Sean Morley
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Sean Morley
Morley in the trademark towel of his Val Venis character
Statistics
Ring name(s)	Scott Borders1 Sean Morgan Steele1 The Big Valbowski1 Sean Morley1 Chief Morley Val Venis2 The Canadian Combatant3
Billed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)2
Billed weight	260 lb (120 kg)2
Born	March 6, 1971 (1971-03-06) (age 37)1 4 Oakville, Ontario, Canada1
Resides	Tampa, Florida
Billed from	Las Vegas, Nevada4
Trained by	The Missing Link4 Jason Robertson4 Dory Funk, Jr.4 Tom Prichard4
Debut	199514

Sean Allen Morley (born March 6, 1971)⁴¹ perhaps best known by his ring name Val Venis, is a Canadian professional wrestler.⁴¹ He is currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling on the Raw brand.

During his career in WWF/E, Morley has held the Intercontinental Championship twice,⁵ the European Championship once⁶ and the World Tag Team Championship once with Lance Storm.⁷

Career

Training and early career

He began his wrestling training in the early 1990s under the tutelage of Jason and Dewey "The Missing Link" Robertson and debuted on the Canadian independent circuit before making his way to the international circuit, finding work with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in Japan, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico and World Wrestling Council (WWC).⁴ In Japan, he was known as Sean Morgan as the name Morley was difficult to pronounce due to the lack of phonetic differences between the L and R in Japanese. In Mexico, he adopted a robot-like mask and gimmick, changing his name to Steele and won the CMLL World Heavyweight Championship.⁸

World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment

Porn star (1998-2000)

Morley was signed to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the late 1990s and given the gimmick of a (well endowed) porn star named Val Venis. The character was introduced with a series of vignettes that showcased Venis' life style on and off the set, the most notable of these featuring Venis in bed with prominent real-life porn star Jenna Jameson.⁴

He debuted on May 18 1998 edition of Raw is War, defeating Scorpio.⁴⁹¹⁰² Almost immediately, he was involved in an angle with the Kaientai stable, involving him having an affair with Shian-Li Tsang's wife, Yamaguchi-San. As a result, the members of Kaientai had a series of unsuccessful matches against him.⁴¹¹² Venis made his pay-per-view debut at In Your House 23: Fully Loaded, defeating Jeff Jarrett.⁴¹² On August 3 edition of Raw is War, his tag team partner TAKA Michinoku would eventually betray him, which led to him and Kai En Tai tying him up backstage where Yamaguchi-San attempted to castrate him with a sword.¹³ The next week, however, he reported that he was saved by "a little shrinkage" and help from his friend, John Wayne Bobbitt.¹⁴ He then challenged the four Japanese wrestlers to a match, which they accepted under the conditions that it must be a gauntlet match, meaning that Venis would have to fight all four of them individually in one match. The match ended with Michinoku executing the Michinoku Driver on Venis and getting the three-count, ending his undefeated streak.¹⁵¹⁰⁴ The feud ended a week later, after Venis fought Michinoku to a no contest.¹⁶⁴¹⁰

After feuding with Kai En Tai, Venis got his first title shot in the WWF at SummerSlam 1998 against European Champion D'Lo Brown for the European title. Venis was disqualified and as a result, Brown retained the title.¹⁷⁴ Venis got involved in a storyline where he slept with other people's wives. He started a feud with Dustin Rhodes, on September 14 edition of Raw is War when Venis showed Rhodes his new porn movie, including Venis in bed with Dustin's wife, Terri Runnels and she became his on-screen girlfriend.¹⁸ The feud culminated in a match at Breakdown, which Val won.⁴¹⁹ On October 12 edition of Raw is War, Venis participated in a tournament for the Intercontinental Championship, defeating Marc Mero in the first round before losing in the semifinals to Ken Shamrock.⁴²⁰ Venis continued his feud with Goldust and the two had a match at Judgment Day 1998, which Goldust won.⁴²¹ The two faced each other again at Capital Carnage, and Val went on to win the match, to end the feud.⁴²²

At the end of the year, he formed a short lived tag team with The Godfather, unofficially dubbed "Supply and Demand".⁴ They began teaming on December 7 edition of Raw is War against The Acolytes.¹⁰²³⁴ Their team only lasted a week, including a match against Mark Henry and D'Lo Brown at Rock Bottom,⁴²⁴ and a match against the Brood.¹⁰⁴²⁵ On February 1 1999 edition of Raw is War, he started a feud with Intercontinental Champion Ken Shamrock after Venis made a film starring him and Shamrock's kayfabe sister Ryan called Shaving Ryan's Privates.²⁴²⁶ At St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Venis defeated Shamrock with the help of special guest referee Billy Gunn to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.⁴²²⁷²⁸ The next night on Raw is War, Venis defended the title against Gunn and retained the title.²⁹³⁰

A few days later, he broke up with Ryan and eventually lost the Intercontinental title to Road Dogg after only a one month reign as champion.²⁴²⁹³¹ Venis began a feud with Road Dogg and made his WrestleMania debut at WrestleMania XV, where he challenged for the Intercontinental title in a Four Corners Elimination match which also included Ken Shamrock and Goldust. Venis failed to win the match.⁴³² Throughout the rest of the year, he found himself having "woman troubles" with Nicole Bass,³³ Chyna,³⁴ and Debra³⁵³⁶. Venis reunited with Godfather and they began challenging for the Tag Team titles. On July 12 edition of Raw is War, they faced the Hardy Boyz for the titles, but the Hardy Boyz retained the titles by getting disqualified.²⁹⁴³⁷ Venis and Godfather started a feud with Droz and Albert. The next week on Raw is War, Venis and Godfather, Droz and Albert and the Acolytes challenged the Hardys to a fatal four way elimination tag team match for the titles, where the Hardys went on to retain the titles.⁴²⁹³⁸

He started a feud with Steve Blackman and defeated him at Unforgiven 1999.⁴³⁹ His next feud was with Mark Henry, whom he beat at Rebellion 1999.⁴⁰ He engaged in feuds with several main eventers including The Rock,⁴⁴¹⁴² Mankind,^4434244 and Stone Cold Steve Austin.⁴⁴²⁴⁵ In late 1999, Venis started a feud with European Champion The British Bulldog over the title. At Survivor Series 1999, Venis teamed up with Mark Henry, Gangrel and Steve Blackman to face British Bulldog and Mean Street Posse with his team winning the match.⁴⁴⁶ At Armageddon 1999, Venis defeated the champion the British Bulldog and D'Lo Brown in a triple threat match to win the WWF European Championship.⁴⁴⁷²⁴⁸

On the February 10, 2000 episode of SmackDown!, he dropped the European title to Kurt Angle, ending his two month reign.⁴⁴⁹⁵⁰ At King of the Ring 2000, he participated in the King of the Ring tournament where he was defeated by Rikishi in the semi-finals.⁵¹ This culminated in a feud between Venis and Rikishi which lead to Venis turning heel by aligning himself with Trish Stratus. With Stratus as his manager, and a new look - including a haircut, white boots and trunks - and the near total disposal of the porn star gimmick, he defeated Rikishi to win his second WWF Intercontinental Championship,^24495253 and aligned himself with Test and Albert.

They continued their rivalry as Venis defended the title in a rematch at Fully Loaded 2000. During the match, Venis was put over by taking a splash from Rikishi from the top of a 15-foot high steel cage and still going on to defeat Rikishi later in the match to retain the title.⁵³⁵⁴ Val's manager, Stratus, inadvertently lost Venis' Intercontinental title to Chyna in a mixed tag team match involving Venis, Stratus, Chyna and her partner Eddie Guerrero at SummerSlam 2000.⁴⁵⁵

Right to Censor (2000-2001)

Main article: Right to Censor

Shortly after, Venis underwent a complete change in persona and became a member of the Right to Censor (RTC) stable.⁴⁵⁶ Venis joined RTC after being kayfabe abducted by Bull Buchanan and The Goodfather.⁵⁶⁵⁷ He became a censorship-based character, directly contrasting with his previously provocative on-screen character. RTC feuded with the Acolytes and the Dudley Boyz, culminating in an eight-man tag team match at Unforgiven 2000, which RTC won.⁵⁸ At No Mercy 2000, Venis teamed up with Steven Richards to face Chyna and Mr. Ass. After interference from Eddie Guerrero, RTC picked up the win.⁵⁹ Venis started a feud with Chyna, culminating in a match at Armageddon 2000 which Val won.⁶⁰

At WrestleMania X-Seven, RTC faced Tazz and the APA in a six man tag match which RTC lost.⁵⁶⁶¹ The next night on Raw is War, he faced the champion Kane for the Hardcore Championship but lost the match.⁴⁶²⁶³ Venis stayed in RTC until they disbanded right before the Invasion storyline, feuding with Chyna and "The One" Billy Gunn during his tenure with the group. When RTC broke up and the Invasion began, Venis disappeared from WWF television while recovering from surgery on his hip to remove bone spurs from his motorcycle racing days. After recovering, he was kept off television along with several other wrestlers, for whom WWE bookers could not come up with any storylines.

Big Valbowski (2002)

Venis returned to action back in his old gimmick, at the 2002 Royal Rumble, where he participated in the Royal Rumble match at #20 but was shortly after eliminated by Stone Cold.⁴⁶⁴ before going on to Raw. On Raw he had two very short feuds with Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mr. Perfect before being drafted to SmackDown! during the brand extension.

On SmackDown!, he began calling himself "The Big Valbowski" and he aligned himself with the likes of the babyface gimmicks of Edge,⁴⁶⁵ Randy Orton,⁴⁶⁶⁶⁷ Billy Kidman,⁴⁶⁸ and Hardcore Holly⁴⁶⁹⁷⁰ and feuded with Chris Jericho,⁶⁸ Deacon Batista⁶⁷ and Reverend D-Von.⁶⁷ He was soon sidelined, however, after a legitimate injury caused by gym equipment falling on him at a gym in Australia during late July 2002. After his accident, he was removed from television until doctors cleared him to return to in-ring action.⁴

He returned to working SmackDown! dark matches in September 2002 and made one last televised appearance as Venis on October 26, 2002 at Rebellion, where he returned to team with Chuck Palumbo in a losing effort against Reverend D-Von and Ron Simmons.⁴

Chief of Staff (2002-2003)

Lance Storm (left) and Morley (right) were Tag Team Champions for one week.

He returned to television on November 18 edition on Raw under his real name, Sean Morley. He was appointed "Chief of Staff" by Raw General Manager, Eric Bischoff, turning heel once again by acting as Bischoff's assistant and going by Chief Morley.⁴⁷¹ Morley began a feud with the Dudley Boyz in March 2003. On March 24, 2003 edition of Raw, he officially became one half of the World Tag Team Champions with Lance Storm after Storm's partner, William Regal, was sidelined with an illness.⁴⁷²⁷³ Storm and Morley successfully defended the World Tag Team Titles on an edition of Heat prior to WrestleMania XIX against Rob Van Dam and Kane with help from the Dudley Boyz,⁴⁷⁴ only to lose them to Kane and RVD the next night.⁴⁷⁵

Mid-card status and work on Heat (2003-present)

Morley was "fired" from his assistant job by Bischoff after he lost a match to Jerry "the King" Lawler in which Jim Ross' job was on the line.⁴⁷⁶ He was quickly "rehired" by co-General Manager, Stone Cold Steve Austin. After returning as Val Venis, he participated in a battle royal at Judgment Day 2003 for the vacant Intercontinental Championship, won by Christian.⁴⁷⁷ Throughout mid-2003, 2004 and the first half of 2005, Venis became a face again, but did not get much in the way of a push. Venis began wrestling as a mid-carder on Heat and on an edition of Heat, he faced Intercontinental Champion Christian in a match for the Intercontinental title which Christian won.⁴⁷⁸ He reformed his previous tag team with Lance Storm as faces, but the partnership faded and Venis became utilized mainly as a "jobber to the stars".⁴

In the summer of 2005 he formed another team, V-Squared, with Viscera.⁴ While wrestling on Heat, they squashed a number of other tag teams including the World Tag Team Champions Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch in a non-title match.⁴⁷⁹ On December 5 2005 edition of Raw, V-Squared participated in a fatal four way match for the World Tag Team Championship, including the champions Kane and The Big Show, The Heart Throbs and Snitsky and Tyson Tomko but were defeated.⁴⁸⁰ Venis and Viscera continued to team in 2006, getting another shot at Kane and The Big Show's title, while occasionally having solo matches.⁴⁸¹ In March 2006 Venis suffered a kayfabe injury at the hands of the Spirit Squad which allowed him to take time off for legitimate elbow surgery, during which about a dozen more bone spurs were removed, six others were shaved down, and a nerve was transplanted.⁴⁸²

Daivari wrestling with Venis.

While he was out, Viscera began teaming with Charlie Haas, leaving Venis to team with Snitsky upon his return in a team that didn't last long.⁴ Venis began a feud with Eugene on Heat when Eugene interrupted and attacked him during a "Kiss Cam" segment on December 4.⁴⁸³ On the following edition of Heat, Venis and Eugene had a match which Eugene won.⁴⁸⁴ On December 18 edition of Raw, Val participated in a #1 contender's battle royal, won by Edge.⁴⁸⁵ In February 2007, Venis was given a video program entitled Sex University on WWE.com, which lasted until April when it and its archives were removed from the site. On March 19, 2007 edition of Raw, he participated in a Money in the Bank qualifying battle royal, won by Edge.⁴⁸⁶

In late 2007, he began a feud with Santino Marella. During the feud, Marella gave Venis a sneak attack, causing him an injury.⁴⁸⁷ The two had a match on October 15 edition of Raw, which Marella won.⁴⁸⁸ On February 18, 2008 edition of Raw, he lost to Mr. Kennedy in a Money in the Bank qualifying match.⁴⁸⁹ On March 25 edition of ECW, he participated in a twelve-on-twelve tag team match involving all the participants of the battle royal.⁴⁹⁰ At WrestleMania XXIV, he participated in a pre-show number one contender's battle royal, with the winner facing ECW Heavyweight Champion Chavo Guerrero later at that show. Kane went on to win the battle royal.⁴⁹¹

Personal life

Morley is married to a Mexican woman named Lourdes and speaks fluent Spanish, which he learned during the time he spent in Mexican Lucha libre promotions.⁹² They have one daughter, Celina. Sean's sister, Alanah Morley, married Adam "Edge" Copeland on November 8, 2001.⁹³ Alanah and Copeland divorced on March 10, 2004.⁹⁴

Before becoming a wrestler, Morley was a motorcycle racer.⁴

Morley identifies himself as Libertarian in his blog. He is also big fan of libertarian talk radio show Free Talk Live, and endorsed Marty Gobin of the Ontario Libertarian Party as his choice candidate during the March 2006 by-election in the Ontario riding of Whitby-Ajax.⁹⁵ He endorsed Ron Paul, Republican, for President in 2008.^{citation needed}

Morley also hosts a FreetarianTV live video blog, where he answers question about politics and wrestling. He has been doing the show regularly since April 2008, and does it every night from 7 P.M. EST to 10 P.M. EST.^{citation needed}

In wrestling

Morley executing an elbow drop.

• Finishing and signature moves
  • Big Package⁹⁶ (Bridging cradle suplex) - 1998-2000; Used as a regular move from 2002-Present
  • Money Shot² (Diving splash, with theatrics)
  • Venis Flytrap⁹⁶ (Reverse figure four leglock)
  • Belly to back suplex
  • Elbow drop
  • Half nelson slam
  • Piledriver
  • Russian legsweep
  • Spike DDT
  • Spinebuster
  • Spin-out powerbomb

• Managers
  • Mrs. Yamaguchi-San
  • Terri Runnels
  • Nicole Bass
  • Ryan Shamrock
  • Trish Stratus
  • Steven Richards
  • Eric Bischoff

• Entrance themes
  • Hello Ladies (WWE Anthology)

Championships and accomplishments

• Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre
  • CMLL World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)⁸

• Fédération de Lutte Britannique
  • BWF Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Heartland Wrestling Association
  • HWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Steve Bradley

• International Wrestling Association
  • IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time)⁹⁷- with Ricky Santana (First)

• World Wrestling Council
  • WWC World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Glamour Boy Shane (2) and Rex King (1)⁹⁸
  • WWC World Television Championship (2 times)⁹⁹

• World Wrestling Federation | World Wrestling Entertainment
  • World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Lance Storm⁷
  • WWF European Championship (1 time)⁶
  • WWF Intercontinental Championship (2 times)⁵

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him # 25 of the top 500 singles wrestlers during the PWI 500 in 1999¹⁰⁰

• Other Titles
  • NCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • IPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Eric Shafee

References

External links

Professional wrestling portal

• Sean Morley's political views blog and website
• WWE Profile
• Val Venis in Online World of Wrestling