Greg Valentine - Why My Four Horsemen Deal Fell Through in WCW

Greg Valentine reveals how close he was to signing with Ric Flair & The Four Horsemen in WCW. Stream now 📺 TitleMatchNetwork.com
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Back in 1988, WCW Wrestling offered the Hammer a contract to join the Four Horsemen. Jim Ross made the call and a meeting was held with Jim Crockett and JJ Dillon. Plans were to turn Barry Windham a babyface, inserting Valentine into the group.
In WWF, Greg was fed up with his New Dream Team pairing with Dino Bravo. After Vince McMahon asked him to do the job (lose) for the Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair, Jumping Jim Brunzell) at Madison Square Garden, Valentine hopped a plane and quit the WWF.
Interestingly enough, Hulk Hogan happened to be on the same flight. By the time they landed, Vince already caught word about Valentine's offer. If it wasn't for a lengthy phone call (including promises for a WWF return), Greg turned down the WCW offer.
⏯ Watch more Greg "The Hammer" Valentine: • Greg Valentine - What ...
We'll never know how different wrestling history would be if Valentine jumped ship in 1988. He did end up in WCW later in 1992 but circumstances were totally different.
Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard would leave the Four Horsemen and be re-branded as the Brain Busters in WWF. Many new incarnations of the faction would develop through the late 90s but none surpassed the original Four Horsemen.
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[@TitleMatchWrestling]

Full Playlist 📲 bit.ly/3fMmvW8 Stream Now 📺TitleMatchNetwork.com LIKE if you think Hammer 🔨 would have made a perfect Horsemen 🐎

[@ColonelJGHyde]

The Hammer is a Legend and I think he should have been one of the Four Horsemen. He has the presence, ability and skill to make the elite group. I have a question for Greg what is the Gold Watch he's wearing? It's a beauty!!

[@ioannisfugazi6952]

Dude, "The Hammer" definitely would have fit right in. Love hearing these snippets of wrestling history .

[@Luke63517]

He would of fit in the Horsemen perfectly! Sad that this never happened. He just kinda floated around the rest of his career.

[@justafanofnerdculture7602]

I agree!

[@alimusa3986]

Fax@I am Supernaut VT

[@alimusa3986]

Fax@I am Supernaut VT

[@alimusa3986]

W,. 🐩

[@angelvalle9963]

He would have been more over than ever him ric double a and Tully wow.

[@emptyhand777]

I hated Valentine, he would have been a great Horseman.

[@amerikazmostwanted3839]

Valentine should have been a Horseman.. He fit more than Luger & Sid did💯💯💯

[@TheSportsfan35]

He would've been the right guy to replace Ole instead of Luger.

[@deanwille334]

And better than Windham

[@amerikazmostwanted3839]

@@deanwille334 💯💯💯

[@deanwille334]

@@amerikazmostwanted3839 Windham was a perfect good guy

[@amerikazmostwanted3839]

@@deanwille334 he sure was a perfect GOOD GUY!! Great BABYFACE!! Him being a HEEL just didn't seem right.. I guess we got to love them before we hate them & vice versa..

[@Dinnerwiththeavilas]

He would have been a perfect fit as a Horseman.

[@tonybinder9392]

💯

[@Kevo1993]

💯x2

[@rodherrington7497]

Perfect 👌

[@shanedaviau5976]

I don't even think about that but he would of been a perfect part of that faction

[@joeschmo5021]

Totally agree.

[@darrickcato9499]

I've always thought Greg would make a killer Horseman. Like an early Benoit.

[@CamericaMuscle]

Valentine would have been great as a 4 horseman! He’s definitely one of my favorites to be listening too on this channel.

[@ericarcieri3836]

That would of been a solid four horsemen team Valentine flair arn Tully Vs windham sting dusty Nikita or Luger back then that would of been pretty good

[@kwasiaking1989]

I’ve never liked replacements of the Four Horsemen to the point of them being as believable as the original Horsemen. HOWEVER, I can see Greg Valentine, being perhaps the best fit of all the replacements. He had that heel factor, that others simply didn’t have.

[@jbellflower83]

Him and Curt Hennig are the 2 guys that would have been great fits in the horseman of that era.

[@gregorylevi1826]

@@jbellflower83 add the Living Legend too

[@gary6754]

plus, Valentine had a history with Flair in the Mid-Atlantic territory. From a storyline POV it would have made perfect sense.

[@michaele.francis]

Rick Rude would have been good too.

[@scottaustin4035]

Man I would have been awesome for Greg to have been part of the 4 Horsemen.

[@MrNewktrane]

Man, it would have been great seeing the Hammer in the Horseman. While Tully & Arn had unbelievable chemistry as a tag team, with the Hammer on board I would have liked to see on the other end, a reunion of still one of the best & underrated tag teams ever- the Hammer & Ric- from a memorable run the previous decade. Thinking about it now, Flair & Valentine during that late 70s run were like a 2 man version of the future 4 Horseman. Both talked a lot of shit on the mic & wrestling one in the ring meant you were definitely going to get beaten down by both.

[@Boss429..]

At least he wasn’t stuck having to deal with the Jim Herd fiasco.

[@josephD32]

Right? I get what he was saying at the end, but there was a good bit of time and in between 1988 and "Monday Nitros", lol.

[@dominicrossitto5890]

He was a perfect fit for The Horsemen, a shame he never went there. They could have put over the fact that he was a multiple time U.S. Heavyweight Champion, Television Champion, and World Tag Team Champion, once with Flair. And THEY were auch a great pair together. At the time, they were still mentioning former Mid-Atlantic Champions as well. He DID eventually go ans win the U.S. Tag Tag Team Title with Terry Taylor, when he was known as "The Taylor Made Man" ( man that gimmick sucked,...but it was a million times better than The Red Rooster🐓), but that didn't really mean anything. If Greg would have been part of the Horsemen, that would have been MAGIC.

[@delyates2509]

The Hammer would have been a great Horseman.

[@christophercanada7085]

Man, Greg would have been great in the Horsemen. I wish I could have seen that.

[@stylishone]

I didnt know this story. At that time he would have been awesome with the Horseman. wow. People do say over and over Vince had incredible persuasion skills back in the day to get what he wanted or to sell you on his wacky ideas. This Valentine shoot continues to be great material .Thanks

[@gregorylevi1826]

Yes. His skills were so good even Jim Cornette couldn't say "no" to Vince.

[@bearpaw72]

Like everyone else said, Valentine would have been a perfect fit. This proposed lineup would have resembled the original lineup more closely than any other subsequent lineup.

[@soulofanerd9364]

As I mentioned in my last comment, I went and researched this time period and it was 1987 when he split with Brutus and teamed with Dino Bravo. So I believe he is in fact really thinking of early 1988 after LUGER turned babyface. Which would mean we WOULDN'T have had Windham join....so with that in mind as much as Greg would've been a great Horseman, I think everything worked out for the best with Windham turning heel and joining.

[@TheSportsfan35]

Greg would've been the perfect guy to replace Ole instead of Luger, based on his history in the 70's when he tagged with Flair, & they worked with Ole & Gene for the NWA tag titles.

[@jmb01550]

If Greg joined the Horsemen, he would have been reunited with Flair. Fiair and Valentine were tag team champs in the late 1970s and were friends in the early 1980s.

[@Kevo1993]

The Hammer really seems like a cool ass dude

[@TheSportsfan35]

He is, & so was his Dad

[@BillyBob-ld5nv]

Wow, Greg as a Horseman. Impossible to match, much less top. Here we all thought we saw everything pro wrestling had to offer. Horseman Greg Valentine would have been another dimension.

[@kayodephillips5435]

Man he would have been perfect as a horseman damn greg

[@manchesterexplorer8519]

I haven't been a fan of wrestling since I was likely 13 around 1989 , but I really enjoy Valentines interviews.. really cool guy and great stories..

[@pulsarstargrave256]

Valentine would have been perfect as a Horseman.. but as we know, Mid Atlantic was on the verge of imploding... with the sale to Turner, the firing of Dusty etc! I wonder which did Valentine think was worse: Rhythm & Blues with Honky Tonk Man or possibly working for Jim Herd?

[@agedefyingfitness]

Greg is such a likable guy

[@stacymirba1433]

Wow, I've never heard this before. But he's right, that would have revitalized his career.

[@gslide06]

I agree that would have been a good boost to revitalize his character to become a horseman. Then rest of his WWF career was okay but kind of sagged after 90.

[@bradgaines]

Damn! That would have been great!

[@WTFHwrestling]

The Horsemen were the kings of ridiculous oversold bumps on the come back I can't see Greg being successful in that role.

[@jaythor70]

I wish Valentine had gone to be a Horseman! I have often said he would have been a great Enforcer, tag partner for Arn or Tully.

[@TheDelzShow]

I would have loved this

[@tomdallas3690]

This is gold. Wresting will never die. These stories are great even more me, and I'm barely a fan.

[@chrisreid688]

His and flair are alike accept Greg's a harder hitter would have been cool to see Greg get a good run in WC dub

[@patrickfennell6372]

They worked together in the past so it wasa natural fit.

[@chrisreid688]

@@patrickfennell6372 yes I agree and seen there legendary matches to bad it didn't happen

[@johngallagher72]

Our next clip ...Hulk Hogan: The Office Snitch

[@gregorylevi1826]

Already saw that episode, it was the one where Hogan warned Vince Jesse Ventura was going to convince the boys to unionized.

[@mindlessdroid3630]

I think that would've fit perfect especially with his history with Flair in Mid Atlantic.

[@m.jarvis4638]

Good point!

[@tomdallas3690]

If anyone ever tells you that wrestling is fake, and therefore they don't care, then you know that they don't quite get what it is all about. There is tons of maneuvering career-wise, and these guys are also great athletes. And the narratives og good guy bad guy is really the narrative of all mythical creatures, religion, politics, etc. Wresting touches all of the bases.

[@sampleoffers1978]

It's intriguing Hogan ratted him out to Vince Mcmahon...and then Mcmahon was so convinced nwa was going to grow further with a guy who was basically mid card jobber generally, by 1988...is GOT level machinations, or laughable paranoia...but it probably stunted rassln's broader traction, though maybe not at all.

[@animalcol1]

What an absolute gem of a man 👍🙂

[@dogface30]

His timeline got away from him a tad...monday nitros..? Barry was a horsemen in '88... Greg is a good dude. We were all drinking and having a good time one night in canton ohio he got behind the wheel and we were off to the next bar. He was driving all up on the medium and everything lol. Dangerous driving for sure but nothing life threatening. Samu, Sherri, Malia Hosaka, Brian Knobbs and I were all in the van. Wild wild night for sure. Late 90's. Good times.

[@theresareynolds3133]

I wonder if Greg remembers two little Native American kids sitting with him and his mom eating popcorn and drinking soda watching his dad Johnny wrestle in San Diego, this was in the late 60s, the two kids were my brother and I

[@Koolazzmike]

Had no idea NWA/WCW contacted him in 1988. Hindsight he would have made a better Horsemen than the way of the rest of his WWF career went. Greg was boring after 1987 in the WWF.

[@dwade6322]

Hammer shoulda held WWF Heavyweight title

[@airfixx_8952]

Really????? ......In the Hogan era? When & instead of whom?

[@antnee5150]

Dam Greg Valentine in the Horsemen would have been awsome at that time. He was a hard worker like Flair and Arn. They could have easily had him latter on down the road turn baby face. Have him and Flair have a string of matches over who has the best figure four. Dam would have been incredible.

[@romainlavoie1526]

WooW ! What a fantastic storyline that would have been ! Nothing short of extraordinary! I do understand however why The Hammer elected to stay with Vince .

[@dwaynelawrence4070]

telephone, telegram, and tell a wrestler...classic line by the Hammer!

[@bjs001001]

Give credit where credit is due. He is being 100% honest about the how and why. I don't blame him for staying with Vince. WWF was huge and Greg knew he would be taken care of.

[@lucag.lisickza425]

telephone, telegraph, tele wrestler 😅😅

[@paultsmith7631]

Would`ve been a great addition: The Enforcer and The Hammer..... Crazy!

[@ericdravenX00X]

Vince said Hacksaw would Never work for the Company Again.. And about 6 months later he was back working for the company.. As the Former CEO of WWE and taking in consideration the days of WWF you can assume if it looked good from a business standpoint to Vince he either made it happen or he considered it..

[@LordHyena]

I suppose this theoretical version of the Horsemen wouldn’t have lasted long, because of Arn and Tully’s eventual departure. Even so, Greg Valentine would have made a great Horseman. He was something like a combination of Ric Flair and Ole Anderson. He’d probably have to change his finisher because they’d want the figure four to be Ric’s alone, but that’d be okay. What would have been extra cool was that Ric and Greg were former US tag team champions together, and have even famously fought the Andersons (Ole and Gene) over them. That history would have been a great additional detail and they may well have referenced it.

[@brianez1980]

That would have worked. As tough as Valentine was perceived then, even with the Flair like robes & hair, that would have really worked.

[@djdonald243]

Great story. Follow your dreams.

[@randrake4]

Him joining after Barry turned babyface would have been great. Barry sort of stayed in a bit too long so I think it would have been a great thing for both. Have Barry and Greg battle over US title would have been a natural fued to start Greg as a Horsemen.

[@soulofanerd9364]

I really gotta go and research the time period he's describing. Because it sounds kinda surprising to hear management making these kinds of plans with Barry. He wasn't in the group but for so long so what point was this where they were talking turning him face again? He joined in April 88 and was at his peak in December at Starrcade 88 so where in 88 would they have wanted to turn him and bring in Greg? I wonder is he thinking of 87 with Luger, because that makes more sense to me. Either way Greg definitely would have made a great Horseman.

[@bigdawg7262]

He's talking about the Fall of 87 when they turned Luger baby. Crockett had an office in Dallas at that time and he took the fall in MSG vs the Bees at the Oct 87 show.

[@alwaysamysteryyes2021]

Seems odd since in 88 they had just turned Barry heel.

[@bigdaddy2343]

Barry was also in the office at that time and was putting pressure on the company for a title shot.

[@kurtvanderbogarde8402]

I think Greg is getting confused and means Lex's turn to babyface at Starrcade '87

[@kurtvanderbogarde8402]

@@bigdaddy2343 Barry was never involved with the office, he was just one of the boys. He's said he didn't want to be World champion. (He eventually got to be interim champ when the title was split in '93)

[@anthwaxmusic]

I’m upset now…

[@markswain365]

Legend!

[@samright4661]

That would have been a Awesome 4 horsemen

[@libertarian500]

Greg would have been a great fit for the Four Horsemen. He had history with Flair, had that heel persona, Greg also liked to dress up nice. Furthermore, had great name recognition in WCW's base territory. I grew up in the Carolinas and speak to that personally.

[@Godzukidan]

He was a great heal.

[@Batony]

He would have fit right in with the horsemen. He could talk, was a brawler…perfect fit.

[@scenariomckinney]

Wish he would've done it!!! Vince might've saved his company with that one!!

[@gregorylevi1826]

I was thinking that too

[@jng1]

I would love to have seen that happen.

[@STONESGAM]

That is a shame he didn't go for it. He would have been a perfect fit. He had the pedigree. He was a veteran wrestler with great technical wrestling skills. He had held numerous titles in different federations including the WWF IC Championship and Tag Team championship. He was pals with Flair and also had the golden hair. He also wasn't very gimmicky and that made him a better fit for WCW which was more down and dirty and less cartoonish than WWF. I could totally picture him doing a promo with the guys as the newest Horsemen member. Especially since Vince didn't seem to have much of a plan for him anymore. He had already had his title runs in WWF. He was kind of just floating around as a midcard heel by that point.

[@The495marauder]

That would of been an excellent compliment to Valentines resume. If I had a choice to draft MR.perfect or The Hammer in to the horsemen , I would definitely select Greg over Curt.

[@ronstille7924]

That would have been great him and Blanchard the 2 best heels ever

[@jonathanturbide2232]

Not saying Greg is lying, but his time-line doesn't make sense. If he was offered the spot by JR in 88 while Crockett was still there, that means it happened before August, which means Barry has been a heel for only 3 or 4 months. I don't think they would have turned Barry babyface so soon when he was feuding with Dusty and Luger and all these guys. 🤔🤔🤔

[@my9goesbang]

Cool story Detective Turbide!

[@jonathanturbide2232]

@@my9goesbang LMAO I just love working with facts, that's all. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@gdn2705]

+ why would he fly to Dallas to speak to Crocket and JR about when JCP wasn't based in Texas it was based out of North Carolina wasn't it ?

[@jonathanturbide2232]

@@gdn2705 Yep, I think he's just confused. I know Greg worked for Crockett in 95, when he tried to start a promotion in Dallas (where WWF found Ahmed Johnson), so that might be where the confusion comes from. 🤔🤔🤔

[@my9goesbang]

@@jonathanturbide2232 it's all good 😎👌💨

[@kurtvanderbogarde8402]

I'm glad they didn't do this. Barry Windham repenting and going back to being babyface would have been a HORRIBLE idea. Unless Greg is confused and is thinking of Lex's turn to babyface after Starrcade '87.

[@holden3]

That would've been a game changer for the hammer !

[@thack57]

Who ended up getting his slot? I can't remember any of Ole's replacements other than Windham because he was the only one worthy of being one. Hammer would've fit in there like warm butter fits in between each pancake. Perfecto!

[@deanwille8130]

Greg Valentine would’ve been a better fit than what Barry Windham was to the Horsemen!

[@FritziSchnitzel]

Greg Valentine would have been an excellent Horsemen

[@brianeddes3701]

What a great opportunity that he let slip by.

[@rasalghul1263]

Dam so Hogan stooged to Vince on seeing hammer on the plane huh?

[@tazzhardwick1316]

Flair valentine arn anderson and blackjack mulligan that was my horsemen lineup

[@battlestarmarc]

Valentine was a great heel. Valentine could have been a member of the 4 Horsemen.

[@troyprice7407]

would have been great as a horsemen!

[@MrDknuckle]

Greg would have made one hell of a horseman -- the heat they could have built between him and Barry once he turned face .... just like he did with Piper -- even with out either of them wearing a strap that could be worked into a PPV headliner easy peasy

[@ADAM_COLLECTS]

Valentine should have been in the mix for the IC title, when savage, steamboat and HTM were running. none of the rhythm and blues stuff, just singles run

[@airfixx_8952]

R&B kicked off in late 89..... By that time none of those guys were on the IC scene anyway.

[@m.jarvis4638]

I respect Greg Valentine immensely. He'd been a good Horseman, but if I had my pick at that time, it's been Paul Orndorff.

[@30907bng]

YES!!!!!! of all the veterans of that era Greg Valentine , Paul Orndorff, or Ted Dibiase would've been excellent choices.

[@johngallagher72]

I think the logic around this time was to turn Barry face so that Flair could drop the title to him because around this time Barry would have been next in line.

[@kurtvanderbogarde8402]

No, he didn't want to be champion and he'd already been soundly beaten in '87. By '88 they were building towards a Sting/Luger world title feud for the early 1990s (which is what they did, with Vader replacing Luger after the first year). Barry Windham turning back to babyface would have been HORRIBLE - like Larry Zybysko saying sorry to Bruno after Shea Stadium.

[@frontiersurvival-1]

Hammer would have made a good horseman but him and flair would have to have a figure four battle

[@bobmalon7244]

Two guys who would have been great horsemen were Greg & the late Gino Hernandez. They would have both fit right in.

[@jimscarnivorekitchen4731]

Long live GTHV

[@aaronsugar7228]

I'm surprised Flair would let someone who had an un-reverseable Figure-4 on the team...

[@paulsoxl7739]

You do know that Flair and Valentine were N.W.A. World tag team champs

[@aaronsugar7228]

@@paulsoxl7739 yes I do. It was a joke referring to the amount of times Flair had his figure four reversed. Other than the I Quit match against Funk, did he win a match with it in the 90’s and beyond?

[@paulsoxl7739]

@@aaronsugar7228 You got me maybe against some jobbers

[@erichudson3608]

Damn if Greg would've been a Horsemen that shit would've been even more epic.

[@TheHypnoManNation]

Agree 💯

[@newyorkchamp9110]

So it would have been arn Tully flair and valentine? I wonder why did they want Barry to go face so fast, that would have been interesting, and very shrewd group

[@josephmiller4497]

Now Greg n Arn would've been a great tag team

[@charleslongwell645]

In 1988 Arn and Tully left WCW for WWF so Greg wouldn't have been a Horseman very long not to mention Arn and Tully left over money so how good would a contract offer to Valentine be he was a mid card guy Tully and Arn were main eventing in WCW before leaving seems they would have been paid more than Valentine

[@airfixx_8952]

.......And Flair nearly left for WWF in 88 before Arn & Tully made the jump. Plan was for Naitch to debut Summerslam 88.

[@vermontmike9800]

Valentine would be a great Horseman, but he’s no Paul Roma. Ha! Kidding of course.

[@angelvalle9963]

all horsemen fans wish it too dam what might have been .

[@Z17xMachine]

It makes sense because I always thought Greg would have been awesome as a Horsemen. I used to say that as a kid watching them. I never thought Barry was a good Horsemen.

[@nothingsixsixsix]

Greg would have made one hell of a horseman. Too bad he didn't take it.

[@oveidasinclair982]

You should have went to the Horsemen, Tully and Arn were still there, they were still cooking

[@theequietstorm]

I could just see hammer beating the crap out of dusty in a steel cage match or sting

[@davidcota4978]

🔨💪🏻

[@terrell9457]

Hammer would have made an Excellent Horseman.

[@deanwille334]

Valentine would’ve been a way better fit than Barry Windham

[@oldmansilas559]

That would’ve been great.

[@bigdawg7262]

He's definitely talking about the Fall of 87 when they turned Luger baby. Crockett had an office in Dallas at that time and Valentine took the fall in MSG vs the Bees at the Oct 87 show. He would have taken Lex's place.