Jimmy Valiant

There is something irresistible about Handsome Jimmy Valiant. Born James Harold Fanning in Tullahoma, Tennessee in 1942, he is a true son of the gritty Southern wrestling territories, and his WWE Hall of Fame induction confirms how beloved he became. The brash ring name makes me grin, but underneath the showmanship is a craftsman who put his body on the line for decades and built a real bond with fans. I have a soft spot for performers who survived that brutal old-school circuit on charisma and durability alike. He feels like a living piece of American wrestling folklore, sweat, swagger and all.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Jimmy Valiant

Name (Japanese)

ジミー・バリアント

Reading

じみー・ばりあんと

Born

August 6, 1942 (age 84)

Origin

Franklin, Tennessee, United States

Occupation

professional wrestler

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Leo / Horse

Awards & achievements

• WWE Hall of Fame

• Official sitehttps://www.jimmyvaliant.com/
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy%20Valiant
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%9F%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%83%90%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5977553

Tags

• Tennessee
• professional wrestler

Last updated

November 2, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.