Mine too. Strike Force was my favorite all time tag teams. Rick Martel and Tito Santana were a great tag team. Always will be my favorite all time tag teams. 👍
1987-90 The WWF had the greatest tag-team roster in the history of professional-wrestling. *PERIOD* I also feel a match that flies under-the-radar is a match between 'El Matador' Tito Santana vs 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair on the 1992 *_SummerSlam_* Spectacular. Classic match. Figure-4 vs Figure-4.
@Larry Harris Mr. Perfect interfered in the match by first tripping Santana, then repeatedly hit Santana with a steel-chair in the knee and ribs, to which Flair eventually submitted Santana with the Figure-Four Leg-Lock. Hardly anything to be ashamed about. th-cam.com/video/kMD02mz9DDc/w-d-xo.html @16:48 Tito Santana faced Papa Shango in a dark-match at _SummerSlam '92._ Ric Flair and Razor Ramon did not have matches at _SummerSlam_ at all, so Tito not being on the main-card doesn't mean anything. If you started watching Tito Santana in 1985 as you "claim" then you would have seen his legendary-feud with Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine in which he regained the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship. Santana had previously defeated the Magnificent Muraco for the IC belt whom with he also had a great feud. So Santana is a two-time IC champion. He is also a two-time WWF Tag-Team champion. His first reign was in 1979 with Ivan Putski as they defeated the Valiant Brothers. He also won the 1989 King Of The Ring (this was long before they made it an official PPV in 1993.) Just to show the cache' that Tito had in the company, he was chosen to make it to the Grand Finale Match at the 1990 *_Survivor Series_* along with Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior. So you can choose to see whatever you wish. The *FACTS* are the Tito Santana was no "loser."
@Larry Harris it's weird how people respond to wrestlers based on how and when they started to watch wrestling. I grew up watching wwf and stampede in Alberta Canada and to me arn Anderson and tully are the brain busters not the four horsemen i never even knew what the horsemen was untill well after nwo. But yeah i agree with you that from what i saw he was no big deal i was way more in to hogan and demolition at that time.
@@D2Kprime I loved Santana, my 1st match was when Savage fought Santana for the IC strap an when Savage pulled out the swiss knife and hit him with it to win, I was a fan for life
Tito Santana “should have” had another run as Intercontinental champion, but that never happened. It would be interesting to see Tito Santana and Rick Martel together in an interview today.
He had an absolute-classic match with Curt Hennig on _Saturday Night's Main Event_ for the IC title. It would have been believable for Tito to go over in that match. He is a two-time IC champ though.
Tito isn't to find of Martel nowadays. He basically said the same thing that Tom Zenk said, that Rick Martel was a backstabber and couldn't be trusted.
I remember the build up on TV with Rick rehabbing. and Tito being there right by his side, which made the heal turn for Martel more surprising to 10 year old me. However, it worked and created major heat for Rick. I also remember Tito still wearing the Strike Force tights for a while after that, and made me want to sympathize with him losing his partner. Definitely no psychology like that anymore from WWE.
They were my favorite tag team as a little kid, and by little I mean 4 or 5 years old. Running around the house in a pair of tidy whities and a plain white T-shirt pretending I was running into the arena while Girls In Cars played was very common, much to my grandparents annoyance lol
That pop when Strike Force won the tag team titles from the Hart Foundation was one of the biggest pops ever. Go back and watch it. Great match. Kind of a bummer when they split them up. El Matador didnt really get over like Strike Force did.
I fell like Martel's heel turn has been underrated and largely ignored. Whenever there is a top-ten list of heel turns, you never see the Martel turn, which is real shame because it was executed perfectly by all involved. Strike Force seemed to be on good terms when they reformed. The first half of the match with the Brain Busters showed they still had their chemistry with their quick tags and double team moves. Then the unintentional flying forearm happened. Totally an accident, completely forgivable, and no one would have suspected Martel would be too mad about it. Then instead of attacking Tito, he simply walks away, leaving Tito to be beaten up. Martel's explanation: He wanted to be in singles competition and was tired or carrying Tito and being hit with the forearm was the straw that broke the camel's back. Anymore now, heel turns happen every other week. Usually the excuse given is for money or some other lame reason. Martel, on the other hand, was able to provide legitimate reasons for not wanting to tag with Tito anymore. He was able to justify it. That's what makes a heel turn work.
My earliest memories are somewhere around Wrestlemania 4 give or take .... Love Strike Force. I didn't like the split as a kid but I see what they were doing. Just thought could have had a better blow off match. I liked Tito... Wish he could have had a good IC run somewhere between Warrior vacating after WM 6. Having Hennig win it from him and still went into the rest of the IC champions. I mean his early 80s runs were alright but the title changes were house shows. Idk. Tito kinda got jobbed out in the final years. And El Matador ? Serious?
same here wrestlemania 4 was my first the closest thing i saw to wrestling before that was hulk hogans rockn wrestling cartoon but after i saw the Ultimate Warrior and Demolition it was yep im hooked total MARK lol
They did feud that summer. You must not be old enough to remember why they didn’t blow off feuds on PPV. It’s because they feuded all over house shows for six months. Martel got repackaged right after their feud ended.
Strike Force was awesome how it started and how it ended!! Loved both wrestlers an the whole Girls in Cars theme!! They were great champions and to watch them overcome was magical!! Thought Rick should have went on to a world title run and believed he would have gotten that chance if he never turned heel, from that point on, Martel star power faded in my opinion, he was a better Babyface
When Strike Force reformed in early 1989, the wrestling business had changed quite a bit since they last teamed up. The WWF had such a roster of good teams that they probably wouldn't be regaining the belts. I think that had Martel had not turned heel on Tito, Strike Force would've feuded with Tully and Arn past Mania, then put them over in title matches after they won the titles. After that, they would've been the "get over" team to build the heel teams that the WWF wanted to push. Eventually, they would've gotten lost in the shuffle and just faded away. Like a face Orient Express.
The most underrated tag team in wwf during that era. Too bad they didn’t last long…Demolition ruled during that time since they were pretty much a knock off of the road warriors(legion of doom).
You say a "bridge", they held the belts for about 6 months and had a legitimate reign so they weren't simply a transitional champion. They likely would have regained the titles from Demolition and then dropped it back to them at some point.
Rick Martel should never have gone heal. His size and wrassling style just did not fit a heal persona. He was main event as a face and midcard as a heal.
i'd see Tito being a Heel ,because if he saw himself as a Frustrated Babyface . but angry to the point that it's not cool ,and the fans don't feel sorry for you and call you a whiner
Such a wasted feud! Instead of having Koko job to Martel & Tito job to the Barbarian, they should have had a huge match at WM VI with Tito finally winning to end the feud.
@@stevepmg9202 True, but it never should have been put off that far. Tito/Martel could have opened the night in a match that rivaled Bret/Owen at WM 10 as greatest opener, while Koko jobbed to the Barbarian. Tito deserved to get that win to end the feud at WM, instead of at a house show "King of the Ring" event that few saw, and fewer remember, except for reading about it in KOTR history. Same thing with the Piper-Rude feud, which disappeared after the Survivor Series after being built up into a really hot feud. Piper-Bad News was rushed, and equally anti-climactic.
@@bobt1346 Different times. The top feuds were rarely blown off on PPV, they wanted you to come to the live shows to see winners and losers, there was more money there. Piper and Rude was built on TV, at SummerSlam and at Survivor Series but you had to buy a ticket to see it, exactly the same as Hogan vs Macho Man and Warrior vs Andre at the same time. Blowing off Piper vs Rude at Mania VI sounds great on paper, but in reality they drew 6 months of gate revenue from Piper vs Rude on house shows in straight matches, then lumberjack matches, then cage matches, so every fan in the country has paid to see that match already if they want to see it. You give Rude a strong decisive win at Mania VI because he's going on the road with Warrior for the belt for the next 6 months and he needs to look in the form of his life, not selling for Piper who at this point could let his matches become a little comedic. I get your point and we've probably all got a house show feud from the era that we wish had made a PPV, but thats not how business was done at the time. Go back and watch Mania VI with a critical eye and you'll see everything was booked with promoting live events in mind. Demolition win the tag belts and we learn the Harts have challenged the winners, the Harts then win their match in 40 seconds to look viable challengers for six months of house shows, and even when Demolition lose to them on a PPV it's designed to build the next house show feud (with LOD). The Million Dollar Man seeks some revenge on the Boss Man, because they're about to start feuding on the house shows. The Orient Express get a screwy win over the Rockers, but the Rockers will be gunning for revenge on the house shows. The Barber ends "The Perfect Record" because Mr P is about to win the Intercontinental title, and if Brutus has beaten him, people will buy a ticket for the title matches to see if he can beat him for the belt. There's no finish of Dusty or Savage pinning each other in the mixed tag because they want you to pay for that singles match in your town for the next five months. Earthquake gets a win to look strong because they're starting to build him up for Hogan, but also starts something up with Duggan because - survey says - he'll be wrestling Hacksaw on the house shows while Hogan films Suburban Commando. The rest of the card was thrown together with a combination of who deserved the payday and who needed a rub. Martel needed a rub. Maybe they could have used Tito, but they'd been on the road for 8 months in 1989 and then gone cold, so maybe they wanted to preserve it to reignite it again later. If they'd ran the match as planned at SummerSlam, it would have made sense for a big win to make him look strong for Jake (on the road). To your point, it wasn't that by Mania VI the big match between Tito and The Model had been "put off" so much as already happened in every venue in the country, often more than once, and they'd been moved on to other stories. Martel was about to go on the road with Ron Garvin, and Tito was going to be doing jobs for whoever need a rub - Barbar, Warlord, Dino Bravo - but was still over enough to slot right in to challenging Perfect after Brutus had his accident. Either way, Tito would never be winning to end the Martel feud. He was on the way down, The Model was on the way up.
![เปิด อาณาจักร หมื่นล้าน "สาระตั้ม" l [Nickynachat]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3XE0nPF4YkQ/mqdefault.jpg)
The kindest men make the best heels.
There are also plenty of Buzz Sawyers.
Strike Force was my favorite tag team at that time
Santana vs. Martel is still one of my all-time favorite rivalries. Loved how they kept squaring off years later.
I really liked strike force.
They had this energy about them.
I was always looking forward to the Boston crab.
Mine too. Strike Force was my favorite all time tag teams. Rick Martel and Tito Santana were a great tag team. Always will be my favorite all time tag teams. 👍
Same. Two solid guys.
1987-90 The WWF had the greatest tag-team roster in the history of professional-wrestling.
*PERIOD*
I also feel a match that flies under-the-radar is a match between 'El Matador' Tito Santana vs 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair on the 1992 *_SummerSlam_* Spectacular. Classic match. Figure-4 vs Figure-4.
@Larry Harris Mr. Perfect interfered in the match by first tripping Santana, then repeatedly hit Santana with a steel-chair in the knee and ribs, to which Flair eventually submitted Santana with the Figure-Four Leg-Lock. Hardly anything to be ashamed about.
th-cam.com/video/kMD02mz9DDc/w-d-xo.html
@16:48
Tito Santana faced Papa Shango in a dark-match at _SummerSlam '92._ Ric Flair and Razor Ramon did not have matches at _SummerSlam_ at all, so Tito not being on the main-card doesn't mean anything.
If you started watching Tito Santana in 1985 as you "claim" then you would have seen his legendary-feud with Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine in which he regained the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship. Santana had previously defeated the Magnificent Muraco for the IC belt whom with he also had a great feud.
So Santana is a two-time IC champion. He is also a two-time WWF Tag-Team champion. His first reign was in 1979 with Ivan Putski as they defeated the Valiant Brothers. He also won the 1989 King Of The Ring (this was long before they made it an official PPV in 1993.) Just to show the cache' that Tito had in the company, he was chosen to make it to the Grand Finale Match at the 1990 *_Survivor Series_* along with Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior.
So you can choose to see whatever you wish. The *FACTS* are the Tito Santana was no "loser."
@Larry Harris it's weird how people respond to wrestlers based on how and when they started to watch wrestling. I grew up watching wwf and stampede in Alberta Canada and to me arn Anderson and tully are the brain busters not the four horsemen i never even knew what the horsemen was untill well after nwo. But yeah i agree with you that from what i saw he was no big deal i was way more in to hogan and demolition at that time.
@@D2Kprime I loved Santana, my 1st match was when Savage fought Santana for the IC strap an when Savage pulled out the swiss knife and hit him with it to win, I was a fan for life
Tito Santana “should have” had another run as Intercontinental champion, but that never happened. It would be interesting to see Tito Santana and Rick Martel together in an interview today.
Wow, what a great idea!!
Maybe they can also do a commentary on one of their matches.
He had an absolute-classic match with Curt Hennig on _Saturday Night's Main Event_ for the IC title. It would have been believable for Tito to go over in that match. He is a two-time IC champ though.
Martel shudda had an ic run.
Tito isn't to find of Martel nowadays. He basically said the same thing that Tom Zenk said, that Rick Martel was a backstabber and couldn't be trusted.
Tito was the first one to defeat the undertaker Barcelona spain
I loved The Model character, the angle with Jake Roberts was fantastic.
it seemed legit as hell
I remember the build up on TV with Rick rehabbing. and Tito being there right by his side, which made the heal turn for Martel more surprising to 10 year old me. However, it worked and created major heat for Rick. I also remember Tito still wearing the Strike Force tights for a while after that, and made me want to sympathize with him losing his partner. Definitely no psychology like that anymore from WWE.
Man, tito wore his Sombrero stamp shorts for what feels like a decade after the breakup
Tag Team division was 🔥 back then. Such stars. Awesome story lines. Bring that back today.
They were my favorite tag team as a little kid, and by little I mean 4 or 5 years old. Running around the house in a pair of tidy whities and a plain white T-shirt pretending I was running into the arena while Girls In Cars played was very common, much to my grandparents annoyance lol
The good old Double taped Wrestlemania 4. We had that here in England too.lol
That pop when Strike Force won the tag team titles from the Hart Foundation was one of the biggest pops ever. Go back and watch it. Great match.
Kind of a bummer when they split them up. El Matador didnt really get over like Strike Force did.
I fell like Martel's heel turn has been underrated and largely ignored. Whenever there is a top-ten list of heel turns, you never see the Martel turn, which is real shame because it was executed perfectly by all involved. Strike Force seemed to be on good terms when they reformed. The first half of the match with the Brain Busters showed they still had their chemistry with their quick tags and double team moves. Then the unintentional flying forearm happened. Totally an accident, completely forgivable, and no one would have suspected Martel would be too mad about it. Then instead of attacking Tito, he simply walks away, leaving Tito to be beaten up. Martel's explanation: He wanted to be in singles competition and was tired or carrying Tito and being hit with the forearm was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Anymore now, heel turns happen every other week. Usually the excuse given is for money or some other lame reason. Martel, on the other hand, was able to provide legitimate reasons for not wanting to tag with Tito anymore. He was able to justify it. That's what makes a heel turn work.
My earliest memories are somewhere around Wrestlemania 4 give or take ....
Love Strike Force. I didn't like the split as a kid but I see what they were doing. Just thought could have had a better blow off match.
I liked Tito... Wish he could have had a good IC run somewhere between Warrior vacating after WM 6. Having Hennig win it from him and still went into the rest of the IC champions. I mean his early 80s runs were alright but the title changes were house shows. Idk. Tito kinda got jobbed out in the final years. And El Matador ? Serious?
I wanted to see Tito win the IC title. WWF did him wrong.
I met Tito. He is a class act. Very easy to talk to. Very nice.
same here wrestlemania 4 was my first the closest thing i saw to wrestling before that was hulk hogans rockn wrestling cartoon but after i saw the Ultimate Warrior and Demolition it was yep im hooked total MARK lol
What a ball drop that they never ran with this feud and had a Tito vs. Rick Martel blowoff match at that year's Summerslam following Wrestlemania 5
They did feud that summer.
You must not be old enough to remember why they didn’t blow off feuds on PPV. It’s because they feuded all over house shows for six months.
Martel got repackaged right after their feud ended.
@claytron3000 dude they ABSOLUTELY did blow off feuds at PPVS. See Wrestlemania 3, Summerslam 1988, etc. I can give you tons of examples.
They never ran with Hart and Neidhart feud either
@@horizontoday7874 huh?
Strikeforce was supposed to be a team!!! A team!!!
A BOWLING team!
A gayish Team
Strike Force was awesome how it started and how it ended!! Loved both wrestlers an the whole Girls in Cars theme!! They were great champions and to watch them overcome was magical!! Thought Rick should have went on to a world title run and believed he would have gotten that chance if he never turned heel, from that point on, Martel star power faded in my opinion, he was a better Babyface
“Assholian tendencies”. *uodate: Conrad said it 30 seconds after I thought it.
Tito and Rick did have one of the best matches in the history of Saturday Night's Main Event.... Even if it did end in a no finish....
That damn Mr Fuji cost strike force damn him 🤣
When Strike Force reformed in early 1989, the wrestling business had changed quite a bit since they last teamed up. The WWF had such a roster of good teams that they probably wouldn't be regaining the belts.
I think that had Martel had not turned heel on Tito, Strike Force would've feuded with Tully and Arn past Mania, then put them over in title matches after they won the titles. After that, they would've been the "get over" team to build the heel teams that the WWF wanted to push. Eventually, they would've gotten lost in the shuffle and just faded away. Like a face Orient Express.
The interesting thing about Tito is what kind of heel he would have been.
The most underrated tag team in wwf during that era. Too bad they didn’t last long…Demolition ruled during that time since they were pretty much a knock off of the road warriors(legion of doom).
Powers of Pain were more knockoffs of RW/LOD
Wrestling villains are very cool to hang out with IRL. But never ever meet your heroes. Very strange lesson there, but so very true.
Strike Force was simply used as a “bridge team” to carry the belts over from The Harts to Demolition. Heels vs heels were rare back then.
You say a "bridge", they held the belts for about 6 months and had a legitimate reign so they weren't simply a transitional champion. They likely would have regained the titles from Demolition and then dropped it back to them at some point.
Transitional champions
No they weren't a "bridge" team. Ill admit I didn't really like them but they were legit champs
So in fact it was Martel who held Tito back.
Strike Force … sounds like a fucking bowling team.
Why are Strike Force and Tito Santana and Rick Martel [Rick 'The Model' Martel ] not in the Wwe Hall of Fame yet, put them in Vince.
Tito is, Rick has apparently turned down the offers as he has very much moved on
Good piece but another reupload
Rick Martel should never have gone heal. His size and wrassling style just did not fit a heal persona. He was main event as a face and midcard as a heal.
i'd see Tito being a Heel ,because if he saw himself as a Frustrated Babyface . but angry to the point that it's not cool ,and the fans don't feel sorry for you and call you a whiner
Of course they give Martel the kiss of death by pairing him with one of the worst managers in WWE history : Slick
He doesn't seem to be very caring when it comes to his daughter. Atleast that's the impression I got from listening to her interview.
Chico became a jobber after Strike Force
Jobber to the stars. He got decimated by the Powers of Pain in their respective singles run.
Such a wasted feud! Instead of having Koko job to Martel & Tito job to the Barbarian, they should have had a huge match at WM VI with Tito finally winning to end the feud.
It was announced for SummerSlam but the Model got injured.
@@stevepmg9202 True, but it never should have been put off that far. Tito/Martel could have opened the night in a match that rivaled Bret/Owen at WM 10 as greatest opener, while Koko jobbed to the Barbarian. Tito deserved to get that win to end the feud at WM, instead of at a house show "King of the Ring" event that few saw, and fewer remember, except for reading about it in KOTR history. Same thing with the Piper-Rude feud, which disappeared after the Survivor Series after being built up into a really hot feud. Piper-Bad News was rushed, and equally anti-climactic.
@@bobt1346 Different times. The top feuds were rarely blown off on PPV, they wanted you to come to the live shows to see winners and losers, there was more money there. Piper and Rude was built on TV, at SummerSlam and at Survivor Series but you had to buy a ticket to see it, exactly the same as Hogan vs Macho Man and Warrior vs Andre at the same time. Blowing off Piper vs Rude at Mania VI sounds great on paper, but in reality they drew 6 months of gate revenue from Piper vs Rude on house shows in straight matches, then lumberjack matches, then cage matches, so every fan in the country has paid to see that match already if they want to see it. You give Rude a strong decisive win at Mania VI because he's going on the road with Warrior for the belt for the next 6 months and he needs to look in the form of his life, not selling for Piper who at this point could let his matches become a little comedic.
I get your point and we've probably all got a house show feud from the era that we wish had made a PPV, but thats not how business was done at the time. Go back and watch Mania VI with a critical eye and you'll see everything was booked with promoting live events in mind. Demolition win the tag belts and we learn the Harts have challenged the winners, the Harts then win their match in 40 seconds to look viable challengers for six months of house shows, and even when Demolition lose to them on a PPV it's designed to build the next house show feud (with LOD). The Million Dollar Man seeks some revenge on the Boss Man, because they're about to start feuding on the house shows. The Orient Express get a screwy win over the Rockers, but the Rockers will be gunning for revenge on the house shows. The Barber ends "The Perfect Record" because Mr P is about to win the Intercontinental title, and if Brutus has beaten him, people will buy a ticket for the title matches to see if he can beat him for the belt. There's no finish of Dusty or Savage pinning each other in the mixed tag because they want you to pay for that singles match in your town for the next five months. Earthquake gets a win to look strong because they're starting to build him up for Hogan, but also starts something up with Duggan because - survey says - he'll be wrestling Hacksaw on the house shows while Hogan films Suburban Commando.
The rest of the card was thrown together with a combination of who deserved the payday and who needed a rub. Martel needed a rub. Maybe they could have used Tito, but they'd been on the road for 8 months in 1989 and then gone cold, so maybe they wanted to preserve it to reignite it again later. If they'd ran the match as planned at SummerSlam, it would have made sense for a big win to make him look strong for Jake (on the road). To your point, it wasn't that by Mania VI the big match between Tito and The Model had been "put off" so much as already happened in every venue in the country, often more than once, and they'd been moved on to other stories. Martel was about to go on the road with Ron Garvin, and Tito was going to be doing jobs for whoever need a rub - Barbar, Warlord, Dino Bravo - but was still over enough to slot right in to challenging Perfect after Brutus had his accident.
Either way, Tito would never be winning to end the Martel feud. He was on the way down, The Model was on the way up.
But a deadbeat dad
Another stupid storyline, one of many! Imagine that
Does Tito Santana even have a green card 😕👎
How's it feel to know that DOnald Trump lost in 2020?
He was born in Texas