Rick Martel is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling.
38 Facts About Rick Martel
2.
Rick Martel is from a family of wrestlers, and made his professional debut at age seventeen when his brother Michel, a wrestler, asked him to replace an injured wrestler.
3.
Rick Martel already was a skilled amateur wrestler, and quickly adapted to professional wrestling.
4.
Rick Martel left PNW on August 16,1980, when he lost a "loser leaves town" match to Buddy Rose.
5.
Rick Martel served a stint as a booker for a wrestling territory in Hawaii, where he would help the promotion set up matches and construct the storylines that would play out inside and outside of the ring.
6.
Rick Martel debuted in the World Wrestling Federation in July 1980.
7.
Rick Martel signed with the AWA in 1982 and quickly ascended through the ranks, defeating Jumbo Tsuruta to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship on May 13,1984.
8.
On December 29,1985, Rick Martel lost the title to Stan Hansen, who forced him to submit to the "Brazos Valley Backbreaker".
9.
In 1986, Rick Martel returned to the WWF, with his tag team partner Tom Zenk.
10.
At WrestleMania III in front of 93,173 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome, The Cam-Am connection defeated Ace Cowboy Bob Orton and The Magnificent Muraco in the opening match, when Rick Martel pinned Muraco with a flying cross-body helped by what commentator Gorilla Monsoon called "a schoolboy trip from behind" by Zenk.
11.
In July 1987, Rick Martel defeated both Haku and Tama in singles competition.
12.
Tito Santana, who was doing commentary in the Spanish broadcast booth, ran to the ring to help Rick Martel fight off his attackers.
13.
Strike Force won the titles on an episode of Superstars after Rick Martel made Neidhart submit to a Boston crab.
14.
Shortly afterward, Rick Martel took time off due to injuries sustained in a title rematch against Demolition at a Prime Time Wrestling taping in Oakland, California, on June 1,1988.
15.
Rick Martel returned in January 1989 as a singles wrestler, before reforming Strike Force with Santana at WrestleMania V to face The Brain Busters.
16.
Rick Martel feuded with Santana on and off over the next two years, losing to him in the finals of the 1989 King of the Ring tournament, then defeating him at The Main Event IV taping on October 30,1990.
17.
In late 1989, Rick Martel adopted a narcissistic gimmick, as the Model.
18.
Rick Martel was eliminated from the match after he got himself counted out by abandoning his team after receiving beatings from both Hogan and The Warrior.
19.
Rick Martel continued to have the upper hand over Roberts in the 1991 Royal Rumble match, eliminating Roberts from the match en route to lasting 53 minutes, before being eliminated by The British Bulldog.
20.
In early 1992, Rick Martel began a feud with Tatanka, leading to WrestleMania VIII, where Tatanka pinned him.
21.
Rick Martel went on to work against Santana on house shows that spring.
22.
Also that summer, Rick Martel had a brief feud with Shawn Michaels, as both men sought the affections of Sensational Sherri.
23.
Rick Martel then resumed his rivalry with Tatanka by stealing his sacred eagle feathers, to add to his wardrobe.
24.
The feud was resolved at the 1992 Survivor Series, where Tatanka again defeated Rick Martel and reclaimed the feathers.
25.
In 1993, Rick Martel mainly appeared on the lower undercard, and rarely on television, mostly on programs such as All-American Wrestling and Wrestling Challenge.
26.
Rick Martel briefly feuded with Bastion Booger, losing one of their matches when he got fed up with how Booger smelled and started spraying him with his Arrogance cologne.
27.
Rick Martel was set to appear in a 10-man tag team match at Wrestlemania X but the match was cancelled during the show due to the show running out of time.
28.
However, after a pay dispute with WWF owner Vince McMahon, Rick Martel signed with World Championship Wrestling.
29.
Callis confirmed that he and Rick Martel were set to debut as a team during an interview with WWE.
30.
In 1994, Rick Martel worked for a few appearances for International World Class Championship Wrestling where in one of the matches defeated his former partner Tito Santana on September 9.
31.
Rick Martel had a feud with Don Callis aka The Natural in Manitoba.
32.
In 1997, Rick Martel returned to Canada to teamed with Don Callis as the Supermodels feuding with a young Edge and Christian known as Adam Impact and Christian Cage.
33.
Rick Martel debuted for WCW in 1998 on the January 5 episode of Nitro, defeating Brad Armstrong in his debut.
34.
Rick Martel tore an inside ligament of his right knee, fractured his leg and suffered cartilage damage, effectively ending his in-ring career.
35.
Rick Martel was originally booked to retain the Television Title in the match, intended to be a gauntlet match, by beating Booker and then Perry Saturn.
36.
Rick Martel manages commercial properties he invested in from his earnings when wrestling.
37.
Rick Martel, who received a standing ovation from his home fans, said he was honoured to be associated with WWE and thanked the fans.
38.
Rick Martel is a playable character in WWE 2K18 and WWE 2K19, the first video game appearance since Showdown: Legends of Wrestling.