For some reason, I feel the need to throw praise to Ric Martel. When he was “Model,” it was by far one of the best gimmicks ever. “The Model” was a bad guy, so he was a villain, but a model. Since villains lie, he suited himself with a button stating, “Yes, I Am a Model.” Sometimes, coming to the ring, he would be modeling some kind of fashion. Back in those days, wrestlers usually needed two jobs. They were a wrestler, but also something else (barber, real estate, officer of the law, etc…). Being a model enabled him to dress up as yet something else, modeling, while also wrestling (such as a tennis player). Another great addition to this package was that he had apparently invented a cologne. Again, because he was a bad guy, the cologne was described as “foul smelling.” He called it, “Arrogance.” To be old school and manly, he had it in an old fashioned spray can. Of course the real use of this foul smelling cologne was for him to bring to the ring and use against his opponent(s) at some point if need be. It became the cornerstone of the feud between he and Jake Roberts in the early nineties, when he sprayed Jake in the face with it, blinding him in one eye. A great part of the business back then were promos that the wrestlers would film. Ric Martel had several commercials for his cologne as his promos. The below was absolutely one of my favorites.

First of all, the beginning is gold. He apparently defeats his opponent and is ready with the taunting word, “practice.” I neglected to mention that he is from Quebec, which explains the accent. His theme music playing in the background, along with the handwritten name of the cologne is classic. Finally, he remarks about finding yourself, “in the royal box.” Wow, now there is a joke I’m sure went over most youngster’s heads. Delicious pun! Oh man, how we need wrestling to somehow fix itself so it can be more like this again.