JIMMY VALIANT

'James Valen' (Born: 1942) is a former professional wrestler better known as 'Jimmy Valiant'.

Contents

Career

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

Trivia

External links

Career

Jimmy Valiant (born James Fanning in Franklin County, Tennessee near Tullahoma, TN born on August 6, 1942, later moved to Willingboro, NJ) started wrestling in 1964 as 'Big Jim Vallen'. He went to the World Wide Wrestling Federation in the 1970s as 'Handsome Jimmy Valiant' and formed a team with Johnny Valiant that would dominate the tag team scene for awhile.
During the late 1970s - early 1980s, Valiant was a central player in the Memphis, Tennessee wrestling scene. He feuded regularly with Jerry Lawler and teamed with Bill Dundee to dominate the tag team matches of that time. He even recorded a song, "The Ballad of Handsome Jimmy" that began, "I've been rolling into Mempho... TWA...Tell all the women Handsome Jimmy's on the way..." Despite this being a song to be used in wrestling arenas as his entry music, it became a mainstay on some Memphis radio stations for a few years. Despite the Memphis promotion desperately wanting to keep him in Memphis full-time, even offering to buy him a house in Memphis according to Jerry Lawler's biography, Valiant decided to move on after holding the AWA Southern Heavyweight title for roughly a year.
In the early 1980s, Valiant went to the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions as '"Boogie Woogie Man" Jimmy Valiant' and called his fans "The Street People". His theme music around this time was "Boy From New York City", by The Manhattan Transfer. He feuded heavily with Paul Jones and his "Army" of wrestlers that included The Barbarian, Shaska, Baron Von Raschke, Teijho Khan, Manny Fernandez and The Assassins (then comprised of Jody Hamilton [the original Assassin] and Hercules Hernandez [Assassin II]). Valiant, Jones and Whatley all had their heads shaved during this 3 year long feud, and Assassin II was unmasked and revealed as Hernandez after losing a match to Valiant in Toronto, Ontario on April 15, 1984. Valiant had help from Hector Guerrero, Junkyard Dog, Pez Whatley (before he turned and became Shaska), Manny Fernandez (his partner in the B and B Connection until he turned on Valiant), Dusty Rhodes and Ron Garvin.
In the late 1980s, he teamed with Guerrero (who was then masked as Laser Tron) and Bugsy McGraw and feuded with The New Breed. When Jim Crockett Promotions became WCW, Valiant left and returned to Memphis to wrestle in the USWA.
Since then, Valiant has primarily wrestled in the independents and has managed to wrestle in 5 decades, his last match occurring on January 29, 2005 at ''WrestleReunion''. He is now happily retired from active competition in the sport and enjoys his time with his wife Angel and training anyone wanting to be involved in wrestling at Boogie's Wrestling Camp located in Shawsville, Virginia.

In wrestling

★ 'Managers'

★
★ Grand Wizard

★
★ Big Mama (his wife)

★
★ Lou Albano

★
★ Street Lady

★
★ The Goon

★
★ Jimmy Hart

★
★ Bobby Heenan

Championships and accomplishments

★ 'Championship Wrestling from Florida'
:
★ NWA Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Johnny Valiant
:
★ NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Johnny Valiant

★ 'Continental Wrestling Association'
:
★ AWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (5 times)
:
★ AWA Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Rocky Johnson
:
★ CWA Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Bill Dundee (2) and Don Carson (1)

★ 'Georgia Championship Wrestling'
:
★ NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Johnny Valiant

★ 'Maple Leaf Wrestling'
:
★ NWA Television Championship (2 times)

★ 'Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling'
:
★ NWA Television Championship (1 time)

★ 'NWA Mid-America'
:
★ NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
:
★ NWA Southern Heavyweight Championship ''(Memphis version)'' (1 time)

★ 'NWA San Francisco'
:
★ NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(San Francisco version)'' (1 time) - with Johnny Valiant

★ 'Pro Wrestling Illustrated'
:
★ PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1974 - with Johnny Valiant.
:
★ PWI ranked him # '274' of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.

★ 'United States Wrestling Association'
:
★ USWA Southern Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
:
★ USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

★ 'World Wide Wrestling Federation | World Wrestling Federation'
:
★ WWF Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
:
★ WWWF World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Johnny Valiant

★ 'World Wrestling Association'
:
★ WWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
:
★ WWA World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Johnny Valiant

★ 'Other Titles'
:
★ All-American Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Trivia

★ Jimmy ''was not'' really related to Johnny Valiant or Jerry Valiant.

★ Jimmy's wife, "Big Mama", appeared with Jimmy briefly in Jim Crockett Promotions and with Barry Darsow in the AWF.

★ In Jim Crockett Promotions, he would sometimes appear in a black bandit-style mask and call himself "Charlie Brown from Outta Town." This usually occurred when Valiant was (in kayfabe) "banned" from wrestling. "Charlie Brown" was billed as someone other than Valiant, despite "Brown" having Valiant's legendarily prodigious beard.

★ Jimmy lived in Willingboro, NJ, hometown of WWE Hall of Fame professional wrestler Gorilla Monsoon, WWE referees Joey Marella and Mike Chioda, and Olympian Carl Lewis.

External links

★ Official Site: http://www.jimmyvaliant.com/

★ WWE Hall of Fame Page with Johnny Valiant