I'm an oldtimer and I watched Johnny Valentine back in the mid 1960's when he was the Florida Heavyweight champion. A true gentleman and a class act! His signature move was the "Brainbuster". My dad was into bodybuilding and was NOT into wrestling, but he would stop and take notice and watch when Johnny Valentine was on CWF. My dad would always say, "He's a BIG man!" Valentine teamed with Boris Malenko and lost a "Loser Leave Florida" match in Tampa against Malenko when the two "split".
OMG!I I never saw Johnny Valentine wrestle,but when i started watching mid-atlantic wrestling back in the 80's Greg was a huge star then,and i have to say he is the spitting image of his dad.It's amazing how much Greg resembles his dad not only in looks,but in his wrestling style.
@GohModley hes a dead ringer for his father. johnny valentine one of my pops favorite wrestler. i miss my father and the times he and i watched wrestling from los angeles with roddy piper as top heel.some guys watched baseball with their pops and i watched wrestling with mine.great memories.
@GohModley buddy you got me wrong. i was in new york and in the 70's on channel 47 (spanish) they had wrestling from los angeles and they had roddy piper,black gordman and goliath, leroy brown,john tolos, the hollywood blondes with oliver humperdink. lot's of great memories. my dad watched johnny at madison square garden (the old garden) and antonino roca and many more. it was just fun rooting for the good guy and just laugh at the dirty tricks that were pulled on the good guys.
@melbz1266 He did knock Gene Anderson's teeth out. And being the person that he was, Gene kept going. Any wanna-be today that complains of a bloody nose, I hope Gene comes back from the hereafter and whips your behind.
@pattersongrove I pulled up a snippet of Triple H coaching some students on the old Tough Enough. Anyone training to be a wrestler should watch this tape. Wahoo and Johnny both had a passion for wrestling. Now, it seems that all the newcomers want is money and women.
This was Classic Wrestling just like the St. Louis Wrestling Club run by Sam Muchnik . Sam did not go for gimmick matches. The matches were fairly straight. Foreign objects on occasion. Some juice, but Sam wasn't real big on it. I was there one time when Harley Race bladed himself on camera against David von Erich once, and Sam was livid that he gave it away. You could hear Sam giving Race hell up in the dressing room from down in the studio.
I was at a doctors office once & looked outside the picture window to see a small frail blonde gent walking with 2 canes. I recognized him as one of my all time favs. I went out, introduced myself as one of his many long time fans. I'm only 5'10" & he was so bent over, I had him by a couple of inches. His voice was weak & couldn't have weighed 150 lbs. He was there for his wifes therapy. Not wishing to embarrass him I thanked him for so many great years & left. One of the best "good" bad guys.
Some of Johnnys' most brutal fights were against an old punch drunk boxer by the name of Bull Curry. But these guys truly hated each other. Most of pro wrestling is & always was scripted as to the winner but when these 2 wrestled, get out of the way. Never have I seen more brutal matches than between Johnny & Bull.
This was the day wrestling became "real" for me. I saw this on the Saturday afternoon it was broadcast on WGHP-8 then an ABC station. The announcer was Charlie Harville. Two men entered the ring and proceeded to beat the sh** out of each other. In my opinion, this was the "birth" of what became the best promotion in the nation. "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling." If I remember correctly, this was before "The Nature Boy" he was just known as "Ramblin" Ric Flair.
This was the feud that turned Mid Atlantic from a tag team oriented territory to one where singles guy could make money. And it set a standard for realistic style wrestling.
I don't think Ric was ever "Ramblin" Ric, if he was, not for long. It was an idea that was quickly discarded by Verne Gagne.
Some say the Wahoo & JVal matches were the best ever in the Carolinas...anyone ever hear about the famous match between these two guys where Valentine lost afew of his fingers and they kept brawling for like 10 more minutes? Unbelievable...
Was it April 1994 at the North Augusta Jaycee Hut? I was there. Wahoo and Chief Jay Eagle fought Law & Order (Allen 'Super Enforcer' Kinsey & J.D. Justice). There was J.D.'s brother, C.W., and his turned-face partner, Johnny Law. Law would go back heel with JD later. CW would then do a face turn. The last I heard, it was JD & CW wrestling as Justice, Inc. mgd. by Sandy Sable. JD Justice really knew how to get heat.
i have a video of wahoo when he came to Hillville Va, to wrestle, it was at the highschool and they let me use my video cam. it was sai to be Wahoos last match ever! the date was april 19, 1996. i didnt see the only other person i saw with a video cam was Wahoos wife. this event was not on tv. so is there a chance that there is only 2 tapes of his last match and i have 1 of them?
Johnny Valentine was one of the biggest stars in the 60's. He never fully recovered from the plane crash that he, Ric Flair and a few other wrestlers were in. He lost quite a few years of his career because of it.
@bc575757 The other wrestlers on that plane were Mr. Wrestling (Tim Woods) and Bob Bruggers. Wahoo almost flew with them, but decided to drive at the last minute. Word got out that Woods was on the plane. He was to wrestle Johnny, but denied being on it. They gave a phony name out, George Woodin, who was the "promoter." Ric Flair says that Woods saved this sport.
Well actually, I hate to admit it speaking from the great grandson of Wahoo McDaniel. All the punches and kicks are real, but who wins at the end isn't i mean I've seen one fight were Wahoo's head is bleeding like crazy.
Looks like Johnny to me . Part of his gimmick when he was in dallas in the late 60'swas that he was a Island , or the island . Meaning he was a man unto himself . Vicious as hell.But I remember him fondly . Rest in peace , big John .
I remeber the night they wrestled this impromptu match as Wahoo hadn't been long come to the area from Texas. Truly two of the toughest men to ever step in the ring together.
Wahoo McDaniel, THANK YOU FOR TEACHING RIC FLAIR HOW TO CHOP. Ric Flair used those chops later in many GREAT matches against wrestlers like Ricky Steamboat, and Ron Garvin.
@nurble I read that that was really a work. Wahoo went to Japan and wrestled during that time. He came into the ring and confronted Flair and Valentine as they were preparing to wrestle Danny Miller and Mr. Sato on a televised match 2 months later.
Defintely Johnny and not Greg in this video-as a kid in Houston in the early 70's these guys headlined for about 3 straight years and the Indian Death matches were amazing-90 minutes of smacking the hell out of each other!
Definitely Johnny Valentine. Greg wrestled as Johnny's brother, though the truth is he was Johnny's son. Johnny asked him to wrestle as his brother so he (johnny) wouldn't appear as old as he was.
I'm an oldtimer and I watched Johnny Valentine back in the mid 1960's when he was the Florida Heavyweight champion. A true gentleman and a class act! His signature move was the "Brainbuster". My dad was into bodybuilding and was NOT into wrestling, but he would stop and take notice and watch when Johnny Valentine was on CWF. My dad would always say, "He's a BIG man!" Valentine teamed with Boris Malenko and lost a "Loser Leave Florida" match in Tampa against Malenko when the two "split".
johnwoa 1 day ago
OMG!I I never saw Johnny Valentine wrestle,but when i started watching mid-atlantic wrestling back in the 80's Greg was a huge star then,and i have to say he is the spitting image of his dad.It's amazing how much Greg resembles his dad not only in looks,but in his wrestling style.
sammys70 6 months ago
One of the few men who can chop better than Flair
mdhotstuff 7 months ago
did they ever actually wrestle?
wp4866 1 year ago
I'm 17 years old right now, but I love watching these classic matches, what year was this?
TruSiaki 1 year ago 2
i remeber seeing this when i was 9 years old on channel 13 out of Florence,S.C.
BigWillMac 1 year ago
Who are the two goofs that don't like this?
litehouse6 1 year ago
Damn those were some stiff shots.
angelinaramon 1 year ago
Cool, Greg Valentine grew 4 inches and called himself Johnny back in 1974.
GohModley 1 year ago
@GohModley hes a dead ringer for his father. johnny valentine one of my pops favorite wrestler. i miss my father and the times he and i watched wrestling from los angeles with roddy piper as top heel.some guys watched baseball with their pops and i watched wrestling with mine.great memories.
melbz1266 1 year ago
@melbz1266 Did you see any of the NWA champs come through L.A. back then?
GohModley 1 year ago
@GohModley buddy you got me wrong. i was in new york and in the 70's on channel 47 (spanish) they had wrestling from los angeles and they had roddy piper,black gordman and goliath, leroy brown,john tolos, the hollywood blondes with oliver humperdink. lot's of great memories. my dad watched johnny at madison square garden (the old garden) and antonino roca and many more. it was just fun rooting for the good guy and just laugh at the dirty tricks that were pulled on the good guys.
melbz1266 1 year ago
Ed 'Wahoo" McDaniel was a former football player with the Denver Broncos before he got into wrestling.
Mowac 1 year ago
Comment removed
Wehategod 1 year ago
Boring.
Hogan, Austin, Rock, Undertaker = stars who made money for themselves and the promotion.
These guys, Jack Birsco, Thez, Gagne = LAME AND FAKE LOOKING.
MrORDOG 1 year ago
@MrORDOG and todays stuff is great and looks real?.......i dont think so.
killerdugong 1 year ago
@MrORDOG wahoo used to knock teeth out with his chops just ask ole anderson how fake it was.
melbz1266 1 year ago
@melbz1266 He did knock Gene Anderson's teeth out. And being the person that he was, Gene kept going. Any wanna-be today that complains of a bloody nose, I hope Gene comes back from the hereafter and whips your behind.
mkl62 1 year ago
@mkl62 Yea the Undertaker & TRIPLE HHH will be gone after wrestlemainia for another 6 months because there to hurt to compete.
pattersongrove 1 year ago
@pattersongrove I pulled up a snippet of Triple H coaching some students on the old Tough Enough. Anyone training to be a wrestler should watch this tape. Wahoo and Johnny both had a passion for wrestling. Now, it seems that all the newcomers want is money and women.
mkl62 1 year ago
@mkl62 Gorilla Monsoon (I think) once said something to the effect that if you weren't in wrestling to make money, you were in the wrong business.
nyctid 5 months ago
@APaulA222 You're so right as that was the first thing that popped into my mind.
86lenny 2 years ago
This was Classic Wrestling just like the St. Louis Wrestling Club run by Sam Muchnik . Sam did not go for gimmick matches. The matches were fairly straight. Foreign objects on occasion. Some juice, but Sam wasn't real big on it. I was there one time when Harley Race bladed himself on camera against David von Erich once, and Sam was livid that he gave it away. You could hear Sam giving Race hell up in the dressing room from down in the studio.
lms264t 2 years ago
I was at a doctors office once & looked outside the picture window to see a small frail blonde gent walking with 2 canes. I recognized him as one of my all time favs. I went out, introduced myself as one of his many long time fans. I'm only 5'10" & he was so bent over, I had him by a couple of inches. His voice was weak & couldn't have weighed 150 lbs. He was there for his wifes therapy. Not wishing to embarrass him I thanked him for so many great years & left. One of the best "good" bad guys.
RangerAlways 2 years ago
Some of Johnnys' most brutal fights were against an old punch drunk boxer by the name of Bull Curry. But these guys truly hated each other. Most of pro wrestling is & always was scripted as to the winner but when these 2 wrestled, get out of the way. Never have I seen more brutal matches than between Johnny & Bull.
RangerAlways 2 years ago
@RangerAlways bull curry didn't get along with wahoo? i read in angelo moscas book that he and wahoo had real heat too?
oldschool6804 4 months ago
Greg still wears a shirt that says " i broke Wahoo's leg"
aj31313 2 years ago 2
Johnny Valentine & Wahoo had some of the most legendary of battles in both Texas & Mid-Atlantic wrestling histories.
Wahoo also had a great fued w/ Johnny's son Greg too.
Lfdjake91 2 years ago
This was the day wrestling became "real" for me. I saw this on the Saturday afternoon it was broadcast on WGHP-8 then an ABC station. The announcer was Charlie Harville. Two men entered the ring and proceeded to beat the sh** out of each other. In my opinion, this was the "birth" of what became the best promotion in the nation. "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling." If I remember correctly, this was before "The Nature Boy" he was just known as "Ramblin" Ric Flair.
JimmyAllenShore 2 years ago
This was the feud that turned Mid Atlantic from a tag team oriented territory to one where singles guy could make money. And it set a standard for realistic style wrestling.
I don't think Ric was ever "Ramblin" Ric, if he was, not for long. It was an idea that was quickly discarded by Verne Gagne.
Davidhgi 2 years ago
Some say the Wahoo & JVal matches were the best ever in the Carolinas...anyone ever hear about the famous match between these two guys where Valentine lost afew of his fingers and they kept brawling for like 10 more minutes? Unbelievable...
MrDeray5 2 years ago
I heard that story too. it was in an Indian strap match.
Lfdjake91 2 years ago
I met Wahoo when he did an indy show in1994 in Belvedere,SC. What a great guy.
NAYellowjackets 2 years ago
Was it April 1994 at the North Augusta Jaycee Hut? I was there. Wahoo and Chief Jay Eagle fought Law & Order (Allen 'Super Enforcer' Kinsey & J.D. Justice). There was J.D.'s brother, C.W., and his turned-face partner, Johnny Law. Law would go back heel with JD later. CW would then do a face turn. The last I heard, it was JD & CW wrestling as Justice, Inc. mgd. by Sandy Sable. JD Justice really knew how to get heat.
mkl62 2 years ago
i have a video of wahoo when he came to Hillville Va, to wrestle, it was at the highschool and they let me use my video cam. it was sai to be Wahoos last match ever! the date was april 19, 1996. i didnt see the only other person i saw with a video cam was Wahoos wife. this event was not on tv. so is there a chance that there is only 2 tapes of his last match and i have 1 of them?
humanfly02 2 years ago
Two of the heaviest hitters in wrestling. The hammer and the chop! Legends!
VolumedMusicMan 2 years ago
wow looks so much like son Greg
JoeyPencils 3 years ago
Ain't that the truth! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
RevDarkehorse 2 years ago
This will always be the best wrestling in the world, hell with the WWE, i want to see wrestling not a soap opera. classic NWA is the best
humanfly02 3 years ago 2
I couldn't agree with you more, humanfly.
RevDarkehorse 2 years ago
Johnny Valentine was one of the biggest stars in the 60's. He never fully recovered from the plane crash that he, Ric Flair and a few other wrestlers were in. He lost quite a few years of his career because of it.
bc575757 3 years ago
"Lost quite a few years of his career"?!??!! Umm you're joking right? Think Droz....
Royalston 2 years ago
Comment removed
melbz1266 1 year ago
@bc575757 The other wrestlers on that plane were Mr. Wrestling (Tim Woods) and Bob Bruggers. Wahoo almost flew with them, but decided to drive at the last minute. Word got out that Woods was on the plane. He was to wrestle Johnny, but denied being on it. They gave a phony name out, George Woodin, who was the "promoter." Ric Flair says that Woods saved this sport.
mkl62 5 months ago
Wahoo along with Ric Flair were the greatest ever.
LT1HILLINGHOE 3 years ago 2
Except for the WWE Hall of Fame this new crap just isn't worth watching.
RevDarkehorse 2 years ago 2
I can't even watch the current product anymore.
That's why I love these old matches on You Tube.
MrK623 3 years ago 11
@MrK623 thank you...fletch lives!
paladindarknite 1 year ago
Are you saying these current guys work stiff?
If they do, it's because they don't know how to wrestle by just "making it look real, without getting hurt so bad."
MrK623 3 years ago
Well actually, I hate to admit it speaking from the great grandson of Wahoo McDaniel. All the punches and kicks are real, but who wins at the end isn't i mean I've seen one fight were Wahoo's head is bleeding like crazy.
GrammMcDaniel11 3 years ago
Stiff means they both worked hard and very close to real. They didn't pull their punches as much as the other guys.
"stiff" is wrestling terminology.
MrK623 3 years ago
They were both stiff right?
MrK623 3 years ago
understatement. these guys in their prime put the Cena's, HHH's, etc to shame..and in 74 Johnny wasn't even in his prime yet was still top shelf
OrigLanceR 3 years ago
I think they were both stiff in other terminology too!
thegreatpampero 3 years ago
Greg looks EXACTLY like his dad. BTW, Greg is actually Johnny Jr.
CadillacL 3 years ago
Two of the toughest wrestlers ever. I'm sure they are hammering and chopping away on eachother in heaven. God Bless you all gentlemen.
VolumedMusicMan 3 years ago
Johnny is father of the great Greg "the hammer" Valentine.
airjor1 4 years ago
there were a couple of handsome johnny valentines,,this is one of them
STU676 4 years ago
Tackle by you know who????
W A H O OOOOOOOOOOOO!
middle linebacker new york jets 1964
number 54
bruce326 4 years ago
Looks like Johnny to me . Part of his gimmick when he was in dallas in the late 60'swas that he was a Island , or the island . Meaning he was a man unto himself . Vicious as hell.But I remember him fondly . Rest in peace , big John .
lutherheggs 4 years ago
I remember Charlie Harville as a sportscaster on WGHP and WFMY. Rest in peace, Charlie.
wvoutlaw2002 4 years ago
saw these 2 go at it many times in person while growing up in south texas....thanks much for posting
spinandmarty 5 years ago
so who won?
jim92021 5 years ago
I remeber the night they wrestled this impromptu match as Wahoo hadn't been long come to the area from Texas. Truly two of the toughest men to ever step in the ring together.
scorpiochick18 5 years ago
Two of the toughest. Would like to know if Race and Valentine ever got it on outside the ring. Would like to know the details.
micksstarr 4 years ago
Wahoo McDaniel, THANK YOU FOR TEACHING RIC FLAIR HOW TO CHOP. Ric Flair used those chops later in many GREAT matches against wrestlers like Ricky Steamboat, and Ron Garvin.
1JasonT 5 years ago
Great stuff. I was a BIG Wahoo fan in the 70's. Where did you get your vids from?
1BadDolfan 5 years ago
Pretty cool.
JonahHexx 5 years ago
GV broke Wahoo's leg in Charlotte in 1977 (BEFORE he broke Strongbow's leg in the WWF).
nurble 5 years ago
@nurble I read that that was really a work. Wahoo went to Japan and wrestled during that time. He came into the ring and confronted Flair and Valentine as they were preparing to wrestle Danny Miller and Mr. Sato on a televised match 2 months later.
mkl62 1 year ago
Wahoo was the man! Definitely deserved to be a world champ......
t01880 5 years ago
Definatly Johnny. I remember their fued well.
di1234 5 years ago
Defintely Johnny and not Greg in this video-as a kid in Houston in the early 70's these guys headlined for about 3 straight years and the Indian Death matches were amazing-90 minutes of smacking the hell out of each other!
dickdeluxe 5 years ago
greg valentine broke stongbows leg... they splinted it with 2 by 4's
jawnp78 5 years ago
This would of been right before the infamous plane wreck. Wahoo's chops were very stiff.
jwblhojer 5 years ago
Definitely Johnny Valentine. Greg wrestled as Johnny's brother, though the truth is he was Johnny's son. Johnny asked him to wrestle as his brother so he (johnny) wouldn't appear as old as he was.
FredCamp 6 years ago
JOHNNY Valentine, not Greg, is this match.
mistatd 6 years ago