Meeting Greg "The Hammer" Valentine

This past Saturday along with my Idaho Family (My Wife Holly, Mother In-Law Sophie, Step-Father In-Law, Brother In-Law Jeremy, Holly & Jeremy's Step Sister Faith, and niece JoJo) went to the Lake City Comic Con here in Coeur D' Alene, ID hosted by Lilac City Comic Con Runner Nathan O'Brien. It was a pretty awesome time despite the heavy rain. Got to walk around and check out some cool stuff like comics, toys, collectibles, costumes and tons more.

There were a few celebrities there, all I knew of but only one was bound to get money out of me for an autograph and picture taken with them and that's the legendary wrestler Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. I've studied bits of his career for as long as I've been a fan of pro wrestling (23+ Years) and is one of the guys I wished I could've seen in his prime. Safe to say I was a fan born in the wrong era LOL. The wrestlers I began with growing up were from the Attitude Era such as Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Stone Cold, The Rock, Triple H & DX. I started learning more about that business through tapes of my favorites and documentaries such as The Unreal Story Of Professional Wrestling. As I got to understand the basic history and terms of pro wrestling, I began to look more to the early days most notably the 70's and the 80's.

Greg was in the thicket of what were the territories and the emergence of the New Golden Age of wrestling when Vince McMahon Jr. took over and dominated that era of television and PPV's. He had won championships in a lot of the territories such as the NWA & WWE most famously. A former tag team partner of Ric Flair, a guy who can go the distance in a Broadway (60 Min. Draw) and was one of the best Heels (bad guys) in the 80's.

Being trained in the Hart Dungeon and learning the ins and outs from his father the late Johnny Valentine, traveled the world and having matches with some of the biggest names ever. One of his most famous matches was a Dog Collar Match with quite possibly the greatest talker in Pro History history "Rowdy" Roddy Piper at Starrcade '83 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Another match that solidified his status as a exceptional performer was against the WWWF Champion Bob Backlund in a 60 min. draw at Madison Square Garden in 1979.

He's the only 2nd or 3rd Pro Wrestler I had the opportunity to meet up close along with Undertaker and former Karl Gotch Student Tom Puckett (RIP) who mainly did promotions in Japan and other MMA organizations that I had personally worked with. Got to ask Greg a few questions about his career and his thoughts on guys like Flair, Stu Hart & Verne Gagne. He did tell me a funny Ric Flair story where even though Flair was famous for his Drinking binges, he hated Weed, so whenever Greg rolled up a joint around flair or smoked around him, Flair would get pissed. Greg was no slouch himself with the drinking but he told me he prefered Beer & Wine but couldn't stand Whisky.

On the thoughts of Stu & Verne, it was quite the contrast where Stu was a nice guy and Verne was just flat out mean, I'm not surprised by this at all and coming from the horse's mouth, it was quite a confirmation. I think Greg wanted to say Verne was a rotten son of a bitch but I believe he held back and didn't want to swear too much around the crowd of people. I had told him at one time in my life, I wanted to see what getting into the business would be like, he just told me never to pursue it cause the rough toll it takes on family. I knew this and plus even at the time I wanted to which was at All Pro Wrestling in Hayward, CA when Rollin Alexander was alive running the promotion, the money just wasn't there.

I think because he didn't want to reveal his true self to fans, he didn't talk very much about his real opinions so his answers were a little vague and predictable but I can understand and didn't ask him any deep details about his career. Plus there are some things he has said in interviews that I don't agree with and personally, it would probably be difficult to be around him but you never know so overall, as a fan it was a pleasure meeting him and he seemed like a nice guy when I talked to him.

That's my Greg "The Hammer" Valentine story and I'm glad I had the opportunity to meet him. If you want to see him on DVD, check out Behind Closed Doors: The Greg Valentine DVD and also check out his interview and match clips with the film 350 Days which talks about the drama, tragedy and crazy stories of traveling 350 Days a year in the wrestling business, amazing film. You can also see shoot interviews he's done like this one with THE HANNIBAL TV.