SLAM! Wrestling Editorial: Johnny Valentine deserved better
By JOHN F. MOLINARO -- SLAM! Wrestling
"Out, damned spot! Out, I say!"
-- Lady MacBeth
From William Shakespeare's play "MacBeth"
In Act 2, Scene 2 of William Shakespeare's play "MacBeth", Lady MacBeth
conspired with her husband to kill King Duncan.
By the time Act 5, Scene 1 rolls around Lady MacBeth is so guilt ridden
that she begins sleepwalking. Even though it was her husband who
plunged a dagger into King Duncan, Lady MacBeth starts hallucinating.
She thinks she sees a spot of King Duncan's blood on her trembling hand
(a symbol of her growing guilt and paranoia) and tries in vain to scrub
it off.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't rub it off. As Lady
MacBeth becomes more insane as the play progresses, she comes to realize
that she will have King Duncan's blood on her hands forever, serving as
a constant reminder of the foul deed she and her husband committed.
Johnny Valentine at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens, August 30, 1958. -- Toronto Sun files
Our Johnny Valentine Photo Gallery
More Valentine stories
April 28, 2001: Piper remembers Johnny Valentine
April 26, 2001: Memorial planned for Johnny Valentine
April 25, 2001: The fans recall Johnny Valentine
April 28, 2001: Johnny Valentine passes away
April 24, 2001: Flair, friends remember Johnny Valentine
Dec. 21, 2000: Johnny Valentine's fight for life
Dec. 28, 2000: The plane crash that changed wrestling
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Just like the wrestling industry will never be able to wash away the
blood of Johnny Valentine from its collective hands.
I never saw Johnny Valentine wrestle. I was still in diapers when the
Cessna 310 plane carrying Valentine, at the time the U.S. Heavyweight
champ, and four others (including Ric Flair) crashed to the ground in
1975, paralyzing him for life and ending his wrestling career.
Still, I understand his place in wrestling history and why he was so
revered and respected.
Johnny Valentine paid his dues. He paid them every time he took a hard
bump to the cold, hard canvas in some dingy, smoke-filled arena. He
paid them every time he told someone like Wahoo McDaniel or Tim Woods to
really lay into him during the course of a match. He paid then by making
promoters like Vince McMahon Sr., Sam Muchnick, Jim Crockett Jr. and a
host of others into millionaires.
And he paid them every time he stepped into the ring, producing matches
that were an orgy of twisted flesh, broken bones, bloody brows and
sweat-soaked torsos. Matches that a generation of wrestling fans still
recall in great detail to this day.
A huge gate attraction during his prime, Valentine single-handedly
turned around the Mid Atlantic office in the early '70s, taking it from a
sleepy, all but dead circuit to a vital, thriving promotion that became
the hottest and most influential territory in wrestling history.
And he did it because he was able to draw heat better than anybody else
at the time.
Valentine was the archetypal heel. The type of heel promoters would
kill to have on their roster. He played the part of the villain 24
hours a day, fully committing himself to the character he portrayed.
Valentine was able to draw and elicit such visceral hatred from fans
throughout the territories he worked that he took his life into his own
hands every time he left building after the show.
And yet, he was still respected. A month after the 1975 plane-crash,
Crockett held a tournament to crown a new U.S. Heavyweight champion.
Johnny Valentine was brought out in his wheelchair during the show and
the crowd of over 16,000 fans at the Greensboro Coliseum gave him a
15-minute standing ovation. The same audience that had booed and
berated him countless times before the crash.
Hated heel or not, Valentine had earned their respect.
And it wasn't hard to understand why. With his hard-hitting and
uncompromising style, more than any other wrestler before or since,
Johnny Valentine made fans believe wrestling was real. During his 28
years in the ring he had the reputation of being the toughest man in the
business. But it was for the 25 years following the tragic plane crash
that he showed his real toughness.
Only able to walk with the assistance of crutches,
Valentine never let his injury stop him from living life. He helped to
train young wrestlers in his home. He traveled the world. He was a
gourmet cook who liked to experiment in the kitchen and prepare lavish
meals for his wife Sharon. His competitive nature continued to burn as
he worked out for hours on end every day, hoping to some day make it
back into the ring.
But he never did. The obstacles were too great.
Doctors who told him he'd never walk again. Nurses who told his wife
there was nothing they could do for him. Medical insurance carriers
that looked for every loophole possible to escape their responsibility
to pay for his medical treatment. And an industry he sacrificed such
much for, pro wrestling, that deliberately and systematically turned its
back on him.
For the past 25 years, Valentine forged on without any assistance from
anybody in pro wrestling. Promoters all but ignored him. Former
colleagues and friends lost touch. Valentine toiled in relative
obscurity and fought to keep up with the mounting medical bills on his
own, without so much as a helping hand from the very same people he made
millions for.
Valentine displayed his real toughness by defying the odds. Engaged in
a bureaucratic war with doctors and insurance companies, he braved on
and fought tooth and nail until he no longer had any fight left in him.
His body was old, his spirit tired.
In all that time he never complained, although he would have been well
within his right if he had. That wasn't his style. Valentine was never
bitter. He never once asked for help from the wrestling industry. He
never felt he was owed something for the 28 years of service he gave to
the sport. He never asked for pity or sympathy. He was much too proud
and dignified to do that. And he had something that the wrestling world
didn't.
Class.
He had too much class to 'burden' promoters with his 'petty' problems.
He had too much class to ask for a job as a trainer or a manager. He
never felt he was owed anything for all his years of loyal service. He
had too much class to call a spade a spade and take the industry to task
for not helping him out in his time of need.
No, Johnny Valentine had too much class to do that. And for his
troubles, he was repaid with neglect and indifference.
With the exception of the shameful way the WWF continued on with the
pay-per-view following Owen Hart's death, wrestling's 25-year neglect of
Valentine stands as the biggest black eye on the sport.
That Valentine died virtually penniless and destitute should serve
as a permanent black cloud that hovers over wrestling. It is,
unequivocally, an embarrassment of staggering proportions. Wrestling's
failure and outright refusal to look after one of its favourite sons
violates every precept of morality and decency that exists.
The industry's treatment of Valentine was nothing short of criminal. In
all my years of being a fan, coupled with the years covering the sport
as a reporter, I can honestly say I've never been more ashamed to be
associated with the pro wrestling industry than I am now. The stench
from this is so foul that no amount of whitewash could ever cleanse the
guilt that will forever stain pro wrestling.
The heartless way in which wrestling dealt with Johnny Valentine's
struggle for life is symptomatic of a larger problem that plagues the
sport and speaks to the inherent nature of what wrestling is: a cold,
insensitive con game run by scheming shysters who have no use for
anybody once they can no longer produce.
In the aftermath of the Survivor Series '97 screw job, Bret Hart boiled
down the relationship between wrestlers and promoters to this simple,
yet graphic description:
"We're like circus animals. And once we can't jump through hoops or
do the same tricks we once could, promoters take us out back behind the
circus tents and put a slug into us."
That's exactly what happened to Johnny Valentine.
In its typically cruel and callous way, the wrestling industry tossed
Johnny Valentine onto the scrap-heap like a common piece of refuse. For
25 years, he was all but neglected and ignored by the same industry he
gave his life to.
And why? Because dealing with Johnny Valentine was ugly and
unpleasant. Dealing with the serious pain he had to live with for
25 years wasn't pleasant. Dealing with Johnny Valentine would force
wrestling promoters to take a long, introspective look at themselves
and force them to re-evaluate how they do business. And dealing with
Johnny Valentine would mean they would have to institute serious changes
in the way of workers' rights and protection.
Johnny Valentine's condition was a constant reminder of the ugly side of
the sport. A constant weight on wrestling's guilty conscience.
Wrestling's 25-year neglect of Johnny Valentine is an indictment of the
wrestling industry and further underscores a sobering reality:
wrestling is a cold-blooded and morally sterile business.
Johnny Valentine earned the right to die with dignity and grace.
The wrestling community robbed him of that right.
Shame on them.
Johnny Valentine deserved better.
Reader Feedback
Apr. 26:Indies: The lifeblood of wrestling
This is the PWE webmaster, and I would like to commend you on a great column about indy wrestling, a product in general, that is tremendously
underexposed and underappreciated. Let me add that while being involved in wrestling is one hell of a trip, but every once in a while, the "inner mark"
has got to get out and enjoy the show from the other side of the proverbial fence, as a fan.
I went to another fed's wrestling show, and was sitting at ringside, marking out for guys that two weeks ago, I was working with. It was amazing and I
had so much fun. It's the only thing I miss about being part of the show is being able to sit there, watch and "participate" like any good fan should. It's
strange to be a worker and a fan of the workers but it is thoroughly satisfying and very necessary.
If people look at these shows and say, "but it's not the WWF", they'll go and be ho-hum about the whole thing while being mildly impressed. However,
those who go looking to be entertained, I can almost guarantee that you WILL be pleasntly surprised at the abilities of some of the local talent,
thoroughly entertained and you will want to go to another one. If attended with the right frame of mind, indy wrestling can be habit forming.
I encourage all fans of wrestling to go to the next local indy wrestling show in their area, and enjoy the bounty that is local and regional talent. I promise
that you WILL see the next 'Sexton Hardcastle'.
Mark Hinkley, PWE Webmaster
It is hard to go to an Indy show when You don't know they are there. This
is the biggest problem with an Indy program out there. They need a way to
get the word out that they are there.
I spend a lot of time here in Philly watching ECW get off the ground & then
go national. They had almost no advertising in the beginning but still the
word got out that they were having a show in South Philly. When you went you
felt great. You were seeing the future of the wrestling. This is what is
needed to get an Indy show promoted. I would go see more show if I could.
With a past WWF, WCW, ECW star on a local radio show promoting the show
might help get the word out. But hey what do I know. I am only one wrestling
fan out millions.
Jason Moskowitz
Certainly not arguing with you as far as your point of view concerning the indies. I just have trouble finding out about shows
and most often don't know about them until its too late. (already have that time scheduled)
Do you know of any place that has an on-going list of indie shows in S-W and S-C Ontario? I would love to go to more, but I
don't know when the next time a fed is going to the manor in Guelph or some bar in Toronto.
Mark
REPLY FROM GREG OLIVER: I got a couple of similar emails, and was surprised. SLAM! Wrestling has tried to keep a running list of ALL indy shows across Canada for a couple of years now.
I think the reason why a lot of people haven't
attended indie shows is due to lack of availability.
While I am sure they are abundant in BC, Ontario and
the Prairies, the other provinces may be more lacking.
I live on the East Coast, Nova Scotia more
specifically. indie wrestling had been dead here until
about 3 years ago. They seemed to have just given up
on it. We had Grand Prix Wrestling running a
half-effort season that had such long intervals
between shows that it was nearly impossible to know
when they were actually in town. Now, (as your site
has covered) we have Real Action Wrestling that has
surged the wrestling scene on the East Coast. I am
sure they are as good as any Indie fed in Canada.
Attendance for RAW has built strong this year, and it
is evident that the indie scene is building. Maybe
the reason 53% of people have not attneded is becasue
their scene is similar to what the East coast had 4
yeas ago.
Adam Sherry
I had the pleasure of attending an indy show for $7 general admission
tickets and $10 for ringside at the Alma High School gym in Alma, Michigan
back in October. The group was Professional Wrestling Federation out of
Lansing I believe. The headlining match was "Crippler" Brian Costello vs.
George "The Animal" Steele. It was not a four star match, but it was great to
see George Steele in person. At the intermission, you could get your picture
taking with Steele. I paid my $10 and got my photo taken with a wrestling
legend.
The matches on the card were great. Some of those wrestlers have an
excellent chance of making it big. The wrestlers that really stuck out for me
were: "X-Rated" Jason Kronan, "Jumpin" Jimmy Jacobs", "Gorgeous" Gavin Starr,
"Freak Nasty" Michael Stryker, and The Blitkrieg Kid (who also wrestles as
Bobby Bambino).
As to readers who haven't attended an indy show, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!
Brett Wolverton
I really enjoyed your column on the independant wrestling scene
because it touched base with a lot of topics that my friend Chauncey and I
recently have been discussing about.
We, over the past 6 months, have become huge indy wrestling fans, as we
attend almost every show we an within the radius of 2 hours in every which
direction. I, as well as my friend believe that indy wrestling IS wrestling.
I no longer am a WWF fan because I don't see them as wrestlers, but more as
stunt fighters. If you watch stunt fighting in movies they suplex each other
through tables, hit each other with chairs & ladders & canes, they are alike
in many ways.
I love the feeling of taunting the managers and wrestlers, find their every
weak spot and run with it, and get a cheap pop from the fans. I enjoy
talking with wrestlers such as Rockin' Rebel, Chuck, who has had history
with not only indy leagues, but with Japan, England, WCW & ECW. I love how
indy shows truly make you feel like YOU ARE part of the action, unlike WWF
shows where the barricades, ring announcers, and over the top pizzazz makes
it feel more like you're watching a movie. Indy shows you get to interact,
meet people, feel apart of something. WWF shows feels like you are being
trained, told what to do like you are attending a talk show, told when to
pop, when to chant, we're not individuals at those shows, just a crowd.
I will continue to attend as many shows as possible, and I love how your
article touched base perfectly with what myself & my friends were currently
discussing about.
Chris Glavin
