Rick Martel

    Rick Martel is a Canadian legend in professional wrestling. Not only has he wrestled all over Canada and captured Canadian titles, including some in the Stampede area, he is one of only a handful of people ever to hold titles in the WWF, WCW and the AWA.
    Charismatic and handsome, Martel was a big draw wherever he went.In the late 70s and early 80s, Martel formed a tag team with fellow Canadian Roddy Piper to some success. He was one of the first big stars of the Minnesota based AWA, and he held the World title there. Later, he jumped to the WWF where he won Tag Team gold with two different partners, Tony Garea and Tito Santana. After splitting with Santana, Martel took the persona, "The Model", an arrogant Parisian male model. Martel spent many years in the WWF.
    Late in the 90s, Martel took a stab at wrestling in WCW, ending up in a feud with Booker T, where he won the TV title. During his time there, he injured himself and never fully recovered. Martel is currently semi-retired.

Vital Statistics:

Real Name: Richard Vigneault
Height:
Weight:
Hometown: Montreal, Quebec
AKA: The Model

Titles Held:

Stampede Tag Team Champion
3 Time WWF Tag Team Champion
AWA World Heavyweight Champion
WCW Televesion Champion
PNW Heavyweight Champion
2 Time New Zealand Commonwealth Champion
2 Time PNW Tag Team Champion
Canadian tag champion (Vancouver)
International champion (Montreal)

PWI Rankings

Best PWI Ranking: 35 (1992)
All-Time PWI Ranking: 48
All-Time PWI Tag Rankings:     With Tito Santana: 70
                                                With Tony Garea: 74

Chronology:

1974:
    Martel teams with Lennie Hurst to beat Stan "Killer" Kowalski and Duke Savage for the Stampede Tag Titles.
    November: Martel and Hurst lose the titles to Pat and Mike Kelly.

1980:
    March: Martel beats "Playboy" Buddy Rose for the Pacific Northwest Wrestling Heavyweight Title.
    August: Martel loses the PNW Title back to Buddy Rose.
    November: Martel wins the WWF Tag Titles with Tony Garea from The Wild Samoans.

1981:
    March: Martel and Garea lose the Tag Titles to The Moondogs.
    July: Martel and Garea win the WWF Tag Titles back from the Moondogs.
    October: Martel and Garea lose the Tag Titles to Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito.

1984:
    May: Martel beats Jumbo Tsuruta for the AWA Heavyweight Title.

1985:
    December: Martel loses the AWA Title to Stan Hansen.

1986:
    April: Martel wrestles NWA champion Harley Race to a double countout at the Wrestlerock supercard.
    Summer: Martel begins teaming with Tom Zenk as the Can-Am Connection.

1987:
    March: Martel  and Zenk to beat Don Muraco and "Cowboy" Bob Orton at Wrestlemania 3.
    Summer: Martel begins tagging with Tito Santana in a team called Strike Force
    October: Martel and Santana beat The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) for the WWF Tag Titles.
    November: Strike Force compete at the annual Survivor Series.

1988:
    March: Martel and Santana lose the Tag Titles to Demolition at Wrestlemania 4.

1989:
    April: Martel turns on Santana at Wrestlemania 5, allowing him to lose to The Brainbusters (Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson). Martel debuts his Model character soon afterwards.
    August: Martel teams with the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers at Summerslam beating the Rockers and Tito Santana.
    November: Martel competes in the annual Survivor Series.

1990:
    April: Martel beats Koko B. Ware at Wrestlemania 6.
    November: Martel competes at the Survivor Series.

1991:
    April: Martel loses to Jake Roberts in a blindfold match at Wrestlemania 7.

1992:
    April: Martel loses to Tatanka at Wrestlemania 8.
    August: Martel wrestles Shawn Michaels to a double countout at Summerslam.
    November: Martel loses to Tatanka at Survivor Series.

1993:
    November: Martel competes at the Survivor Series.

1997:
    Winter: Martel enters WCW.

1998:
    January: Martel loses to Booker T at Souled Out.
    March: Martel wins the WCW TV Title from Booker T, then loses it a week later to Booker T at Superbrawl 8.

Links:

Rick Martel Page of Fame: http://www.garywill.com/wrestling/canada/martel.htm
Rick Martel Page at Canoe: http://www.canoe.ca/SlamWrestling/martel.html