Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

Rick Martel


Grimmas

Recommended Posts

 

 

Short as it is, the Hansen brawl at Comiskey Park into the dugouts was pretty fucking awesome.

Yep. Martel doesn't let Stan eat him alive either, he's just losing it after a while.

 

The title change with Stan wasn't a brawl, although with Hansen it always kinda is, but it's one hell of an intense match. The addition of Stan + fighing babyface never fails to deliver, and Martel was a terrific fighting babyface. The ending is classic too.

I was at that show and at the time we were all kind of bored with it, and half the crowd left. But it was like the last match on a LONG show. When the title changed, though, we all freaked out. Seeing a World Title change live back then was a rarity.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • Replies 102
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Rick Martel vs Randy Savage, 1/12/94 (Coliseum: WrestleFest '94)

 

A really solid, smartly worked little Coliseum match, as good as I've seen from '93-94 for either guy, perhaps not great but very good. Martel's stooging is fun instead of lazy, which pays off in some hot transitions. Savage is moving pretty well and taking big bumps. I really love the smart work during the Savage-led "tenacious headlock" spot in the middle--it feels like they put some planning into it, as does most of the match, which is good since Model-era Martel can be rather ambling. Finish is a bit abrupt, but quite sensible. This is around 3.5* for me, and the best of the Model matches I've rewatched so far.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really want to find a great or at least very good Model match. I watched Martel vs Red Rooster from MSG last night and while I thought he did a great job during the shine, really selling the arm and then the leg and making Taylor look good and his stuff meaningful, I fell asleep once he got on offense. Literally. Monsoon was particularly brutal too and I love Monsoon. Heenan getting exasperated that Hillbilly Jim could identify the patella cracked me up though.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnYsLz2PKAQ

watch the time limit draw match against Bret Hart from Prime Time Wrestling, also this ones okay I guess

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...
Regarding Martel's heel work, from the Best Babyface Ever Thread...

Alright, but why didn't it work? I don't think the answer is "Fans just didn't want to boo Goldberg/Austin." Fans liked booing Martel. He played his character well in promos. He came off as arrogant and haughty and did despicable things and got real heat in those settings.

 

So then, why didn't it work? And that, to me, goes back to failings that Martel had as a wrestler. Maybe. And I say that because some of it might have been stylistic WWF issues. To agree to that, though, then you'd have to sort of figure that no mid-card technical heels of his era were good at doing the things that he did not do well due to limitations imposed upon them by Vince and road agents, and that's a much bigger argument.

 

Having went back and looked at a bunch of Model matches today in order to determine an answer to this question, I came to the conclusion that Rick's performance was lacking in the most peculiar of heel mannerisms, namely looking 'like a bitch' or stooging. During his tenure as The Model, Martel did indeed demonstrate arrogance (both the quality and the bottle of perfume) and a certain willingness to thumb a guy in the throat which tended to be his go-to in terms of being a heel. However, what he never seemed to give the crowd was the sense of comeuppance that comes with acting the fool. The point in the match where the arrogant heel is hoisted by his own petard such as when Arn Anderson points to his brain only to turn around and get punched in the face or Vader misses a sit down splash off a sunset flip counter (I use that example to illustrate that even monster heels have these moments). Rick's performances lacked that moment in virtually every one of the matches I saw. Sure he would lose or miss a cross body out of a corner, but you never got him reacting to the miss or the loss. He was missing that part of the theater performance when Wile E. Coyote would look at the camera a moment before gravity made him pay the price for chasing the Road Runner.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One exception to this would be the Blindfold Match with Jake, which is almost entirely Martel giving (really good!) frustrated reactions, and working the crowd into a frenzy. There's actually a bunch of smart schtick in that match that had me thinking WWE should run that stip again. It's good enough to be used once every 25 years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Regarding Martel's heel work, from the Best Babyface Ever Thread...

Alright, but why didn't it work? I don't think the answer is "Fans just didn't want to boo Goldberg/Austin." Fans liked booing Martel. He played his character well in promos. He came off as arrogant and haughty and did despicable things and got real heat in those settings.

 

So then, why didn't it work? And that, to me, goes back to failings that Martel had as a wrestler. Maybe. And I say that because some of it might have been stylistic WWF issues. To agree to that, though, then you'd have to sort of figure that no mid-card technical heels of his era were good at doing the things that he did not do well due to limitations imposed upon them by Vince and road agents, and that's a much bigger argument.

 

Having went back and looked at a bunch of Model matches today in order to determine an answer to this question, I came to the conclusion that Rick's performance was lacking in the most peculiar of heel mannerisms, namely looking 'like a bitch' or stooging. During his tenure as The Model, Martel did indeed demonstrate arrogance (both the quality and the bottle of perfume) and a certain willingness to thumb a guy in the throat which tended to be his go-to in terms of being a heel. However, what he never seemed to give the crowd was the sense of comeuppance that comes with acting the fool. The point in the match where the arrogant heel is hoisted by his own petard such as when Arn Anderson points to his brain only to turn around and get punched in the face or Vader misses a sit down splash off a sunset flip counter (I use that example to illustrate that even monster heels have these moments). Rick's performances lacked that moment in virtually every one of the matches I saw. Sure he would lose or miss a cross body out of a corner, but you never got him reacting to the miss or the loss. He was missing that part of the theater performance when Wile E. Coyote would look at the camera a moment before gravity made him pay the price for chasing the Road Runner.

 

 

This is a really good point and something I never thought about. It is totally spot on!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with the Martel-Razor match where Ramon won the IC title for the first time being a really good heel performance from Martel. He made Razor look great and put him over convincingly in a solid match. I think his performance within that match is better than the match itself, though.

 

Didn't he also have a surprisingly good, long match with Luger on an episode of Raw once? (EDIT: I see that I even mentioned it earlier in the thread.)

 

I'll admit, though, that in both cases, that's Rick Martel with The Model gimmick, but really working as more of a veteran than anything else. From "The Model" run up to the Tatanka feud in 1992, it's much tougher.

 

Complete side note, but I remember one of my first moments where I was disappointed at how wrestling was a lie was when I read in the newspaper that Rick Martel was on sabbatical because of the steroid trial, then he came back with a much different body type while Vince McMahon explained his absence by saying that he was modeling in Paris.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Complete side note, but I remember one of my first moments where I was disappointed at how wrestling was a lie was when I read in the newspaper that Rick Martel was on sabbatical because of the steroid trial, then he came back with a much different body type while Vince McMahon explained his absence by saying that he was modeling in Paris.

Why was Martel taking sabbaticals so often back then? He took time off in 1991, took time off in 1993 before the Intercontinental Title stuff, left again after WrestleMania in 1994, does a one shot in 1995....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Complete side note, but I remember one of my first moments where I was disappointed at how wrestling was a lie was when I read in the newspaper that Rick Martel was on sabbatical because of the steroid trial, then he came back with a much different body type while Vince McMahon explained his absence by saying that he was modeling in Paris.

Why was Martel taking sabbaticals so often back then? He took time off in 1991, took time off in 1993 before the Intercontinental Title stuff, left again after WrestleMania in 1994, does a one shot in 1995....

 

 

I think I mentionned it a billion times by now. :) Martel got involved in the real-estate business in the early 90's and pro-wrestling became basically a part-time thing for him from this point on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Martel Is a guy who will do well on my ballot. He's my type of baby face. His work in Portland and the AWA was top notch. His return in WCW was really good. I like his work in Japan. His tag work with Strike Force and Garea on 1st run in WWF is strong. Just not long enough.

 

His Model work was mediocre. Not enough to bring down all his high end work though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

A name I might've dismissed without second thought when this started 18 months ago and now a lock for top half of the ballot. Amazing in the AWA, great in Japan & Portland, and the brief WCW run was nothing to hold your nose at. Pretending WWF never happened, but I know some folks even find value there. Just an incredible babyface.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Rick Martel hasn't really clicked for me as much as I would like to. He should be my type of wrestler, but for some reason, I find the man terribly unmemorable. Clearly the matches he's in are logical, the selling throughout is impressive and he shows fire. There's just nothing in them that sways me in any particular way. The only thing Martel seems to do outstandingly is selling limbs, which doesn't always produce great matches. I also dislike the springboard crossbody flash pin and his slingshot splash. Can some Martel fans point me in the right direction maybe?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I mentioned this way back when in this thread, but it is a tad irksome that Martel lacks a great brawl, and I think that may part of what is hurting Jetlag's ability to invest. Don't get me wrong. I think Martel is great. But for all the great selling performances he's put in, and strong fired up comebacks I've seen him make, I don't think I've ever seen a Martel match where I felt he was in severe danger. For an all time great babyface that is actually pretty rare, and pretty much all of his contemporaries have matches or situations I can point to where that occurred.

 

There are a lot of matches I could recommend, but I'm not sure he's an easy nut to crack if you are looking to see a babyface really fight back from near death.

 

For what it's worth my favorite under the radar match of his is probably the Saito match from the AWA, and pretty much anything from him in 1980 Portland I love.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That tag was very good. I really liked how Martel sunk into that hammerlock, but Piper's performance blew him away.

 

Have you watched him against Bock or Jumbo at all?

 

Yes I did, in fact I watched near every match I could find. Bock matches were very good but I thought Martel was merely a foil in them. I remember nothing at all about most of the Jumbo matches. They had one match where they just traded moves and I didn't like it at all. I also watched the Saito match. It was good, but again nothing blew me away. I should probably mention that I've known Martel for a few years since I first discovered Portland, and I was careful not watch too much footage in a row of the same guy while watching things for this project

 

I think I like Martel in Portland the best, probably because Portland in general is so awesome. But as far as Portland guys go, Rose and Piper would probably be my #1 and #2 and there's a big gap after that. The competition for the #3 spot is pretty tough. And I don't know if I will rank Piper. I also watched a few of Martel's matches in Europe and while he was a good heel there, he didn't as look as good as, say, Barry Horowitz.

 

The big problem with Martel is that he's clearly excellent in his role and has a bunch of very good-great matches. But I would like something a little more than that. I probably don't value "good in his role" as much as everyone else around here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...