Not many details yet obviously, but Andrew Martin was apparently found dead in his apartment. Too bad, he always seemed like a good guy, although he burned a lot of bridges near the end.
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Not many details yet obviously, but Andrew Martin was apparently found dead in his apartment. Too bad, he always seemed like a good guy, although he burned a lot of bridges near the end.
Very sad…I bet Vince is glad he didn’t rehire him a few months ago when he had that dark match
Too young.
Always thought he had that Kevin Nash potential.
Only with the willingness to put in the effort.
Ok, enough. The guy was almost 7 feet tall and over 300 pounds, what did you want him to do? Swantons and Shooting Star Presses?
He had a pretty impressive flying elbow.
Just to make it clear, I was referring to Kevin Nash here.
shooting star presses, no. not yawning during a match because he doesn’t give a shit, yes.
Nash was always badass on the mic though, still is.
I met him only 3 months ago at the Cheesecake Factory in Tampa. I won’t lie, he looked like he was on something.
Back when I was in high school, when Jericho first joined the WWE and the Royal Rumbe was in NYC (2000 I think), Jericho and Test did an autograph signing here in Jersey at a local mall.
I went with a few of my buddies and *nobody* was in line to get Test’s autograph (despite the fact that the times were staggered, so that Jericho was signing after Test). We kind of felt bad for him, so we got on line to get an autographed picture from him. With that, I can confirm that he was really cool. He sat there and talked to us for a few minutes, joked about our Jericho shirts, as if he knew the real reason everyone was there, and just came off as a very down-to-earth guy. Jericho, on the other hand, was very aloof and didn’t seem to give a shit.
So, yeah, a very cool guy, and it’s sad to see this happen.
RIP Test.
This is a tough one, since I was a fan of Test and to this day say it should have been him and not Big Show who got the title at Survivor Series, not for talent but for story reasons.
Always liked the guy, thought he was a good worker, if not outstanding. Certainly better than a lot of the big men Vince liked.
But it just brings up the points Scott made in Dungeon of Death. There is beyond any possible doubt now a rampant drug and steroid abuse problem raging in pro wrestling and as long as nothing is done about it, tragedies like this are going to keep happening.
Rest in peace, Andrew. You had a fan here and you will be missed.
While it’s safe to assume that Test died as a result of drug use, the fact remains that we will not know the exact cause for some time.
If Test had been an indy wrestler who died, not much would have been said save for the occasional blurb. Aside from his brief tenures in TNA and Japan, Test will forever be best known for his work with the WWE. That in and of itself is enough of a lightening rod to further cast a negative shadow on Vince’s empire.
Test’s death will only serve to further rally the troops who call for government oversight of the professional wrestling industry. While I agree that something has to be done, it’s certainly not a cut-and-dry issue in the form of steriod/drug testing.
Professional wrestling has always prided itself on it’s larger than life persona. Wrestlers are the living embodiment of comic book-esque heroes and villains with their lavish costumes and jacked physiques. Fans eagerly watch wrestling to see the (unbelievable) build of these wrestlers just as much as they tune in to see the matches and story lines. If this weren’t the case, WWE would be entirely comprised of crusierweights. Disagree? Simply ask yourself if you truly believe that organizations such as ROH will achieve the lofty popularity of the WWE.
After all, there is a reason that wrestlers such as Kendall Windham were never spoken of in the same breath as that of Hulk Hogan or the Ultimate Warrior.
I’m not sure there is a simple solution to the issue of steriods/drugs in wrestling. To completely eradicate the problem would likely mean the death of professional wrestling as it is currently known. Wrestlers would slim down before our very eyes. However, to simply ignore the issue of drugs altogether will simply pave the way for more of these senseless deaths.
Nothing is going to be done. In 20+ years Ive seen over 2 dozen wrestlers die and yet things have remained the same. Simply put, the history of this business has shown us that when wrestlers die, it gets mainstream attention for a day or 3, or in the case of Benoit, a few months, and then the media goes off to focus on the next Octomom or music star who beats up his girlfriend. I guarantee that will be the case here too. In the end, nothing will change.
it’s sad to see what happened, test was a decent midcarder and an agile big man. his last run in ECW looked good but it was obvious he was roiding. He failed a wellness test and got released. I don’t think it’s Vince’s fault, the WWE offered substance abuse rehabilitation to all ex-workers who wrestled a certain amount of time (i’m sure test qualified), and he had wellness testing in place. Besides it’s been years since Test wrestled.
RIP Test
Absolutely right. Because it’s up to the wrestlers to change things, but b/c everyone’s so afraid of McMahon or the road agents or unemployment or obscurity or whatever they just do nothing. If half the roster did a walk-out for change a statement would be made, but as long as everyone keeps swallowing the Kool-Aid of this corrupted decaying business run greedy bitter old men then wrestlers will continue to die for nothing.
I do notice that it’s everyone from the mid 90’s to early 00’s that’s going, those from the time that even Bret Hart said people like Vince were like “no one checks for steroids anymore, fuck it do whatever you want”, generations of wrestlers getting by on their looks b/c they know that’s what Vince values at first instead of being creative and fighting for it like Foley, Shawn (he was too small once remember), or even UT (he played his role perfectly, bad matches or not). Its up to the current and new generation to learn from the previous one’s mistakes (that they see falling all around them now)…b/c they’ll be getting no help from the old guard as is never more so apparent.
I just can’t believe he was only 33.
Since this shit doesn’t even phase me anymore, I will start the betting pool.
2:1 Drug Overdose
3:1 Suicide
5:1 Heart Attack
10:1 Some assorted disease.
13:1 Shane McMahon finally got his win back.
16:1 The Kelly Kelly VD disease train claims another victim. Jericho beware!
Misanthropy is fun, no?
I ran into an old friend the other day. He was like “Charlie you bastard, you still thrive on human misery?”
I was like, “Psssh, did Helen Hart own a black dress?”
I’m a little torn here — half “Oh no you did NOT go there”, half “Can I put five bucks on the fifth one there? Those are good odds.”
Oh well, I’m damn sure Andrew doesn’t mind the joke where he is right now — he’s probably in a six-man tag right now with Eddie and Owen against Hawk, Mister Perfect and Rick Rude. (And what is with me that I wish I had SvR 09 or Legends so I could go off and make that match right now?)
Still, seeing your next post, I realize I am numb to the deaths in wrestling. Christ, it took a murder-suicide to really faze me (or WWE) two years ago. And if it’s drugs, which you probably should’ve put at 3:2 or even 2:3 up there … I’m starting to get like Terry Funk, who mentioned in his book that he gets pissed at Rick Rude and Curt Hennig and the like for killing themselves the slow way and taking themselves away from their friends and family. (Though he doesn’t blame Elizabeth for some reason, and even he’s a little mystified as to why. I think it’s a twisted sort of chivalry.)
So … I don’t blame wrestling exactly. I do think that the business kind of chews people up and spits them out, but… there’s really no reason to have to let that destroy you totally. You CAN stay off drugs, or get off drugs, and live a normal life after the Big Two-and-a-half are done with you.
“(Though he doesn’t blame Elizabeth for some reason, and even he’s a little mystified as to why. I think it’s a twisted sort of chivalry.)”
Or maybe he secretly believes deep down what a lot of people seem to: that Lex Luger murdered her and the cops fucked up what should have been an easy investigation.
I mean, the guy had just gotten out of jail days before for beating her and they dismissed him on the scene as a suspect. What the fuck?
Just to be clear, I’m not totally callous about this stuff but I’m so cold to wrestling deaths at this point, especially drug overdoses. Which is what it looks like this was. Kelly Kelly was on the Bubba the Love Sponge show two weeks ago saying that Test was up to his neck in drugs and he needed to get help before it was too late.
These guys are not victims of wrestling and I don’t feel bad for them. Getting addicted to drugs is a personal choice, and you can get out of it. Shawn Michaels is proof of that. A dozen years ago I would have bet the farm he would have ODed by now. He’s been back for seven years now and he’s drug free, painkiller free, and he’s still the same performer he was back then.
For all these guys to sit around, watch their friends die, and still pop the pills… no, don’t pity them. Pity the people they leave behind.
Good point about Michaels. In response to Wesgr81’s arguement that if wrestlers got off of steroids and shrunk that no one would watch wrestling, take a look at Shawn.
He’s rail thin now, as compared to the Shawn of the 90’s, and yet he’s still one of the most over guys on the roster. Fans know he can still bring it in the ring, where it counts. Likewise Undertaker, who I don’t think is on roids now, due to his body being a lot leaner than it was back in the early 90’s when he first came to the WWE. He’s still over because he has a great character and is also smaller to boot, which means he can do a lot more in the ring than he could if he was still on the juice. Hogan is smaller than he was in his prime and I bet he’s been off the roids since the 1994 scandals. He’s still over because of his ability to work a crowd.
So, while I think there is some merit to the original arguement, since HBK, Taker, and Hogan all got to the top partly due to their great physiques due in large part to steroid use, I think the business would be able to survive without steroids. Some marginal guys who don’t have the in-ring skills, character, crowd working abilty, etc. would be left on the outside looking in, but many people don’t get to WWE without some combination of those skills.
Plus, the physical freakshow quota would be filled by giants like Big Show and Khali and midgets.
Not everyone is strong enough to avoid temptation or strong enough to kick an addiction on their own. The initial actions that gets one addicted may be a personal choice but after that there is a chemical component that must be considered if they want to shrug off the addiction.
I wouldn’t deign to tell you how to think or have more/less compassion but there is more to addictions sometimes than the mental side, especially in drug situations.
I remember when they rehired Test or re-debuted him on ECW a couple years ago…he was jacked out of his mind, like the obvious steroid muscles because it looked unnatural and he was even bigger than he had been. Point being…that’s why guys do it. You look huge, Vince hires you.
The more and more wrestlers die, the more onus has to be put on McMahon and the WWE. They can’t keep coming with the “we’re not the only wrestling company” stuff anymore. I know they’re going to say it wasn’t their fault, and it probably wasn’t in this case, but the numbers are too great now. They have to an active role, not a reactive one, in keeping guys clean. I think it’s awful that a 33 year old guy died and it doesn’t even phase me.
OK, not to play the WWE apologist here but they can’t NOT hire a guy because he looks like he’s on steroids. And to the WWE’s credit, he was fired almost as fast as he was hired for a wellness violation. In other words, the WWE tested him fairly quickly after hiring him and fired him shortly there afterwards once he was caught with it.
To absolve these guys because the WWE and Vince McMahon is evil is flatout bullshit. These are not children. These are adults and they should be treated like such. Being an employee to a company doesn’t mean they are your babysitter.
Im not absolving anybody, Im just explaining why guys do steroids. And it is now the WWE’s responsibility that their wrestlers and former wrestlers stop dropping dead in their 30s. Its amazing to me that people still defend the WWE and Vince McMahon in this. Their adults and its their fault? I wonder how that defense would go over if it was Bud Selig and 30% of baseball players were dying before they were 40. Or football players.
It boggles my mind that Major League Baseball has gone through two Congressional hearings for a few guys doing steroids where a profession in which guys are dropping dead has not. If any other profession, whether it was baseball or mechanics, had a death rate that high, it would be investigated. But since it’s pro wrestlers and apparently they’re just adults, it’s their fault.
BTW. If 30% of Baseball players were dying before they were 40 there would be 100s and 100s of them dying every year. Not in the low single digits like Pro-wrestling. That number is skewed to, because I doubt it figures in the hundreds of jobbers, indie guys, etc.
Also, a lot of the guys who are dying from drug abuse were taking other things besides/along with steroids. Blaming pro-wrestling and Vince by association is ridiculous. I can’t see Vince saying “Look at that guy Dunn, he’s got coke coming out of his nostril and pain pills falling out of his bag. Put him in the main event of RAW tomorrow!”
In response to 30% of football players dying before their 40’s…
they may not be dead, but a lot of them have brains of mush thanks to the concussions and blows to the head they’ve suffered. So I don’t think the NFL is a better place to be than professional wrestling since many have become almost vegetables thanks to their injuries.
This is from JR’s blog; http://www.jrsbarbq.com/blog/jr-remembers-andrew-test-martin-who-was-found-dead-friday-evening
“Late last summer, reacting on the suggestion of others, WWE reached out to Andrew to ask if he needed some help handling some alleged personal issues that he was rumored to have been experiencing. Andrew had been gone from WWE for over two years but had remained friends with many still associated with WWE. The rumors of Andrew’s issues were true and he was afforded the opportunity by WWE to attend The Hanley Center Rehabilitation facility in West Palm Beach, Florida for several weeks beginning in August of 2008. Andrew successfully completed the WWE funded program and was highly regarded by the Hanley Center with being such an asset to them after completing the program of which Andrew took seriously, according to the facility. Since being released from the facility after successfully completing the program, Andrew had been doing well in his 12 Step AA program and was in contact with WWE with regular phone calls. Ironically, Friday was the day for his regularly scheduled “touching base” but when called his voice mail box was full. ”
WWE rehabilitated the guy at their cost even though they were not under obligation to do so but he fell off the wagon again according to the kelly kelly story. How is this their fault? They helped him the best they could if he was irresponsible with his life it’s his fault.
As for necessarily using steroids look at Steve Austin. The guy wasn’t jacked like Batista, HHH etc but he survived.
The stars from the 70s and 80s were steroid freaks. Hogan, Superstar Billy Graham, Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, Don Muraco, Rocky Johnson
Known Drug/Alcohol Users: Roddy Piper, Iron Sheikh, Ric Flair, Scott Hall
And most of them were in much more high tension situations keeping/reaching their spots, monitoring draws etc than Test and they did it for years.
The one thing they all have in common is they are all alive.
So how can it simply be steroid abuse that is killing these guys off? Obviously they are mixing drugs and alcohol, pain killers, anti depressants, alcohol etc and the worst part is that in the 1980s the internet wasn’t prevalent, knowledge was not available of what to not put together but today in this day and age to die from a lack of knowledge is not possible. It’s their own fault they are dying. Losing their spot isn’t reason enough for people to kill themselves, it’s happened many many times.
Look at Warrior the guy hasn’t worked regularly since the early 90s and a month or so in 98 but he didn’t off himself. And next to Hogan he was the biggest thing in WWE in that time period.
How anyone can blame WWE for deaths of guys like Test or Benoit or the rest of them is ridiculous.
Brock Lesnar & Bobby Lashley did not like the travel so they quit, losing a lot of money. They were sure-fire top main event level wrestlers. Brock couldn’t make it in football but he didn’t go kill himself about it. Now they’ve moved on to UFC. It’s up to the talent to make the right decision not the company.
Kurt Angle popped millions of pills but he rehabilitated. Scott Steiner looks like he’s on roids for at least 15 years straight but he’s still alive even after getting canned by WWE. All these guys lost a lot more than what a midcarder at best, Test lost, and they didn’t go to that extreme.
You are quite pragmatic and, although I live my life by a similar creedo to what you have outlined here, I do not expect others to do so and we should try to understand that they do not have to. Taking personal responsibility is hardly a popular way for many folks out there to live by.
There are aspects here I think that aren’t being considered as well. Examples of people that “are still alive” doesn’t take into account genetic factors. There are simply people out there that are born more capable of things than others. Whether it’s being more resistant to drugs, being stronger, being mentally more capable, what have you.
Other than that I fully agree that WWE should not be used as a magic bullet for the blame game. They contribute what they contribute and that is all.
Well actually, football players DO die young a lot. Just google it up yourself, “football players dying young” and you’ll see it’s something like 50 percent of them.
Think about the Great Khali in all of this. Left alone to carry the burden of having WMOTYC’s.
I like to think that Test is in a better place now, blowing simple armdrags with the best of ‘em.
This news was a real kick to the Test”icles”.
“At approximately 8:00pm on Friday, March 13, 2009, Tampa Police Officers responded to the Post Harbour Apartments, located at 725 Harbour Place Drive to check on the welfare of Mr. Andrew J. Martin. A neighbor reported that she could see into his apartment through a window and that Mr. Martin appeared motionless for several hours.”
Good thing he had a Peeping Tom for a neighbor otherwise he might have been there for weeks.
This is not a test.
Talk is he was doing something like 30 percs a day.
I mean jesus christ, how the FUCK does a guy get 30 percs a day? I had a prescription for percs once. It had *20* in it.
He was doing more a day then the average prescription is for.
In the black humor department, Kevin Nash said Test was one of his top 10 friends, and that he needed to pick someone new to replace him.
Thusly, for anyone going to the next TNA show, I have the best sign ever for you.
“PICK ME KEVIN! I CAN PASS THE FRIEND TEST!”
You’ll go to hell but make a new friend along the way.
Right. You keep saying offensive shit, but you keep forgetting to be funny. There’s this thing called a “punchline” that you want to look into. See Poopy Sean’s comment above, which legitimately made me laugh.
I cracked up lots of people with that same line. You just have to have a very morbid sense of humor. But I’ll tell you what, since clearly your ego is swollen to the point that you like to point out to others why they are not funny and that you expect people to cater only to your sense of humor, why don’t you write the joke for me, mail it to me at reneke2@msn.com, then I’ll paste it here and you can laugh at it.
Or don’t because quite frankly I subscribe to the “you can’t please all the people all the time” comment and I’ll settle for the one or two people who say “I hate to admit this but I laughed at that.” That’s who I’m catering too.
Sorry man, it just wasn’t funny because it wasn’t funny enough to fly without working the audience some. Yeah whoever these “lots of people” are “cracked up” but when you tried to throw it out here cold it it flopped.
Try doing what stand up comedians do and try to build up a relationship with the crowd. Work them over a bit, get them on your side and you can start slinging the dark comedy and un-pc stuff with far greater effect.