Dec 21, 2022 3:23:54 GMT Kilgore said:

Look at this shit, Baker !

I've seen enough, too. Stand by Martel being overrated. Feel vindicated watching this stuff. 

Who's the face & who's the heel here? WOW!

Most weeks I order a $5.99 pizza after work on Wednesdays. Wait today was 10-15 minutes longer than usual. So I decided to watch one more Martel match after all to help kill the time...

Can Am Connection vs. Bob Orton & Don Muraco- Wrestlemania III 3/29/87

I've long thought this was the ideal opener for what was then, and may still be, the biggest show in wrestling history. Way I remembered it was as an 80s style go-go-go match that didn't wear out its welcome and served its purpose by kicking the show off with a crowd pleasing moment.

All of these things still apply! But Martel didn't really do a ton. Nobody did! It was like all four men contributed an identical 25% to this 5-6 minute match which was greater than the sum of its parts. Martel had one of his fired up babyface punch segments and was part of two cool double teams alongside his Z-Man partner- a unique double team monkey flip and the Midnight Expressy match ender. 
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*No new reviews but I decided to comb through the Match Review & 1987 WWF threads looking for all the Martel I could find. Will cherry pick quotes and provide synopses rather than full reposts in most cases...

Rick Martel vs. Kamala- AWA October 1985 (Baker 1/20/22)
Tantalizing teased of a good match before ultimately settling into another ** AWA Martel special

Rick Martel vs. Terry Gordy- AWA August to October 1985 (Baker 12/14/22)
"this was not a good match. It was all backwards!"

Can Am Connection & Lanny Poffo vs. Dream Team & Adrian Adonis- Superstars 2/28/87 (Baker 5/28/18)
"Can-Ams have some nice stuff with Beefcake & Valentine. Nothing fancy but perfectly fine 80s wrestling... one of the Can Am's (they're practically identical) runs the ropes with authority."

Can Am Connection vs. Kamala & Sika- Wrestling Challenge May 1987 (Baker 2/17/20)
"Martel & Zenk had good babyface fire... Finishing stretch wasn't executed well... Still, this was classic monster heel vs. pretty boy babyface stuff."

Islanders vs. Can Am Connection- Superstars 5/30/87 (Baker 2/24/20)
"the match is fast and furious. All four of these guys could go... Martel hits what I've come to realize is his trademark frankensteiner." Then I complained about the 80s finish.

Islanders vs. Strike Force- Boston House Show October 1987 (Deleted Member 8/10/20)
"This Martel fella is pretty cool...damn great match."

Razor Ramon vs. Rick Martel- Raw 10/11/93 (Baker 12/28/20)
"Good and even close to great....***+" Description was real similar to my recent Model/Perfect review right down to fantasy booking a few more minutes with a similar finish to take it up to classic status! This is top tier Martel.

Razor/Kid/Marty/Savage vs. IRS/Bomb/Martel/Diesel- Survivor Series 1993 (Pete 11/23/19)
Martel lasted long and was part of "the finish with the dual sunset flips is the type of action that makes these types of matches worth happening."

Randy Savage vs. Rick Martel- Superstars 2/12/94 (Baker 5/24/22)
"wrestled with energy and has [good] crowd heat... solid old school tv match between two pros." 

Lex Luger vs. Rick Martel- Raw 3/28/94 (Pete 4/29/19)
"Luger looked like a million bucks, but his form was terrible around this time. His entire game-plan seemed to based around putting Rick Martel into as many side headlocks hoping the Model would pass out from boredom. The Model decided to make a mockery of Luger's career by choking the Total Package over and over again. After enough chicanery Luger synched in his torture rack after 11 minutes of incredibly dull wrestling."

Recommended Martel

vs. Bockwinkel- AWA 9/20/84 (Kilgore)
w/ Tito vs. Islanders- Boston 10/87 (Deleted)
vs. Perfect- Raw 3/8/93 (Baker)
vs. Razor- Raw 10/11/93 (Baker)
vs. Booker- WCW SuperBrawl 98 (Kilgore)

Dec 21, 2022 3:29:18 GMT Baker said:

Wow. You weren't kidding. Just watched Bock own Rick "The Whiner" Martel.

Nick was leaps & bounds above everyone in AWA ever, it's laughable.

Dec 22, 2022 20:25:18 GMT Ed said:

Dec 21, 2022 3:29:18 GMT Baker said:

Wow. You weren't kidding. Just watched Bock own Rick "The Whiner" Martel.

Nick was leaps & bounds above everyone in AWA ever, it's laughable.

Seems like modern fans sleep on the very real fact he was probably leaps and bounds above everyone, period. As far as in-ring PLUS promo, it feels like only Savage & Flair sniff his trunks as far as contemporary peers.

Dec 19, 2022 4:28:44 GMT Kilgore said:

Dec 19, 2022 4:12:53 GMT Baker said:

From memory they love the Strike Force/Islanders and Martel/Bock series. I'll see if I can dig up some more details. 

Edit: RED ALERT Latest post over there is a Bret vs. Cena debate with the guy going to bat for Cena. 

Holy fuck. Between this and me just finding out their 2016 Best Wrestler Ever list had Martel at #43, maybe I should stop wondering what they think about stuff.

Yeah, that raking is a wee bit high. I've always been dismissive of rakings. I enjoy wrestling because of the debates. Lists aren't my jam.

Dec 23, 2022 0:28:55 GMT Ed said:

Dec 19, 2022 4:28:44 GMT Kilgore said:

Holy fuck. Between this and me just finding out their 2016 Best Wrestler Ever list had Martel at #43, maybe I should stop wondering what they think about stuff.

Yeah, that raking is a wee bit high. I've always been dismissive of rakings. I enjoy wrestling because of the debates. Lists aren't my jam.

Sounds like you're not One Cool Dude.

Dec 23, 2022 2:09:22 GMT 🤯 said:

Dec 23, 2022 0:28:55 GMT Ed said:

Yeah, that raking is a wee bit high. I've always been dismissive of rakings. I enjoy wrestling because of the debates. Lists aren't my jam.

Sounds like you're not One Cool Dude.

The only person cooler than me is 2 Cold Scorpio.

Dec 23, 2022 22:48:53 GMT Ed said:

Dec 23, 2022 2:09:22 GMT 🤯 said:

Sounds like you're not One Cool Dude.

The only person cooler than me is 2 Cold Scorpio.

I refer you, good sir, to Kilgore's banner.

I can't argue with that.

After the post-Christmas funk, time to complete my due diligence covering Rick Martel...

Champion vs Champion- Rick Martel vs. Ric Flair- AJPW Anniversary Show 10/21/1985

This really has a big fight feel early on as both Flair and Martel look super serious while Lord James Blears reads an official proclamation of sorts ("two strongest wrestlers in the world", "first ever" AWA/NWA unification match etc. etc.). Martel doesn't feel out of place at all as they both go nose to nose before the bell rings. 

For the first 10 minutes we are treated to some of the cleanest "catch as catch can" wrestling you will ever see filled with clean breaks, hand shakes and stand-offs after great chain wrestling by both. Lots of head scissors take downs, hammerlocks, arm drags and amateur wrestling techniques. For those who say Ric Flair wrestled the same match just watch the first 10 minutes of this one, he really was technically sound when called for and Martel was great at being slightly a step ahead during most of these exchanges.

Things pick up though as Martel is shot off the ropes and we see a Flair leap frog only to end with a Martel press slam which wows the crowd. Flair begs off then counters a Martel headlock with an atomic drop. Flair then takes Martel to the outside and rams his shoulder into the post. Flair works the arm/shoulder for the next few minutes, finally breaking the rules with hair pulls when needed. Martel starts to fire back up in the corner with punches and shoulder blocks to the gut (using the bad shoulder, tsk, tsk) and getting Flair up for some more slams and back body drops. Martel could have sold the arm damage a bit during these sequences. Martel then gets a small package for a near fall.

Flair beats Martel to the punch with a knee to the gut then applies an abdominal stretch. Martel tries to reverse only for Flair to plant him with a butterfly suplex. We get another abdominal stretch only for Martel to reverse with a hip toss. Martel then pulls off a gut wrench suplex for a 2. They are both slow to get up but Flair delivers more knees to the mid section. Martel then reverses a waste lock from Flair and gets a near fall with a roll-up off the ropes. Flair is whipped into the ropes where Martel follows him and delivers the 10 count punches. Flair is whipped to the other side and he does the classic flip to the outside. They are quickly back in where Flair nearly succumbs to a cross body from Martel.

Martel charges Flair into the corner again but Flair is ready with a knee to the gut. We get some chops then a snap mare followed by a knee drop for a 2. Flair tries it again but Martel blocks and reverses it into a Figure Four as the crowd pops. Flair eventually gets a rope break only for Martel to grab him by the ankles and toss him back to the center to try and apply it again. Flair kicks him off then Martel tries a headlock. Flair reverses and crushes Martel's shin on his knee. They then both go after the leg but Martel gets the better of it then tries to smash his own bad knee into Flair in the corner but misses, crashing into the turnbuckle. Flair then gets Martel's leg draped across the bottom rope and crushes it again, but Flair also crumples still selling the Figure Four from before. That's the difference between your Ric Flairs and Rick Martels folks, great stuff. Martel's selling was great too but not quite as on point as Flair's. Then Flair tries to prove me wrong as he does a perfect vertical suplex to Martel, whoops. I would have like to have seen Flair collapse with Martel on top for a false finish, oh well. Flair then slaps the Figure Four on.

Martel is great at getting sympathy from the crowd as he looks to be in agony, the crowd is firmly behind him. Martel reverses it and we get a break in the ropes. Flair tries the Figure Four again and we get the classic near fall with a small package. Martel reverses a vertical suplex attempt and gets one of his own for a 2. Flair starts punching away at Martel's bad knee then chops him to the mat. Flair goes up top of course only to be slammed by Martel. Martel gets a headlock on and is then sent into the ropes and meets a back elbow from Flair. Flair then tries the same but then Martel puts a sleeper on which gets a big pop, never got the hate for the sleeper, pure drama in a long match like this. Flair does reverse it though into a back suplex then tosses Martel outside. Flair tries to smash Martel into the ring post but Martel reverses it. Both are down outside as the crowd urges them on.

Both are back inside and it breaks down into a brawl with fists from both guys landing, Flair is bleeding now as well. Flair tries a piledriver only to be backdropped. More fists from Martel and then he tosses Flair over the top. Flair gets back in and gets powerslammed, suplexed from outside in and a slingshot splash all for near falls. Martel then follows a back breaker with a second rope splash that only found Flair's knees. We then get the Flair side headlock, Martel headscissors into a bridge out then backslide by Martel sequence that we see so often in Ricky Steamboat matches. This was really well done especially now that we are at the 32 minute mark of the match. Flair gets a headlock but is shot off the ropes. He goes for the cross body but both tumble to the outside. I guess All Japan still used the 10 count as the bell rang once the count reached 10. New Japan had the 20 count which is what I was expecting.

This was a stellar performance by Ric Flair, that first 10 minutes was so much fun even though to newer fans it would be a little dull I presume. If you smoothed off the edges a bit on Martel this could have been in the conversation with the Steamboat and Windham matches. Martel raised his game big time in this high profile spot. He was great with his facial expressions both while in peril and while making a comeback and his selling was excellent apart from some nitpicking with the  long term effects of the leg work. I think Martel was hurt by having Bockwinkel as his only scientific opponent during his title run, he could have been a great champion with a different mix of opponents. Awesome match.