The Valiant Brothers
| The Valiant Brothers | |
|---|---|
| Tag team | |
| Members | Jimmy Valiant[1] Johnny Valiant[1] Jerry Valiant[1] |
| Heights | Jimmy: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Johnny: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Combined weight |
492 lb (223 kg) (Jimmy & Johnny) |
| Debut | 5 January 1974 |
| Disbanded | 1980 |
| Years active | 1974-1980 |
| Promotions | NWA WWWF/WWF WWA |
The Valiant Brothers were a professional wrestling tag team of storyline brothers "Handsome" Jimmy Valiant, "Luscious" Johnny Valiant, and "Gentleman" Jerry Valiant.[1] The team wrestled for National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Wide Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Federation (WWWF/WWF) and World Wrestling Association (WWA).[1]
Contents
History
Jimmy and Johnny
World Wrestling Association (1974)
Jimmy Valiant and Johnny Valiant formed a tag team in World Wrestling Association as storyline brothers. They began wrestling together as heels. They debuted as a team on 5 January 1974 when they defeated Dick the Bruiser and Bruno Sammartino to win the WWA World Tag Team Championship.[2] The titles were held up after a match against Bruiser and Sammartino on 25 January. On 7 February, they defeated Bruiser and Sammartino in a rematch to win the titles, a second time.[2] They became the most popular heel tag team in WWA during their second reign. Their tenure with WWA ended after they lost the tag titles to Wilbur Snyder and Pepper Gomez on 4 May.
World Wide Wrestling Federation (1974–1975)
Jimmy and Johnny signed with Vincent J. McMahon's World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in May 1974 and debuted there around that same time. Their biggest success as a tag team came when they defeated Tony Garea and Dean Ho to win the WWWF World Tag Team Championship on 8 May 1974 edition of All Star Wrestling.[3][4] Valiants quickly became a dominant heel tag team as they went on to successfully defend their titles throughout the entire year. They held and defended the titles for over a year before losing them to Dominic DeNucci and Victor Rivera on 13 May 1975.[5] This made Valiant Brothers, the longest reigning champions of their era with a reign of 370 days before the record was broken,[6] fourteen years later by Demolition (Ax and Smash), who reigned as tag team champions for 470 days.[6] After losing the titles, Valiants battled against the likes of Tony Garea, Dean Ho, Chief Jay Strongbow and Haystacks Calhoun.[7]
National Wrestling Alliance (1976–1978)
In 1976, Jimmy and Johnny left WWWF and joined National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) where they toured NWA territories. They debuted in Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) in the summer of 1976. On 16 July 1976, they defeated Dean Ho and Ken Mantell to win the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship.[8] On 10 September, they lost the titles to Porkchop Cash and Tom Jones. They joined San Francisco, California based NWA San Francisco where they defeated Royal Kangaroos (Jonathan Boyd and Norman Frederick Charles III) on 4 December 1976.[9] They lost the titles to Pat Patterson and Pepper Gomez on 9 February 1977. Later that same year, they joined Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF). In January 1978, they were awarded the NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship.[10] On 25 January 1978, they lost the titles to Florida natives Mike Graham and Steve Keirn.
Jerry and Johnny
World Wide Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Federation (1978–1979)
In 1978, Valiant Brothers returned to WWWF but Jimmy retired and was replaced by "brother" Jerry Valiant.[1] Jerry and Johnny began wrestling in the tag team division while Jimmy became their manager. In March 1979, the promotion was renamed World Wrestling Federation, dropping 'Wide' from the name. On 24 March 1979 edition of Championship Wrestling, Jerry and Johnny defeated Larry Zbyzsko and Tony Garea to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.[11] This second version of Valiant Brothers was also successful but Jerry could not achieve the popularity which Jimmy had achieved.
In July 13, 1979 they retained the championship in a match against The Jaguar of Colombia[12] and Tito Santana. Jerry and Johnny lost the titles to Ivan Putski and Tito Santana on 22 October.[13] After unsuccessful attempts in winning back the titles from Putski and Santana, Valiant Brothers broke up in the new year 1980, putting an end to the team.
Aftermath
Jimmy and Johnny were inducted into the 1996 Hall of Fame by Owen Hart and British Bulldog.[14] All the three Valiant Brothers, have reunited one time in the independent circuit during the 2000s.[1]
Championships and accomplishments
Jimmy and Johnny Valiant
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- PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1974.
Jerry and Johnny Valiant
References
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Further reading
The Valiant Brothers’ history is covered in a chapter dedicated to the team in the book The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams:
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