Full Career Retrospective and Greatest Moments for Val Venis

The Attitude Era was a time and place in WWE history in which programming regularly pushed the limits of good taste. It featured edgy content, characters that captivated young males but horrified mothers and storylines ripped right from The Jerry Springer Show. 

One of the most memorable characters from that era was Val Venis, an adult film star who got as much pleasure out of utilizing double entendres in his promos as he did winning matches.

A sexually charged character, Venis often played mind games with opponents by engaging their female companions in an affair. When he was not doing that, he was proving his considerable skill in matches against stars such as Mankind, Ken Shamrock, Rikishi, Eddie Guerrero and The Rock.

As talented a wrestler as he was a talker, Venis was a Superstar whose name and gimmick were never going to allow him to be the main event star in WWE.

He would spend the majority of his career as a role player, a veteran ring worker who never advanced past midcard status. By the time his stint with WWE came to its conclusion in 2009, he had established himself as one of the best hands in the industry.

A company guy who did what was asked of him for well over a decade, Venis had a decade-plus-long career with Vince McMahon's company, establishing himself as one of the most underrated and underappreciated performers of his generation.

In celebration of his career, enjoy a look back at his greatest moments and matches.

WWE Debut

The Attitude Era was kicking into high gear in April 1998 when the first Val Venis promo aired on Monday Night Raw.

With a deep, booming voice, adult film star looks and a chiseled physique, the guy looked every bit like the character he was portraying. That he cut his promo with such conviction and had tremendous camera presence only helped him get over with an audience full of young men ready to eat up the sex-fueled new character.

After weeks of video packages hyping his impending arrival, Venis made his debut on the May 18 episode of WWE's flagship program. He knocked off 2 Cold Scorpio that night and established himself as one of the bright young stars of WWE's future.

Venis wasted very little time engaging in a rivalry with Kaientai and their leader, Mr. Yamaguchi-San. In the middle of that program, he also made his pay-per-view debut, wrestling Jeff Jarrett in a very good match to kick off the Fully Loaded event in July. He would win that match, but his affair with the quite beautiful Mrs. Yamaguchi-San would provide him with more headaches than it was worth.

After being betrayed by Taka Michinoku, Venis found himself in a situation in which his manhood was threatened. Thanks to a well-timed power outage, he managed to retain his moneymaker, much to the dismay of the Japanese faction.

The feud was suddenly dropped without explanation in August.

Feud with Goldust

Venis' infatuation with other men's wives would again get him in trouble in fall of 1998, when he reintroduced Terri Runnels to the WWE fans. Revealing that he had an affair with the wife of Dustin Runnels, who had turned to religion following a controversial stint as The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust, Venis tormented the Runnels on a weekly basis.

After defeating him at Breakdown in September, Venis and Terri celebrated. That is, until Dustin returned to the gold and black face paint and re-emerged as Goldust.

The personal rivalry that ensued became one of the top midcard programs in the company and featured some truly inspired performances from the villainous Venis and the returning Golden One.

Venis and Terri's luck ran out at October's Judgment Day pay-per-view, when Goldust defeated Venis. 

When Terri's desperation to keep Venis by her side led to a fake pregnancy, "The Big Valbowski" had no problem kicking her to the curb and returning to his babyface ways.

Intercontinental Champion

In early 1999, Val Venis began setting his sights on the Intercontinental Championship, held by "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock. Not so coincidentally, he also set his sights on Shamrock's sister, Ryan, a beautiful blonde who first appeared sitting at ringside.

As he prepared for his first major championship opportunity, Venis reverted back to the mind games that so often earned him a mental and emotional edge ahead of his in-ring performances. He debuted a new adult film entitled Saving Ryan's Privates. The images of him and Ryan in the shower tormented Ken, who snapped.

It was against that background that Venis and Shamrock met for what turned out to be a very emotional, personal Intercontinental Championship bout at the St. Valentine's Day Massacre pay-per-view on February 14, 1999.

With the assistance of special guest referee Billy Gunn, who was embroiled in his own rivalry with Shamrock, Venis left Memphis with his first Intercontinental Championship.

Unfortunately, the talented young star's title reign would be short-lived. He dropped the title to "Road Dogg" Jesse James shortly before WrestleMania XV. To top it all off, he dumped Ryan Shamrock, who no longer was of use to him, proving himself to be an opportunistic and chauvinistic Superstar, regardless of whether the fans cheered or booed him.

Feud with Mankind

The biggest push of Venis' career came in October 1999. With injuries catching up to top star "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Vince McMahon recognizing that he needed to push some youthful stars to the top of his company so that he could maintain the considerable momentum WWE was enjoying, Venis began a rivalry with Mankind that was meant to be his star-making program.

Venis once again straddled the fine line between babyface and heel, targeting the beloved Superstar and utilizing a testicular claw submission hold to punish him. There was something about the meaner, more aggressive Venis that worked extremely well, even if fans did not necessarily want to boo the star.

The feud between the two would culminate in a match at October's No Mercy pay-per-view.

In one of the finest performances of his career to that point, Venis defeated Mankind by pinfall while the former WWE champion was trapped in the aforementioned testicular claw.

Unfortunately for Venis, the departure of writers Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara would throw WWE storylines into a state of disarray. He became lost in the shuffle and returned to the midcard as a babyface where he won the European Championship.

While adding another title to his resume may have been a nice consolation prize, it hardly made up for the disappointment he had to be feeling after weeks of working with main event stars such as Mankind, The Rock and Steve Austin.

Partnership with Trish Stratus and Feud With Rikishi

The arrival of former WCW stars such as Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, as well as the debut of Kurt Angle, led to Venis taking a backseat to them. Gone was the television exposure he enjoyed prior to their signings. Instead of thriving in his prime, he was left to wander aimlessly further down the card.

Then came a well-timed heel turn in the summer of 2000 and an alliance with blonde bombshell manager Trish Stratus. That relationship earned Venis increased TV time, a high-profile rivalry with Rikishi and a second Intercontinental Championship.

Said rivalry with Rikishi would be one of the more underrated stories of July. A heated program over the second-most prestigious title in the company, it kept both in-ring veterans in the public eye and, more importantly, culminated in a great Steel Cage match at the Fully Loaded pay-per-view.

Venis wrestled an outstanding bout and was the recipient of one of the most memorable spots of the Attitude Era, a splash from the top of the cage by the super heavyweight Rikishi.

Despite his ribs being crushed by his opponent and pain coursing through his body, Venis managed to retain his title, a title he would hold onto until August's SummerSlam, when he lost it to Chyna without ever being pinned.

The Right to Censor

The Val Venis character, as it was when he debuted in 1998, had a definite shelf life. There was only so much that could be done with it before stories became repetitive. In an attempt to keep the character fresh and utilize the performer to the best of his abilities, Venis was turned heel and aligned with Steven Richards and the Right to Censor.

Intensely passionate believers in censorship and high morals, the faction denounced WWE's overt use of sexuality, profanity and controversial storylines. Together, the Right to Censor vowed to bring family-friendly entertainment back to the company, even if they had to beat the righteousness into their opponents.

In December 2000, Venis wrestled Chyna in a singles contest at the Armageddon pay-per-view. His sickening spike piledriver to the Playboy cover girl resulted in a storyline neck injury that would fuel a long-running feud between Chyna and Ivory.

Venis remained a workhorse for WWE, even while enlisted in the faction. Oftentimes competing in multi-man tag bouts, he worked the likes of the APA, Tazz, Chris Jericho, Kane and other talented midcarders throughout the remainder of 2000 and into 2001.

While the group would stick around for a while longer, their loss to the APA and Tazz in a Six-Man Tag Team match at WrestleMania X-Seven essentially served as their swan song.

The Return of Val Venis and Raw's Chief Morley

In January 2002, Val Venis returned during the Royal Rumble. Greeted with a big pop from fans, it was clear that the character still had some mileage left in it. Unfortunately, it appeared unlikely that WWE Creative had any real plans for the star.

Rather than involving him in anything even remotely meaningful, Venis became lost in the shuffle, working on Sunday Night Heat and meaningless midcard bouts before being drafted to SmackDown during the Brand Extension.

In October 2002, with his SmackDown career going nowhere, Venis was traded to Raw. Rather than continuing on with the character, he underwent a transformation. He became known as Chief Morley, the chief of staff to Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff.

As a heel, he did the did dirty work of the boss, tormenting some of the most popular babyfaces on the roster.

He would return to the ring, teaming with Lance Storm, but it was short-lived. By May 2003, he was back to being Val Venis, a character he would never quite be able to shake.

Enhancement Talent

Val Venis spent the majority of his last six years with the company putting others over. As an enhancement talent, the veteran was trusted to help bring along those Superstars the company pegged as major players of its future.

When he was not helping a new generation of stars get over, he was working solid matches against established talent on B- and C-level shows such as Heat and Velocity.

While his career would span more than a decade and he would tout a championship-laden resume, Venis was a cautionary tale of how a gimmick may help a performer get over early but will ultimately hold them back from ever achieving more than a certain level of success.

No matter how talented Venis was—and he was quite talented—he was never going to advance past the midcard. Considering just how solid a worker he was, and how over he got as both a babyface and a heel, it is quite disappointing for both him and his fans.