[1979-04-06-Houston Wrestling] Greg Valentine vs Tiger Conway Jr

[shoe]

This is 2 out of 3 falls and it's pretty good. I'm a sucker for limb work that tells a story and we got it here in spades. Valentine in all 3 falls is just going after the leg. Nothing ground breaking but it makes sense. Tiger is actually a pretty good baby face. He sells the leg like a champ. He shows great fire. At one point he does a Steamboat Starcade 84, and instead of protecting his ribs, he's protecting his leg by using a side stance. Conway was also pretty good at using some nice revenge spots on Greg's leg. I also enjoyed how they refer to Greg as Johnny's brother. I wonder what year they started doing the real story. I hated the screw job finish of the 3rd fall, and felt they could have gone home a few minutes earlier. Overall if you're a fan of story telling, good snug limb work, and psychology you'll like this match. 3 1/2*

[BruceTharpe]

I am back from Japan guys - literally just walked in the door. Had a very enjoyable 6-day tour and felt that Steve Anthony did well against Tiger Mask. I will check on the Roku App first thing tomorrow. Hopefully the response I get is positive. There are some HUGE developments upcoming with the website - but I can't disclose them yet. Soon hopefully - but if we are able to close this deal - trust me it will be Earth shattering. I will just say that since the launch of NWAClassics.com - there has been a lot of interest in it. And this news has nothing to do with Vince. (sigh of relief) Will be back online tomorrow - hope you have enjoyed the updates while I have been gone. But for now - Oyasumenasai! (goodnight)

[Jetlag]

HOLY SHIT!!! I LOVE WRESTLING!! Who is Tiger Conway Jr.? Greg Valentine dives for the legs from the first minute on. Greg Valentine has to be some kind of wrestling genius that he can work slow as a slug and still have these brilliant matches. This goes like 30 minutes but there is a not single 10 minute headlock or any of that bullshit. Just Valentine beating the dogshit out of Tiger. Loved how Valentine would block a headbutt and knee Tiger in the face. That looked like it really fucked him up. Tiger knew exactly that he was facing Greg Valentine here and acted accordingly. He used his quickness, tactics and approaching Valentine carefully in order to not get crushed (he gets crushed anyways). Needlesss to say Valentine is a master at dropping elbows and knees at different angles and positions on his opponent's neck, throat, knee, thigh etc. so you don't get bored. Conway Jr.'s selling is just right mix of babyface agony and bitter contempt for his opponent. He does some dancing and showy headbutts in the first fall, but after a while Valentine beats the antics out of him. The second fall is fucking great with Conway Jr. fighting like a devil to avoid the figure 4 and protect his leg. He busts out a fucking anaconda roll and follows up by kicking Valentine in the fucking face like this was Futen and then lands a motherfucking leaping headbutt on Valentine like he was inspiring a young Daisuke Ikeda in the audience and I am now the #1 Tiger Conway Jr. fan. Both guys look completely wiped out after the 2nd fall with Tiger having this look on his face like he wants to lay down and die but can't. Then he starts the 3rd fall by BITING VALENTINE IN HIS EYE while Greg lets out a blood curdling scream. Tiger Conway Jr. starts tagging Valentine with punch combos and this is off the charts. And then... a lousy finish happens. But still, anything up to that was pure gold brutal 70s style wrestling and I wouldn't mind if another ten thousand 30 minute Tiger Conway and Greg Valentine matches showed up on the service.

[Matt D]

Here's what I posted about that back when it first dropped:

Okay, yeah. Conway Jr vs Valentine was some pretty great stuff too. The first fall was back and forth with a lot of Valentine stalling and stooging and a king of the mountain that was full of brutal Valentine shots. There was one slow bit of pedestrian arm control from Conway but in general, it was all enjoyable. It ended with Valentine starting on the leg and the second fall was really good stuff. I wasn't sure what to expect from Conway here but he sold the leg really well, and there was a unique sense of struggle for him to come back that I really haven't seen in too many other matches. It was just paced differently. Instead of hope spots and comebacks, there was this constant flow of him trying to fight back through the pain while Valentine more or less maintained control. Greg was so good here at closing the distance between them and controlling the situation. He also had some really good and varied stuff with the leg. I loved how he just stood on it, for instance. They got pretty heated at times too. I'm curious to see what other people think about it. I liked it a lot. Valentine was made for a 2/3 falls structure and it's a shame we don't have more of those sorts of matches from him.

Post match is an interview from the following week setting up DVE vs Valentine for the Texas title. Bruce, please tell me we have that too.

---

Bruce said they found one fall, I think, but not the others yet.

We've gotten a number of other Conway matches since then, including some very good tags.

[Chess Knight]

I thought these two ruled here and am at a point where I might have to be talked out of Valentine being top 50 all time. He's an excellent seller, especially bouncing against the ropes, and feels like he has the secret to making it look like a smaller opponent is actually driving him in a direction he doesn't want to go in. This is obviously to say nothing of the no-nonsense stiff elbows, clubs, knees, etc, which can kill the opponent's momentum immediately and believably. The first fall naturally starts tentatively and I don't know how many times I've rewound the first move in any match, but that dive Valentine made for Conway's legs made me. They also got a little "!" moment from me when Valentine threw Conway to the outside and Conway landed hard on a table. I loved the second fall, Conway was mostly fighting upward with a bad leg while peppering Valentine with punches, but the use of the targeted leg was either strangely brilliant, or a happy accident (it could be a signature thing he does?). He was pushing himself forward with his arms/body so the leg didn't have too much pressure put on it, but was still what was mainly being launched at Valentine. The third fall was unfortunately pretty rushed with a weak finish but at least we got Conway biting Valentine in the face. Would have been an easy 'great match' with a better third fall but I'd put it on the borderline as it is.