 Tito Santana and Rick Martel formed a tag team named Strike Force in 1987. They won the WWF Tag Team Championship together before Martel abandoned Santana during a match against the Brain Busters at WrestleMania V. This led to a lengthy feud between the two, The team split up as a result and the former partners had a lengthy feud. and a blow off match was scheduled for SummerSlam. Martel was injured prior to the SummerSlam match, so the WWF created a storyline that he was unable to compete because he was participating in a modeling competition in Paris. He was replaced in the match with The Warlord, who had been competing against Santana on house shows since April.
