Greg Valentine

Jonathan Anthony Wisniski (born September 20, 1951) is a retired American professional wrestler, better known as Greg "the Hammer" Valentine.

He is the son of wrestler Johnny Valentine.

Over five decades, Valentine held more than 40 championships, including the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship, WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship, NWA World Tag Team Championship, and WWF World Tag Team Championship.

His father initially tried to deter him, but eventually ceded to his wishes and sent him to Canada in 1970 to train under Stu Hart in Calgary.

Wisniski was trained to wrestle by Stu Hart, wrestling his debut match in July 1970 against Angelo "King Kong" Mosca (he lost in around five minutes).

Six months later, Wisniski relocated to Detroit to complete his training under the Sheik.

Initially reluctant to take his father's ring name, Wisniski wrestled as Baby Face Nelson before becoming Johnny Fargo, one half of the Fargo Brothers with Don Fargo between 1971 and 1974.

The Fargo Brothers initially competed in the Buffalo and Cleveland based National Wrestling Federation before moving on to Texas.

They split in 1974 and Wisniski went to Florida, where he began performing as Johnny Valentine Jr., hopeful that he could live up to his father's legacy.

He later changed his ring name to Greg "the Hammer" Valentine, and was billed as Johnny Valentine's brother, not his son, because of fears that the elder Valentine would be thought of as too old to be a legitimate threat.

Valentine remained in Florida for a year while also working in Los Angeles and in Japan under Antonio Inoki in 1975 and early 1976.

Valentine was hired to replace his father, who had been forced to retire after he broke his back in a plane crash in 1975.

He immediately began feuding with Johnny Weaver, who he "retired" with a top rope elbow drop.

Valentine's elbow drop was promoted as a deadly move, with tapes of him breaking wooden boards with his elbow shown to the audiences before his debut.

In August 1976, Valentine debuted in Jim Crockett Jr..'s Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and booked by George Scott, an affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance based in the Carolinas and Virginias.

They first defeated Gene and Ole Anderson on December 26, 1976 (who nine years later would become in storyline Flair's "cousins") in Greensboro, injuring Gene so badly that he had to be stretchered out.

Valentine then formed a tag team with Ric Flair, with whom he twice won the NWA World tag team title and held the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship (between June 30 and August 22, 1977).

They held the titles until May 8, 1977, when the Andersons defeated them in a steel cage match in the old Charlotte Coliseum.

Flair and Valentine regained the tag titles from the Andersons on October 30, this time leaving Ole unable to leave under his own power.

On June 11, 1977 in Raleigh he defeated Wahoo, breaking his leg in the process.

Though Wahoo's legs were too thick for Valentine to apply his signature Figure Four leglock, he managed to break Wahoo's ankle using a leg/ankle suplex.

The heel Valentine then began wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "I broke Wahoo's leg" on the front and "No more Wahoo" on the back.

Wahoo returned on August 9, 1977 and took back the title.

The team split after they were stripped of the titles in April 1978 by NWA president Eddie Graham as a result of their "unprofessional conduct".

Flair then set his sights on the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, while Valentine held the NWA World Tag Team Championships once more with Baron von Raschke in 1978.

At the same time, Valentine feuded with Chief Wahoo McDaniel over the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship.

Wahoo had cost Valentine and Flair their first tag team championships (Wahoo, the then-nemesis of Flair, had been the special referee in the steel cage match), so Valentine was eager for revenge.

Valentine would hold the title once more, defeating Wahoo again on September 10 and losing to Ken Patera on April 9, 1978.

Valentine began working on a casual basis for the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), then owned by Vincent J. McMahon, in November 1978.

Managed by The Grand Wizard, he was given the gimmick of a methodical wrestler who broke the legs of all his opponents, including Chief Jay Strongbow.

In February 1979, he wrestled then WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund to a one-hour time-limit draw at Madison Square Garden.

Valentine returned to the NWA in late 1979 and asked Flair to reform their tag team.

Flair, by then a face, declined.

Valentine held the NWA World Tag Team Championship once more with Ray Stevens in 1980.

Four days after their victory, the promoter, David Crockett told Valentine and Stevens that he possessed film which proved that the illegal man had been pinned in the tag match, nullifying the win.

When Crockett threatened to send the film to NWA president Bob Geigel who said he would overturn their victory, Stevens and Valentine attacked him and cut the film up with a pocketknife, destroying the evidence.

Valentine later claimed to have "seen the light", and re-formed his team with Flair, who believed that Valentine was now a face.

An alumnus of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2004 and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016.

Born in Seattle, Washington, Wisniski traveled around Texas in his teens with his father; Johnny Valentine.

During a summer vacation, he decided to drop out of college and become a wrestler.