Greg Valentine vs William Regal

[elliott]

I'm not sure who i'd pick but I'd have loved to see them match up at some point. 

[ohtani's jacket]

If you told me I could watch a newly discovered Valentine match, or a newly discovered Regal match, I would pick Valentine. The reason for that is because the Valentine match is going to be The Hammer in his element. Greg came up at the perfect time for Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Regal was a tremendous worker, but as a heavyweight I always felt like he came along too late in the European wrestling scene. Even if he had only been working from the late 70s onwards, he still would have had the chance to wrestle against some fantastic British heavyweights. I do respect the way he made a success of his WCW run, and eventually did some good WWF work after overcoming his drug problems. However, I feel like the Hammer had a better career. 

[Shrike02]

A clash of the titans for me; but I find myself nodding along with the previous post. I also happen to think Valentine has a handful of epic matches on his resume that Regal simply doesn't, which helps the former's peak argument vs. Regal's longer and more consistent output on tape. One can only imagine what we'd find if more Carolina footage from the late 70s would do for Valentine's overall case ...

[Dav'oh]

Valentine for me, easily. Working Mid-Atlantic style in the WWF, he really stood out to me. He was the first wrestler I deep-dived when the lockdowns started. His work was top-end in terms of both technique and billing, and as the Macho Man pointed out, the cream always rises to the top. I know he did some ok stuff in 90s WCW, but the Garvin feud to me was his swan-song, and I could watch the Backlund series all day (I like Bob, a lot). 

Some intangibles:
*He was a meme before memes were invented ("It takes him half an hour to get warmed up!") and will be a meme after memes are gone ("Happy Valentine's Day" over a picture of a gurning Hammer).
*Was more intimidating than wrestlers his size - your Flairs, Steamboats, Ortons, Garvins et al - and in the Land of Giants and Dianabol was more frightening than your OMG/Akeems, Bigelows, Bravos, Muracos and Hogans. Mainly because....
*....he was "The Man With The Worst Personality in the World" long before Minoru Suzuki. Just a thoroughly miserable and sour bastard.

The "consummate professional" between the ropes and one of my favourites, I can see myself having him in the 50-75 range. Regal I can take or leave (great input, not so much output, for mine).

 

[MichaelZ]

This is a really great comp and My initial reaction was that this was going to be one where I sit out but In the the end I feel comfortable going with Valentine as well. 
 

Feuds are kind of the backbone of great wrestling and Valentine has a laundry list of compelling ones from Wahoo and Backlund to Piper and Tito. Valentine brings intensity every time and is a great counterpoint to babyfaces of all stripes. Then when I was watching with GWE in mind whenever Valentine turns up in these random matches they almost always deliver. I’m thinking of matches like his cage match with Carlos Colon, completely great and under the radar. It feels like you can plug anyone in against Valentine and get something interesting and exciting. 
 

Regal was a big part of rekindling my interest in the 90s and you always get something entertaining out of his matches, but Valentine brings a little more to the table in terms of intensity and realism and his peaks are just higher. Love both these guys. 

[Justtxyank]

I think Regal was better at everything but I don’t think he ever had a truly great environment to do much with his skills. 
 

valentine has a lot of great stuff in the 80s. However, he had go away heat for me growing up in the 90s. Every time I saw him on tv he looked genuinely indifferent about existing at all. 
 

valentine should rank higher on a list but in another universe I think Regal would have