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[1984-03-31-WWF-Philadelphia, PA] Tito Santana vs Greg Valentine


Superstar Sleeze

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WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine - Philly 3/31/84

I am pretty sure this is their first major encounter with each other. This bout did not have the "I want break your fucking leg because you broke mine" element to take it to the next level, but still this is physical as all hell. These two are just so different from the rest of the WWF roster and just had such great chemistry. Everything is such a struggle. Little things like Valentine swinging and actually missing because Tito moved. Unlike most wrestlers who will half-ass their misses, if Valentine connected he connected; if he did't he didn't. During some of the comebacks, it really felt like Valentine would just wrangle Tito and drop a vicious elbow. You really got the feeling how much the Intercontinental Championship meant to each competitor.

Santana frustrates Valentine with speed like the armdrags, moving from elbows and dropkicks. Valentine catches him with a kneelift, which is one of my favorite transitions. He does some quick great work in the abdomen including hanging him out to dry on the top rope. Santana starts to mount a comeback and Valentine finally drops a huge elbow to quell him. It feels almost shooty. Valentine starts to work over the legs with Indian Deathlock and then attacking legs. Santana would grab a headlock and a kneecrusher would stop him. I loved stuff like Santana launching his body at Valenine just any thing he could do. Santana was selling so well, but always working hard from underneath. Valentine even took time to revel in his glory while Santana is crawling around the ring. Santana goes for the leg, but Valentine quashes that with a inverted atomic drop. Valentine of course misses his second rope elbow. Huge rights by Santana and slams his head into turnbuckle. TIMMMMBBBBBAAHHHHH! I love Valentine because he is an ornery, mean asshole during his control, but when it comes time for that comeback he is always game for bumping, stooging, and begging off for the babyface. Santana works some side headlocks pinfall attempts, but is always energetic. I love the spot where Santana does an atomic drop, but did it on the hurt knee and Tito sells it so well. HUGE ATOMIC DROP BY THE HAMMER! Wow, I don't think I ever seen a heel hit that move. Tito sells the fuck out of it and you really believe Valentine has a shot now. Valentine big butterfly suplex, repeated shots to abdomen and a toehold as the 20 minute time limit expire. What?!?!? Valentine delivers some heavy shots, but repeatedly misses elbows and Santana challenges to come back and finish it.

The finish really threw me a loop because you expect the babyface to end the match on top before the time limit expires. It is also interesting that Santana was making his comeback and Valentine was actually able to surmount this surge in momentum and regain control. The whole finish was a real curveball. Add on top of that the whole match had a real anything could happen feel to it. You never knew who was going to take control at any point. There were no neat little segments where one guy who take control and then a nice little transition would cause the next control segment. Still it never felt back and forth because of how well Santana sold everything from the abs to the knee to fatigue and how Valentine sold he could be overwhelmed. I really enjoyed this match, but I think the next matches in their series benefit from having extracurricular heat. ****1/4

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  • 1 year later...

Valentine was so awesome in control here. The elbow to cut off Tito's comeback. The methodical wearing down of Tito. His look when he realizes Tito's knee is hurt after he delivered the atomic drop. All their interactions come across like Tito passionately fighting back and posing a huge threat but Greg always weathering that storm through smarts or good timing. The finish was a surprise to me with Valentine seemingly closing in on the belt but this left a good taste in my mouth as I'm starting to work my way through this feud.

 

***3/4

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  • GSR changed the title to [1984-03-31-WWF-Philadelphia, PA] Tito Santana vs Greg Valentine
  • 1 year later...

Looks like this is the start of the great feud between Tito and Valentine. It’s their first meeting since 1979 if cagematch is to be believed and they’d continuously have title matches until late 85. I love this rivalry. It’s maybe one of the best Intercontinental championship feuds of all time given its length, story (leg break) and great matches. It’s in for a shout certainly. The chemistry between the two comes off instantly. The opening exchange was full of intensity and struggle from a single arm wringer to a missed elbow. Valentine in typical fashion attacks the legs of Tito as well as the stomach a little which Tito sells really well, always staggering around when on his feet, struggling to stand. The work from Valentine looks really snug and nasty. Tito makes really energetic comebacks with his fist shaking but it’s all deliberately paced too because Tito’s still recovering from being on the defensive for the whole match. The 20 minute time limit ran out (it was around 16 minutes in reality and the graphics prior to the match said it was a 60 minute time limit so wtf?) in an lame way. Valentine was working the leg and then the bell rang. Flat ending to a real fun match. ***1/2

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