Matt Cardona is an avid toy collector, and he’ll be appearing at the Toyhio Toy Show on Saturday, June 15 in Girard, Ohio. Cardona’s “prized possession” of his massive toy collection is a prototype of Greg “The Hammer” Valentine in his Rhythm & Blues tag team gear. Valentine tagged with the Honky Tonk Man in the short-lived group, and the figure was never actually put into production. The very few prototypes of said figure fetch a pretty penny.
In a recent interview with Youngstown Studio, Cardona talked about acquiring the rare figure and how talking about it actually led to Valentine wanting to fight him.
“A few years ago on a Facebook group I’m in for prototype toys, I found this huge collection of prototype WWF Hasbro figures from an employee,” Cardona explained. “In that collection was the hand-painted Greg ‘The Hammer.’ I have that now. It’s my prized possession. I’m not even a fan of Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine. It’s just that I’m a fan of that figure and the history behind it.”
He continued: “Last year at Wrestlecon, Greg Valentine, he tried to fight me. Because I’ve said in interviews … I think he takes it the wrong way. It’s not that I’m not a fan of Greg Valentine, I’m not just not a huge Greg Valentine fan. So I think he thought when I was saying ‘I’m not a fan of his,’ he thought I was bashing him. And he legit clenched his fist with that Hall of Fame ring, and I thought he was gonna punch me in the face.”
The clip of Cardona talking about Valentine and his full interview can be viewed below.
