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Greg "The Hammer" Valentine Still Going Strong At 60

Posted: Jun 20th 2011 By: CMBurnham

As he stepped off the plane into the frigid Calgary air to meet Stu Hart, John Wisniski Jr. had already vowed to himself that he would be a pro wrestler.

And Wisniski, the son of Johnny Valentine, didn't want to be just any wrestler. He wanted to be a good one.

"I had the yearning to be like my dad," says Wisniski, who became Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. A star. A legend. A Hall of Famer.

Nearly 40 years later, Valentine is still stepping into the ring. He says he feels young. He says he still has something to give.

The fans aren't complaining. They get a chance to see The Hammer, the guy who feuded with some of wrestling's biggest stars ... Superfly Snuka, Macho Man Randy Savage, Wahoo McDaniel, Ric Flair, Tito Santana, Ric Flair, Junkyard Dog, Ricky Steamboat and Pedro Morales, to name a few.

Valentine will be in the Ottawa area twice this month: June 23 at the Brockville Youth Arena (7:30 p.m.) and June 24 at the Smiths Falls Memorial Arena (7:30). Both shows are presented by Great North Wrestling (check out greatnorthwrestling.com for more show details).

While Valentine was once hated and spit on, fans welcome him with open arms these days.

"I haven't changed my look. I still have all of my hair ... and it's still blond," says Valentine. "Everybody is my friend now. Back in the day, sometimes I had to fight to get to my rental car. There were some tough times ... like after I broke Tito Santana's leg or Ric Flair's nose ... a lot of that stuff was real. Sometimes they love to hate you so much, they start to love you.

"I don't feel 60. I forget that I am that old. I'm fighting the age thing.

"God, I still love (wrestling). That thrill is still there. Some guys have come along that are bigger and stronger. But I've stayed in this business for 39 years."

It was a struggle at times for Valentine in Calgary. The pay wasn't much and there was so much to do to get better.

"Stu picked me up at the airport. I had a pretty good set of arms, but I didn't know how to wrestle. Stu knew my dad (Johnny Valentine). He would stretch me out a bit, but he didn't put me through as hard as somebody he didn't know. Maybe I was the teacher's pet.

"I made $50 a week back in 1970, maybe that got up to $150 a week. I lived in a hotel and had to eat, so there was never enough money left."

His first match was against Angelo Mosca. The kid lost in five minutes to the veteran.

"I was nervous. I knew how tough he was and if he wanted to, he could have flattened me in 30 seconds," says Valentine.

He moved to Detroit, to learn under The Sheik.

Valentine was teamed with Don Fargo ? as The Fargo Brothers. It was from the older, experienced Fargo that Valentine started learning so much of the psychology that goes with wrestling.

He made a name for himself, including a 1983 dog-collar match against Rowdy Roddy Piper at Starrcade, a closed-circuit TV event that would set the stage for the Wrestlemania phenomenon.

Valentine would make it big in the WWF, but eventually decided to part ways with the company.

When I left WWF (in 1992), it was because I had always been a serious wrestler and (Vince McMahon) was going through the stages of building an edgy promotion," he says. "The tables, ladders and chairs thing. I don't do that kind of thing."

Valentine was brought back into the fold in 2004 when he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

There was plenty of blood and sweat and a few tears over the years as Valentine worked hard to get to the top.

"In my own mind, I thought I had talent," he says. "My dad always told me I was a natural. I still had to push myself. And then after you get to the top, it's a tough fight to stay there."

A job well done, even if it is in front of smaller crowds these days.