Former Wrestler 'Test' found dead

[Tickle Fiend]

A former WWE wrestler has been found dead in his Tampa apartment.

Andrew Martin, better known as Test, was found dead by Tampa Police around 8:00 Friday night.

Police were called to his home for a welfare check after a neighbor said she could see into his apartment at Post Harbor Apartments and noticed that Test appeared motionless for several hours.

Right now, Police say they don't think there was any foul play involved.

An autopsy will be done to determine the cause of death.

Andrew "Test" Martin was a former World Wrestling Entertainment Intercontinental, European, and Hardcore Champion, as well as a Tag-Team Champion.

Most recently, Martin worked for NWA-TNA Wrestling under the name "The Punisher" Andrew Martin.

Test was 33 years old, he died just days before his 34th birthday.

="http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=102206"

 

[AphxA]

omg thats terrible.

 

[C.K. Storyteller]

Just read about this. Never was one of my favorites, but I always figured someone his size with decent skills could make it in wrestling.

Add one more to the list of wrestlers gone before their time.

 

[The Fallen Angel]

Defenitly someone who could have been more utilized then he was, he had a lot of potential and its sad to see yet another wrestler to go long before their time. I hope that it had nothing to do with his past steroid or drug use. I feel for his family and hope that no "foul play" was involved

 

[Adam]

Wow, it seems like this happens every single year in the world of pro wrestling. I recall a time in which I thought Test was deserving of a pretty big push. That aside, the news of his passing is very sad. May he rest in peace.

 

[TklDuo-Drew]

Sad to hear......things kinda went downhill for Andrew when the WWE released him after the Triple H/Stephanie McMahon storyline.

33 is way too young.



Drew

 

[SlaverTickler]

Defenitly someone who could have been more utilized then he was, he had a lot of potential and its sad to see yet another wrestler to go long before their time. I hope that it had nothing to do with his past steroid or drug use. I feel for his family and hope that no "foul play" was involved

Thus begins what will no doubt be an series of 3 or 4 death through out the year. These people will never learn that what they think they can get from using steroids and working through serious injuries with the help of pain killers is not worth it. Eddie & Benoit are the last guys I'll shed a tear over. If these fools couldn't get together and start looking out for each other since Owen Harts death in 1998 then none of them are really worth losing any sleep over. They don't give a shit about themselves so why the fuck should any of us.

 

[Goodieluver]

Owen's death was a tragic accident

 

[SlaverTickler]

Owen's death was a tragic accident

Caused by unsafe working condition because of an employer who was more concerned with how long it would take to remove a 2nd harness instead of an employee's ability to get home safe from work. In the end all of this could have been avoided the Union Jesse Ventura tried to start going into WrestleMania 2, however Hogan put the Kay-Bosh on that by running to Vince and squealing on his "brothers". I guess he never thought about how nice it would be to have some medical and dental benefits or maybe have rules to protect wrestlers from the sexual advances of certain "Stooges" that worked in the booking department . Did you know that there are/were 3 former WWE wrestler suing McMahon and Co. because he didn't put a dime into their Social Insurance ? Do you recall Jessie Ventura had to sue Vinnie because he wasn't paying him the residuals for his commentary work... Jessie won by the way. Lastly (and this is a hard one even for me to keep straight) my sister's friend's mother's boyfriend owns a limo service and he used to drive the wrestlers around. Vince tried to screw him out of his money too. Believe, don't, I could care less.

 

[Goodieluver]

Caused by unsafe working condition because of an employer who was more concerned with how long it would take to remove a 2nd harness instead of an employee's ability to get home safe from work. In the end all of this could have been avoided the Union Jesse Ventura tried to start going into WrestleMania 2, however Hogan put the Kay-Bosh on that by running to Vince and squealing on his "brothers". I guess he never thought about how nice it would be to have some medical and dental benefits or maybe have rules to protect wrestlers from the sexual advances of certain "Stooges" that worked in the booking department . Did you know that there are/were 3 former WWE wrestler suing McMahon and Co. because he didn't put a dime into their Social Insurance ? Do you recall Jessie Ventura had to sue Vinnie because he wasn't paying him the residuals for his commentary work... Jessie won by the way. Lastly (and this is a hard one even for me to keep straight) my sister's friend's mother's boyfriend owns a limo service and he used to drive the wrestlers around. Vince tried to screw him out of his money too. Believe, don't, I could care less.

But it had nothing to do with performance enhancers wrestlers "need" to take to be able to perform day in\day out and recover\prevent injury. You are lumping your canadian disgust at the mcmahon family in the wrong thread. WWE is not the only federation with substance abuse problems.

Are you going to go on a tangent about NFL players dying young because they are using performance enhancers to beat the shit out of each other for 17 weeks and other unhealthy lifestyles?(and they have a players union)

 

[Redmage]

This is not the thread for a WWE tirade - not least because we don't even know yet how Martin died.

 

[SlaverTickler]

But it had nothing to do with performance enhancers wrestlers "need" to take to be able to perform day in\day out and recover\prevent injury. You are lumping your Canadian disgust at the McMahon family in the wrong thread. WWE is not the only federation with substance abuse problems.

Thats right, the abuse problems stem from the fact that the wrestlers have no protection in the work place. If they had some sort of Union looking out for them then when a guy gets hurt he wouldn't lose his job because he had to take a year off to recover, and he would still be entitled to his pay if it was connected to the job (aka traveling to a show or at the show). Of course if a wrestler decides to go to a bar and gets into a fight like Shawn did in the late 90's then he wouldn't get payed while he was off. This isn't just about my "Canadian Disgust" at the McMahon family it is also about EVERYBODY's lack of disgust with the McMahon family, but like I said, these guys are all a bunch of idiots to get involved in an industry that doesn't look out for it's own.

Are you going to go on a tangent about NFL players dying young because they are using performance enhancers to beat the shit out of each other for 17 weeks and other unhealthy lifestyles?(and they have a players union)

Aren't they Unionized, then they are even bigger idiots then the wrestlers. Either that or they really need to kick the asses of whoever is running there Union. There have been about a dozen NFL players who killed themselves because of the after effects of concutions (sp) and it tuned out they had the same sort of brain damage that Chris Benoit had when he killed his wife and kids. Something that could have been prevented if wrestling had a health and Safety standard and a Union to impose it, or if somebody just told him to properly block chair shots or he would be suspended for 30 days. The biggest problem in wrestling is the fact that there is no safety rules, and that McMahon doesn't care how many guys die as long as the ratings are strong, the merch sells and the asses are in the seats.

 

[Tickle Fiend]

Thats right, the abuse problems stem from the fact that the wrestlers have no protection in the work place. If they had some sort of Union looking out for them then when a guy gets hurt he wouldn't lose his job because he had to take a year off to recover, and he would still be entitled to his pay if it was connected to the job (aka traveling to a show or at the show). Of course if a wrestler decides to go to a bar and gets into a fight like Shawn did in the late 90's then he wouldn't get payed while he was off. This isn't just about my "Canadian Disgust" at the McMahon family it is also about EVERYBODY's lack of disgust with the McMahon family, but like I said, these guys are all a bunch of idiots to get involved in an industry that doesn't look out for it's own.

I think the wrestlers need a union and it'll happen one day. The WWE is somehow able to get away with calling their employees 'independent contractors.'

Having a union in place won't stop the problems with pain killers, steroids, muscle relaxers, ect. Having time off would be nice, but it's not going to stop them from doing whatever they can to make it. They'll do whatever they can to make it to the top - continuing to work through injuries included. They're addiction is the business and they'll do what they can to get where they want to be.

And, as always, your rage is fueled by your hatred for Shawn and Vince.

 

[Goodieluver]

I think the wrestlers need a union and it'll happen one day. The WWE is somehow able to get away with calling their employees 'independent contractors.'

Having a union in place won't stop the problems with pain killers, steroids, muscle relaxers, ect. Having time off would be nice, but it's not going to stop them from doing whatever they can to make it. They'll do whatever they can to make it to the top - continuing to work through injuries included. They're addiction is the business and they'll do what they can to get where they want to be.

And, as always, your rage is fueled by your hatred for Shawn and Vince.

Im surprised when they named them "sports entertainers" that SAG or others couldnt jump in saying "hey, theyre entertainers now, we wanna organize them"
Esp since many wrestlers are now going into the movie business

Union wont stop drug issues, just like how the players unions know and dont\cant stop drug usage in pro sports.

But if legislation goes thru on the employee free choice act, they could unionize

 

[Goodieluver]

Aren't they Unionized, then they are even bigger idiots then the wrestlers. Either that or they really need to kick the asses of whoever is running there Union. There have been about a dozen NFL players who killed themselves because of the after effects of concutions (sp) and it tuned out they had the same sort of brain damage that Chris Benoit had when he killed his wife and kids. Something that could have been prevented if wrestling had a health and Safety standard and a Union to impose it, or if somebody just told him to properly block chair shots or he would be suspended for 30 days. The biggest problem in wrestling is the fact that there is no safety rules, and that McMahon doesn't care how many guys die as long as the ratings are strong, the merch sells and the asses are in the seats.

The National Football League Players Association, or NFLPA, is the labor union of players in football's National Football League. It was founded in 1956, but only achieved recognition and a collective bargaining agreement in 1968. After a lost strike in 1987, the union was formally decertified, converting into a professional association in order to pursue antitrust litigation designed to win free agency for its members. When that tactic worked it reformed as a union and resumed collective bargaining with the league in 1993.

 

[SlaverTickler]

Having a union in place won't stop the problems with pain killers, steroids, muscle relaxers, ect. Having time off would be nice, but it's not going to stop them from doing whatever they can to make it. They'll do whatever they can to make it to the top - continuing to work through injuries included. They're addiction is the business and they'll do what they can to get where they want to be.

Then there is no point in even having a Union.

And, as always, your rage is fueled by your hatred for Shawn and Vince.[/B]

I could be wrong but I don't remember Shawn's name being mentioned in any negative way here, in fact a Union would also protect him so I don't see how my person opinion of him has anything to do with it. Vince is the boss, he decides who makes it in the company, guys who juice are normally the guys near the top. There for he is accountable for everything that happens to his employees where the WWE is concerned. The fact that you aren't pissed of enough to boycott show how much disregard you have for the well being of the people who provide your entertainment.

Since this is what you getting at, you should know I still watched WWF programing after the 97 screw job. I stopped watching after Owen Hart died, and although I thought Vince was an ass hole for what he did in Montreal I didn't really hate him until then. I stopped watching WWF and totally boycotted anything WWF/McMahon related even after he bought WCW (except for an episode of RAW and SmackDown that featured the first time Booker T Defended the world Title) Then I allowed myself to be pulled back in buy the nWo angle, mainly because I wanted to see how Vince would screw it up (and he did).

I stuck with it again until Eddie Guerrero died in 2005. I watched the Tribute show (and still have it on DVD) and swore off all things McMahon. Shortly (maybe 2 weeks) after it came out about Benoit's brain damage and the part it most likely played in his actions leading up to his death TNA had a match that involved Abyss being hit in the head with chair shots while his hands were cuffed behind his back, that was the end of TNA for me. Yet another short time later I happened to be listening to Live Audio Wrestling and learned that when one of Ring of Honors stars walked out and told the fans he was taking time of for a head injury they actually booed him. In his own words (and I can't recall his name) "The fans simply don't care." Thats when I pretty much swore off wrestling all together.

Since the death of Eddie Guerrero I have only bought one piece of WWE merch, that being the Bret Hart DVD set. I didn't even buy the WrestleMania DVDs when Hart was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Even if Bret Hart signed a contract tomorrow to work for McMahon behind the scenes it wouldn't change my opinion of Vince, however it would lesson my opinion of Bret Hart. The last piece of Wrestling merch I have bought ever was the TNA VG for the PS3, and what a piece of shit that was. If wrestling get a Union or some sort of National laws are passed in both the US and Canada that will protect the performers then I would probably return to suporting the industry, but until then it wouldn't matter who owned the WWE I wouldn't watch it, or any other wrestling company. So that should settle this "You're just mad at Vince." thing that is out there. I am mad at everybody involved, from McMahon to the wrestlers and the fans. Everybody plays a part in what has happened myself included.