Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
In 1989, the WWF careers of both The HonkyTonk Man and Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine were stagnating. Individually, they had solid runs as Intercontinental champions. With nothing for either man to do creatively, Pat Patterson came up with the idea of making Honky and Valentine a tag team. Both wrestlers were okay with forming a tag team as they both got along and felt it could have them still be a part of WWF’s programming.
According to the HonkyTonk Man, Patterson was stuck on what to name the new tag team. Five minutes before their debut match, Honky and Valentine were still nameless. It was ‘Ravishing’ Rick Rude who looked at both of them and said, ‘Well Honky Tonk Man has all the rhythm and Greg Valentine always looks depressed so he’s the Blues.’ Pat Patterson loved the name and ran to tell Gorilla Monsoon. Thus, the team was christened ‘Rhythm and Blues.’
The pair did work well together and Vince McMahon liked the team, but felt that something was missing. Jesse Ventura suggested that Greg Valentine dye his long blonde hair jet black and match the Honky Tonk Man. Valentine was dead set against that idea and threatened to quit the company. Valentine was, by his own self admission, an old school wrestler who believed in tough, hard nosed wrestling and rely less on gimmicks.
It took the Rhythm and Blues’ manager Jimmy Hart to convince Valentine to stick with the team and go along with the gimmick. Eventually, Valentine came around and reluctantly agreed to dye his hair black. With a new look, Gorilla Monsoon started to dub Valentine “Box Car Willie” and more so than not, used that nickname more than calling him Greg Valentine. The gimmick made Valentine miserable and admitted that he simply didn’t give the gimmick his best effort.
Despite that, the Rhythm and Blues team got over as heels. They even main evented several house shows against the then WWF tag team champion Hart Foundation. According to both Honky and Valentine, Rhythm and Blues were booked to win the tag team titles. That was the plan, but plans immediately changed once the Road Warriors became available and were signed to the WWF. Once the Road Warriors were signed, Rhythm and Blues suddenly became an after thought.
Vince made the decision to split the team up by having Greg Valentine get frustrated with Jimmy Hart’s interference and become a babyface. There would then be a feud between Valentine and the HonkyTonk Man. Before that angle could really get going, however, The Honky Tonk Man left the company. Greg Valentine would stick around a little longer under his original name and look and competed as a babyface for a while. He too would eventually leave the WWF.
Rhythm and Blues never really reached their full potential as a tag team. Nor did they get the push to tag team gold that were promised to them. A true one hit wonder.