase]

I wonder the same thing

 

[surv2syn]

He was pretty good before 1985 or so when he turned into a remote controlled statue.

this. he was above average back then due to riding off the Rick Flair wave of wrestlers with long blonde hair who used Figure 4 and atomic elbow. he didnt belong after that era though.

 

[Art Barr]

just go watch bobby Eaton and don't even worry about valentine Imo.


art barr

 

[Hoss]

Having a father who was a big star in wrestling probably got his foot in the door and gave him a few connections.

Because of that, maybe it took longer than it should have for people to realize he really didn't have a lot of great qualities. He kinda lived off that name for awhile. He wasn't useless but he definitely wasn't great.

 

[Hoss]

Side note: he was one of those dudes who kinda had to be a heel because his face was ugly.

 

[Paper Boi]

 

[Black White Sox Hat]

Had a cool name and heel face.

 

[TrueEpic08]

Valentine was the son of a very well regarded wrestler (Johnny Valentine), was trained by both Stu Hart and the Original Sheik, and had some very good matches and angles in the 70s and 80s (how many times have you seen a take on Valentine's "I Broke Wahoo's Leg" t-shirt?). I remember his dog collar match with Roddy Piper at Starrcade 1983 being pretty good as well.

Problem was that he didn't fit the Rock N Wrestling era at all, and was kind of done as any kind of top level guy by the time the WWF became a really big deal in the late 1980s. If you're thinking of a comparative situation, think about Harley Race's late 1980s WWF run long after his body had given out on him, and you have an idea of where Valentine was at that time.

 

[NoMorePie]

I used to watch him when I was a kid

Loved him

 

[THE 101]

I had his hasbro as a kid

 

[Beautiful Bobby Eatin]

The late 70's and early 80's were a truly pivotal time because the old era of wrestling with the tough guys of Race, Valentine, Bad News etc clashed with the wave of characters starting to be introduced like Hogan, Savage, Flair etc. So guys like the Hammer who didnt have much personality like the new generation coming in got overshadowed quickly.

A big example I like to bring up is the World Heavyweight Championship reign of Ronnie Garvin in 87. Flair was at the absolute top of his game during that time and outclassed him so badly that that title reign is largely forgotten, if not panned whereas 10 years earlier it may not have been.

Depending on age or how much of a wrestling historian you are like @stro is, you may not see the appeal of a lot of older guys unless you go outnof your way to watch the older stuff.