Rick Martel

Roster
 3-“New Generation” promo

## Strike Force(1986-1989)

Rick Martel’s first canon match was at Superstars 48 being destroyed by Andre The Giant, after the match Tito Santana came out and saved the rookie from further attack. At SNME May, he teamed up with Aerial Barbers(Tito’s team with Brutus Beefcake) losing against Kamala, Paul Orndorff and Haku. Tito started regularly teaming up with Martel as Beefcake was starting to go into a manager role, at King of the Ring Tito and Martel got a tag title shot and they won but the replays revealed that Tito's feet were on the ropes so the match was restarted and they ended up losing to British Bulldogs. At Summerslam Tito, Martel and Beefcake were scheduled to face Greg Valentine, Dino Bravo and a mystery teammate, the mystery teammate was revealed to be Brutus Beefcake as he turned heel attacking Rick Martel and Tito joining Dream Team.

Martel helped Tito a lot during his feud with Beefcake that lasted from august to December, at Survivor Series him, Tito, Koko B.Ware and Jim Duggan defeated Brutus Beefcake, Billy Jack Haynes, Bam Bam Bigelow and Honky Tonk Man. At SNME December Tito and Rick Martel defeated Beefcake, Dino Bravo and Greg Valentine in a handicap match to become NO1 contenders for the tag titles. Tito and Rick Martel were named Strike Force and were in the tag team battle royal for the vacant tag titles at Wrestlemania 3 but failed to win.

Jack Tunney introduced the 24/7 Championship and Rick Martel managed to pick the title from the middle of the ring to become the first ever champion, he quickly lost the title 2 weeks later to Bret Hart in a tag team match, Rick Martel started becoming obsessed with the 24/7 Championship challenging champion Ted Dibiase and Virgil to a tag match at SNME May, Virgil pinned Martel and became 24/7 champion, Rick Martel seemed like he only cared about the 24/7 title now as he fought to get it back, at SNME June Strike Force defeated Demolition who were the 24/7 champions so Martel became champ again, he would lose it in 2 weeks to Ultimate Warrior. At Superstars 100, Strike Force defeated Full Nelson Bam to win the tag titles for the first time, afterwards they were backstage as Martel was jumping with adrenaline, he saw 24/7 champion Warrior, jumped onto him and Warrior sent him flying, only 3 days after at King of the Ring they were forced to vacate the titles as Rick Martel was confirmed injured from that bump.

Martel was involved in the G1 and was the first man eliminated, 2 months later Tito said that Martel was gonna return soon as he had been gone since King of the Ring completely disregarding his G1 run, Martel showed up at Superstars 114 still injured as he pinned a WWF microphone to win the 24/7 Championship. Martel officially “returned” at SNME December as Roberts and Piper were feuding with Tito trying to get him to join them as Martel only cared about the 24/7 Championship, to prove otherwise, Martel laid down in the ring to be pinned by anyone, Tito saw that as a sign of respect and helped him keep the 24/7 title so they brawled with the wrestlers instead. At Royal Rumble Strike Force defeated Snake's Pit gaining a tag title match, after the match Honky Tonk Man rolled Martel up to win the 24/7 Championship.

On February 1st during a house show, Strike Force defeated The Naturals to become 2 time champions, this reign lasted 83 days until Wrestlemania 4 where Demolition defeated them but they quickly gained it back at SNME June to become the first ever 3 time champions of the belt. At Summerslam 1988, they faced Jacques Rougeau and president of WWF Jack Tunney, Tito kept his heart of gold and just couldn't bring himself to beat up his president, Tunney responded with a rollup as Strike Force lost the tag titles in a huge disrespect to the tag team division. After this, they still won tag matches but Rick Martel was showing himself to be more and more unmotivated, Demolition challenged Strike Force to a rehash from last year at Wrestlemania 5 and Strike Force lost again, this was the last straw as Rick Martel turned heel and attacked Tito oficially ending Strike Force.

## The Model(1989-1990)

Tito Santana tried to get Martel’s attention by winning the 24/7 Championship but Martel didn’t care adopting a new gimmick of “The Model”, he was involved in the Money in the Bank match but Tito attacked him during it costing him the briefcase, he was also in the King of the Ring and was the runner up being defeated by Dusty Rhodes in the finals. At Summerslam 1989, they had a match where they proved they were vastly underrated and Tito defeated Martel to enter the G1. Tito was attacked backstage by a mystery man during a great showing on the G1 and forced to back off, everyone thought this was Rick Martel’s doing especially Tito himself as he returned wanting revenge, at Survivor Series Tito, Brutus Beefcake and The Rockers defeated Martel, Greg Valentine, HTM and Ted Dibiase. Martel kept saying he wasn’t the one who attacked Tito as he couldn’t give a single damn about him or what he does with his career, At Royal Rumble 1990, Martel leaves the ring and shows on the titantron security footage which reveals that Jimmy Snuka was the one who attacked Tito, Martel took advantage of this distraction and rolled him up to get the win and end this feud.

## Creator of the New Generation and WWF Champion(1990-1992)

At Superstars 222, Martel started a new path in his career as he called out WWF Champion Hulk Hogan saying it was time for the new generation of stars and challenged Hogan to a match, he was defeated by Hogan in 5 minutes at SNME May which led to a promo different from what we normally see as Martel called out Hogan for being "Vince McMahon's golden boy" which was the first time Vince was mentioned as the owner of WWF, Rick Martel was suspended for this but didn't stop when he returned as he kept trying to make Hogan lose the WWF Championship and it finally worked at Summerslam 1990 as he helped Undertaker win the title.

Martel continued trying to get rid of the Old Generation and put spotlight on the New Generation as he challenged them to a Survivor Series match but in the event, Jake Roberts, Roddy Piper, Ted Dibiase and Jimmy Snuka defeated Martel, Undertaker, Shane Douglas and Jim Neidhart after Taker tried to do all the work. At Royal Rumble 1991, Undertaker defeated Martel.

Martel continued feuding with Hogan and shockingly defeated him at Wrestlemania 7 with a rollup, at SNME June he defeated Hogan, Marty Jannetty, Shawn Michaels, Texas Tornado and Brutus Beefcake to become Mr.Money in the Bank, he retained it at Summerslam 1991 to end his feud against Hulk Hogan injuring him.

He retained the briefcase yet again teaming up with Koko B.Ware, Undertaker and Bob Backlund as they defeated Jake Roberts, Bret Hart, Ted Dibiase and IRS at Survivor Series after Dibiase challenged him for the briefcase, in the same show he and Randy Savage had a plan which was Savage would incapacitate WWF Champion Haku as much as possible so afterwards Martel could cash in, Savage did that costing himself a WWF Championship match, Martel came out but then was too scared that it wouldn’t work and ran away. Randy Savage is pissed at this because his plan was to betray Martel after his win and get the WWF Championship as it would be easier to beat Martel than Haku but Martel was a coward. At This Tuesday in Texas, Martel defeated Randy Savage.

He entered the WWF Championship Royal Rumble match at number 15 but was eliminated by Undertaker, huge fan favorite Koko B.Ware ended up winning the title and afterwards Rick Martel superkicked him and cashed in to become WWF Champion with huge boos from the crowd.

Rick Martel and Koko were in constant brawls until Wrestlemania where it was the pinnacle of the New Generation as the creator(Martel) faced the force(Haku) and the heart and soul(Koko B.Ware) for the WWF Championship, Koko B.Ware ended up winning it, after the match Bret Hart, Lex Luger and Shawn Michaels beat up all 3 men as Ric Flair debuted and they formed the Four Horsemen.

## Strike Force reunion(1992-1993)

Rick Martel was the fifth pick for Smackdown as the brand split began, he had one last match at RAW trying to defeat Koko to get the WWF Championship for Smackdown but failed. Martel got a World Heaviweight Championship match at Smackdown 4 against Yokozuna in a no holds barred but didn’t win. Rick Martel turned back face at Smackdown 11 as he teamed up with Yokozuna, Tatanka and Mr.Fuji to defeat Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Bret Hart and Bobby Heenan.

He had hatred for Shawn Michaels after the Four Horsemen ambush at Wrestlemania 8 and just wanted to win the King of the Ring to beat him for the IC Championship, in the quarter finals of the tournament, he was facing Ted Dibiase when Shawn showed up and SCM’d Dibiase so Dibiase could advance and Martel was eliminated. Shawn gave him one more chance, a tag team match where if Martel won, he got not only an IC title match but also a match for his MITB briefcase as he knew Martel had no friends. At In Your House 3, Rick Martel chose Tito Santana as his partner reuniting Strike Force and defeating Bret and Shawn Michaels. At Summerslam 1992, Shawn defeated Martel in a ladder match to retain the IC Championship and the briefcase.

After Summerslam, Strike Force announced that they had reunited as they felt like at this point in their careers, they're better as a unit, they challenged the men who had 2-1 over them, Demolition and the match finally happened 2 months later at Smackdown where Strike Force got the win. Strike Force defeated Men on a Mission at Royal Rumble 1993 to win the Survivor Series Tag Team Accomplishment, Strike Force started targeting tag team champions Steiner Brothers with ladders and their match was scheduled as a ladder match at Wrestlemania 9 where Strike Force won the titles back.

On the Smackdown after Wrestlemania, Tito shockingly announced his retirement as he said that he wanted these titles one last time before retirement, Martel had no idea about this and looked pissed but he simply cheered his tag partner on.

## Various feuds(1993-1994)

On the same Smackdown, Million Dollar Corporation approached Martel saying they could need a “model” on their group, Martel punched Tatanka saying he’ll never join them and got beaten up by MDC. At RAW 74, Rick Martel was RAW’s main draft pick but right after Million Dollar Corporation came out announcing they had also been traded and they were gonna make Martel’s life a living hell.

At RAW 81, European champion Owen Hart was making a promo saying there was no one on RAW to beat him, Martel came out for a match when Owen attacked him, Tatanka ended up beating Martel in a King of the Ring qualifiers because of this, Martel still managed to enter KOTR and promised to end Owen, Martel won 1993’s King of the Ring defeating Yokozuna, at Summerslam Owen defeated Martel to retain the European title.

People kept constantly taunting Martel calling him a bad main pick as he has done nothing on RAW, he punches Owen Hart after he tells him this and GM of RAW Harley Race calls him out on this, he decides to give him a shot as he beat Tatanka to face WWF Champion Bret Hart at G1 Finals. Bret says that Martel doesn’t deserve it but Martel calls him out as he has always been on other people’s shadow and said he was a better champ during the untelevised 112 days than Bret will ever be on his career, at G1 Finals the match ended in a DQ after Shawn Michaels SCM’d Martel. Bret apologized to Martel and challenged him to a fair match where if Shawn interfered, the title would be given to him, at Survivor Series they had the match of the night with Bret defeating Martel.

At In Your House 10, Martel had his last shot for the European title against Owen Hart in a 20 minute iron man match which ended in a 2-2 draw, Martel won Wrestlemania 10’s Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal match.

At RAW 117, Martel defeated Jake Roberts to win the Intercontinental Championship, Roberts wanted his rematch, Martel agreed to it with some additional stakes as if Martel lost, he would have to leave RAW but if Roberts lost, he would have to retire from WWF. At RAW 121, Martel ended Roberts’ career, the week afterwards King Kong Bundy and Diesel helped Martel during a match against Bret as they gave him a chair and he clocked it on Bret turning heel

## Broken bodies and return of the model(1994-1996)

Martel showed up the week afterwards proclaiming that the model had returned as he joined Broken Bodies, They continued to main event RAWs being the top heels of the brand, at RAW 127 Bret defeated Martel to retain the WWF Championship but the feud continued, they main evented IYH 13 with a handicap against Bret but Ricky Steamboat returned to WWF and helped take care of them, Martel still tried to get a title match at Summerslam but after being defeated by Ricky Steamboat, he gave up. At Summerslam 1994, he defeated 123 Kid to retain the Intercontinental Championship.

At RAW 138, British Bulldog defeated Diesel to win RAW block of G1 Finals, Martel went to comfort Diesel but Diesel snapped and beat the hell out of him ending Broken Bodies. At G1 Finals, Martel handcuffed Diesel to the ropes and left ending their match in a countout as he didn’t feel like Diesel deserved it. At Survivor Series they faced again in a no DQ match, Martel handcuffed Diesel to the ropes again just to get advantage but Diesel clothslines him completely breaking the cuffs and beats him to win the IC title, he had a terrible rematch at RAW 147 in a four corners match which Diesel retained, this was Martel’s last singles match. He had his last canon match at Wrestlemania 11 in the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal which Hunter Hearst Helmsley won, Martel moved to a trainer position after retiring

## Post retirement appearances(1997)

He was the main inductee of 1997’s Hall of Fame, he was inducted by his tag team partner Tito Santana and he called his whole run on the top of the company “lightning in a bottle”

## Career history

### Face/heel turns

 Heel
 Face
 Heel

## Championships and accomplishments

* World Wrestling Federation
* WWF Championship(1 time)
* Intercontinental Championship(1 time)
* World Tag Team Championships(4 times) - with Tito Santana
* 24/7 Championship(3 times)
* Money in the Bank(1991)
* King of the Ring(1993)
* Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal(1994)
* Survivor Series Tag Team Accomplishment(1992) - with Tito Santana
* Hall of Fame(Class of 1997)