Happy Birthday, Rick Martel

Rick Martel From Larry Stoy: Rick Martel   (Richard Vigneault) received a quick and unexpected start to his pro wrestling career...

Rick Martel

From Larry Stoy:

Rick Martel (Richard Vigneault) received a quick and unexpected start to his pro wrestling career in 1973 when he got a phone call from his brother “Mad Dog” Michel Martel. Apparently the promotion that Michel was wrestling in needed a substitute for a card to be held the next day in Nova Scotia. Rick, only 17 at the time, jumped on the next plane from Quebec to fill in, and the rest, as they say, is history. He wrestled most of 1973 under the name “Pat Kelly or “Pat Blake”, and he began using the name “Rick Martel” when he went to Stampede Wrestling in late 1973.

After competing in Stampede for the rest of 1973 and most of 1974, Martel journeyed to Championship Wrestling from Florida, where he stayed until July 1975 before moving to Georgia Championship Wrestling. It was a short stint in GCW – only two months – before he turned up in WCCW in Dallas. That stretch lasted until early 1976, when he returned to Georgia for most of 1976, and then he ventured to Australia and New Zealand in 1977, where he won his first titles.

Rick Martel

Martel teamed with Larry O’Day to capture the Austral-Asian tag team belts from Ed Wiskowski and Masa Saito. He also had the first of his three reigns as the British Empire Champion. At the end of 1977, Martel left the area to go to Hawaii for several months and then returned again to Georgia.

He had moderate success in Georgia during 1978, teaming with Tommy Rich to beat veterans Ole Anderson and Stan Hansen to win the Georgia Tag Team Title on television. The belts were regained by Anderson and Hansen about a month later. After 1978 ended, Martel took another tour to Hawaii and the South Pacific before going to the NWA’s Pacific Northwest territory to wrestle for Don Owen.

His time in this area saw him have a five-month reign as the Pacific Northwest Champion, as well as the PNW Tag Team Title with Roddy Piper. A week after losing those belts, Martel and Piper captured the Canadian Tag Team Championship by defeating the team that had just won the PNW belts from them, Butch Miller and Luke Williams. Martel spent the remaining four months of 1980 splitting time between Owen’s company and the WWF before going exclusively with McMahon’s outfit.

From 1980 to 1982, Martel was able to become a two-time WWF Tag Team Champion with partner Tony Garea. Martel left the WWF in March of 1982, and ultimately landed in the AWA. After a nearly two-year chase, he won the AWA World Title, reaching that pinnacle on May 13, 1984, when he defeated Jumbo Tsuruta in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Tony Garea and Rick Martel

The original plan had been for Hulk Hogan to win the belt from Bockwinkel, but Hogan bolted the AWA for the WWF. Bockwinkel then lost the belt to Tsuruta and Martel won it from the Japanese star. Martel reigned as the AWA Champion until losing to Stan Hansen on December 29, 1985, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Martel stayed with the AWA until 1987, but he also had matches for the International Wrestling organization, as well as a two month tour for All Japan Pro Wrestling to close out 1986.

Martel went back for his last run in the WWF and remained until mid-1994, where he won his third WWF Tag Team Championship when he teamed with Tito Santana. Their team was very popular and known as Strike Force. Their reign lasted from October 27, 1987, through WrestleMania IV on March 27, 1988. Martel was given time off in late 1988 to take care of his wife, who had been ill. The kayfabe reason for his absence was being injured by the new WWF Tag Team Champions, Demolition.

Rick Martel as the Model

He returned in January of 1989 and reformed Strike Force with Tito Santana. The pair split after WrestleMania V on April 2, 1989, when Martel accidentally hit Santana with a flying forearm that cost them the match. He and Santana feuded off and on for the next two years. Martel then appeared under his newest character, the Model. The next two years saw the Model in programs with Jake Roberts, Shawn Michaels, and Tatanka.

Martel was released from the WWF in July of 1994 after an apparent contract dispute with Vince McMahon, and he would spend the next few years wrestling mostly for independent territories before being signed by WCW. He captured his final championship when he pinned Booker T for the WCW Television Title on February 16, 1998. Booker regained the strap eight days later. Rick suffered a back injury on July 13, 1998, and retired from the business shortly after.

He and his wife have been married since 1983 and they have one child, daughter Coralie. Martel’s final bit of work included being a trainer for WCW and also hosting a French-speaking television show that featured WCW matches.