Do What They're Paying You To Do, Break Legs, Break Legs

Greg Valentine VS Tiger Conway Jr - Houston Wrestling 5/18/1979

CJD: So I've got to be honest. I'm not familiar with Tiger Conway Jr or his dad. But reading up about them on wikipedia I'm blown away by what seemingly normal lives they lived as fixtures of the Texas wrestling scene for the better part of a century. Greg has two great matches with Jr that are online and I was torn which one to play. I think the other a month previous might actually be a little better?? So if you want to Tarantino me and go right back to it and hold up our imaginary title, by all means!! I have no idea what your Conway options are going to look like. I'm going with this match though because it felt so memorable. With the little bit of Gino hijinx, Paul Boesch rambling on about Greg's "brother" Johnny at ringside (who is his dad fyi, who had him wrestle as his younger brother so Johnny wouldn't seem as old, isn't pro wrestling great), to a couple of "oh shit!" spots by 1979 standards. These guys had great chemistry. Valentine had a bit more variety to his game than you might give him credit for. And I can say at least up against the Hammer, Conway Jr was no slouch himself!

JJZ: I've got to be honest in that I appreciate your honesty because honestly I have no fucking clue who TCJ is. Sip of Honest Tea for the honest CJD. I know you said you this match has some oh shit moments and I really popped for that first big spot onto the ringside table. I found this one going back and forth from a structured technical bout to a flst fight. Really solid match all around. It feels like the Hammer only ever brings his A game. These two had such great heat between the ropes. If I didn't know this shit was scripted I would've thought if given the opportunity, one of these guys would've broke an arm or a leg. Wonderful match.

Rap Vandals, Stomp Your Ass Like Wahoo McDaniel

Wahoo McDaniel (c) VS Greg Valentine - MACW NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship 9/7/1977

JJZ: I've always had a soft spot for Valentine which is weird to even say because he is such a hard man. So obviously the potatoes in this bout were off the charts. Making a stew with all those taters. I was really happy with the more than expected "wrestling maneuvers" to quote that POS. Loved the snap mare exchange half way through the match. They had a couple nice roll ups. Just more technical than I expected in general. Probably my favorite part of the match was that Wahoo would get 2,000 dollars in silver coins if he won. We need more stipulations like this today! Also the finish was pretty great.

CJD: Holy shit John. I can't believe PIF brought this match into my life. This is one of those matches you hear about growing up a wrestling fan, but you just assume isn't on tape or maybe is clipped down to nothing with dubbed over audio. But here it is in perfect VQ, in full, uploaded by Kazushi Sakuraba?!? That can't actually be him, right? Anyway. This was a freight train of a match barreling down on you for 10ish minutes of gritty grimey pro wrestling perfection. No daylight, no wasted anything. This lived up to everything I could have imagined and much more. I couldn't take my eyes away. I was actually happy when a stupid Liberty Mutual ad gave me a second to catch my breath! Greg Valentine is a PIF favorite for sure, but god damn did Wahoo McDaniel leave his mark on our imaginary MDTSOCWWKD Championship with this pair of matches!

Waiting For The Hammer To Fall

Greg Valentine (c) VS Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat - WWF Intercontinental Championship 6/21/1985

CJD: For the past two weeks I've been talking about the strengths of Kerry Von Erich as a babyface. Well I'm going to follow him up with possibly the greatest babyface ever in Ricky Steamboat. I've seen a little bit of Steamboat in WWF from this era, namely some of the Muraco feud, but I had forgotten just how much he was focused on the martial arts aspect of his gimmick. It seems like he ate up Valentine a little more as a result, or maybe because this was early on in his run in NY this was treated as more of a showcase match. Either way make no mistake, Valentine does a fantastic job of keeping his heat while making Steamer look like a million bucks. Jimmy Hart brings the perfect balance of vocal interference without overwhelming the match, and add in a rare appearance from Mean Gene on commentary and this was a forward playing match for certain.

JJZ: And we got Gorilla on commentary! Look at that belt! I'm liking it Chris. I don't recall Mean Gene doing color ever so I was excited when I read that. Tights and all, they were trying to make a Bruce Lee Jr back then with Ricky. Greg's selling is superb and is making Steamboat's strikes look like a million bucks. Nobody works the gut these days, we need more midsection work. These two are doing a great job of it in this match. It's all about working the hand anymore. I totally forgot that Valentine called himself "The Master of the Figure Four." They have said Karate at least 20 times, I can picture Vince screaming in the headset KARATE KARATE KARATE! Really good match. I liked the finish, especially that the commentators were questioning it. Good shit.

Catch The Spirit, Catch The Spit

Kerry Von Erich (c) VS Greg Valentine - St Louis Wrestling NWA Missouri State Championship 2/11/1983

JJZ: I know nothing about the build to this match. I considered looking into it but watching an American match with Japanese commentary cold was really interesting and made for a unique viewing experience. The crowd is insane and love love love Kerry. Valentine or "Valentime" (as I used to say as a kid) is a personal favorite of mine. If I has to describe him to someone who's never seen him, I'd say imagine Arn Anderson doing his best Ric Flair. He's a mean SOB with lead in his hands who meshes really well with Kerry. Really liked this match. Hope you do also baby.

CJD: I didn't like this match, John. I loved this match! I actually had the opposite childhood experience with Valentime, I think for exactly the reason you described. He's kind of caught between two different characters and his in-ring style lends itself to slower paced matches. As a kid I didn't appreciate this and even as an adult he's not always my favorite to watch, but man do I love when he pairs up against an animated babyface like Kerry. This was so physical and nasty with a logical build. Both guys complimented each other perfectly and now I want to research the entire lineage of the Missouri State Title. This is the type of match that Mike from Virtual Pros would claim is impossible to appreciate with our 2019 poisoned minds. I'd argue matches like this are the antidote from the over-stimulation epidemic we all suffer from.