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Jimmy Valiant


kingliam

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He knew how to be cool and get an audience going. Hold them in the palm of his hand, there's a lot of talent there.

 

Technically no not all that much but neither was that the point of him.

 

I'm not of fan of him, George Steele, Hillbilly Him etc but you can't deny the man's charisma or talent as a perfomer.

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He was always awful, wasn't he?

 

Or am I missing something?

Valiants in (W)WWF were fun, mostly saw 1979 run when it was three of them and Jimmy was carrying an injury. I thought John was the charisma of the group and Jerry was the best worker.

 

Jimmy just seemed like he was there to me.

 

In Crockett, I am in the camp that hate the endless Paul Jones's Army vs. Jimmy Valiant feud, but I have seen at least one excellent match from Valiant where they work around his obvious limitations, it's Jack & Jerry Brisco vs. Jimmy Valiant & Bob Orton, Jr. (12/6/83) if you are interested.

 

That's the best Valiant has ever looked to me, but he's in there with two all-time greats and a very solid hand in Jerry Brisco.

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Valiant's interviews are money. The beard-cutting issue that kicks off the Jones Army stuff is incredible. It strikes a raw nerve, and he invokes all the right emotions - even if he walks right up to (or right PAST) that line of over-the-top zaniness at times.

 

The term, "promo" gets thrown around left and right like it's applicable to every interview or 20-minute monologue they tape these days. But if it ain't selling a show, pimping a ticket, or hyping an end date - then how's it a promo exactly?

 

Valiant's interviews were very much promos. They promoted shit. They sold shows. They pimped tickets. They hyped dates. They made you want to mark your calendar and see what the fuck goes down when he gets his hands on Jones, the ragtag misfits of the Army, or whatever.

 

Does he lose a bit when it comes to the bell-to-bell action? Sure. I'd buy that. But I'll be damned if he doesn't hold the God-given, natural charm and charisma to pull me back in and sell me on the SAME shitty fight scene all over again in time for the next Boogie Woogie match.

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Why don't you all go find some 5'10'' guy in shorts and kick pads to fawn over?

 

Not what I care for at all. However, Valiant just makes me cringe.

 

I still also want someone to perhaps excuse his heel move set - it feels odd to see him jabbing thumbs into throats and using back rakes.

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I think it's probably a mistake to criticise Hogan or Valiant for that. Or Dusty.

 

There were always two different types of babyface:

 

1. Technical babyfaces. Cleaner than clean. On one end of this spectrum you'd have someone like Verne or Dory Jr as a fact. On the other end you'd have your blowjobs like Steamboat, Martel, and all the tagteams. Jack Brisco was somewhere in betweeen.

 

2. Hero of the people. The Crusher, Dick the Bruiser, Dusty, Hogan, Jimmy Valiant, Duggan ...

 

The distinction should be clear.

 

Generally also, the first group were "scientitific" wrestlers and the second group were "brawlers".

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