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Rick Martel

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Richard Vigneault
BornMarch 18, 1956
Quebec City, Quebec
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Rick Martel
Billed height183 cm (6 ft 0 in)
Billed weight107 kg (236 lb)
Billed fromCocoa Beach, Florida
Trained byPierre Martel
DebutJune 7, 1972
RetiredFebruary 22, 1998

Richard Vigneault (born March 18, 1956) is a Québécois former professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) between 1980 and 1995 under the ring name Rick Martel.

Career

Independent Circuit

Rick Martel is from a family of wrestlers, and made his professional debut at just sixteen when his brother Martin, a wrestler, asked him to replace an injured wrestler. Martel was already a skilled amateur wrestler, and quickly adapted to professional wrestling.

Martel wrestled throughout the world, winning titles in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion, New Zealand and Puerto Rico. His first real success in America came in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)'s Portland affiliate Pacific Northwest Wrestling and in Vancouver-based NWA All Star Wrestling, where he became a top talent, holding the Canadian and PNW Tag Team titles simultaneously. He left PNW on August 16, 1980 when he lost a "Loser Leaves Town" match to Buddy Rose.

World Wrestling Federation (1980-1982)

Martel made a number of appearances with the WWF, winning the Tag Team Titles twice with current WWE Road Agent Tony Garea.

American Wrestling Association (1982-1987)

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. Martel was below average height and weight for a world champion in the 1980s, and the fact that he was chosen to be champion despite his limited stature is testament to his skill inside the ring and charisma. His reign as champion lasted nearly nineteen months, during which time he wrestled several matches with NWA Champion Ric Flair. Martel lost the title to Stan Hansen who forced Martel to submit to the "Brazos Valley Backbreaker" - a version of the Boston Crab. As it was rare at the time for titles to change hands via submission, the loss hurt Martel's standing in the eyes of many fans, some of whom still view Martel as a quitter.

While it's commonly believed that Martel began to use the Boston (Quebec) Crab as his regular submission finisher only after submitting to Hansen's crab, this is not the case. Martel regularly used the Boston Crab as his submission finisher both before and during his reign as AWA champion. Martel used the catapult splash as a regular finisher in both the AWA and the WWF (as a member of the Can Am Connection), but changed his official WWF finisher to the Boston Crab after Bam Bam Bigelow arrived in the WWF and began using the catapult splash as his finishing maneuver.

As AWA champion, Martel used several different songs for his ring introduction. Among the songs used for his entrance were "Holding Out for a Hero" by Bonnie Tyler, "Beat It" by Michael Jackson, "Let's Hear it for the Boy" by Deniece Williams, "Astronomy" by Blue Oyster Cult, and the theme from Miami Vice by Jan Hammer.

World Wrestling Federation (1987-1995)

The Can-Am Connection

In 1987, Martel returned to the WWF with his then tag team partner, the American Tom Zenk, as the Can-Am Connection. The Can-Am Connection had been formed by Martel in the Montreal International Wrestling Association in 1986. Tom Zenk was the boyfriend of Martel's sister-in-law, and had been introduced to Martel in the AWA by Curt Hennig. The Can-Am Connection quickly garnered the affections of fans, and they looked certain to win the WWF tag team titles in the near future. However, the team split shortly after WrestleMania III; Zenk claimed Martel had secretly negotiated an individual contract worth three times more than his partner's contract (traditionally, tag teams are paid roughly equal salaries). [1]

Martel claimed Zenk "...was overwhelmed by it all... Wrestling is very hard on your body. Hard on you also mentally. It's hard physically. Tom wasn't mentally or physically hard as I thought he would be." [2]

Strike Force

Upon the departure of Zenk, Martel formed a new tag team with Tito Santana, Strike Force, winning the tag titles on one occasion, but later losing them to Demolition. Shortly afterwards, Martel suffered an injury after taking Demolition's finisher on the floor, splitting up the team for several months until his return at WrestleMania V. During a match with the Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard) Tito accidentally hit Martel with his signature Flying Forearm and knocked him out of the ring. A frustrated Martel refused the tag, leaving Tito to be beaten down and pinned. Later, in an interview with Gene Okerlund, Martel claimed "I’m sick and tired. Sick and tired of him. I’m sick and tired." Martel took on Slick as his manager and the former Strike Force feuded for a year before Martel defeated Santana once and for all on November 23, 1990.

The Model

In the 1990s, Martel became a Gino Hernandez-esque narcissistic heel, "The Model". Martel's already fine physique would become even more developed, with biceps that rivaled Tony Atlas and a pectacular chest that was second to none. He had his own brand of perfume, Arrogance, which was kept in a large atomizer and would be sprayed in the eyes of his opponents to blind them or striking his adversary with the comically large pink atomizer to defeat them. In the 1991 Royal Rumble he would survive in the ring for 53 minutes, the longest anyone had ever survived in the Royal Rumble at the time.[3]

Martel would then go on to feud with Jake "The Snake" Roberts. He blinded Roberts with his perfume which led to a symbolic "blindfold match" at Wrestlemania VII, where Martel was defeated. He then feuded with Shawn Michaels, as both men sought the affections of Sherri Martel. The feud ended with an entertaining and comedic chain of events, that concluded in a double count out at SummerSlam 1992 with Michaels in a match that carried a "No Punching In The Face" stipulation. He followed that with a lengthy rivalry with Tatanka. It revolved around Tatanka's sacred "eagle feather", which Martel stole from him.

After briefly competing for the Intercontinental Championship in 1993 when he lost a match with Razor Ramon to fill the title vacancy in 1993, Martel left the Federation in 1995. He formed a tag team with Don Casablancas known as "The Supermodels". His wrestling career began to slow as he pursued a career in real estate.

World Championship Wrestling (1997-1998)

Martel reappeared in World Championship Wrestling in 1997, feuding with Booker T for the WCW World Television Championship, which he won on February 16, 1998. Martel's comeback was cut short when, at SuperBrawl VIII on February 22, 1998, he landed badly during his match with Booker T, hitting his leg on one of the steel cables that WCW used as ring ropes. He tore an inside ligament of his right knee, fractured his leg and suffered cartilage damage, effectively ending his in-ring career. He was originally supposed to retain the Television Title in the match, which was designed to be a gauntlet match in which he would beat Booker and then Perry Saturn, but ended up suffering the knee injury. Martel and Booker worked out a finish in the ring (through which Martel suffed more injury after a botched Harlem Hangover), and then Booker and Saturn called the second leg of the match entirely in the ring. Martel was out injured for several months. After suffering another injury in his first match back (against Booker T.'s tag team partner Stevie Ray), Martel decided to retire from the ring. He then worked for WCW as a trainer and as the host of the French versions of WCW programming.

Guest appearance at WWE House Show

At the end of a house show in Canada in 2003, Brock Lesnar revealed that he had a surprise for the crowd. It was none other than Martel himself, coming out to greet the fans. Martel put Lesnar over as a legitimate star by shaking hands with him.

Wrestling facts

  • Finishing and signature moves
  • Signature illegal weapons
  • Managers

Trivia

  • Rick Martel's theme song as "The Model" was revamped and went on to become Val Venis's theme song in WWE.
  • His theme song was also used for the tag team, Arrogance, consisting of Scott Lost and Chris Bosh in PWG

Championships and accomplishments

  • International Wrestling
  • International Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
National
Regional
  • PWI ranked him # 48 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003
  • PWI ranked him # 70 with Tito Santana and # 74 with Tony Garea in the best tag teams of the "PWI Years".
  • Stampede International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Lenny Hurst

References

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