Biography

Richard Vigneault is a retired Canadian professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with WWE between 1980 and 1995 under the ring name Rick Martel. He is also known for his two-year-long reign as AWA World Heavyweight Champion. After retiring from the ring, Martel worked for WCW as a trainer, and as host of the French versions of WCW programming. After the main event of a house show in Quebec City on May 3, 2003, then WWE Champion Brock Lesnar introduced Martel to the ring as a surprise, and shook his hand. Martel, who received a standing ovation from his home fans, said he was honoured to be associated with WWE and thanked the fans. At WWE's Vengeance: Night of Champions pay-per-view in 2007, Martel, along with his former teammate Tony Garea, saved Jimmy Snuka and Sgt. Slaughter from a post-match attack at the hands of Deuce 'n Domino. Martel is a playable character in WWE 2K18 and WWE 2K19, the first video game appearance since 1993's Sega Mega drive/Genesis version of WWE Royal Rumble.