Canadian Rick Martel was a very accomplished superstar.  From his reign as AWA World
Heavyweight Champion to the days spraying “Arrogance” around WWF rings, Martel
carefully mastered his craft.  Through use of his Boston Crab submission hold, he gained
victories over wrestling’s best.  He was nicknamed “The Model” and feuded harshly with
the likes of Tito Santana, Stan Hansen and Jake Roberts.  Martel competed in the NWA,
AWA, WWF and WCW and won championships in each.

In June 1973, Rick ventured to Nova Scotia and wrestled in his first professional match at
the age of 17.  He learned much from his brother, Mad Dog Martel, who was also
competing in that region.  Martel went on tour through many different territories in Canada
and through the U.S before going overseas to New Zealand, Australia and Japan.  He
formed a successful tag team with Larry O’Day.  While in Hawaii, he won the North
American Heavyweight Title.

Later in the decade, Martel joined the World Wrestling Federation in the northeastern
United States and formed a team with Tony Garea.  On November 8, 1980, Martel and
Garea won the WWF World Tag Team Title from the Samoans, Afa and Sika, at the
Spectrum in Philadelphia.  They held the belts for several months before being beaten by
the hated Moondogs on March 17, 1981 during a televised match in Allentown.  Martel
and Garea regained the belts on July 21st in Allentown from Rex and King and held the
title until October 13th when they were defeated by Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito.  He later left for
Minnesota and the American Wrestling Association.

In St. Paul on May 13, 1984, Martel defeated Jumbo Tsuruta and won the AWA World
Heavyweight Title.  Several months later, the promotion would have had Jimmy Garvin as
their new champion if it wasn’t for St. Paul Promoter Wally Karbo.  Garvin’s valet, Precious
handed him an illegal weapon before a Civic Center crowd, which was used on the champ
and the challenger scored a winning pin.  Karbo reversed the decision and called for a
disqualification.  Martel faced the challenge of former WWF World Champion, Bob
Backlund in February 1985 and met the challenge with a successful defense.

In 1985, Martel appeared at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago to again defend his AWA
World Title against Garvin.  In a serious of events that nearly gave the championship to
his opponent, the decision was reversed by the assigned referee.  Precious had given the
challenger a pair of brass knuckles and Martel was knocked out.  Garvin got the pinfall
and the Windy City’s Crowd saw a new champion crowned.  But Martel retained after the
referee learned of what had happened.  A similar situation happened with Garvin’s future
partner in the Freebirds, Michael Hayes.  Hayes beat Martel and captured the title.  
Officials reviewed the match and the belt was once again returned to Rick because of a
Freebird interference.

Martel wrestled Stan Hansen to a double-disqualification in Chicago at SuperClash on
September 28, 1985.  More than 20,000 fans witnessed the event.  Ric Flair was also on
the card defending his NWA World Title.  Both champions went to Japan and on an All-
Japan card on October 21, 1985, Martel met Flair in a title vs. title match.  The bout took
place at Sumo Hall in Tokyo.  After 34-minutes of wrestling, the historic battle was ruled a
double-countout.  The next night at the Kyoto Gym in Kyoto, Japan, Martel and Flair
teamed to wrestle the NWA International Tag Team Champions, Jumbo Tsuruta and
Genichiro Tenryu.  They lost by countout at the 17:34 mark.

Martel suffered a serious back injury at the hands of Stan Hansen, a serious contender
to his AWA World Champion in December 1985.  Four days later on December 29th,
Hansen forced Martel to submit to his Brazos Valley Back-breaker in New Jersey and
captured the AWA Title.  His reign had lasted 595 days, the third longest in American
Wrestling Association History.

Martel rejoined the World Wrestling Federation and remained quite popular.  In late 1986
into ’87, he formed a tag team with Pacific Northwest Competitor Tom Zenk and were
known as the “Can-Am Connection.” The duo appeared on the WrestleMania III card on
March 29, 1987 and beat Don Muraco and Bob Orton.  When it seemed that they were
heading for championship gold, Martel and Zenk broke up and the latter left the
promotion.  Martel found another partner in former Intercontinental Champion, Tito
Santana.  Collectively, they were known as Strike Force and were very popular with fans.

On October 27th in Syracuse, Strike Force beat the Hart Foundation and captured the
WWF World Tag Team Title, Martel’s third.  NBC Broadcast a live edition of the “Main
Event” on February 5, 1988 in Indianapolis.  Strike Force were on the card and gave the
former champs a shot at the gold.  They retained their championship.  Ax and Smash, the
members of Demolition, beat the champions on March 27, 1988 at WrestleMania IV.  The
title changed hands.  Strike Force remained together as a team, but began to face inner
adversity in early 1989.  The duo wrestled Bobby Heenan’s team, the Brain Busters on
April 2, 1989 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  Martel and Santana had problems during the
match and Rick decided to walk out.

Needless to say, his partnership with Santana was over and Martel was the one to turn
heel.  The two feuded throughout the rest of the year and gave audiences great matches
throughout North America.  He teamed with the Rougeau Brothers on August 28th in East
Rutherford to defeat Santana and the Rockers.  Giving some a good laugh, Martel began
carrying around his personal cologne, “Arrogance.” The spray became an important tool
in his repertoire.  WrestleMania VI was held on April 1, 1990 at the Toronto Skydome.  
Martel wrestled before his countrymen and beat Koko B. Ware before 67,000 plus fans,
securing the victory by way of his Boston Crab.

During the month of September 1990, the Model sprayed his Arrogance into the eyes of
Jake Roberts.  Roberts was blinded and would miss several weeks of action.  A heated
feud began.  On November 22, 1990 in Hartford, Martel led the Visionaries, The Warlord,
Hercules and Paul Roma against the Vipers, which was headed by Roberts.  Martel
pinned Jimmy Snuka and then, in the end, Roberts was counted out while chasing him
back to the dressing room.  The entire team survived.  Martel and company returned for
the Final Survivors Match with Ted DiBiase against Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior and Tito
Santana.  Martel was counted out and both Hogan and the Warrior won before the
estimated 16,000 fans in attendance.  The war ended in Los Angeles at WrestleMania VII
on March 24, 1991.  Martel wrestled Roberts in a special Blindfold match, where both
competitors grappled with their eyes covered.  Roberts found Martel and was able to land
a DDT for the pin.

A year later at WrestleMania VIII on April 5, 1992, Martel was defeated by Tatanka in
under five-minutes.  Later in the year, Martel stole some of Tatanka’s tribal feathers and
feuded with him over the precious items.  Martel left professional wrestling for the private
business sector.  In late 1997, he returned to the sport and it wasn’t long before he was
wrestling for a championship.

In early ’98, he was one of the top contenders to the World Championship Wrestling
World Television Title.  Before 26,000-plus fans at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome on January 5,
1998, he beat Brad Armstrong.  On January 24th in Dayton, Martel lost a TV Title match
to Booker T.  He was attacked by Perry Saturn after the match, but Booker made the
save.  Martel captured the TV Title from Booker T on February 16th in Tampa.  In a
rematch, Martel was defeated on February 22nd at the Cow Palace in San Francisco
during the SuperBrawl pay-per-view.  

He suffered a serious right knee injury in the match and left the sport to recover.  Martel
retired once again from wrestling only to see his nephew, Kevin Martel join the ranks in
the late ’90s.

TITLE HISTORY:
-Co-holder of the NWA Australian Tag Team Title (1972) w/ Larry O’Day
-NWA North American Heavyweight Title (HI) (1978) defeated Tor Kamata
-Co-holder of the NWA Georgia Tag Team Title (1978) w/ Tommy Rich
-A three-time co-holder of the WWF World Tag Team Title
        w/ Tony Garea (1980-’81) defeated The Samoans
        w/ Tony Garea (1981) defeated The Moondogs
        w/ Tito Santana (1987-’88) defeated The Hart Foundation
-AWA World Heavyweight Title (1984-’85) defeated Jumbo Tsuruta
-WCW World Television Title (1998) defeated Booker T


Research by Tim Hornbaker
Rick Martel Wrestling History
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