10 superstars who still need to be in the WWE Hall of Fame

Rick Martel

Being available as a playable character in the last two WWE 2K video games means that Rick Martel hasn’t been forgotten and could soon become a member of the WWE Hall of Fame.

For 25 years, Martel wrestled in numerous promotions around the world and won plenty of singles and tag team championships in the process. After finding success in Stampede Wrestling, the promotion by famous by Stu Hart, Martel found his way to WWE in the early 1980s and within a few short months won the tag titles with Tony Garea by defeating The Wild Samoans. They had one more reign with the belts before leaving for the AWA, where he found his way as a singles wrestler.

Martel captured the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in 1984 and had the longest title reign of the decade before heading back to WWE (then-WWF) in 1986, once again as a tag-team wrestler. Teaming with Tom Zenk as The Can-Am Connection, the two seemed to be headed towards a run with the titles, but a falling out between the two would eventually lead Martel to team with Tito Santana as Strike Force. The two were paired perfectly. Their styles worked well together, leading them to eventually beat 2019 WWE Hall of Fame inductees, The Hart Foundation, for the titles.

After losing the belts to Demolition, Martel would later turn on Santana and would become a heel for the remainder of his tenure in WWE, eventually adopting “The Model” gimmick for which he is probably the most well-known to the casual fan. He had feuds with Jake “The Snake” Roberts, which led to a blindfold match at WrestleMania VII, and then later on with Shawn Michaels, a program that really helped Michaels get over with fans as he was beginning his own singles career.

Martel finished his career with WCW before injuries forced him to retire in 1998. But his body of work over the years in the biggest promotions in the world can’t be ignored from a Hall of Fame standpoint.