Canadian WWE Champ Test Found Dead
Andrew “Test” Martin, 33, has died at his Tampa home.
The former World Wrestling Entertainment champion was found dead at his apartment Friday night. Police say a neighbor reported that she could see into his apartment through a window and that Martin had appeared motionless for several hours.
Police say Martin was dead when they arrived, but there was no indication of foul play. A cause of death won’t be determined until after an autopsy.
Jim Ross, who was formerly WWE’s VP of Talent Relations and hired Andrew “Test” Martin in the 1990s, said today that Martin was recovering from personal health issues prior to his death on Friday night.
Martin completed WWE’s rehab treatment after starting in August 2008 and he was in constant contact with WWE to follow-up on whether he was remaining healthy. Friday was a scheduled check-in date for Martin, Ross said.
“Since being released from the facility after successfully completing the program, Andrew had been doing well in his 12 Step AA program and was in contact with WWE with regular phone calls,” Ross said on jrsbarbq.com. “Ironically, Friday was the day for his regularly scheduled ‘touching base’ but when called his voice mail box was full.”
Ross said he spoke to Martin extensively at last year’s WrestleMania in Florida and he did not see any outward signs of personal problems. Martin, who died at age 33, told Ross that he didn’t want to wrestle much longer and he was only taking dates on his terms.
“Andrew had always told me that he never wanted to wrestle past the age of 35 which was why he ‘listened to the lectures,” Ross said. “I honestly had never seen him happier.”
More on his personal challenges here.
Is it me, or does it seem that Canadian WWE wrestlers seem to die tragic and young deaths…
In memory...
March 15th, 2009 at 12:23 am
[...] Random Feed wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAndrew “Test” Martin, 33, has died at his Tampa home. The former World Wrestling Entertainment champion was found dead at his apartment Friday night. Police say a neighbor reported that she could see into his apartment through a window and that Martin had appeared motionless for several hours. Police say Martin was dead when they arrived, but there was no indication of foul play. A cause of death won’t be determined until after an autopsy. From PW Torch Jim Ross, who was formerly WWE [...]