THE HAMMER ON 24/7

Greg Valentine Month

The 24/7 Hall of Famer of the month is Greg "The Hammer" Valentine which I am very excited about. Valentine is one of those I guys I haven't seen a ton of stuff from, but I have been loving everything I have seen recently. Everything he does is hard, solid and violent.

Greg Valentine v. Roddy Piper Starcade 83

I don't think I have seen this match since I rented the Best of Starcade video set from the Blockbuster on Telegraph Ave. in 1991. Merciful crap is this great. For pure violence this is right up with best gimmick matches I have ever seen, I would say this is better then Funk v. Flair I Quit and Tully v. Magnum (although I am re-watching that this month too) and fucking with Wargames and the Vader v. Sting strap match. It starts out with a great test of strength with both guys pulling hard with their necks on the chain. It devolves into hideous violence, with both guys pounding on each other with the chain wrapped around their fist and hands. Valentine starts pounding on Piper's bad ear, and Piper is bleeding a gusher from it, I mean totally sick looking. Piper does a really cool sell, where he has lost his equilibrium and can't stand. Doing little things like holding the ropes to punch. The finish was a little flat, but this was incredible, and if you haven't seen it in a while go find it.

Greg Valentine v. Ron Garvin Royal Rumble 90

Their MSG match was my #2 match on the 80's set. This is the feud blowoff in a submissions match. It had the same visceral violent feel of the MSG match, but a little goofiness kept it from being as great. It was a submissions match, where both guys kept going for pins. Once or twice it is a nice spot to show confusion, but they kept going back to it. Also it had a bunch of spots based around the dueling ankle protectors, that was fine, but it took away from the beating. Still this match had some great beatings, Garvin has great head movement, he is one of the few punchers in wrestling who moves his head the way a fighter should, and of course Ronnie Garvins punches, were Ronnie Garvin punches. Hammer had some nice punches too, including a short tricky left hook which he dropped allot, also of course he dropped some big elbows and clubbering. I really could watch these guys beat the shit out of each other for ever