The High Five: 5 Greatest WWE Mid-Carders – Pt. 1: Attitude Era

5. Val Venis

Val Venis was the perfect fit for the raunchy Attitude Era. It was almost a throwback to several years before when every wrestler had a side job (i.e., Duke the Dumpster Droese). Except Val’s job was NSFW or children or pretty much anyone watching under 18 or with a decent working moral compass. Don’t know what that’s like. Never had one.

With a high chance of controversy and ridiculousness, Val Venis made the porn-star gimmick work. His initial feud with Kaientai was wonderful trash TV worthy of Jerry Springer. Val slept with Yamaguchi-San’s wife, got kidnapped by the group, and almost had his little Valbowski cut-off. However, thanks to the timely intervention of John Bobbitt, Venis remained intact.

In 1999, Val Venis would go on to win the Intercontinental Title from Ken Shamrock at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. The match was the culmination of an angle that saw Val sleeping with Ken’s kayfabe sister, Ryan Shamrock. Ryan was played by Ken’s real-life girlfriend, oddly enough. The ’90s were a weird time.

Between sleeping with Terri Runnels, Yamaguchi San’s wife, and Ryan Shamrock, Val basically told the same story three times; all differently and all effectively. Kaientai was hilarious, Goldust was heartbreaking, and Ken Shamrock was intense as always.

Even Val’s time in Right to Censor worked as he tried to reform his lustful ways. Venis rarely failed to deliver an entertaining match and showed remarkable depth for a character who should have been a one-note joke.

• fully loaded
• High 5
• kaientai
• Attitude Era
• intercontinental championship
• kama
• Cruiserweight
• mid-card
• WCW
• Goldust
• papa shango
• right to censor
• Rikishi
• ryan shamrock
• Trending
• tajiri
• Triple H
• radicalz
• terri runnels
• the godfather
• william regal
• val venis
• wrestlemania 9
• charles wright
• dean malenko
• bret hart
• Goldberg
• shawn michaels
• Ric Flair
• ken shamrock
• nxt
• wwe

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