Former ROH Wrestler Truth Martini Says That He's Done Wrestling

(I always liked this guy as a manager, He was a great example that managers weren't a lost art in Pro Wrestling).
Truth Martini broke through in the indie scene in the late 1990s as he wrestled for several promotions in the Detroit area. After stints with Juggalo Championship Wrestling and Independent Wrestling Revolution, he made it to Ring of Honor in 2009.By then, Martini was more of a manager than a wrestler and it appears he's done as an in-ring competitor. He talked about moving onto the next chapter of his life with Colt Cabana on The Art of Wrestling podcast."You kinda can't argue with time, you know? Things run its course. It's not like I don't like professional wrestling," Martini stated. "It's kinda like when you're young-when you're done with your tricycle, it's not like you hate your tricycle. Tricycles are awesome! It just ran its course and that's pretty much how I felt."Martini may be done as a wrestler, but he's far from done with wrestling. He's settled down with his family and now operates his own wrestling school in Michigan named after the House of Truth (HOT)."So, I went ahead and got married and have a lovely wife and I've got a three-and-a-half month baby girl," said Martini. "Her name's Miriam and she's a blessing from God."I'm done performing right now, but I'm still at the school Monday-Thursday. HOTWrestlingSchool.com  for anybody still interested."

Former WWE Wrestler Reveals Deflating Words From Arn Anderson Before WWE-Branded ECW PPV

Former WWE star Mike Knox was a recent guest on the Pancakes and Powerslams Show, and gave a career perspective of his time in ECW, WWE, and Impact Wrestling.

December to Dismember, arguably the worst pay-per-view in WWE history, occurred on December 3, 2006. It was the lowest buyrate ever, prior to the WWE Network, and was negatively viewed widely by both the wrestlers and fans alike.

Prior to the pay-per-view, Knox stated that there was originally a major angle that was supposed to occur, but unfortunately was nixed.

"We were trying to get ECW over and we were trying to convince the original ECW fans that this was gonna be kinda like that," said Knox. "That was what we were trying to do. So I went up there and I wrestled Sandman, let him beat me all over the place, slinging kendo sticks and taking half of my ear off, just doing all of that. Kelly [Kelly] was there and we tried not to put her in it too much because she didn't really know. So, I did something like that, and we did something with Balls Mahoney after that and they started to turn it to where she was starting to flirt with the other boys.

"So she'd flirt with Balls a little bit, and then all of a sudden she started flirting with CM Punk and I'd be like, 'hey, what the heck are you doing?' She didn't really talk a lot back then, but it was supposed to pressure finally a good run with me and CM Punk, instead of me with like Sabu or Balls or Sandman, the original guys. So it was supposed to be me and CM Punk and they were supposed to really rev that up like the two young ECW guys getting to go at it over this beautiful girl."

After the nixed plan to feud Knox with Punk, a mixed tag team match between Kevin Thorn and Ariel against Knox and Kelly Kelly was placed in the semi-main event slot at December to Dismember, although Knox revealed that it was only for a specific purpose.

"We were was sitting there and I was taking over the match, and Arn [Anderson] came up and was like, 'listen, it doesn't matter what you guys do. Nobody's gonna be watching you. You gotta make sure the girls know what they need to do, and it really doesn't matter what you guys do out there, nobody is even gonna remember it.'

"So I was like, oh geez, thanks Arn. Like, one of my childhood heroes," Knox said. "So I looked at Kevin [Thorn], he's looking at me, and I'm like, dude, let's show these guys. Let's get in there and really beat the crap out of each other. We were like, let's bring it. So, even if nobody else remembers it, we will. So we went out there and we just beat the living crap out of each other."

The end goal of the match was for Knox to turn on Kelly and walk away. The next night, he came out dressed up and faked an apology to Kelly, hitting her with the roses and his finisher. Knox stated that this kind of split up "would not go over now at all" due to the current WWE restrictions.

Top ROH Star Ends His Run In The Company.

Former ROH TV Champion Punishment Martinez, who lost the title tonight during a TV taping in Las Vegas, is officially finished with Ring of Honor, Martinez was saying his goodbyes to the locker room at tonight's taping, which was his final scheduled date with the company.  Martinez's contract expired last month, just prior to the "All In" PPV, multiple sources have confirmed.  Martinez opted not to sign a new deal as he wanted to be contractually free going forward.  Obviously, someone with his size and skill would make a smart, logical addition to pretty much any company out there. 

WWE sources there has been interest in Martinez for the NXT brand for some time, so that appears to be his most likely destination.  Martinez broke into the business training with the Monster Factory in New Jersey and became a regular with ROH after a strong performance in the 2016 Top Prospect Tournament, which was won by Lio Rush.  He was signed to a contract in July 2016.  During his run with the company, Martinez was aligned with Kevin Sullivan and BJ Whitmer, won the 2017 Survival of the Fittest and toured with New Japan via ROH's working relationship with that company.

The next move for Martinez should prove to be very interesting as he has a lot of potential and was someone ROH had obviously invested a lot into over the last several years.