[[quoteright:203:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/greg_valentine_5740.jpg]]


Jonathan Anthony Wisniski (born September 20, 1951) is a semi-retired American {{Professional Wrestl|ing}}er from UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}, WA. He debuted in 1970 as ''Baby Face Nelson'' due to his original unwillingness to take the last name of his famous father, Johnny Valentine. He also worked as ''Johnny Fargo'', another {{Unrelated Brother|s}} of Wrestling/JackieFargo. He changed it to ''Johnny Valentine Jr.'' when he debuted in Florida in 1974 before changing the first name to Greg, though he was billed as Johnny's brother, ''not his son''. He arrived to Mid-Atlantic in 1976 after his father had to retire due to injuries sustained in a plane crash[[note]]The same accident that broke [[Wrestling/RicFlair Naitch]]'s back[[/note]] and debuted there with his most famous name, '''Greg "The Hammer" Valentine'''.

Valentine was pushed immediately as a {{Heel}}, finding success teaming with Wrestling/RicFlair and feuded with Wrestling/{{Chief Wahoo McDaniel}} and with [[Wrestling/RoddyPiper "Rowdy" Roddy Piper]]. After some on-and-off trips to Wrestling/{{WWE}} from 1978 to 1981, he started there full-time in 1984. He was successful there, holding two titles, before getting demoted and leaving in 1992. He had a brief run in Wrestling/{{WCW}} before going off to the independents.

Among his in-ring achievements, he is a former [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/ic.html WWE Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion]], a former [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-world-t.html WWE World Tag Team Champion]] (w/Wrestling/BrutusBeefcake), a former 3x Wrestling/{{N|ationalWrestlingAlliance}}WA [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-us-h.html (Mid-Atlantic) United States Heavyweight Champion]], a former 4x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/midatlantic/nwa/ma-nwa-t.html NWA World (Mid-Atlantic) Tag Team Champion]] (2x w/Ric Flair, 1x w/Ray "The Crippler" Stevens and 1x w/Baron Von Raschke) and a 1x [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-us-t.html WCW United States Tag Team Champion]] (w/Terry Taylor).

He was inducted into the Wrestling/WWEHallOfFame in 2004.
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!! "The Hammer's Tropes":
* AbortedArc: ''"Rhythm'' '''VS''' ''Blues"'', you can read more about it under the "Trivia" tab.
* ArchEnemy:
** (in Mid-Atlantic): Chief Wahoo and The Piper.
** (in WWE): A promissing youngster by the name "Cool" Wrestling/CurtHennig.
* AwesomeMomentOfCrowning: Inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2004.
* BadassLongrobe: Several throughout his career. They were emblazoned with hearts all around way before he was managed by Wrestling/JimmyHart, playing on his "Valentine" surname.
* BashBrothers: With Flair, Beefcake and [[Wrestling/HonkyTonkMan The Honky Tonk Man]].
* BlasphemousBoast: One of his main character traits, the man is an expert producing CheapHeat:
** His "I Broke Wahoo's Leg" shirt. Boy, [=McDaniel=]'s fans went ''volcanic'' on Valentine!
** 1983 was infamously remembered as "The year of the ear". (See "Gimmick Matches" below.)
* ButtMonkey: For J and Shaggy's jokes on ''[[Series/ICPTheater Insane Clown Posse Theater]]'' on Fuse. At the same time though, they ''do'' put him over as a badass.
* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: He defeated Wrestling/JunkyardDog at the first ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}}'' by pinning him with his feet on the ropes. Then Wrestling/TitoSantana came out and told the ref what happened, leading to the restarting of the match... and leaving Valentine [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere getting himself counted out]].
* CommutingOnABus: Did some jobs and weekend show appearances for WCW in 1996-1997.
* CoolOldGuy: Greg is in RealLife one of the most easy-going and endearing guys you'll ever meet believe it or not.
* DiscoDan: After Jimmy Hart arrived in WWE in 1985, he and Valentine appeared on WWE's talk show ''Tuesday Night Titans''. Valentine talked about Hart's musical career with ''The Gentrys'' back in TheSixties and spoke negatively about the "punk rock and roll" of Music/CyndiLauper.
* FinishingMove: Two, actually.
** His original finisher was a BoringButPractical Elbow Drop, a basic move for almost every wrestler, but built up around as Valentine's being an unusually devastating one, to the point where [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-OlsX3Egfs the promotion aired vignettes of him training]] by smashing to bits several wooden boards at once.
** His main finisher, The [[FourIsDeath Figure-Four]] Leglock.
* GimmickMatches: Valentine participated in a particularly brutal ''Dog Collar Match'' against Roddy Piper in NWA Mid-Atlantic at '83. Piper ended up with his right eardrum burst.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: On a show at Germany's ''"Wrestling World's Superstars"'' against Wrestling/JakeRoberts back in '93, The Snake knew right from the beginning he was no match against The Hammer's endurance and devastating attacks, so he decided to prey onto his only weakness and rose victor... the Greg's then manager/valet, a very young and impossibly gorgeous Wrestling/{{Madusa}}.
* ICallItVera: ''The Hartbreaker'', and he was quite versatile with its using.
* InstrumentOfMurder:
** Jimmy Hart's megaphone
** ''The Hartbreaker'' again.
** Honky's guitar in "Rhythm & Blues".
* MaskedLuchador: As the Blue Knight at the 1993 ''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries''.
* MightyGlacier: Doesn't quite look the part but his wrestling style is pretty much based around slowly, methodically breaking down his opponent.
* NamesToRunAwayFromVeryFast: ''Greg "The Hammer" Valentine'' ...it even sounds like a hardened mobster's name, isn't it?
* TheNewAdventures: The New Dream Team, with Dino Bravo. Valentine apparently hated teaming with Bravo as they didn't get along in real life and recalls his team with Beefcake much more fondly. They still team on the indy circuit on occasion.
* NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: Back when he was managed by Jimmy Hart, every time he tried for a Piledriver, it was assisted by his trusty shin guard "conveniently" dropped where his opponent's head was about to land.
* OddFriendship: Being this ProfessionalWrestling, Greg is one of the mighty few pro wrestlers ever to befriend each and every other performer he had to work with and has nothing to say about them but the good memories of the times they'd spent together.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Like his former manager Wrestling/JimmyHart, Valentine has aged very little since his prime, other than the occasional wrinkle or gray hair. He even still has his long blonde hair.
* ParentChildTeam: Back in Florida when he was his own dad's [[UnrelatedBrothers unelated brother]].
* PowerStable:
** (in Florida): [[Wrestling/SirOliverHumperdink The House of Humperdink]]
** (in SSOW, Arkansas): [[Wrestling/GeneralSkandorAkbar Devastation Inc.]]
** (in WWF):
*** ''[[Wrestling/SurvivorSeries Survivor Series '87]]'' (As part of ''The New Dream Team'' w/Dino Bravo, Tag Team match): with [[Wrestling/TheTongaKid The]] [[Wrestling/{{Meng}} Islanders]], [[Wrestling/NikolaiVolkoff The]] [[Wrestling/BorisZhukov Bolsheviks]], Wrestling/{{Demolition}} and [[Wrestling/BretHart The Hart]] [[Wrestling/JimNeidhart Foundation]]. Managed by Jimmy Hart, Wrestling/MrFuji, Wrestling/BobbyHeenan, Wrestling/{{Slick}} and Johnny Valiant.
*** ''Survivor Series '88'': with The Honky Tonk Man, [[Wrestling/AllenCoage Bad News Brown]], Wrestling/OutlawRonBass and "Dangerous" Danny Davis. Managed again by Hart.
*** ''Survivor Series '89'': "The King's Court" with [[Wrestling/RandySavage "Macho Man" Randy Savage]], Bravo and [[Wrestling/JohnTenta Canadian Earthquake]]. Managed by Hart and Wrestling/SherriMartel.
*** ''Survivor Series '90'': "The Million Dollar Team" with [[Wrestling/TedDiBiase "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Di Biase]], Honky and Wrestling/TheUndertaker. Managed by Hart, Wrestling/{{Virgil}} and Brother Love.
*** ''Survivor Series '93'' (As "The Blue Knight"): with [[Wrestling/BarryHorowitz The Red Knight]] and The Black Knight (Jeff Gaylord). Managed and led by Wrestling/ShawnMichaels.
** (in AWF, Illinois): The Family
** (in XWF): [[Wrestling/JimmyHart The First Family]]
* PsychoForHire: His character was built on the idea of his being out to only injure his opponents, taking pride on the fact.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: After losing the NWA Mid-Atlantic World Tag-team Championship due the intervention of special referee Wrestling/ChiefWahooMcDaniel, Valentine preyed on him until he got a shot for the former's NWA Heavyweight strap and putting a hefty prize of 200 silver coins on the table for the winner. Along came 9/7/1977, finding the match too difficult to apply his feared leglock, Valentine opted for an Ankle Slam (Inverted stump puller) instead... with a bit more weight than required, winning the strap and sending Wahoo to the hospital [[RealLife for real]] in the process. This was worked into {{Kayfabe}}, turning it into one of the most famous angles ever.
* RedBaron: "The Hammer" and "The Master of the Figure Four Leg Lock".
** For a time, his infamous leg brace, which he would use to amplify the effects of his Figure-Four leglock had it's own - ''The Hartbreaker'' - named after his manager.
* RedOniBlueOni: The blue to Flair's red, as he was presented as methodical and vicious. Wrestling/GorillaMonsoon always reminded us that it took a good 15-20 minutes for The Hammer to get ''*warmed up*''...however; like Flair, he was famous for his technical ability.
* RedemptionDemotion: [[HeelFaceTurn Turned face]] in early 1991 and broke away from Jimmy Hart's stable...leading to him jobbing to [[Wrestling/JohnTenta Earthquake]] at ''[=WrestleMania=] VII'', [[Wrestling/MikeRotunda IRS]] at ''[=SummerSlam=]'' 1991, and spending most of 1992 in the WCW midcard.
* RingOldies: He's in his 70s and still appears on independent shows.
* TagTeam:
** In NWA (Mid-Atlantic)
*** w/Flair, "The Crippler" and Von Raschke.
** In WWF:
*** "The Dream Team" w/Brutus Beefcake
*** "The New Dream Team" with Dino Bravo
*** "Rythm & Blues" w/The Honky Tonk Man
** In WCW:
*** w/Terry Taylor.
* SignatureMove:
** A lot of ''Elbow'', ''Forearm'', ''Stomp'' and ''Backbreaker'' variations, A ''Back suplex'' as well.
** He's also famous for being able to flop directly onto his face instead of turning his head.
* StayInTheKitchen: ''"All the women wrestlers should be taken to a strip club and fired for taking jobs away from those who need to support their families."''
* StoneWall: This going hand-in-hand with the Mighty Glacier trope, since Greg [[NoSell withstanded way more damage than his average rival]]. Any time Lord Alfred Hayes called his matches, he usually threw in a comment about how Valentine liked ''"to deliberately take offense from a weaker opponent"'', to then proceed to ''*tire them out*''.
* StoutStrength: Not a particularly large performer (6´1´´/245 lbs.) but his upper body was pure muscle, his hands and forearms are ''huge thick''. His skills and devastating maneuvers were enough by themselves to confront names as big as Wrestling/HulkHogan.
* UnnecessaryRoughness: He and Flair were stripped of the NWA World Tag Team Titles after defeating the Minnesota Wrecking Crew (Gene and Ole Anderson) for "unprofessional conduct" due to [[NoHoldsBarredBeatDown Ole being unable to leave the ring under his own might]].
* VitriolicBestBuds: with Jimmy Hart and [[{{Irony}} oddly enough]] Chief Wahoo. He and Greg ''stiffed''[[note]]Attacked [[RealLife for real]][[/note]] each other in every match for the first three years or so, but they were pretty close outside the ring.
** Tito Santana and Wrestling/RickySteamboat too, remembering them fondly for they could work a match not needing verbal or visual clues whatsoever. According to Greg, he performed with them both like magic.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer:
** Pretty much his gimmick in a nut, his role revolved about being a rough n' tumble performer who would transition seamlessly as an enforcer on every tag-team, group or stable he worked for.
** ...or a guitar ...or a megaphone ...or even just a shin guard/leg brace for that matter.
* WrestlingFamily: The son of Johnny Valentine and Brother-In-Law to [[Wrestling/TheNastyBoys Brian Knobbs]].
* WrestlingPsychology: If your fighting style relies on being methodical, there are a lot of possibilities most of your opponents want you to finish them fast, or even not having to be pitted against you at all. To emphysize it, that was what inspired Gorilla's observation about how ''"it took Valentine 15 minutes just to get warmed up."'' The figure could increase at any time.