Michel Martel
| Michel Vigneault | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 1944 Quebec City, Quebec, Canada |
| Died | June 30, 1978 (aged 33) Ponce, Puerto Rico |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Michel Martel Mitchell Martel Mad Dog Martel The Lumberjack |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Billed from | Paris, France |
| Trained by | Vic Tanney |
| Debut | 1968 |
Michel Vigneault (October 1944-June 30, 1978) was a Canadian professional wrestler, known by his ring name Michel "Mad Dog" Martel, who competed in North American and international regional promotions including Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling, Stampede Wrestling, International Wrestling Enterprise and the World Wrestling Council during the late 1960s and 70s. He was also one half of The Mercenaries with Frenchy Martin.
One of the most popular Canadian stars wrestling in Puerto Rico during the mid-1970s, his mysterious death in 1978 has long been subject of controversy and speculation. Heavily promoted by WWC promoter Carlos Colon that Martel had died as a result of a "heart punch" used by wrestler Jose Gonzalez during his last match, it has long been the subject of rumor that Martel's death had been caused by an injury suffered in the ring, ranging from a ruptured aorta or broken rib which punctured his heart although this has since been revealed as "kayfabe" used to promote Gonzalez's feud with Frenchy Martin and Michel Martel's younger brother Rick Martel. [1]
Career
Early career
The eldest of six children, Vigneault was born in Quebec City to Fernand Vigneault and Evelyne Harvey in October 1944. During high school, Vigneault became involved in powerlifting and began working nights as a bouncer and bartender in local clubs. It was during this time that he would meet his future tag team partner Pierre Martin.
During the late 1960s, he began training with his uncles Real Choinard and Aldrick Harvey who wrestled occasionally for promoter Johnny Rougeau. In 1968, he began touring northern Ontario during the summer for Larry Kasaboski. During his time in the area, he was trained by Vic Tanney and later wrestled for Johnny Rougeau in Quebec for a time before traveling to Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling. [1]
Stampede Wrestling
During his time in Stampede Wrestling, he would gain early success as a singles competitor becoming involved in a high profile feud "Cowboy" Dan Kroffat before teaming with Danny Babich to defeat Earl Black & Tiger Tomasso for the Stampede International Tag team Championship in Calgary, Alberta on October 1, 1971. However, their championship reign was brief as they lost the titles to Chin Lee & Sugi Sito less then two weeks later.
He and Babich would later defeat Tiger Joe Tomasso & Gil Hayes to recapture the tag team titles in mid-December only to loose the titles to George Gordienko & Super Hawk on December 16. Rebounding a week later, they won the titles back from George Gordienko & Super Hawk on December 23 and held on to the titles for almost a month before losing to Dan Kroffat & Lennie Hurst in Edmonton, Alberta on January 20, 1972.
Winning back the titles in Calgary on February 9, he and Babich would eventually loose the titles to Carlos Belafonte & Gino Caruso two months later. While in Calgary, Martel would also occasionally return to Quebec from time to time as well as travel to Mexico where he wrestled as The Lumberjack. [1]
The Mercenaries in Japan & Puerto Rico
By the mid-1970s, Martel had become an established star in Stampede Wrestling and persuaded Pierre Martin to enter professional wrestling as well. Martin eventually agreed and, after training with several veterans in Quebec, Martel brought him into Stampede Wrestling during his first year as Don Gagne.
They soon began teaming together as The Mercenaries, their in-ring personas closely mirroring the Quebecois nationalist movements active in Quebec during that time, and began wrestling in Montreal and the Maritimes for Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling as Michel and Pierre Martel feuding with Leo Burke, The Beast, Rudy Kay and Roddy Piper.
However, it was in Puerto Rico where The Mercenaries gained the greatest success, when his friends Carlos Colon and Victor Rivera established the World Wrestling Council the previous year. Signing with the promotion in early 1975, he and Martin would defeat Vikingo & Ciclon Sudamericano for the WWC North American Tag Team Championship in Caguas, Puerto Rico on April 8, 1975. Feuding with Jose Rivera and Carlos Colon during the next several months, he and Martin remained the top "heels" in the promotion headlining the majority of the WWC events with Rivera and Colon for much of the year. In one of the biggest cards of the year, which featured the return of WWC mainstays Eric the Red, Bob Ellis and Dick Steinborn, the Martel brothers lost a hair vs. hair match to Jose Rivera and Carlos Colon on May 31, 1975. They would also be allied with Kurt Von Hess for a short time while he toured Puerto Rice during the summer. [2]
After losing the titles to Jose Rivera & Ciclon on August 2, they also had a brief stay in the Cleveland-based International Wrestling Association facing Johnny Powers & Pez Whatley in Walpole, Massachusetts on October 1. [3] However, negotiations to sign with the IWA would later fall through due to miscommunication with promoters Pedro Martinez and Eddie Einhorn including being unable to attain a work visa among other issues. Later that year, they would also began touring Japan as Combat defeating the Great Kusatsu & Mighty Inoue for the IWA World Tag Team Championship in Tokyo, Japan on November 3 before losing the titles back to Kusatsu & Mighty Inoue in Yokohama, Japan the following month. [4]
During the next two years, The Mercenaries would become one of the most popular tag teams in the promotion and feuded with many of the of the biggest stars of the era including Carlos Colon, Jose and Johnny Rivera and The Moondogs. He and Martin would eventually be joined Danny Babich, Martel's former Stampede Wrestling tag team partner, who became the third member of The Mercenaries as Daniel Martel. Later defeating The Medics (Medico I & Medico II) for the WWC North American Tag Team titles in May 1977, he would feud over the tag team championship with Jose Rivera & Hercules Ayala and eventually won the tag team titles twice more with Babich before the end of the year.
He would also team with his brother Rick Martel in Quebec soon after his brothers debut as well as in Georgia and Calgary where he also briefly feuded with Leo Burke over the Stampede North American Championship defeating Burke for the title in March before losing it back to him the following month. [1]
Death
On the night of June 30, 1978, Martel was wrestling at a WWC event in Ponce, Puerto Rico appearing on the undercard in a 6-man tag team match Pierre Martin and Jack Lafarb facing Carlos Colon & The Invaders (Invader I & Invader II). Although showing no signs during the match, he complained of suffering discomfort during the match to his tag team partner while backstage preparing to leave for the night. Although Martin had offered to take him to a hospital, Martel claimed he felt better and wasn't necessary instead wanting to go back to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
However, within minutes of leaving the arena, Martel began suffering some sort of heart attack asking Martin to pull over to the side of the road. Martin attempted, but was able to vomit, and his lips began turning blue. Although Martin drove Martel to a nearby hospital only five minutes away, Martel was pronounced dead on arrival and attempts to resuscitate him would fail.
Rick Martel, now 21 years old, would eventually be flown in to Puerto Rico to identify his brother and eventually charged with bringing his body back to Quebec. His death was not only announced by Bob Leonard in Stampede Wrestling but also the World Wrestling Council where promoter Carlos Colon and Jose Gonzalez would use Martel's death to promote a long running feud between The Invaders and Pierre Martin & Rick Martel with the promotion claiming that Martel's attack had been caused by Gonzales using the then banned "heart punch" during their last match. This incident was later brought up when Jose Gonzalez stabbed American wrestler Bruiser Brody to death at a WWC show in 1988.
Although drug and alcohol use had been speculated as contributing factors to his death, Rick Martel, Pierre Martin and others believe that Martel's main artery had become blocked during the match causing him to suffocate later on during the night. [1]
Championships and accomplishments
- International Wrestling Enterprise
- IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Pierre Martel [5]
- Stampede Wrestling
- Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (1 times) [6]
- Stampede International Tag Team Championship (4 times) with Danny Babich [7]
- World Wrestling Council
- WWC North American Tag Team Championship (4 times) with Pierre Martel and Danny Babich (3) [8]
References
- ^ a b c d e Oliver, Greg (2004-10-11). "Michel Martel: Forgotten great". SLAM! Sports.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|month=and|coauthors=(help) - ^ Gonzalez, Manuel (2002). "Regional Territories: WWC #9, Page #2". KayfabeMemories.com.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ "IWA Wrestling Results - 1975". SteelBeltWrestling.com. 2006-05-01.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|month=and|coauthors=(help) - ^ Will, Gary (2000). "Canadian Pro Wrestling Page of Fame: Frenchy Martin". GaryWill.com.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ "I.W.A. World Tag Team Title (IWE)". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|month=and|coauthors=(help) - ^ "North American Heavyweight Title (Calgary Stampede)". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|month=and|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Stampede International Tag Team Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters:|month=and|coauthors=(help) - ^ "W.W.C. North American Tag Team Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2003.
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