THE SADISTIC ONE’S RUN IN INTERNATIONAL WRESTLING  

The year of 1986 saw  the arrival  of a strong man from Boston, Massachusetts called Steve Strong—not to confuse with his old school namesake (the one I’m talking about here is Steve DiSalvo, whom we’ve seen later in Stampede Wrestling).  Strong, standing 6’3’’ and weighing 290 lbs., had what it takes to become a region’s top star.  Strong impressed people in Quebec right then and there with his arrogant, self-worshiping look and style. He wore sunglasses, had long brown wet hair, was dressed in a silver, flashy cape and had Quiet Riot’s  “Metal Health” for entrance theme. 

Strong didn’t lose time: he had the straight goal to dominate the territory.  After getting rid of all-time jobbers such as Sunny War Cloud, Yvon Laverdure, Denis Goulet and company, he quickly had his eyes on International Wrestling’s top star at the time, former AWA champion Rick Martel. For some reason, both men didn’t like each other: while Martel was a brilliant ring technician who respected the rulebook, Strong was vicious, cocky, and so self-confident it was disarming.  I can’t exactly remember how the feud started between both men, but things heated up pretty fast and took wild proportions. 

Strong took pleasure in destroying young talents and was finally approached by the Creatchmans (famous Eddie and his son “Pretty Boy” Floyd), whose goal was to get rid of every baby face of the territory (Martel, Dino Bravo, Tom Zenk, Dan Kroffat and Armand Rougeau).