What is "valid"? I've been delivering personal email for 2 years from an IP whose reverse is like 1-2-3-4-static.hfc.comcastbusiness.net, and that name does not match what I put in my MX or HELO.
Now, granted, there are probably some systems that have issues with this, and maybe I do have failed deliveries I didn't notice, but you did say no email will deliver at all.
I was under the impression that you just had to have an IP with an A record that matched the reverse DNS, even if it's not for the A record that's your email domain?
It depends on the MX you're delivering mail to. Some aren't restrictive at all, some will reject if there's an A/PTR mismatch, etc. I make use of FCrDNS on my mail systems.