Johnny Valiant
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John L. Sullivan (born Thomas Sullivan; November 25, 1946 – April 4, 2018) was an American
professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...
and
manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
, better known by his
ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...
, Johnny Valiant. He competed in the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), which became the World Wrestling Federation during his time with the promotion. He won the
World Tag Team Championship In professional wrestling, a championship or title is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations. Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in predetermined rival ...
two times. The first run (which lasted over a year) was with his first and most famous storyline brother Jimmy Valiant over Tony Garea and Dean Ho on May 8, 1974; his second title run was with his second storyline brother Jerry Valiant over Tony Garea and
Larry Zbyszko Lawrence Whistler (born December 5, 1951), better known by the ring name Larry Zbyszko, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his Feud (professional wrestling), feud with his mentor, Bruno Sammartino, during ...
on March 6, 1979.


Professional wrestling career

Sullivan grew up in Pittsburgh's North Hills suburb, not far from wrestling champion
Bruno Sammartino Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (October 6, 1935 – April 18, 2018) was an Italian-American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with the WWE, World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). Sammartin ...
. After asking for advice on how to become a professional wrestler, Sullivan became close friends with Sammartino and began his career in the Detroit territory wrestling, refereeing and working the ring crew for the wrestling villain and promoter, The Sheik. Kangaroo Al Costello trained Sullivan in the mat wars and soon he began traveling the twenty-five regional territories throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and Canada. From 1969 through 1973, he enjoyed a protracted stint in the WWWF as "John L. Sullivan," a mid-card babyface, losing to top-tier heels like
Killer Kowalski Wladek Kowalski (born Edward Władysław Spulnik; October 13, 1926 – August 30, 2008) was a Canadian professional wrestler, known by his ring name Killer Kowalski. Kowalski wrestled for numerous promotions during his career, including the ...
and Toru Tanaka, but repeatedly holding the notorious Baron Mikel Scicluna to a draw, and regularly defeating low-carders like Angelo Savoldi and Johnny Rodz. Autographs of Valiant during the "Sullivan" era are believed to be rare. On one of his visits to Ontario working for Dave McKigney, Sullivan met Jimmy Valiant. Jimmy took a shine to the young, enthusiastic Sullivan and shortly thereafter, brought him to the
World Wrestling Association The World Wrestling Association (WWA) (Asociación Mundial de Lucha Libre in Spanish language, Spanish) is a lucha libre promotion based in the Tijuana-area of Mexico. It was founded in 1986 by Benjamin Mora Jr.. It featured some of Mexico's best ...
, where Dick the Bruiser teamed up Sullivan (now renamed Johnny Valiant) with Jimmy Valiant as the Valiant Brothers. A victory for the WWA tag team titles over Dick the Bruiser and Bruno Sammartino put the name of the Valiant Brothers on the marquee and the Valiants proceeded to have a five-year run.


Managerial career

After he retired from active competition, Valiant went on to a successful career as a manager. He briefly managed
Hulk Hogan Terry Gene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as a brand ambassador. Known for his flamboyance and massive physiq ...
in the AWA in 1981 until shortly after Hogan's turn to face. Valiant moved back to the WWF and went on to manage Brutus Beefcake beginning in 1984. The pair appeared at the inaugural
WrestleMania I WrestleMania, sequentially known as WrestleMania I, was a 1985 professional wrestling p ...
event with Beefcake battling David Sammartino (seconded by his father
Bruno Sammartino Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino (October 6, 1935 – April 18, 2018) was an Italian-American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his time with the WWE, World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). Sammartin ...
) to a double disqualification after Valiant slammed David on the floor before being attacked by Bruno who threw him into the ring where all four continued the fight. Valiant and Beefcake were also regulars on other WWF television shows including the weekly syndicated '' WWF Championship Wrestling''. Soon after in May 1985, Valiant and fellow heel manager
Jimmy Hart James Ray Hart (born January 1, 1944) is an American professional wrestling manager, executive, composer, and musician. He is signed to WWE in a Legends deal. He is best known for his work in WWE when it was still known as the World Wrestling ...
put together The Dream Team with Beefcake teaming with then Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine. After initially feuding with
Tito Santana Merced Solis (born May 10, 1953), better known by the ring name Tito Santana, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, Professional wrestling school, trainer, and retired school teacher. Solis has stayed a Face (profession ...
(who reclaimed the IC title from Valentine in July) and the
Junkyard Dog Sylvester Ritter (December 13, 1952 – June 1, 1998) was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and NCAA football, college football player, best known for his time in Universal Wrestling Federation (Bill Watts), Mid-South Wre ...
, The Dream Team began to challenge The U.S. Express (
Barry Windham Barry Clinton Windham (born July 4, 1960) is an American retired professional wrestler. The son of wrestler Blackjack Mulligan, he is best known for his appearances with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and the World Wrestling Federation (W ...
and Mike Rotundo) for the WWF World Tag Team championship after Valentine had lost the IC title to Santana in July. On August 24, 1985, at The Spectrum in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, Valiant led the Dream Team to the Tag Team championship, when they defeated The U.S. Express after Beefcake rubbed Valiant's lit cigar in Windham's eyes. The Dream Team held on to the title for eight months, facing challenges from teams such as the U.S. Express and The Killer Bees (
Jim Brunzell James Brunzell (born August 13, 1949), best known under the ring name "Jumping" Jim Brunzell, is an American retired professional wrestler known for his successful tag teams, Brunzell performed for various wrestling promotions during his 21-year ...
and B. Brian Blair) before losing it to the
British Bulldogs British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and cultur ...
(
Dynamite Kid Thomas Wilton Billington (5 December 1958 – 5 December 2018), best known by the ring name the Dynamite Kid, was a British professional wrestler. Trained by former wrestler "Dr Death" Ted Betley, he competed in the World Wrestling Federatio ...
and
Davey Boy Smith David Smith (27 November 1962 – 18 May 2002) was an English professional wrestler best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring names Davey Boy Smith and The British Bulldog. Smith ...
) in the
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
segment of WrestleMania 2. The Dream Team chased the Bulldogs for the next few months but were unsuccessful in regaining the championship belts. Valiant added Dino Bravo to his stable in early 1987. At
WrestleMania III WrestleMania III was a 1987 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) List of WWE pay-per-view events, event produced by the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It was the third annual WrestleMania and held on March 29, 1987, at the ...
in front of 93,173 at the
Pontiac Silverdome The Pontiac Silverdome (also known as the Silverdome) was a stadium in Pontiac, Michigan. It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When the stadium opened, it featured a fiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, the fi ...
, Valiant, Valentine and Bravo abandoned Beefcake in the ring after the Dream Team had defeated The Rougeau Brothers (
Jacques Jacques or Jacq are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over one hundred identified noble families related t ...
and
Raymond Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷá ...
) and The New Dream Team of Valentine and Bravo was born. Not as successful as the first incarnation, this Dream Team had a lengthy feud with the scorned Beefcake, now nicknamed "The Barber", who cut Valiant's hair on an episode of '' Superstars of Wrestling'' when an overly confident Luscious had given the New Dream Team the night off. The New Dream Team initially feuded with The Islanders ( Haku and Tama) as well as continuing the feud with the Rougeaus. The Dream Team also had a couple of unsuccessful Tag Team Championship matches against then-champions
The Hart Foundation The Hart Foundation is the name of several derivative tag teams and stables composed primarily of members and close friends of the Hart wrestling family. The name originated in the World Wrestling Federation in 1985 with the original Hart Foundat ...
(
Bret Hart Bret Sergeant Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling background at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal U ...
and Jim Neidhart). These matches were unusual for the time as both teams were heels with The Hart Foundation managed by Jimmy Hart. Also in this stint in the WWF, Valiant was known to do commentary on matches from time to time (filling in on '' Wrestling Challenge'' for fellow heel manager/commentator Bobby "The Brain" Heenan when he had to leave the broadcast booth to manage one of his wrestlers) and introduced the team of
Demolition Demolition (also known as razing and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction (building), deconstruction, which inv ...
( Ax and Smash during which time the original Smash (Moondog Rex) was replaced by Barry Darsow due to fans recognizing him as one of The Moondogs). After a few months, Demolition was managed by
Mr. Fuji was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, actor and Manager (professional wrestling), manager, known professionally by his ring name Mr. Fuji (or Master Fuji to his protégés). He was famous for often throwing salt in the ...
. One of Valiant's last appearances as a manager in the WWF was at the 1987 Survivor Series. After this show, Valiant was phased out as manager of the New Dream Team and was then relegated to the role of a wrestler once again, as a jobber to the stars. Valiant left the WWF in March 1988, just before WrestleMania IV, and then returned to the AWA as a manager and led the Destruction Crew ( Wayne Bloom and Mike Enos) to the AWA World Tag Team Championship in 1989 (defeating Greg Gagne and
Paul Diamond Thomas Boric (born May 11, 1961) is a Croatian-Canadian retired professional wrestler better known by his ring name Paul Diamond. He is best known for being one half of the tag team Badd Company with Pat Tanaka and for his time in the Worl ...
in a tournament final).


After wrestling

Sullivan went by the moniker of Johnny Valiant as an actor and comedian. He appeared on multiple episodes of ''
The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...
'' and ''
Law & Order ''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise. ''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...
''. He also had several feature films on his resume. His one-man show "An Evening with Johnny Valiant" garnered critical praise from
Time Out New York ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 333 cities in 59 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition became ...
,
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and WBAI Pacifica Radio. He was remarried in 2004 and lived in
Queens, New York City Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
. A documentary and sequel featuring Johnny Valiant, Jimmy Valiant, and indy wrestlers Sky Hosoya and Larry Brisco called "The Absolute Truth About Pro Wrestling (Parts 1 and 2)" was released in 2008.


Death

Sullivan was struck and killed by a pickup truck at 5:30a.m. in Ross Township, a northern suburb of Pittsburgh, on April 4, 2018. Police treated it as an accident. He was taken to Allegheny General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police told local news Sullivan was not in a crosswalk, and the driver of the vehicle remained on the scene.


Championships and accomplishments

* Big Time Wrestling ''(San Francisco)'' ** NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(San Francisco version)'' ( 1 time) - with Jimmy Valiant *
Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida professional wrestling promotion, wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it close ...
**
NWA Florida Tag Team Championship The NWA Florida Tag Team Championship is the primary tag team title in NWA Florida Underground Wrestling. It started out in 1968 as the main tag team title in Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was ...
( 1 time) - with Jimmy Valiant ** NWA United States Tag Team Championship ''(Florida version)'' ( 1 time) - with Jimmy Valiant *
Georgia Championship Wrestling Georgia Championship Wrestling is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The promotion was affiliated with what had been the world's top sanctioning body of championship titles for decades b ...
**
NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship The NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship was the top tag team championship (professional wrestling), championship in Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1968 to 1980, when it was replaced with the NWA National Tag Team Championship. The title was r ...
( 1 time) - with Jimmy Valiant *''
Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...
'' ** PWI Tag Team of the Year award in 1974 - with Jimmy Valiant * World Wide Wrestling Federation ** WWF Hall of Fame ( Class of 1996) - with Jimmy Valiant ** WWWF World Tag Team Championship ( 2 times) - with Jimmy Valiant (1) and Jerry Valiant (1) *
World Wrestling Association The World Wrestling Association (WWA) (Asociación Mundial de Lucha Libre in Spanish language, Spanish) is a lucha libre promotion based in the Tijuana-area of Mexico. It was founded in 1986 by Benjamin Mora Jr.. It featured some of Mexico's best ...
**
WWA World Heavyweight Championship The World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in World Wrestling All-Stars. It was the primary championship in the WWA. The title was sanctioned by WWA as their wor ...
( 1 time) :* WWA World Tag Team Championship ( 4 times) - with Jimmy Valiant


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valiant, Johnny 1946 births 2018 deaths 20th-century male professional wrestlers 20th-century American professional wrestlers American color commentators American male professional wrestlers Male actors from Pittsburgh NWA United States Tag Team Champions (Florida version) NWA Georgia Tag Team Champions Professional wrestlers from Pennsylvania Professional wrestling managers and valets Road incident deaths in Pennsylvania Professional wrestlers from Pittsburgh Heenan Family members WWE Hall of Fame inductees World Tag Team Champions (WWE, 1971–2010)