SmashWrestling Interview

Interview with Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (WWF, WCW and Indy Star) by Brian Schenk of Off the Rop Top Radio, Transcripted with permission for SmashWrestling.com 11/00 Brian talks about almost everything from the Late Yokozuna to as far back as WrestleMania 4 to wrestling veteran Greg Valentine. This interview has been transcripted as spoken during the radio interview.

I had the great opportunity of speaking with GREG "THE HAMMER" VALENTINE earlier this year, and what a conversation it was! We talked about everything from the recent trip he took to England working with YOKOZUNA, his father-Johnny, his career, and just about everyone he has ever worked with in the business. I spoke with GREG on many occasions since 1995, when he first starting working with the AMERICAN WRESTLING FEDERATION here out of Chicago, but this was a very in depth and to the point interview, that I am sure you will enjoy!

PLEASE NOTE! This interview was conducted before the passing of his great father, Johnny Valentine! It just turned out to be crazy timing that I am running this after Johnny's death!. Our blessings and prayers go out to GREG and his family! GOD speed and may your troubled times be comforted by the sweet hand of the LORD!

BRIAN SCHENK (BS): Greg, you have been everywhere in the wrestling world and have done just about everything! Hard work and long hours on the road have made the man known as Greg Valentine! I know you have been very stressed with the sickness of your father, Johnny. Would you care to talk about it a little?

GREG VALENTINE (GV): Yeah, ya know , it is hard anytime your father is very sick and especially when it is untimely! He just moved in to a new home and tripped and broke his back. He has been in the hospital almost 6 months now, battling pneumonia and a staph infection, but I am hoping everything will work out. He suffered a plane crash in 1975 breaking his back in 3 places and then breaks it in almost the same place.

BS: Geez, I remember that especially when with Ric Flair being involved.

GV: Yeah, he has had a quality life and it ended his wrestling career with that plane crash! He is very fortunate that he didn't pass on during that accident, and I can't believe the amount of mail he receives every week wishing him well! His wife Sharon is just overwhelmed at it and he looks at every piece that comes through.

BS: That's great! He was always a great competitor when he was out there in the squared circle and we will always recall how smooth he was!

GV: Thank you!

BS: I hate to keep reflecting on bad things, but you and I were talking off the air here about the recent tour you took in England as part of a wrestling promotion. You actually tagged with the late YOKOZUNA quite a bit during that tour. Tell us what went on during that tour and how shocking it was finding out he died shortly afterwards.

GV: Well, I did the tour in England and YOKO and I never worked that much in the WWF since he came in after I left but we worked about 25 matches in 30 days! We did a lot of autograph sessions and it was a lot of grief and I was devastated when I heard the news. I had about 3 days left on the tour and I got the news. It was hard going back home on the plane after learning he passed on that week. He was found in his hotel room. He just ordered a PPV movie before he died and it was just crazy. They found him dead around 2:00 in the afternoon.

BS: What kind of mood was he in that day you saw him? We have always heard he loved the fans and really got into meeting them as much as he could.

GV: A couple of times it took him longer to get to the ring and tried to do most of the work since I knew he was having a hard time getting going. He had a great heart and was a beautiful person!

BS: Yeah, I always heard that about YOKO. What a shock...

GV: He was the life of the party and always alot of fun (Laughs!) I heard he was supposed to come back in the WWF but unfortunately he wasn't lucky enough to get there after the tour!

BS: Let's get away from the bad news for a little as this is an interview about YOU, Greg Valentine! I am sitting here looking over your resume' and I have to tell ya something. If you were applying for a job, you would be my #1 candidate! Three time NWA US Champ, 4 Time NWA Tag Team Champion, WCW US Tag Team Champ with Terry Taylor, WWF Inter Continental Champ, WWF Tag Team Champ, and the AWF Tag Champ with Tommy Rich! That is quite impressive. Plus ya have as many INDY titles. More than the pardons Bill Clinton gave away near the end of his term. You also had some awesome hour long matches with Ric Flair! What an athlete!

GV: Oh yeah, Ric is a good one in the ring, I won't even touch him on the Stair Stepper! I never got into that cardio stuff, but was always able to hang with him in the ring!

BS: Here's a date for you. Nov 4th, 1982! Wahoo Mc Daniel and you for the US Title in Norfolk, Va., then lost it to Roddy Piper in Aug in 1983. What was it like wrestling those two guys?

GV: Wahoo wasn't a great wrestler but he weighed 300 lbs and he had a chop that would knock your heart down your stomach. Then he would go crazy with the Indian Dance and dropped all that weight on me and beat the living you know what out of me-RAW power. Roddy was a great boxer and made me punch drunk at times. We would really lay into each other to make others believe it and prove something to them and OURSELVES! Great competitors, Ric, Wahoo, and Roddy!

BS: I know you have been asked this from everyone and their mothers about the one match that really sticks out in your career! The awesome DOG COLLAR match at STARRCADE with Roddy Piper in 1983 during your stint in the NWA! I remember it was one, if not, the ONLY wrestling show on closed circuit Pay Per View. Can't believe it has been almost 20 years since that match!

GV: Yeah! That was at different theaters around town and have been asked so many questions about it. Got some great 8 x 10 pictures of that match with Roddy stretching the chain across my mouth!! Everyone asks me why I chose that pose and I tell them "It was the only pic of me SMILING!" (Laughs!)

BS: HA! That is true, I don't recall any other shots in magazines of you laughing/smiling (Laughing)

GV: There ya go. Piper was very quick.

BS: Then Dick Slater beat you a couple of weeks later, with the help of Bob Orton. What was it like wrestling Dick?

GV: He was tough, and abused me and a hell of a puncher. Fought alot of street fight in Florida. Not a muscular person, but a mean spirited guy and very tough!

BS: Greg, this is a weird question, maybe, but I have always noticed something original about you when ya stepped in the ring. You never wore kneepads! Why was that?

GV: Well, I tried a couple of times because the old timers said it would be better in the long run to save my knees. But they slowed me down, and I didn't need to be any slower! But it's funny, because after all these years of NOT wearing them, my doctor says I have the knees of a 20 year old!

BS: Really? That's pretty good considering you just turned 33 not too long ago!

GV: (Laughs!) Yeah, but they take the most punishment and I am still not wearing them. It's funny since it has been many years, and they are still holding up!

BS: Let's talk about the WWF years. You worked some great matches against some awesome workers in your tenure over there. I remember reading/hearing alot of places that you said Tito Santana was one of the hardest people you ever faced. Is this true?

GV: Oh yes! Tito and I went all over the world and some great two hour Broadway matches in Miami and Joe Louis Arena back in the day. Always a good fight since we beat the hell out of each other as much as possible.

BS: How about those days after the summer of 1985 when you were paired up with Brutus Beefcake, as the DREAM TEAM? Was that odd for you?

GV: No, because Brutus was a buddy of Hulk Hogan's and they wanted someone who he (Brutus) could learn from. So they set me up with him when I wasn't holding a singles title. Then Vince and George Scott said let's make them a team. That's when I thought of the name " Dream Team". And we went on to win the tag titles soon afterward, beating Rotunda and Windham. There is a lot there that many don't know about.

BS: You teamed up with HONKY TONK MAN later on down the road, to form Rhythm and Blues. That was a shock! But ya did pick a mean 6 string, that is for sure!

GV: (Laughing) Yeah, well, one day I think I was feeling really goofy or something cuz I let Jimmy Hart talk me into dying the hair black. Jesse Ventura once told Vince, "Wouldn't it be great if Greg walked out with HTM and his hair was dyes BLACK too!?" -- Vince said "Great idea!" Well, then one night my wife was going to pick me up from the airport and she drove right by me! She had to circle around twice to finally realize it was me! I didn't tell her about it before hand and it was funny!

BS: That is hilarious!

GV: HTM and Jimmy Hart were, and still are, good friends of mine and they all thought it was fun and we all had a blast for about 8 months.

BS: Good stuff. What about the Ronnie Garvin story? You and him had a good thing for awhile.

GV: Yeah, Ronnie wanted to do the referee gimmick so he could come back and start shit against me as a ref after I beat him and made him "retire". It was fun. Plus, Ronnie was asked who he wanted to work with and he said "GREG VALENTINE!"

GV: When I saw Flair show up in New York (WWF) I realized it was time for me to go.

BS: Really? Why is that?

GV: Well, Flair and I had the same type wrestling styles and we always worked the Broadway style matches. He was doing what I did back before this so I knew it was time to go.

BS: It was a big shock to see him come in and be claimed as "The REAL World's Champion!" They did the whole skit of blocking out the belt he carried around, which I believe eventually was an OLD WWF Tag Team Belt. He had the real one but sold that back to the WCW. Then that was the time you pretty much went back to WCW and tagged up with Terry Taylor and soon won the US Tag Team Titles.

GV: Yep. We beat Ron Simmons and Big Josh then lost them to the Freebirds later on. We didn't really gel too well with the Freebirds, since Hayes and Garvin were past their prime, in my opinion. Nothing against them personally as they were good, but I wanted to defend them against people like Bagwell and other younger opponents. It was a matter of two heel tag teams and it just wasn't as good as it could have been if we would have wrestled others like the people I mentioned earlier.

BS : How about the NWA Tag Team Championship that ya held 4 times! Won them with Flair on X-mas night in 1976 vs. the Anderson's. Tell us about that match.

GV: Ole and Gene. It was in Greensboro and there must have been about 30,000 people there. It was a good match and the people were great.

BS: Then ya lost those belts to them in May of 1977 in Charlotte. Then beat them again in Oct of that same year. Soon afterwards, Baron Von Raschke and yourself won them against Paul Jones and Youngblood.

GV: Then later we lost them to Snuka and Orton then I got another partner in Ray Stevens and had some awesome matches against Steamboat and Youngblood.

BS: So many titles and so many times. Did ya like tagging better than singles?

GV: I liked singles because I could control the tempo but if I had a good partner and he knew what I was all about, I could control it as well. Beefcake came around and Flair was great as we both had our own styles.

BS: Who was your favorite tag partner?

GV: Brutus Beefcake, as he and I worked well together, and he learned off me quite well. He was a good partner. He came a long way.

BS: Where did Piper go after the Chain Match?

GV: Well, I went to NY in '84 and he soon followed along after that in the Piper's Pit. You know what happened after that!

BS: Yes indeed! What is on Greg's plate now here in the early part of 2001?

GV: I have been very busy in the Indies as I have dates in Ca., N.C., and everywhere else. Plus there has been talk about me training people, but I am not sure on that yet. I might look into that as I think I would be a very good teacher.

BS: Absolutely! Plus, the psychology would be part of it. That is something we don't see alot of anymore. I am not trying to downplay everyone, but let's face it, the sport has changes.

GV: In my opinion, and I think MY opinion is right- I have been in the business for 30 years, hitting people with tables and such is just a lack of talent! And I have been out there and grabbed a chair as well, but it was because someone did it first. Plus, ya really kill the 1-2-3 of it all since someone will be dropping from a ladder and then they kick out of a pin. Nothing to it.

BS: Tell us a little what ya think about wrestling now. Do ya watch alot of the wrestling nowadays?

GV: Yeah, I saw a very good match on WWF the other night with Kane and feel they are a good promotion with good production values. WCW needed to bring back some of the older names and try and stick to the wrestling! (NOTE: This was BEFORE WCW folded, as we conducted this interview when WCW was still owned by Turner) I remember when they tried to cut the NWO apart into 3 different groups and they lost it. They should have tried to bring in people like myself and have a big extravaganza against some of us older types and see what they could have done against us!

BS: I remember they did that awhile ago with Snuka, Tito and George Steele.

GV: Yeah, they should have brought Hogan back at that time and it would have brought the viewership back up and make it big.

BS: Did Paul E. ever contact you about working with him?

GV: Yes. One time it was supposed to be with Jake the Snake. It was before ECW really ever started and Crocket was up there around NY. He wanted Jake to beat me and I told him NO! Paul used to carry my bag all the way down to Gate 5 in 1975! He used to run and get me things. I don't know how he ever got into the business. I hope he is listening! You used to carry my bag, Paul E.!

BS: Oh man! Let's change subjects here. Who were some of the great wrestlers you really enjoyed working with/against?

GV: Wow! Let's see, Orton, Tito Santana, JYD, Bulldogs, Jake Roberts, Piper, he's at the top of the list. Ronnie Garvin, Ole and Gene Anderson. There was Dusty, Dustin was alot of fun in WCW around 92-92, Rotunda, Barry Windham. And of course Flair.

BS: Was there anyone that you really didn't care for in the business in the business, or should I say, someone that ya just didn't enjoy working with?

GV: You know, if there was someone I didn't like working with in the business, I just didn't hang around with them. There were people that I couldn't work with like Andre. But that didn't mean I didn't like Andre. There were just some people that I did not click with and that was just the way it was. But it wasn't because I didn't LIKE them or not being around them.

BS: You went on the record by saying that you didn't think Bret Hart was deserving of holding the Heavyweight Title in the WWF, and maybe WCW for that matter.

GV: I was completely shock he even won the Intercontinental belt, let alone the World's title! I thought his matches were okay, but his interviews were boring and very mechanical. I like Bret, but he was very limited. It was like he was very one dimensional inside the ring and didn't have a lot to offer.

BS: I recall you saying that YOU were in line to get the WWF Title before Hulk Hogan came around. Is that true?

GV: It is TRUE! Orndorff was there and there was others they were looking at. He was over and even JYD was at that point. Terry (HH) has always taken things with a grain of salt. He is a multi-multi- millionaire and is the same person he was from the beginning. He was just a little taller than everyone else and that special something about him.

BS: You and I worked together for awhile, Greg, in the American Wrestling Federation which was based out of Chicago. Things were promised but alot was broken. Tell me your thoughts and/or memories about the AWF.

GV: I wanted to be a singles champ but they said it has been done before in the past with TITO and myself. They had a lot of good guys in there and I was happy working with Tommy Rich. Even Paul Alperstein (owner) was a good guy but went broke. Too much too soon. He was on at 12:30 in New York and paid alot for those times. He could have went alot of places in Florida, Texas and other cities. But it was too fast too soon and he blew it. I really thought it was going to go somewhere but he just lost sight of it. Could have had good TV times and people watching our shows. Good group of people around us. Geez, we were on at 5:00 in the morning in LA and New York. How friggin' good is that? (Laughs)

BS: Who else do you still talk with these days from yesteryear?

GV: Road Warrior Hawk lives close by and we talk alot. We also get together and work out. Luke of the Bushwhackers. I see Hogan once in awhile. Brian Blair, Steve Kiern.

BS: Tell us a little about the Steamboat match at WrestleMania 4. How upset was he after he lost to you? I remember talking with Rick about this subject and there was some bad feelings towards the WWF in Ricky's eyes.

GV: Oh geez. He quit right after that! (Laughs). It didn't have anything to do with me. He thought he should have beat me and maybe he should have, I don't know. They didn't do much with me after that, but we were supposed to work a program after wards. Oh yeah, I remember, he was going to do this angle all around and beat me and have his shot with Savage. But he felt he was getting screwed and left the promotion. But, it wasn't anything against me. He was a gem to work with.

BS: Well, it's been great talking with ya Greg!

GV: Aw, it's been fantastic, Brian!

BS: Is there anything ya want to say to all the fans out there?

GV: Just that I am out there and I am still alive and kicking and if I was in the WWF right now, I would be sticking beer cans where the sun don't shine on Steve Austin and dropping the elbow on the ROCK!!

BS: And ya probably wouldn't be wearing any kneepads either!

GV: (Laughing) That's right. No knee pads-no nothing!

BS: Thanks Greg. Good luck with everything and I hope your future is as awesome as your past has been!

GV: Thank you. I appreciate that, really!

Thanks to Brian Schenk of Off the Top Rope Radio Chicago for allowing SmashWrestling.com to use this transcript of the interview, you can contact Brian at this site www.offthetoprope.eplugz.com or email him offthetoprope@mailcity.com.

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