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Post by kingedge on Sept 5, 2007 23:38:02 GMT -5
I've been watching some Strike Force matches recently (against Demolition of course) and I pretty damn blown away by them. They were very energetic and their styles blended together nicely. Tito was the veteran and a phenomenal worker and Rick wasn't half bad either and man did the ladies ever love him. Definitely an underrated tag team. Unlike the Rockers who were flashly, inexperienced, and relied on high flying moves, the Strike Force were experienced and were all around great wrestlers.
I don't know why they were broken up so early. Santana went on to be JTTS and Martel transformed into the Model. In my opinion, Martel would've been better suited as the plucky babyface underdog. The ladies already loved him and he didn't have the charisma to be a heel nor pull off his Model persona.
Damn was the Demolition/Strike Force series a good one.
I love late 80s/early 90s WWF. Great stuff.
Anyone have any clue why they were broken up so early in their run?
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Post by nwaflairwwf on Sept 6, 2007 18:38:28 GMT -5
I believe by that time the WWF felt Santana couldn't do anymore in the company as himself, so they spilt them up. Besides that, I think Martel wanted to be a heel as well.
You got to get your hands on some Strike Force vs Islanders matches! Those were AMAZING!
p.s. The Islanders were my favorite team ever!
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The Boglin
Main Eventer
Team Goldie.
Joined on: Apr 20, 2005 16:46:22 GMT -5
Posts: 4,171
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Post by The Boglin on Sept 8, 2007 11:35:43 GMT -5
I've been watching some Strike Force matches recently (against Demolition of course) and I pretty damn blown away by them. They were very energetic and their styles blended together nicely. Tito was the veteran and a phenomenal worker and Rick wasn't half bad either and man did the ladies ever love him. Definitely an underrated tag team. Unlike the Rockers who were flashly, inexperienced, and relied on high flying moves, the Strike Force were experienced and were all around great wrestlers. I don't know why they were broken up so early. Santana went on to be JTTS and Martel transformed into the Model. In my opinion, Martel would've been better suited as the plucky babyface underdog. The ladies already loved him and he didn't have the charisma to be a heel nor pull off his Model persona. Damn was the Demolition/Strike Force series a good one. I love late 80s/early 90s WWF. Great stuff. Anyone have any clue why they were broken up so early in their run? I agree with all that except saying Martel didn't have charisma enough to pull off his model gimmic. |
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Post by STOMWIJF on Sept 11, 2007 2:14:18 GMT -5
I've been watching some Strike Force matches recently (against Demolition of course) and I pretty damn blown away by them. They were very energetic and their styles blended together nicely. Tito was the veteran and a phenomenal worker and Rick wasn't half bad either and man did the ladies ever love him. Definitely an underrated tag team. Unlike the Rockers who were flashly, inexperienced, and relied on high flying moves, the Strike Force were experienced and were all around great wrestlers. I don't know why they were broken up so early. Santana went on to be JTTS and Martel transformed into the Model. In my opinion, Martel would've been better suited as the plucky babyface underdog. The ladies already loved him and he didn't have the charisma to be a heel nor pull off his Model persona. Damn was the Demolition/Strike Force series a good one. I love late 80s/early 90s WWF. Great stuff. Anyone have any clue why they were broken up so early in their run? Strike Force was a great Tag Team, but I do not agree with your statement that Santana was the veteran of the team. Martel was 31 when Strike Force formed and had already won many titles including the AWA Heavyweight championship. He was a veteran as well. Shortly after losing the Tag Team title at WM4, Martel needed surgery on his back thus breaking the momentum Strike Force had as a team. I never understood why the WWF broke them up at WM5 as they still could have been very good opponenents any Tag team. I assume that the WWF though they already had too many good Tag Teams, with the POP, Demolition, Brain Busters, Rockers, Islander, Young Stallions, Rougeau Brothers, Boljevics and Hartfoundation (although Bret Hart was targeted towards a singles career by then). Personally I enjoyed Rick Martel as the model, but think Santana's talent was wasted as El Matador. |
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Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai
Main Eventer
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Joined on: Jul 25, 2005 17:12:49 GMT -5
Posts: 3,209
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Post by Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai on Sept 11, 2007 7:38:29 GMT -5
At the time the Can Am Connection (Martel and Zenk) debuted in the WWF, I remember there being a lot of discussion in the Wrestling Observer newsletter that the Rougeau Brothers (who had debuted a few months earlier as the heartthrob babyface team) were being de-pushed to make room for the Can Am's tag title run. The feeling was that they needed to concentrate on one team of young(ish), good looking babyfaces and that was Martel and Zenk.
How that relates to the end of Strike Force is this: Maybe they broke up Strike Force because by 1989, they were ready to push the Rockers as the top teenybopper tag team? Seems to follow the WWF booking theory from this era. This was close to the time when The Rockers had their phantom tag title win, and the Rougeaus had turned heel by then.
Also, the WWF always seemed to favor Martel over his tag partners. They only hired Tom Zenk because Martel wanted to try the Can Am Connection idea in the WWF, and they paid Martel significantly more than Zenk (which eventually led to Zenk quitting). Maybe by the time Strike Force had run its course, the WWF wanted to see if they could make a singles star out of Martel.
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