10 Fascinating WWE SummerSlam 1990 Facts

5. An Injury Prevented The Blow-Off To The Strike Force Feud

ultimate warrior
WWE.com

Man, did SummerSlam 1990 have some rotten luck with injuries or what? Up until the weekend of SummerSlam, a one-on-one match pitting Tito Santana against former Strike Force partner Rick "The Model" Martel was advertised. After the two split at WrestleMania 5 more than a year earlier, they'd faced off in multi-person matches at the ensuing pay-per-views, never getting their true feud-ender.

SummerSlam 1990 looked to the be the place where devious Martel would vanquish Santana for good. However, the French-Canadian suffered an injury in June 1990 that sidelined him until October. The Warlord ended up being an extremely-late substitution for Martel, and defeated Santana in an extended squash.

The kayfabe explanation given for Martel's absence is that he was attending a fashion show in Paris the same day as SummerSlam. Now that's commitment to the character.

Contributor
Contributor

Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.