Hello, ladies!
"You know something, the Big Valbowski is a lot like TV Tropes: Click on me once, and you'll be clicking all night long."
—A TV Tropes-related example of one of the many Double Entendre riddled lines used as part of his ring entrance
Sean Allen Morley (born March 6, 1971), better known by his WWE ring name, Val Venis, is a Canadian motorcycle racer turned professional wrestler, trained by Missing Link, Jason Sterling, Dory Funk Jr. and Tom Pritchard, known for being a part of the WWE roster during the Attitude Era.
He got his start in London UK based All-Star Wrestling in 1994 as the jobber Scott Border, before getting his first real push in the Puerto Rican World Wrestling Council as Glamour Boy Sean, winning the World Tag Team Title belts alongside Glamour Boy Shane. He'd also work in the Mexican World Wrestling Council(CMLL) as Love Machine #2, tag team partner of Love Machine Art Barr, before breaking out as singles star Steele. He entered the WWF in 1998 with the persona of a wrestling porn star, particularly the way he would shoot "films" showing him having sex with people related to other wrestlers, particularly their wives or sisters. He later became a part of the Power Stable Right to Censor. After Right to Censor ended, he would bounce around a series of more jobber roles before being released from his WWE contract in 2009.
Ever since then, he's mostly wrestled in the Indies, along with a short, three month tenure in TNA. However, he nowadays spends most of his time as an advocate for marijuana legalisation.
He holds the distinction of being the youngest and first Canadian to hold the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship. He is also a 3 time WWC Tag Team Champion alongside Shane twice and Rex King once, a 2x WWC Television Champion, an IWA Puerto Rico Tag Team Champion with Ricky Banderas, a 2x WWF Intercontinental Champion, a 1x WWF European Champion, a Heartland Wrestling Association tag team champion with Steve Bradley, a WWE World Tag Team Champion (w/Lance Storm) and an EXW Tag Team Champion with Dexter Verity.
My Trope List, Ladies!
- Alliterative Name: Val Venis, which fits well with his pornstar gimmick.
- Anti-Climax: Val Venis retained the intercontinental championship during his second reign even after Rikishi splashed him from the top of a fifteen foot cage! What could possible stop him? Chyna pinning Trish Stratus in a tag match with Eddie Guerrero? Oh, wait...
- Arch-Enemy: Kaientai (particularly their manager, Yamaguchi-san), Goldust, and Ken Shamrock were his major ones, particularly since he slept with their wives or sisters. Then dumped them.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: His look was much more regal than even his Glamour Boy or Steele days in Right to Censor. Val Venis with a collar and a tie.
- Bald of Evil: He cut his hair very short when he turned heel, and kept it short after joining Right to Censor. He never grew it back afterwards, even after RTC ended and he turned face again.
- The Casanova: As many love-struck ladies in the audience will tell you, along with a few others who have starred in his videos.
- Catchphrase: "Hello, Ladies!" Doubles as Incoming Ham, since that's how his entrance music would start.
- Composite Character: A mix of Rick Rude and Dirk Diggler.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: During his run as Chief Morley, when he was Eric Bischoff's flunky.
- Defeating the Undefeatable
- He was undefeated for two years in IWA Puerto Rico, not even being stopped by long time foe Huracán Castillo Jr. and company co founder Savio Vega, but was eventually beaten by Tiger Ali Singh.
- While Kaientai's castration attempt was thwarted, Taka Michinoku was able to end Val Venis's undefeated streak in the WWF after Venis agreed to run the gauntlet against the entire stable. One on one, Venis and Michinoku wrestle to a draw.
- Demoted to Extra: After his Chief Morley gimmick, he became Val again, but lost his hair, his charm, and rarely was allowed to use the mic. He was buried as a result.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Sums up his entrance video.
- Double Entendre: So many during his porn star gimmick.
- Finishing Move: A Fisherman's suplex or a power bomb variation(usually spinning), unless he's Val Venis. Then it's The Money Shot (a top rope splash) and the Venis Flytrap (a reverse figure-four leglock).
- Game-Breaking Injury: A neck injury put his career on hold in 2000.
- Groin Attack: Was the victim a lot of these, including the infamous "I Choppy-choppy your pee-pee!" incident.
- Humiliating Wager: Love Machine #2 was part of a special CMLL show where he faced Zumbido in a mask vs mask match. Zumbido lost. Steele was later unmaked by Rayo de Jalisco Jr. in the main event of a Super Viernes.
- I Call Him "Mister Happy": "The Big Valbowski". Also served as his Red Baron.
- Jack of All Stats: Sean is more of a tag team specialist whose good on the mic than a standout singles star. Which is not to say he's bad at anything when it comes to singles matches, he just does not stand out. He's big and strong, especially on Latin America and the US independent circuits, but not to the degree of Bronco #1, Alofa or The Head Hunters he shares those circuit with. He's quick and nimble, but not to the degree to Lizmark, Lance Storm, or Chris Jericho. He's a good technical wrestler, but if that's what you really want there's Fishman, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, in striking Chicano, Último Dragón, etc, etc. Morely's bigger than average for a wrestler of his talents but otherwise doesn't stand out much in singles matches.
- Japanese Ranguage: He went by Sean Morgan in All Japan Pro Wrestling, as "Morley" was too hard announcers to pronounce. However, most records still spell his name as "Morley".
- Kavorka Man: He wasn't a bad looking guy, but he wasn't a pretty boy either. Truth in Television as some porn stars also come across this way.
- Knight in Shining Armor: Steele's gimmick. His mask was even designed to look like a knight's helmet.
- Light Is Not Good: Right to Censor had everyone wearing white shirts despite being heels, with Venis in particular accentuating it by wearing white pants also (everyone else in the stable wore black pants). Also, with Trish Stratus as his manager, Val Venis wrestled in all white ring gear despite being a heel.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Comes with the trade.
- Masked Luchador: In CMLL and the Mexican independent circuit as Love Machine #2 and Steele.
- Modesty Towel: In his entrance. Subverted because he wore his wrestling gear under the towel.
- Moral Guardians: In Right to Censor.
- Mr. Fanservice: His wrestling entrances, notably. At times one couldn't if they were at a wrestling show or a ladies' club.
- Name of Power: He can win matches with a small package, because it's a big package
- Parallel Porn Titles: From Saving Private Ryan to "Saving Ryan's Privates" (i.e. Ryan Shamrock was a woman in his movie), for example.
- Power Stable: Right to Censor.
- Put on a Bus: He, the Goodfather and Bull Buchanan were all shipped off to OVW around the start of the InVasion angle.
- The Rival
- Invader #1, Ray González and Huracán Castillo Jr. were his three big ones in WWC, both in singles action and alternating between tagging with each other against The Canadian Glamour Boys. Huracán Castillo Jr. had a similar "high class" if not necessarily "glamours" image that lead him and Sean to team several times, but they were never very successful as a tag team and Huracán Castillo Jr. also fought Sean in back to back cage matches. Morley and Castillo's rivalry was so famous even the WWF brought them in in 1997, but given this was a year before Morley's official debut as Val Venis it seems the WWF had second thoughts about adding another chapter to it. IWA Puerto Rico had no cold feet put them back at it again.
- The Headhunters(A and B) were his biggest obstacles in CMLL's parejas and tercias divisions. La Ola Azul weren't too far behind them, though Steel sometimes teamed with Atlantis and Lizmark.
- His most high profile one is Rayo de Jalisco Jr, as they fought over the CMLL World Heavyweight Title belt, tournaments, for each others' masks and in at least one Súper Libre. Jalisco Jr even teamed with The Head Hunters at least five times against Steele. Val Venis even showed up at the 66th Aniversario for one last shot at his old rival.
- He and Steve Bradley battled The Island Boys Kimo and Ekmo over The Heartland Tag Team Title belts. Then Val Venis met them again in WWE as Three Minute Warning.
- He's been a glamour boy, a love machine, a porn star and a porn producer, which means he's got no shortage of sexual rivals across the entire spectrum, be it "playa" Danny Demanto, "pimp" the Godfather, sleazy Joey Ryan, Gorgeous George Rico Constantino, serial molester Viscera, beef cake Rhett Titus...in particular with Sexxxy Eddie over whether The Money Shot is better than the Five Star Porn Splash.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: TNA switching to live television on Monday Nights caused a scheduling conflict that prevented him from returning to CMLL. He only stayed with TNA for three shows and then left, cutting his feud with Jeff Jarrett short.
- Sexophone: His entrance theme was mostly a jazzy saxophone tune.
- Spear Counterpart: The Canadian Glamour Boys were this to the Glamour Girls Leilani Kai and Judy Martin.
- Strip Poker: In a rare act that wasn't entirely self servicing, The Beautiful People Angelina Love, Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne attempted to boost TNA's ratings in their uncertain new time slot with a card game after they came to the conclusion "poker shows" were the hottest fad going. Fellow porn star Val Venis showed up and challenged them to face him in strip poker.
- Tag Team
- His most successful and memorable were The Canadian Glamour Boys with Shane, although Shane was once substituted for Rex King, who is actually from New York.
- Los Hechiceros with Love Machine as Love Machine #2
- Supply And Demand with The Godfather as Val Venis(Pimps tend to deal in prostitutes rather than porn stars, but whatever)
- V-Squared with Viscera, also as Val Venis while Viscera was in his "World's Largest Love Machine" phase...
- Tag Team Twins: Los Hechiceros could pull it off if they decided to wear masks with the same pattern, but usually they tried to stand out as individuals.
- Tournament Arc:Prior to losing his mask to him, Steele defeated Rayo de Jalisco Jr. in the finals of CMLL's 1997 Gran Prix Internacional
- Underwear of Power: His main ring gear of choice when he wasn't a part of Right to Censor.
- Ur-Example: He and Ricky Santana defeated The Headbangers and Savio Vega and Huracan Castillo Jr. in a Three-Way Dance tournament final on January 6, 2000 to become the inaugural IWA (Puerto Rico) World Tag Team Champions
. - We Used to Be Friends: Val Venis and TAKA Michinoku were friends until TAKA learned Val was sleeping with Yamaguchi-san's wife and began plotting his betrayal of Val...
- Would Hit a Girl
- During his Right to Censor run, he and Ivory teamed up to give Chyna a spike piledriver.
- A year earlier, he seemed pretty reluctant to face her in a King of the Ring qualifying match on the June 6, 1999 Sunday Night Heat. He ultimately lost after HHH showed up and kicked him in the groin while he had her in a fisherman's suplex and then revived the ref.
- Joey Ryan would, and he recruited Val Venis and Sexxxy Eddie for the purpose of defeating Martina, Scarlett Bordeaux and Priscilla Kelly at the 2019 WrestleCon.
- Wrestling Doesn't Pay: A wrestling porn star.
- Wrestling Psychology: He was good at long term selling and had good timing for spots.
