Strike Force

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Strike Force was a tag team in the WWF composed of Tito Santana and Rick Martel.

The team formed after Martel fought both Islanders alone in singles matches, until an attack took place on WWF Superstars of Wrestling in August 1987, in which the Islanders jumped Martel. Santana was doing commentary in the Spanish broadcast booth, and ran to the ring to help Martel fight off the Islanders. The team were played off as good looking pretty boys and even had a theme called "Girls In Cars." They feuded with the Islanders until October, when they got a shot at the Hart Foundation for the WWF World tag team title. They won the titles when Jim Neidhart submitted to Martel's Boston Crab.

The team would hold onto the titles until WrestleMania IV, where they lost the tag belts to Demolition. Martel had Smash in the Boston Crab, until Ax hit him in the back of the head with Mr. Fuji's cane, while the ref was distracted by a fight between Santana and Fuji.

Shortly afterward, Martel (kayfabe) suffered an injury after taking Demolition's finisher on the floor, splitting up the team for several months. In reality, Martel took an extended leave of absence to help take care of his wife, who was severely ill.

Santana wrestled in singles matches again afterwards for a while. Martel would return to the WWF in January 1989 at the Royal Rumble. Sometime later, Santana and Martel would reunite, taking on the Brain Busters at WrestleMania V. After Santana accidentally knocked Martel out with a flying forearm, Martel left Santana alone in the ring to fend for himself, thus turning heel. He later said that he no longer wanted to associate with Santana because his timing was off, and he was a loser and a bum. The two would feud on and off for the next two years, including a few matches that took place after Santana adopted the "El Matador" gimmick in 1991. Both men scored wins over the other, including a win by Santana over Martel in the final of the 1989 King of the Ring tournament.

Championships and accomplishments

• World Wrestling Federation

• WWF World tag team champions (1 time)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked them #70 of the 100 best Tag teams during the "PWI" years in 2003.

References

Professional wrestling portal