WWE Legends Series 20 Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine review

For most of his WWF run, Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine was a no frills wrestler battering his opponents with his wicked chops and Figure 4. After a solo run as Intercontinental Champion and tag team champion with Brutus Beefcake, Valentine got a makeover via manager Jimmy Hart. No longer a solo act, The Hammer was the heavy hitter in a jokey tag team Rhythm & Blues with Honky Tonk Man after the end of his lengthy IC title reign.

While never truly a serious contender for the tag titles, R&B proved a nuisance for the upper tier teams while easily dispatching with teams like The Bushwackers. We’ve gotten several versions of HTM from Mattel, but with Legends Series 20, we got The Hammer in his R&B look.

Let’s see if he’s in tune or ready to get clobbered with a guitar.

Packaging:  Mattel’s introduced a newer style update for the Legends packaging, but this classic setup remains my favorite. I love the gold, brown and yellow color scheme. The big WWE Legends logo on the insert is a really nice touch and as always, I dig the drawing.

I love the old school drawing of The Hammer instead of a photo to stay consistent with the previous Legends waves.

My love for the WWE bios knows no limits. This writeup is fantastic weaving a fun tale about Rhythm & Blues.

Likeness:  Mattel’s first Hammer was a great figure from the waist up. The head sculpt was perfect and they selected the appropriate barrel chest for him.

But he had a major problem as Mattel for some reason went with the scrawniest chicken legs possible for The Hammer. It was a very weird choice for a dude who’s always been thicker and stouter.

Yeah, it took a few waves, but Mattel finally delivered a version of Valentine that is far more accurate to his physique. That alone makes it the best Hammer figure so far.

I probably should have grabbed two of this figure and swap out the boots and head from the original for a better likeness.

Scale:  Hammer was relatively short at 6’ so he should be looking up at the 6’2” Tito Santana and 6’4” Brutus Beefcake. His hair isn’t as high with this figure as well, so he’s scaled much better with this release.

Paint:  Valentine doesn’t require an intricate paint job — he’s still the basic Hammer after all so there’s not much flash to his ring gear besides his boots.

The back of his tights now showcase his team affiliation instead of his solo run. Meanwhile, his boots have a cool new Hammer and Heart (a nod to his manager) design.

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Articulation:  While he was bulky, Hammer could move around in the ring thanks to his full arsenal of technical skills paired with his brawler instincts.

You won’t have any problems with chops and forearm smashes. And you can still pull off a sweet Figure Four finisher without any problem.

Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine has:

• neck
• bicep
• ball-jointed shoulders
• elbows
• wrists
• wrist hinge
• waist
• hips
• thighs
• knees (double-jointed)
• ankles

Accessories:  The Hammer trades out his smooth entrance robe for a Rhythm and Blues airbrushed jacket. The musical note tampos are very well done. I hope there’s no issues with fading paint here as it really came out nice.

The jacket is a good fit and doesn’t look too bulky or tight. He’s got sunglasses with the silver trim to really nail the look.

Additionally, he has two swappable fists.

Finally, he’s got the breakaway guitar that he “played” (read: smashed over his opponents’ heads and backs).

Worth it?  Like most Legends line, The Hammer was cheaper than the base $22.99 price. He dropped to $11.99 right around Christmas and I missed him. I was thrilled to pick him up at the clearance price of $7.49 so I won’t complain at all.

Rating: 10 out of 10

This is one of the strongest updates we’ve gotten from Mattel fixing all of the previous issues with the first Hammer figure.

Where to get it?  Target is the exclusive retailer for Legends, but he’s also sold out on Target.com. You can still get Valentine now on Amazon.

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