WWE.com Legacy on Demand Showcase
The History of the Intercontinental Title: Part Three

Your host is Jack “I’m Just a Little Kid” Korpela.

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs. Greg Valentine – (Madison Square Garden, 8/24/84)

If you’re paying attention to Gorilla Monsoon, he mentions somebody going to the hospital. What he was talking about, which you’ll see later in the match, was Roddy Piper beating Jimmy Snuka repeatedly in the back of the neck with a chair. SERIOUS stuff back then. Lord Alfred Hayes joins us halfway into the match with a report on Snuka’s condition. Tito has been the IC champ since February after beating Muraco with a sunset flip. Apparently the finish for that match is the only finish that exists. Some back and forth stuff occurs until Valentine catches Santana with a back elbow. Shoulderbreaker connects and sets up the Hammer for two. Valentine slaps Tito around to get him fired up. We go to the back to see Snuka wearing an oxygen mask on a stretcher as he’s being wheeled into an ambulance. In the ring, Santana is fighting out of a chinlock. Valentine knocks him out to the apron and continues to punish the guy. Back in, Valentine makes the universal “I want the title” sign and delivers a back suplex for 1-2-NO! To begin Tito’s comeback, Valentine holds Santana’s wrists to the mat and tries to splash him, but Tito brings up the knees. Santana leapfrogs over Valentine and collides with the ref. Valentine delivers a knee to the back, but Tito ducks a clothesline off a whip and nails Valentine with a FLYING FOREARM! Cover, 1-2-3. (7:23) Valentine got his foot on the bottom rope, setting up a rematch. Valentine applies a quick FIGURE-FOUR to do some damage on Tito’s knee. Mild stuff with a hot ending. **

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Tito Santana vs. Greg Valentine (w/Capt. Lou Albano) – (Maple Leaf Wrestling, 9/24/84)

As if Valentine needed more heel heat, now he’s got himself one of the most hated managers of all-time at his side. Valentine pearl harbors Tito down on the floor before the match even begins to screw up his knee. He gets in the ring anyway as the crowd is 100% behind Tito. That just serves to get Santana’s LATIN TEMPER~! flairing up as he fires away on Valentine to start, leading to the Valentine flop. Valentine gets Santana in the corner and kicks at the hurt knee, but Tito fires back some more until Valentine clubs the knee and tries the FIGURE-FOUR. Santana kicks him off. Valentine charges off the ropes and gets nailed with the FLYING FOREARM! Cover, 1-2-NO! Valentine sticks his foot under the bottom rope. Santana thinks he’s won the match and turns away to celebrate, so Valentine runs up behind him with a high knee and covers Tito for the legit 1-2-3. (2:54) We’ve got a NEW IC champ! Crowd chants “bull-shh” but nobody listens to Canadians who aren’t wrestlers or hockey players. *½

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine (w/Capt. Lou Albano) vs. Tito Santana – (Madison Square Garden, 10/22/84)

We’re a month into Valentine’s title reign and Finkel announces him as the NEW WWF Intercontinental champion. Can you imagine that happening nowadays? Some people don’t even hold the belt for an entire month. So now Tito gets *his* rematch. Santana has his knee wrapped up. HUGE brawl to start. Tito tears into Valentine like a cheetah stripping away the skin of a new carcass. Well, something like that. Valentine FINALLY gets a kick in on Tito’s taped knee. Santana tries to kick Valentine away to keep him off his knee, but then Valentine tosses him out to Albano for a cheap shot to the ribs. Tito manages to yank Valentine out to the floor as they trade blows. Valentine grabs a chair, but Santana ducks a swing. Back in the ring, Tito brings the chair in with him and WHACKS Valentine across the head to bust him open. Someone alert the censors, WHERE’S THE BLACK AND WHITE FILTER? When the ref tries to get Santana off Valentine as he’s pounding the cut, the ref gets tossed aside as Santana gets DQ’ed. (5:54) Certainly a wild little brawl and quite fitting. Albano tries to jump Tito afterwards and gets nailed for his efforts as Valentine clears out. ***

• WWF Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart) vs. Tito Santana – Lumberjack Match – (Madison Square Garden, 3/17/85)

From my History of the Intercontinental Championship DVD review. We’ve got Gorilla Monsoon and Gene Okerlund on commentary here. Our lumberjacks are as follows: King Kong Bundy, Big John Studd, Junkyard Dog, Barry O, Matt Borne, Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy Snuka, Rocky Johnson, Charlie Fulton, and Terry Gibbs. Thanks, Graham! It’s like a who’s who of lumberjacks. This is about a month into Jimmy Hart’s tenure with the WWF. He doesn’t even have the megaphone yet. Valentine pearl harbors Santana to start, but Tito comes back with a hard right off the ropes. Valentine rolls out to the heels and its Ricky Steamboat who comes by and shoves Valentine back onto the apron. Valentine begs off and takes an atomic drop and a knee lift puts him back on the floor. JYD pushes Valentine back in for a ten-count corner punch, but Valentine counters with an inverted atomic drop. Tito fires back and levels Valentine with a jumping skull cracker. Valentine jumps out of the ring once Santana calls for the Figure-Four, but the babyfaces quickly throw him back in. Flying elbow smash to the back of Valentine’s head gets two. Valentine tries to escape through the crowd, but he’s stopped again by the faces. Back in, Santana runs into a knee in the corner for two. Valentine hammers Tito all around the ring with those forearms for a few nearfalls. He goes after the knee of Santana and once he starts to come back, Valentine throws him outside to Big John Studd who promptly places Tito back in the ring. He does it again on the other side of the ring, but the faces help Tito out. Valentine goes back to the knee and attempts the FIGURE-FOUR, but Santana cradles him up for 1-2-NO! Big running forearm shot looks like it might KO Tito, but he kicks out at two. Valentine charges at Santana, but Santana picks up his feet and launches Valentine face-first onto the top turnbuckle. Tito fires back with left and rights and hits a suplex. Slow cover gets two. FIGURE-FOUR attempt by Santana is blocked. Valentine tries to hotshot up the aisleway, but he’s stopped again by the babyface crew. Running forearm by Tito connects and now we’ve got a FIGURE-FOUR! Jimmy Hart has the ref distracted as Big John Studd helps pull Valentine by himself to the ropes. Santana reaches down and grabs at Studd as Valentine regroups and hammers Tito from behind. They trade blows until Valentine gets shot off into the ropes off a headlock and they crash into one another. Valentine falls on top of Santana for the 1-2-3. (15:00) Another great brawl as Valentine utilized the lumberjack gimmick to perfection. ***½

Final Thoughts: Pretty enjoyable feud that’s centered around Valentine constantly trying to destroy Santana’s knee to set him up for his patented Figure-Four. Hey, I will take realistic wrestling psychology in a feud over Randy Orton talking about having IED any day of the week. Thumbs up for this episode to witness the progression of the feud, not to mention a title change and two solid matches.