Strike Force

On August 29, 1982, Tito Santana and Rick Martel teamed up for the first time in the American Wrestling Association (AWA). They faced AWA Tag Team Champions The High Flyers (Greg Gagne and "Jumpin'" Jim Brunzell) for the titles. Martel and Santana came up short after Brunzell pinned Santana.

## Strike Force

### Members

Tito Santana and Rick Martel

The team officially formed on a permanent basis in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), after Martel defeated both members of The Islanders (Haku and Tama) in separate singles matches in July 1987 (after the departure of his then tag team partner Tom Zenk from the WWF, with Zenk's departure worked into the feud and used as fodder by the Islanders to taunt Martel). On the August 15, 1987 episode of *WWF Superstars of Wrestling*, the Islanders jumped Martel after his win over Barry Horowitz. Santana, who was doing commentary in the Spanish broadcast booth, ran to the ring to help Martel fight off the attackers. The team were played off as good looking pretty boys (a story-line that came directly from the team's predecessor The Can-Am Connection) even using the theme called "Girls in Cars", which was originally made for the Can-Am Connection. The name **Strike Force** came from Santana's promise that as a team they would, "be striking (the Islanders) with force." They feuded with the Islanders until October, when they got a shot at The Hart Foundation for the WWF Tag Team Championship. On October 27, 1987, they won the titles when Jim Neidhart submitted to Martel's Boston crab. While feuding with the Harts, they resumed their feud with the Islanders, successfully defending the title against both teams at house shows across the country.

The team held onto the titles until WrestleMania IV, where they lost the tag team championships to Demolition. Martel had Smash in the *Boston Crab*, until Ax hit him in the back of the head with Mr. Fuji's cane, while the ref was distracted by a fight between Santana and Fuji. In July 1988, Martel suffered an injury after taking Demolition's finisher on the floor, splitting up the team for several months.

Santana wrestled in singles matches again afterwards for a while. Martel returned to the WWF in January 1989 at the Royal Rumble. Sometime later, Santana and Martel reunited, taking on The Brain Busters at WrestleMania V. After Santana accidentally knocked Martel out with a flying forearm, Martel left Santana alone in the ring to fend for himself, thus turning heel. Martel later stated that he felt Santana had been riding his coattails and was sick and tired of carrying him. The two feuded for the next year, as Martel transformed into "The Model" Rick Martel, an arrogant egomaniac. Both men scored wins over the other, including a win by Santana over Martel in the final of the 1989 King of the Ring tournament. Martel scored a win over Santana later in the year at the Survivor Series, when he pinned his former partner as the first elimination of the opening match of the night. The feud between the two effectively died out after the Survivor Series, with the two sporadically facing each other in matches throughout 1990, with their last two televised meetings taking place around Thanksgiving, first being on the opposite sides of the final match of the 1990 Survivor Series, where Santana's partners, Hulk Hogan and then-WWF Champion The Ultimate Warrior were the sole survivors, giving Santana's team the victory, and a one on one match aired the next night on the November 23, 1990 (taped October 30) of *The Main Event IV*, where Martel won by submission.