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Who is Jimmy Valiant, The Boogie Woogie Man? · Gil I Am

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  Speaker 1: Today in pro wrestling history, we concentrate on Jimmy Valiant,
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  Speaker 1: the Boogie Woogie Man. James Harold Fanning born August sixth,
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  Speaker 1: nineteen forty two is an American professional wrestler, better known
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  Speaker 1: by his ring name Handsome Jimmy Valliant. Early life, Fanning
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  Speaker 1: was born in Tullahoma, Tennessee, as the youngest of five
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  Speaker 1: children of James and Fie Fanning. Professional wrestling career, Fanning
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  Speaker 1: started wrestling in nineteen sixty four as Big Jim Vallen.
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  Speaker 1: He went to the Worldwide Wrestling Federation in the nineteen
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  Speaker 1: seventies as Handsome Jimmy Valiant and formed a team with
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  Speaker 1: Johnny Valiant that would dominate the tag team scene for
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  Speaker 1: a while as WWWF Tag Team Champions in the later
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  Speaker 1: nineteen sixties. In the World Wrestling Association, they were managed
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  Speaker 1: by Bobby Heenan. Valiant had entered the WWF in nineteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy one as a babyface, originally known as Gentleman Jim Valiant,
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  Speaker 1: but quickly switched to heel. He had title matches against
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  Speaker 1: champion Pedro Morales in secondary arena such as Philadelphia, and
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  Speaker 1: feuded with short term tag partner Chief Jay Strongbow, Jimmy
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  Speaker 1: and his KFA brother Johnny Valliant held the tag belts
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  Speaker 1: from nineteen seventy four to nineteen seventy five and main
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  Speaker 1: invented Madison Square Garden against Chief j Strongbow and Bruno Sammartino.
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  Speaker 1: Strongbow and Sammartino won two out of three falls, but
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  Speaker 1: one fall via disqualification, hence the belts didn't change hands.
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  Speaker 1: During the late nineteen seventies to early nineteen eighties, Valiant
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  Speaker 1: was a central player in the Memphis, Tennessee wrestling scene.
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  Speaker 1: He feuded regularly with Jerry Lawler and teamed with Bill
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  Speaker 1: Dundee to dominate the tag team matches of that time.
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  Speaker 1: He even recorded a song, the Ballad of Handsome Jimmy,
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  Speaker 1: which was used in wrestling arenas as his entry music
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  Speaker 1: and became a mainstay on some Memphis radio stations for
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  Speaker 1: a few years. Despite the Memphis Promotion desperately wanting to
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  Speaker 1: keep him in Memphis full time, even offering to buy
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  Speaker 1: him a house in Memphis. According to Jerry Lawler's biography,
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  Speaker 1: Valiant decided to move on after holding the AWA C
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  Speaker 1: Other Heavyweight championship for roughly a year. Valiant also spent
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  Speaker 1: a brief amount of time in Jim Crockett Promotions in
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  Speaker 1: the late nineteen seventies as the heel King James Valiant,
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  Speaker 1: managed by Lord Alfred Hayes. In nineteen seventy nine, Jimmy
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  Speaker 1: returned to the WWWF with Johnny occasionally wrestling and went
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  Speaker 1: into the manager role. He managed Johnny and Jerry Valiant
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  Speaker 1: as they won the tag belts. In the early nineteen eighties,
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  Speaker 1: Valiant returned as a babyface to National Wrestling Alliances Jim
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  Speaker 1: Crockett Promotions as Boogie Woogieman Jimmy Valiant and called his
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  Speaker 1: fans the street People. His theme music around this time
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  Speaker 1: was Boy from New York City by the Manhattan Transfer.
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  Speaker 1: While in Jim Crockett Promotions, he would sometimes appear in
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  Speaker 1: a black bandit style mask and call himself Charlie Brown
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  Speaker 1: from out of town. This usually occurred when Valiant was
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  Speaker 1: banned from wrestling. Charlie Brown was billed as someone other
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  Speaker 1: than Valiant, despite Brown having Valiant's legendarily prodigious beard. January
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four, Valiant was attacked by Paul Jones and
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  Speaker 1: the Assassins. They tied him to the wrestling ring rope
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  Speaker 1: so that Jones could cut his beard off. This led
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  Speaker 1: to a grudge match with hyped super show called Boogie
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  Speaker 1: Man Jam eighty four in Greensboro, North Carolina. For this match,
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  Speaker 1: Dusty Rhodes was in Valiant's corner and tied by a
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  Speaker 1: rope to Paul Jones. Valiant defeated Assassin the Second, who
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  Speaker 1: was unmasked and revealed as Hercules Hernandez due to the
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  Speaker 1: beard cutting attack. He feuded heavily with Paul Jones and
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  Speaker 1: his army of wrestlers from nineteen eighty four through to
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  Speaker 1: late nineteen eighty six. This army of wrestlers included the
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  Speaker 1: Barbarian Baron von Rashki, Tejo Khann, and the Assassins. During
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  Speaker 1: this three year feud, Valiant received help from Hector Guerrero
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  Speaker 1: and Raging Bull Many Fernandez. Although Jimmy Valiant would lose
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  Speaker 1: a Loser Leaves Town Tuxedo Street fight to Paul Jones
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  Speaker 1: at Starkad one thousand, nine hundred and eighty four in Greensboro,
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  Speaker 1: North Carolina, the feud with Many from the Paul Jones
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  Speaker 1: stable continued, which would come to include Abdullah the Butcher
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty five, Valiant and Raging Bull Manny Fernandez
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  Speaker 1: formed a team called B and B Connection, Boogie Woogie
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  Speaker 1: and Bull. During the Great American Bash nineteen eighty six
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  Speaker 1: summer shows, Paul Jones adopted a military style look in
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  Speaker 1: his long feud with Valiant and labeled his stable of
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  Speaker 1: wrestlers the Army. Valiant would beat Shaska Whatley in a
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  Speaker 1: hair versus hair match, but with outside interference, lost a
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  Speaker 1: hair versus hair match to Paul Jones. Only weeks later,
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  Speaker 1: in the fall of nineteen eighty six, the Raging Bull
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  Speaker 1: Manni Fernandez, Valiant's best friend, accepted Jones money and turned
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  Speaker 1: on Valiant, starting a feud between the two. Paul Jones
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  Speaker 1: at this point shortened his Army to his newly acquired
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  Speaker 1: tag team of Raging Bull and Rick Rude. The war
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  Speaker 1: between Valiant and Paul Jones climaxed at Stark one nine
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  Speaker 1: hundred eighty six, with Valiant putting up the hair of
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  Speaker 1: his valet, Big Mama, against the hair of Paul Jones
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  Speaker 1: in a no DQ match, which Valiant won while the
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  Speaker 1: regime Bull was placed in a cage above the ring.
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  Speaker 1: In the late nineteen eighties, he teamed with Hector Guerrero,
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  Speaker 1: then masked as Laser Tron and Bugs E. Mc graw
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  Speaker 1: and feuded with the New Breed. When Jim Crockett Promotions
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  Speaker 1: became World Championship Wrestling, Valiant left and returned to Memphis
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  Speaker 1: to wrestle in the United States Wrestling Association. In nineteen ninety,
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  Speaker 1: he twice won the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship from
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  Speaker 1: Jerry Lawler, losing it back to him both times. His
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  Speaker 1: last match was for Wrestle Pro in Rahway, New Jersey,
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  Speaker 1: where he teamed with Buster Jackson to defeat the team
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  Speaker 1: of Colt Cabana and CPA on February eighth, twenty twenty.
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  Speaker 1: He now enjoys his time with his wife Angel and
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  Speaker 1: training wrestlers at Boogies Wrestling Camp located in Shawsville, Virginia.
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  Speaker 1: Jimmy currently wrestles under the ACW banner American Championship Wrestling
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  Speaker 1: around the Roanoke, Virginia area. He has also recently wrestled
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  Speaker 1: with George South, Stan Lee and Ricky Morton in ASW
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  Speaker 1: Wrestling and New OCW in Ashlyn, k Y with Matty
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  Speaker 1: B and Violet Reign against Bow and Misty James and
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  Speaker 1: Scotty Ace. Valiant remains in the wrestling world today with
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  Speaker 1: continuing to appear at independent shows signing autographs while his
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  Speaker 1: students appear in a few matches on the He keeps
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  Speaker 1: in touch with fans through his official weekly website. Most recently,
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  Speaker 1: Valiant lent his name to a foreword for a fiction
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  Speaker 1: novel called Only the Beginning. It is a book set
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  Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties about a girl's life during high school.
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  Speaker 1: While the book is not wrestling related, the author, Jason Streker,
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  Speaker 1: is a personal friend of Valiants, and in the forward,
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  Speaker 1: Valiant responds to his friendship with the author, along with
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  Speaker 1: the book's message of being of strong character and doing
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  Speaker 1: positive actions for others. The book also has a foreword
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  Speaker 1: by Nikolai Volkoff. On May fourteenth, twenty twenty two, Valiant
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  Speaker 1: came out of retirement at seventy nine years old, winning
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  Speaker 1: a six man tag team match at Patriotic Wrestling Federation
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  Speaker 1: in York, South Carolina. Valiant debuted for Beside the Ring
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  Speaker 1: Wrestling in Mountain City on August thirty first, twenty twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: After unveiling the inaugural Beside the Ring Championship, Valiant excited
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  Speaker 1: the crowd before being interrupted by Evan Golden Personal life.
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  Speaker 1: Valiant married Clara, with whom he fathered three children, Robin
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  Speaker 1: Ronda and Dana Rondad. In twenty sixteen. With Monica, he
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  Speaker 1: has his first son, Todd. With Felicia, he has his
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  Speaker 1: youngest son, Hansome. He is now married to Angel. He
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  Speaker 1: has six grandchildren, Lorna, Janey, Bo Chassis, Clarissa, and Delilah.
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  Speaker 1: Championships and accomplishments AAW Heavyweight Championship five times, All Pro
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  Speaker 1: Wrestling APW Heavyweight Championship, one time, Allied Independent Wrestling Federations
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  Speaker 1: AIWF Hall of Fame Class of twenty sixteen, AIWF mid
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  Speaker 1: To Atlantic Tag Team Championship one time with Rob McBride,
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  Speaker 1: American Championship Wrestling ACW Universal Tag Team Championship one time
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  Speaker 1: with Bob Ross. Big Time Wrestling, San Francisco, NWA World
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  Speaker 1: Tag Team Championship, San Francisco Version one time with Johnny Valiant.
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  Speaker 1: Capital City Wrestling Alliance CCWA Tag Team Championship one time
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  Speaker 1: with Keith Ashley, Cauliflower Alley Club. Other honoree nineteen ninety
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  Speaker 1: seven Championship Pro Wrestling CPW Heavyweight Championship one time. Championship
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  Speaker 1: Wrestling from Florida NWA Florida Tag Team Championship one time
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  Speaker 1: with Johnny Valiant, NWA United States Tag Team Championship, Florida
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  Speaker 1: version one time with Johnny Valiant, Georgia Championship Wrestling NWA
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  Speaker 1: Georgia Tag Team Championship one time with Johnny Valiant. Maple
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  Speaker 1: Leaf Wrestling NWA Television Championship, Toronto version two times. Memphis
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  Speaker 1: Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of twenty twenty four, mid
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  Speaker 1: Atlantic Championship Wrestling NWA Television Championship two times. National Wrestling
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  Speaker 1: Alliance NWA Legends Hall of Heroes twenty sixteen. North American
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  Speaker 1: Wrestling Alliance now A Heavyweight Championship one time, now A
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  Speaker 1: Tag Team Championship one time with Hangman Bruce Poban's New
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  Speaker 1: England Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of twenty eighteen.
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  Speaker 1: Northern Wrestling FED NWF Heavyweight Championship one time, op NWA,
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  Speaker 1: Mid America Continental Wrestling Association ALBAS Southern Heavyweight Championship five times,
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  Speaker 1: NAWS Southern Tag Team Championship one time with Rocky Johnson,
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  Speaker 1: and CWA Tag Team Championship three times with Bill Dundee
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  Speaker 1: two and Don Carson won NWA mid To America Heavyweight Championship,
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  Speaker 1: one time, NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship, Memphis version, one time
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  Speaker 1: Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI Tag Team of the Year Award
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy four with Johnny Valiant. PWI ranked him
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  Speaker 1: in two hundred and seventy four of the five hundred
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  Speaker 1: best singles wrestlers during the PWY years in two thousand
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  Speaker 1: and three. My Southern Championship Wrestling SCW Hall of Fame
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  Speaker 1: class of nineteen ninety seven. United States Wrestling Association USWS
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  Speaker 1: Southern Heavyweight Championship, one time, USWA UNIF World Heavyweight Championship,
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  Speaker 1: two times. Worldwide Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Federation DEGG WWWF
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  Speaker 1: World Tag Team Championship one time with Johnny Valiant, Cadillac
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  Speaker 1: Tournament winner one WWF Hall of Fame class of nineteen
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  Speaker 1: ninety six with Johnny Valiant. World Wrestling Association WWA World
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  Speaker 1: Heavyweight Championship, one time WWA World Tag Team Championship, four
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  Speaker 1: times with Johnny Valiant. Wrestling Observer Newsletter Worst Tag Team
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven with Bugs E. Mc graw