//Nita's KISS 'N Tell Tid-Bits

TEST’S BIO / STATS.
AGE 26 YRS.
REAL NAME ANDREW MARTIN D.O.B. 17/ 03 / 1975
HEIGHT 6’ 6”
WEIGHT 282 LBS
TITLES HELD HARDCORE & EUROPEAN BELTS
WWF DEBUT 25 / 10 / 1998
HOMETOWN WHITBY, ONTARIO(MOVED TO TAMPA,FLORIDA IN MAY 2001)
WRESTLING MOVES PUMP HANDLE SLAM, AND OF COURSE THAT BIG BOOT!

Andrew Martin was bornon 17 March 1975, in Whitby, Ontario.His father was the superintendent of the local school board and his mum was a teacher, but despite this he was only generally a C-average student. He was more interested inplaying sport and hanging out with friends than studying, and only ever did just enough to pass exams. Sport became Andrew’s first obsession. He played in summer and winter leagues and when he wasn’tplaying organised hockey, he was out playing street hockey. He also loved the‘out doors’ camping and fishing with friends, also spending time at his family’s lakeside cottage in the summer months. He and his best friendTyrone Estabrook were thought of as ‘trouble makers’ in their neighbourhood.His friend smuggled some fireworks back to Whitby having been on holiday to theStates with his parents one summer….they were both about 13 years old at the time. They made ‘pipe bombs’ from the fireworks and his friend lost two and ahalf fingers……blown off in the process! They were lucky not to have got into too much trouble with the police over the incident; the two still remain friends today.Andrew graduated fromHenry High Street school in 1994. He’d changed his mind about following Hockey as a career and instead enrolled in Carlton University in Ottawa, Ontario to study law. He didn’t last long there, poor study habits and low commitment made him realise that he wasn’t ready for college and he dropped out within weeks. He returned home to Whitby, where he found a job selling suits in a store, and also did some bartending at an Italian restaurant. He had also worked at a hospital and had been a bouncer at various nightclubs.

Once settled back in Whitby, he started taking business classes at Durham College, where he also worked as a bartender at the college campus bar. Whilst working the doors of various clubs as a bouncer he met George Philips, and the two quickly becamefriends. When they weren’t talking about wrestling they were watching the shows,and decided wrestling was something they would both like a shot at doing.

On 31 / 01 / 1997, Andrew and George watched a WWF show in Toronto’s SkyDome. They were tipped off by a SkyDome security guard as to where the wrestlers were going after their show……Toronto’s Planet Hollywood. The two friends turned up at the restaurant and were mistaken for wrestlers themselves due to their both being well builtand over 6 foot tall, and were shown to a private dining area. The game was up shortly afterwards when the real WWF stars arrived at the venue, but instead of management throwing them out they asked them to work as security outside theV.I.P. dining area. It wasn’t long before Carl Demarco (president of WWF Canada) and Brett Hart appeared. They took an interest in Andrew and George, and eventually asked them to travel to Calgary, Alberta to take part in a trial training period to gauge there suitability forwrestling…… two weeks later the lads arrived in Calgary.

They were now at the Hart Brothers School of Wrestling (also known as the Hart Dungeon), and trained alongside Adam Copeland (Edge), Jay Reso (Christian), Ken Shamrock, Mark Henryand Glenn Kulka. It soon became apparent to Andrew that wrestling was a lot tougher than he first thought, but never the less he stuck at it and worked hard and was ready for his first match in mid 1997. He wrestled in a handful of matches in the Saskatchewan –based Hardcore/Wild West circuit in1997. As T J Thunder, he won the Saskatchewan federation’s hardcore title on 13/12/1997.

Andrew’s dream was to wrestle for the WWF, and he almost thought that dream would be lost when Brett Hart decided to leave the WWF and take up with WCW. Brett tried to persuade Andrew to go with him to WCW, but this was not what Andrew wanted, and he told Brett that he would try to get into the WWF on his own. In early 1998 Andrew and hisfriend George got their trials at the WWF’s headquarters in Stamford,Connecticut. They did well enough to earn a trip to the Funking Dojo training centre in Ocala, Florida…..run by the legendary Dori Funk. Here Andrew met other WWF hopefuls such as Matt Bloom (Albert) and Matt and Jeff Hardy.Andrew was highly thought of by Funk and showed great promise. He even wrestled at one time with a broken finger instead of taking time off as suggested, this showed a toughness that Funk admired. Eventually he was offered a developmental deal with the WWF, and several months and a few matches later he was in the WWF! Unfortunately his friend George never made itto the WWF.

Unlike most grapplers,he didn’t spend years in the independents or in federations in Mexico and Japan. Instead he stayed at the Dojo for more than six months preparing for his debut in the premier federation.On 25/10/1998 he made his first appearance on WWF Heat. Whilst purporting to be a bodyguard for the band Motley Crue, he stopped a ‘crazed fan’ from charging the stage…….and so his career in the WWF began. He was given the name Test, and made his RAW debut on 15/12/1998 where he caused HHH to lose his title shot against the Rock. The following weekTest joined Vince McMahon’s Corporation and teamed with the Rock to face HHH and X-Pac.

His first PPV was Wrestlemania on 18/03/1999, where he teamed with D’Lo Brown against Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett……..they lost, and his next PPV wasn’t until SummerSlam on 22/08/1999. Here he participated in a ‘Love Her or Leave Her match against Shane McMahon, following Test’s‘courting’ of Stephanie McMahon against her brothers wishes. Test won the match and the right to stay ‘engaged’ to Stephanie. On 29/11/1999 Test was to ‘marry’ Stephanie, but HHH shocked fans by relating the tale of how he’d drugged Stephanie and then married her in a drive through chapel in Las Vegas. It was later revealed that Stephanie preferred HHH and their storyline marriage continues.

Test now dropped to lower positions on the card, but captured his first WWF championship with a win over Big Boss Man for the Hardcoretitle on 17/01/2000. He held the title for 5 weeks, then eventually slipped further down the card. Later in 2000 he was teamed with Albert as the tag teamT&A, with Trish Stratus as their manager. The tag team struggled throughout 2000 and the partnership was eventually dissolved when Trish became the storyline lover of Vince McMahon.

Test was now intent on building a singles career. He wonthe European title on 22/01/2001 defeating William Regal, and held on to it until Eddy Guerrero pinned him at Wrestlemania X-Seven on 01/04/2001.

Most recently we have seen Test defect to the Alliance,where he feels that his talent has a better chance of shinning. I feel sure, that with Test’s talent and good looks his wrestling career will definitely ‘shine’ no matter what side he decides to fight for……don’t you?

Information gleaned via a variety of reputable wrestling magazines, plus personal experience(family) and my own personal opinion.

E-mail Nita: kanesgirl1@aol.com

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