WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.419 Imagine for a second that you are at the absolute 00:00:03.419 --> 00:00:05.900 pinnacle of your career. You've worked for years. 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:07.879 You've sacrificed literally everything to get 00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:09.960 to the top of your field. And you are finally 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:12.400 recognized as the undisputed champion of your 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:14.560 department. You have the title. You have the 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:17.100 gold. The dream scenario. Exactly. And then out 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:20.679 of nowhere, management calls a mandatory meeting 00:00:20.679 --> 00:00:23.559 and announces that your entire department is 00:00:23.559 --> 00:00:27.500 just eliminated. Gone. Wow. Just wiped out. wiped 00:00:27.500 --> 00:00:30.280 off the organizational chart entirely. What do 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:32.159 you do? I mean, do you pack up your desk, accept 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:35.219 defeat, and quit? Or do you invent a completely 00:00:35.219 --> 00:00:37.359 new job for yourself right there on the spot 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:40.700 and force them to keep paying you? It's the ultimate 00:00:40.700 --> 00:00:42.700 professional nightmare. Most people faced with 00:00:42.700 --> 00:00:45.659 that kind of sudden structural collapse would 00:00:45.659 --> 00:00:48.280 simply walk away and, I don't know, try to find 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:50.100 a different industry altogether. that the person 00:00:50.100 --> 00:00:52.579 we are looking at today didn't walk away. Today, 00:00:52.859 --> 00:00:55.039 our mission on this deep dive is to explore the 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:57.240 ultimate story of adaptability, reinvention, 00:00:57.420 --> 00:01:01.420 and survival in the incredibly chaotic, hyper 00:01:01.420 --> 00:01:04.140 -masculine world of 1980s and 90s professional 00:01:04.140 --> 00:01:06.620 wrestling. It's quite the story. It really is. 00:01:06.900 --> 00:01:09.879 We are pulling from a stack of sources centered 00:01:09.879 --> 00:01:12.359 mostly around the official Wikipedia archives 00:01:12.359 --> 00:01:15.900 to trace the unbelievable career of Sheri Martel. 00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:19.299 Millions of fans, of course, know her as sensational 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:22.560 Sherry. And we're going to look at exactly why 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:25.719 her ability to constantly pivot didn't just save 00:01:25.719 --> 00:01:28.500 her career, but it actually fundamentally changed 00:01:28.500 --> 00:01:30.620 the mechanics of how the wrestling industry operated. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:34.659 Yeah. We'll break down how she trained, the psychological 00:01:34.659 --> 00:01:37.239 tactics she used to manipulate crowds, and how 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:40.140 she became one of the most vital, really irreplaceable 00:01:40.140 --> 00:01:42.319 figures in the history of the business. It is 00:01:42.319 --> 00:01:45.079 a wild ride. But before we can even begin to 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:46.760 understand and how she survived the wrestling 00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:49.200 industry when things got tough, we have to look 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:52.719 at the sheer, almost alarming level of determination 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:54.459 it took for her to break into it in the first 00:01:54.459 --> 00:01:56.340 place. Right, because for Sheri, this was never 00:01:56.340 --> 00:01:58.879 just a casual hobby. Not at all. Her introduction 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:00.840 to the business happened when she was just a 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:04.200 child growing up in Mississippi. Her mother gave 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:06.799 her and her sister a choice for their weekend 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:09.139 entertainment. They could either go ice skating, 00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:11.780 or they could go see a local professional wrestling 00:02:11.780 --> 00:02:14.689 show. And obviously, They chose wrestling. They 00:02:14.689 --> 00:02:17.330 chose wrestling. And that single choice essentially 00:02:17.330 --> 00:02:19.930 rewired her brain. Like, imagine you're a teenager 00:02:19.930 --> 00:02:23.069 in the 1970s. By the time she was 16 years old 00:02:23.069 --> 00:02:27.189 in 1974, she was already tracking down a massive, 00:02:27.550 --> 00:02:30.169 intimidating wrestling promoter named Grizzly 00:02:30.169 --> 00:02:32.569 Smith. Just walking right up to him. Right. Asking 00:02:32.569 --> 00:02:34.289 him for advice on how to become a professional 00:02:34.289 --> 00:02:36.789 wrestler. And he basically looked at this high 00:02:36.789 --> 00:02:39.340 schooler. question if she really had the stomach 00:02:39.340 --> 00:02:42.060 for such a brutal nomadic business, and told 00:02:42.060 --> 00:02:44.020 her to come back when she was an adult. Which 00:02:44.020 --> 00:02:46.219 she took as a directive rather than a rejection. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:48.979 Yeah, exactly. But the paths she took to eventually 00:02:48.979 --> 00:02:52.240 return to the ring required an immense personal 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:54.259 toll. Over the next few years, she worked as 00:02:54.259 --> 00:02:56.919 an exotic dancer just to make ends meet. Just 00:02:56.919 --> 00:03:00.379 grinding it out. Right. In 1976, she married 00:03:00.379 --> 00:03:02.539 a man named Leroy Gonzalez, and they had a son 00:03:02.539 --> 00:03:05.599 together. But the marriage ultimately ended in 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:08.889 divorce. And Sherry made the incredibly heavy, 00:03:09.389 --> 00:03:11.349 complicated decision to leave her young family 00:03:11.349 --> 00:03:14.530 behind to finally pursue her dream of becoming 00:03:14.530 --> 00:03:16.810 a professional wrestler. OK, let's unpack this, 00:03:16.909 --> 00:03:19.889 because that is a massive, life -altering sacrifice. 00:03:19.930 --> 00:03:22.669 It really is. Leaving your child behind to chase 00:03:22.669 --> 00:03:25.909 a career is a profoundly heavy thing to process. 00:03:26.229 --> 00:03:28.770 And she wasn't leaving to take a safe, predictable 00:03:28.770 --> 00:03:32.400 corporate job with a 401k. I look at this and 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:34.460 it's like she was running away to join the circus 00:03:34.460 --> 00:03:37.319 if the circus actively tried to beat you up every 00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:39.599 single night. And offered zero health insurance. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.520 Right. It's wild. It was a circus with no safety 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:45.219 net controlled by territorial warlords. The physical 00:03:45.219 --> 00:03:47.340 and emotional barrier to entry in the wrestling 00:03:47.340 --> 00:03:50.419 business back then was astronomically high, especially 00:03:50.419 --> 00:03:52.599 for women. So how did she actually get her foot 00:03:52.599 --> 00:03:54.840 in the door? Well, she enrolled in a wrestling 00:03:54.840 --> 00:03:57.419 school in Memphis run by a trainer named Mr. 00:03:57.800 --> 00:04:00.389 Personality Butch Moore. She started working 00:04:00.389 --> 00:04:03.430 under the name Sherry Martin, but more quickly 00:04:03.430 --> 00:04:06.150 realized she had a raw intensity that needed 00:04:06.150 --> 00:04:08.569 more advanced polish. She needed the big leagues. 00:04:08.789 --> 00:04:11.629 Exactly. So he pointed her toward the absolute 00:04:11.629 --> 00:04:14.090 epicenter of women's wrestling at the time, which 00:04:14.090 --> 00:04:16.310 was the fabulous Mula. Right. And from looking 00:04:16.310 --> 00:04:18.930 at our sources, Mula wasn't just a coach in a 00:04:18.930 --> 00:04:22.370 gym somewhere. She was the longtime women's wrestling 00:04:22.370 --> 00:04:25.649 champion and essentially the mob boss who booked 00:04:25.649 --> 00:04:28.089 almost all the female wrestlers across the entire 00:04:28.089 --> 00:04:30.970 country. What's fascinating here is the absolute 00:04:30.970 --> 00:04:33.569 stranglehold Mula. had on the industry during 00:04:33.569 --> 00:04:36.110 what we call the territory days. Can you explain 00:04:36.110 --> 00:04:38.509 that a bit for the listeners? Sure. For you listening, 00:04:38.709 --> 00:04:40.930 the territory days were an era before wrestling 00:04:40.930 --> 00:04:43.750 was dominated by one or two global TV brands. 00:04:44.269 --> 00:04:46.889 The country was carved up into regional fiefdoms. 00:04:47.129 --> 00:04:49.509 One promoter controlled Texas. Another controlled 00:04:49.509 --> 00:04:52.529 the Northeast. Another the South. Like organized 00:04:52.529 --> 00:04:54.389 crime territories. Yeah, very much like that. 00:04:54.790 --> 00:04:57.540 But Mula controlled the women. If a promoter 00:04:57.540 --> 00:04:59.740 anywhere in the country wanted to feature a women's 00:04:59.740 --> 00:05:02.199 match, they had to pay Mula, and Mula would send 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:05.060 her girls. If you wanted to make a living as 00:05:05.060 --> 00:05:07.500 a female wrestler, you had to play by her rules. 00:05:07.579 --> 00:05:10.519 Period. Period. Yeah. So Mula brought Sherri 00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:13.779 in, changed her name to Sherri Martel, and even 00:05:13.779 --> 00:05:16.660 sent her to wrestle in Japan in 1981. But the 00:05:16.660 --> 00:05:19.439 relationship fractures. It does. Mula claims 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:21.879 that Sherry frequented night clubs and partied 00:05:21.879 --> 00:05:24.319 too much, which resulted in Mula kicking her 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:26.680 out of the training camp entirely. Which is huge. 00:05:26.860 --> 00:05:29.379 Right. Based on how much power Mula had over 00:05:29.379 --> 00:05:31.660 the territories, that should have been an absolute 00:05:31.660 --> 00:05:34.339 career death sentence. You get kicked out by 00:05:34.339 --> 00:05:36.259 the gatekeeper of the entire women's division, 00:05:36.620 --> 00:05:38.959 your career is supposed to be over. Done. Finished. 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:42.290 But Sherry just refuses to quit. She travels 00:05:42.290 --> 00:05:44.689 back to Tennessee, throws herself into the gritty 00:05:44.689 --> 00:05:47.269 Memphis circuit, and links up with a young manager 00:05:47.269 --> 00:05:49.370 named Jim Cornette. She was willing to do whatever 00:05:49.370 --> 00:05:51.470 it took to stay in the orbit of the ring. Yeah. 00:05:51.589 --> 00:05:53.449 I mean, she even entered a mixed battle royal. 00:05:53.709 --> 00:05:57.149 Wait, what is that? In wrestling, a battle royal 00:05:57.149 --> 00:05:59.769 is a chaotic match where dozens of competitors 00:05:59.769 --> 00:06:02.050 are in the ring at the same time, trying to throw 00:06:02.050 --> 00:06:04.680 each other over the top rope. A mixed battle 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:06.680 royal meant she was in there taking hits from 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:09.899 massive male wrestlers. Oh my god. Yeah, she 00:06:09.899 --> 00:06:11.959 actually suffered a severe injury in that match 00:06:11.959 --> 00:06:14.339 that took her out of action temporarily. But 00:06:14.339 --> 00:06:16.319 the moment her bones healed, she was right back 00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:18.879 working as both a wrestler and a manager. That 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:21.860 fierce independence, that absolute refusal to 00:06:21.860 --> 00:06:24.339 accept a closed door didn't just get her into 00:06:24.339 --> 00:06:27.279 the business. It became the exact trait that 00:06:27.279 --> 00:06:29.060 saved her when the business eventually tried 00:06:29.060 --> 00:06:31.459 to phase her out entirely. Which brings us to 00:06:31.459 --> 00:06:34.360 her major breakthrough. Yes. With the help of 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:36.860 a wrestler named Larry Zbysko, she gets into 00:06:36.860 --> 00:06:39.439 the American Wrestling Association, the AWA, 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:43.000 in the mid -1980s. She completely dominates, 00:06:43.060 --> 00:06:45.620 eventually winning the AWA World Women's Championship 00:06:45.620 --> 00:06:48.819 three times. Her work in the AWA was impossible 00:06:48.819 --> 00:06:51.420 to ignore. Because of her phenomenal in -ring 00:06:51.420 --> 00:06:54.420 psychology, former wrestler Jessie Ventura refers 00:06:54.420 --> 00:06:56.540 her directly to the World Wrestling Federation, 00:06:56.939 --> 00:06:59.620 the WWF. Which was rapidly becoming the biggest 00:06:59.620 --> 00:07:01.720 global juggernaut in the industry at that point. 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:06.120 Exactly. She makes her grand debut in July 1987, 00:07:06.519 --> 00:07:09.199 and in her very first match, she defeats her 00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:11.779 old trainer and gatekeeper, the Fabulous Mula. 00:07:12.300 --> 00:07:15.660 Poetic justice. It really is. She wins the WWF 00:07:15.660 --> 00:07:18.980 Women's Championship, renames herself Sensational 00:07:18.980 --> 00:07:21.980 Sherry, and holds that title for 15 straight 00:07:21.980 --> 00:07:24.819 months. She has reached the mountaintop. She 00:07:24.819 --> 00:07:27.500 is the champion of the biggest wrestling promotion 00:07:27.500 --> 00:07:29.959 in the world. She has conquered the industry. 00:07:30.139 --> 00:07:32.699 She really has. But then we hit the crisis point 00:07:32.699 --> 00:07:34.180 we talked about at the beginning of the deep 00:07:34.180 --> 00:07:38.079 dive. In 1990, the WWF decides to completely 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:40.680 phase out its women's division. The championship 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:43.100 is deactivated. Her entire department is eliminated. 00:07:43.300 --> 00:07:46.199 Right. She is a highly trained technical wrestler. 00:07:46.519 --> 00:07:48.839 And suddenly she's told her skills simply aren't 00:07:48.839 --> 00:07:51.540 needed because she's a woman. But wait, so when 00:07:51.540 --> 00:07:53.399 they killed the women's division, she didn't 00:07:53.399 --> 00:07:55.860 view that as a demotion at all, did she? It seems 00:07:55.860 --> 00:07:57.879 like she essentially used it as an addition for 00:07:57.879 --> 00:08:00.040 the men's main event. If we connect this to the 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:03.519 bigger picture, it is the most brilliant pivot 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:05.980 of her career. Yeah. The WWF women's division 00:08:05.980 --> 00:08:08.459 at that time was largely marginalized, often 00:08:08.459 --> 00:08:10.439 given only a few minutes of television time. 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:13.740 When the division closed, Sheri didn't pack her 00:08:13.740 --> 00:08:16.759 bags and go home. She transitioned full -time 00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:19.740 into managing top male stars. Like an entirely 00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:22.579 new career path. Exactly. She started making 00:08:22.579 --> 00:08:26.180 appearances in costume as Peggy Sue, the eccentric 00:08:26.180 --> 00:08:28.100 girlfriend of the Intercontinental Champion, 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:31.540 the Honky Tonk Man. Her entire job was to irritate 00:08:31.540 --> 00:08:33.980 his opponents and interfere in his matches. So 00:08:33.980 --> 00:08:36.240 she just forced her way onto the screen. By moving 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:39.559 to the men's division, she actually secured significantly 00:08:39.559 --> 00:08:42.639 more television time and inserted herself directly 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:44.809 into the main event storylines. Here's where 00:08:44.809 --> 00:08:46.929 it gets really interesting, because we need to 00:08:46.929 --> 00:08:49.090 define what she was actually doing at ringside. 00:08:49.389 --> 00:08:51.809 In this era, a lot of women accompanying male 00:08:51.809 --> 00:08:54.549 wrestlers were termed valets. Right. A valet 00:08:54.549 --> 00:08:56.590 was often just a model hired to look pretty, 00:08:56.889 --> 00:08:58.789 hold the wrestler's jacket and smile for the 00:08:58.789 --> 00:09:02.070 cameras. Shuri was not a valet. Because she was 00:09:02.070 --> 00:09:04.289 a fully trained championship level wrestler, 00:09:04.789 --> 00:09:06.470 she brought something to the role of a manicure 00:09:06.470 --> 00:09:09.309 that almost no one else had. She could take physical 00:09:09.309 --> 00:09:12.309 bumps. She weaponized her own body to elevate 00:09:12.309 --> 00:09:16.419 the story. For you listening, taking a bump is 00:09:16.419 --> 00:09:18.639 the industry term for falling onto the mat. And 00:09:18.639 --> 00:09:21.539 that mat is not soft. Not at all. It is essentially 00:09:21.539 --> 00:09:24.279 tightly pulled canvas over wooden planks and 00:09:24.279 --> 00:09:26.840 steel beams with only a thin layer of padding. 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:30.360 It hurts. Yeah. It requires precise physics and 00:09:30.360 --> 00:09:33.179 timing to not break your neck. Most traditional 00:09:33.179 --> 00:09:35.279 managers stood safely on the floor and shouted. 00:09:35.450 --> 00:09:37.809 Sherri would physically insert herself into the 00:09:37.809 --> 00:09:40.370 violence. She would get hit, thrown, and dropped, 00:09:40.669 --> 00:09:43.330 turning standard wrestling matches into unforgettable, 00:09:43.429 --> 00:09:46.490 chaotic spectacles. Let's look at her time managing 00:09:46.490 --> 00:09:49.809 Randy Macho Man Savage. Savage was the archetype 00:09:49.809 --> 00:09:52.490 of the intense, manic, explosive wrestling star. 00:09:52.570 --> 00:09:55.169 Oh, absolutely. After WrestleMania V, where Savage 00:09:55.169 --> 00:09:57.769 lost his world title, Sherry confronted his former 00:09:57.769 --> 00:10:00.370 manager, the beloved Miss Elizabeth. This led 00:10:00.370 --> 00:10:02.870 to a massive storyline where Sherry aligned with 00:10:02.870 --> 00:10:05.490 Savage, rebranding herself as Queen Sherry. And 00:10:05.490 --> 00:10:08.129 they just terrorized the heroes of the WWF for 00:10:08.129 --> 00:10:10.809 the rest of 1989. It was incredible. And it was 00:10:10.809 --> 00:10:13.809 deeply intense. At SummerSlam, Savage and his 00:10:13.809 --> 00:10:15.919 partner lose a tag team match to Hulk Hogan. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:19.360 After the match, Miss Elizabeth actually knocked 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:22.679 Sherry out with a loaded purse. Oh. And then 00:10:22.679 --> 00:10:25.659 Hogan physically cuts Sherry's hair off in the 00:10:25.659 --> 00:10:29.480 middle of the ring. That's crazy. Later, at WrestleMania 00:10:29.480 --> 00:10:32.740 7th, Savage loses a dramatic retirement match. 00:10:33.469 --> 00:10:36.210 And I rate Sherri attack Savage in the ring for 00:10:36.210 --> 00:10:38.629 losing, kicking, and scratching him, which prompts 00:10:38.629 --> 00:10:40.909 Miss Elizabeth to run out of the crowd, grab 00:10:40.909 --> 00:10:43.269 Sherri by the hair, and physically throw her 00:10:43.269 --> 00:10:45.850 out of the ring so Elizabeth and Savage can have 00:10:45.850 --> 00:10:47.710 a tearful reunion. Okay, wait. I need to push 00:10:47.710 --> 00:10:49.909 back on this a little bit. Sure. So her reward 00:10:49.909 --> 00:10:52.409 for being an amazing manager, for helping Randy 00:10:52.409 --> 00:10:54.870 Savage look like an absolute megastar, is getting 00:10:54.870 --> 00:10:56.990 her hair cut off on national television, being 00:10:56.990 --> 00:10:58.889 beaten up, and being literally thrown out of 00:10:58.889 --> 00:11:01.649 rings. How is suffering that kind of public humiliation 00:11:01.649 --> 00:11:05.240 a win for her career? It sounds completely counterintuitive 00:11:05.240 --> 00:11:07.240 outside the context of the business. It really 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:10.159 does. But within the psychology of professional 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:13.419 wrestling, generating heat, which is a visceral, 00:11:13.539 --> 00:11:16.720 genuine, angry reaction from the audience, is 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:20.019 the ultimate currency. By being willing to take 00:11:20.019 --> 00:11:22.419 these humiliating or physically painful bumps, 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.279 she was essentially writing a blank check for 00:11:25.279 --> 00:11:28.879 her clients. The audience wanted to see the villain 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:31.720 get their comeuppance. Because she was so annoyed. 00:11:32.019 --> 00:11:34.259 Because Sheri was so exceptional good at being 00:11:34.259 --> 00:11:37.320 detestable and so willing to be physically punished 00:11:37.320 --> 00:11:40.700 for her bad behavior, the heroes looked infinitely 00:11:40.700 --> 00:11:42.840 better when they finally got their hands on her. 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:44.940 Right. She was a heat magnet, which made her 00:11:44.940 --> 00:11:46.820 incredibly valuable to the promoters booking 00:11:46.820 --> 00:11:49.460 the shows. You can clearly see that value when 00:11:49.460 --> 00:11:52.580 you look at her next major pairing. After Savage, 00:11:52.700 --> 00:11:55.220 she briefly manages Ted Divius, and then she 00:11:55.220 --> 00:11:57.700 aligns with the newly solo Shawn Michaels. A 00:11:57.700 --> 00:12:00.120 totally different dynamic. Completely different. 00:12:00.539 --> 00:12:02.460 Michaels wasn't a manic brawler. He was playing 00:12:02.460 --> 00:12:05.080 the role of an arrogant, incredibly vain, pretty 00:12:05.080 --> 00:12:08.320 boy. And she leans completely into this new brand. 00:12:08.539 --> 00:12:10.820 She's so dedicated to his presentation that she 00:12:10.820 --> 00:12:13.360 actually goes into a recording studio and sings 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:17.139 the lead vocals on his iconic theme song, Sexy 00:12:17.139 --> 00:12:19.679 Boy. She was completely embedded in his character 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:22.679 psychology. Michaels had a routine where he would 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:25.340 carry a full length mirror to the ring to admire 00:12:25.340 --> 00:12:28.450 himself before his matches. And this set up a 00:12:28.450 --> 00:12:31.610 legendary storytelling moment in 1992. Michaels' 00:12:31.809 --> 00:12:34.250 former tag team partner grabbed the mirror and 00:12:34.250 --> 00:12:36.070 swung it to smash it over Michaels' head. Oh 00:12:36.070 --> 00:12:38.610 man. But at the last second, Michaels grabbed 00:12:38.610 --> 00:12:40.629 Sherry and pulled her directly in front of him. 00:12:40.990 --> 00:12:43.240 She took the hit. The mirror shattered right 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:45.299 over her head. Which takes her off television 00:12:45.299 --> 00:12:47.399 to sell the injury until the Royal Rumble in 00:12:47.399 --> 00:12:50.419 1993 where she officially turns on Michael. To 00:12:50.419 --> 00:12:52.320 be pay off. Yeah. This is what the industry calls 00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:55.600 a face turn. The exact moment a despised villain 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:59.419 becomes a beloved hero or a baby face. The fans 00:12:59.419 --> 00:13:02.320 absolutely erupted for her because she had finally 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:04.960 had enough of being used as a human shield. That 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:07.899 transition from a hated scheming villain to a 00:13:07.899 --> 00:13:11.179 sympathetic betrayed hero proves her incredible 00:13:11.179 --> 00:13:14.980 range as an actor. But her time in the WWF was 00:13:14.980 --> 00:13:17.240 coming to an end. She was released in the summer 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:20.980 of 1993. The sources note two rumored reasons 00:13:20.980 --> 00:13:24.039 for her departure. One was a personal decision 00:13:24.039 --> 00:13:26.120 to step away and enroll in cosmetology school. 00:13:27.159 --> 00:13:29.899 And the other was failed drug tests. which hinted 00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:31.759 at the toll the industry was taking behind the 00:13:31.759 --> 00:13:34.039 scenes. But her value in the industry was so 00:13:34.039 --> 00:13:35.899 undeniable at that point that she couldn't stay 00:13:35.899 --> 00:13:38.259 away. She essentially became a highly sought 00:13:38.259 --> 00:13:40.259 after mercenary. That's a great way to put it. 00:13:40.340 --> 00:13:42.460 Think back to that analogy we used earlier. She's 00:13:42.460 --> 00:13:44.639 like a high level corporate consultant as a struggling 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:47.419 company brings her in. She changes her job title 00:13:47.419 --> 00:13:49.720 to fit their specific corporate culture. She 00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:51.700 fixes their narrative problems, elevates their 00:13:51.700 --> 00:13:54.500 talent, and then moves on. A consultant who routinely 00:13:54.500 --> 00:13:57.509 takes steel chairs to the back. Huh. Exactly. 00:13:57.750 --> 00:13:59.850 When she hit the open market, she went to Eastern 00:13:59.850 --> 00:14:03.389 Championship Wrestling ECW to manage a star named 00:14:03.389 --> 00:14:06.669 Shane Douglas. Then, in 1994, she signs with 00:14:06.669 --> 00:14:09.470 World Championship Wrestling, WCW, which was 00:14:09.470 --> 00:14:13.350 the WWF's biggest rival. Right. Because the WWF 00:14:13.350 --> 00:14:16.009 legally trademarked the name Sensational Sherry, 00:14:16.370 --> 00:14:18.950 she simply pivots again. She reinvents herself 00:14:18.950 --> 00:14:21.669 as sensuous Sherry. She sets her sights on the 00:14:21.669 --> 00:14:24.389 WCW World Heavyweight Championship, bringing 00:14:24.389 --> 00:14:27.419 her to Ric Flair. Flair was the archetype of 00:14:27.419 --> 00:14:31.049 the wealthy, flamboyant cheating champion. She 00:14:31.049 --> 00:14:33.610 mirrored that perfectly. So she adapts again. 00:14:33.789 --> 00:14:36.850 Completely. She wore glamorous gowns, distracted 00:14:36.850 --> 00:14:39.769 referees, and was even ringside handing flair 00:14:39.769 --> 00:14:41.929 brass knuckles to cheat during major pay -per 00:14:41.929 --> 00:14:44.190 -view events. She is just a master of chaos. 00:14:44.389 --> 00:14:47.169 And then when that job is done, she rebrands 00:14:47.169 --> 00:14:49.169 again. She drops sensuous Sherry and becomes 00:14:49.169 --> 00:14:51.350 Sister Sherry. She takes on the management of 00:14:51.350 --> 00:14:54.070 a tag team called Harlem Heat, Real Life Brothers, 00:14:54.269 --> 00:14:56.509 Booker T, and Stevie Ray. And this is a completely 00:14:56.509 --> 00:14:58.889 different vibe. Night and day, Harlem Heat were 00:14:58.889 --> 00:15:01.899 a gritty street tough, hard -hitting team. Shuri 00:15:01.899 --> 00:15:04.080 changes her posture, her wardrobe, her vocal 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:06.000 tone. She matches their intensity perfectly. 00:15:06.360 --> 00:15:09.139 And under her guidance, they win the WCW World 00:15:09.139 --> 00:15:11.240 Tag Team Championship seven different times. 00:15:11.659 --> 00:15:15.039 Seven. It is exceedingly rare for a performer 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:18.279 to remain not just employed, but narratively 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:21.120 relevant across so many different eras and completely 00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:23.279 different companies. Yeah, she never went stale. 00:15:23.470 --> 00:15:26.049 She wasn't just recycling an old character. She 00:15:26.049 --> 00:15:29.090 was custom fitting a persona to hide her clients 00:15:29.090 --> 00:15:32.210 weaknesses and highlight their strengths. With 00:15:32.210 --> 00:15:35.129 Shawn Michaels, she fed into his extreme vanity. 00:15:35.929 --> 00:15:39.309 With Harlem Heat, she projected sheer intimidation. 00:15:39.309 --> 00:15:42.149 She was whatever the storyline required her to 00:15:42.149 --> 00:15:45.309 be without ever losing her core, unpredictable 00:15:45.309 --> 00:15:48.179 intensity. But the constant reinvention, the 00:15:48.179 --> 00:15:50.500 grueling travel schedules driving hundreds of 00:15:50.500 --> 00:15:53.240 miles between towns every single night, the physical 00:15:53.240 --> 00:15:55.879 toll of falling on those hard mats over and over, 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:58.980 it eventually leads to the stark reality of life 00:15:58.980 --> 00:16:01.480 outside the spotlight. It does. After leaving 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:03.899 WCW, she makes a few independent appearances, 00:16:04.379 --> 00:16:06.639 wins a couple more titles, and even wrestles 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:09.139 what would be her final match at an event called 00:16:09.139 --> 00:16:12.600 Wrestle Reunion in 2005. She did receive her 00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:14.240 flowers from the industry while she was still 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:16.379 with us, which is a comfort. Yeah, that's true. 00:16:16.679 --> 00:16:19.779 In 2005, she returned to WWE television for a 00:16:19.779 --> 00:16:22.659 brief cameo, where she actually sang Sexy Boy 00:16:22.659 --> 00:16:27.240 with Kurt Angle. And in April 2006, she was rightfully 00:16:27.240 --> 00:16:30.460 inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. A huge honor. 00:16:30.590 --> 00:16:33.570 Later that same year, she made her final television 00:16:33.570 --> 00:16:36.110 appearance for TNA Wrestling, doing what she 00:16:36.110 --> 00:16:39.190 did best, offering her managerial services to 00:16:39.190 --> 00:16:42.059 a rising star, Bobby Roode. So what does this 00:16:42.059 --> 00:16:44.700 all mean? By all accounts, in her final years, 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:46.659 she was trying to build a quiet life away from 00:16:46.659 --> 00:16:49.000 the cameras and the noise. She was living in 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:50.919 Tennessee, renovating houses with her husband, 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:53.600 Robert Schroll. Just a normal life. Right. But 00:16:53.600 --> 00:16:56.659 tragically, on June 15th, 2007, she died at her 00:16:56.659 --> 00:16:59.120 mother's residence in McCalla, Alabama. She was 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:01.740 only 49 years old. That's incredibly young. It 00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:04.319 is. The toxicology report later stated she died 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:06.640 of an accidental overdose with multiple drugs 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:09.279 in her system, including high amounts of oxycodone. 00:17:09.630 --> 00:17:12.309 We look at this glittering Hall of Fame career, 00:17:12.549 --> 00:17:15.029 the cheers of millions of people, and then contrast 00:17:15.029 --> 00:17:17.950 it with such a quiet, sudden, tragic passing. 00:17:18.190 --> 00:17:20.390 This raises an important question, and it points 00:17:20.390 --> 00:17:22.430 to a much darker theme that runs through our 00:17:22.430 --> 00:17:24.500 source material. If you look at the Wikipedia 00:17:24.500 --> 00:17:27.599 page for Sherri Martel, under the See Also section, 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:30.900 there is a stark link to the list of premature 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:33.900 professional wrestling deaths. Her passing is 00:17:33.900 --> 00:17:36.940 part of a broader devastating health crisis within 00:17:36.940 --> 00:17:39.339 the wrestling industry during that era. These 00:17:39.339 --> 00:17:42.019 performers endured extreme physical trauma with 00:17:42.019 --> 00:17:44.579 no off season, leading many to self -medicate 00:17:44.579 --> 00:17:46.819 just to make it to the next town. It's heartbreaking. 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:50.140 It is. But when we synthesize her legacy, we 00:17:50.140 --> 00:17:53.450 have to look past just the tragedy. Sherri Martel 00:17:53.450 --> 00:17:56.910 wasn't an accessory. She was a vital, irreplaceable 00:17:56.910 --> 00:17:59.269 gear in the storytelling machine of three major 00:17:59.269 --> 00:18:03.210 promotions. The AWA, the WWF, and WCW. She truly 00:18:03.210 --> 00:18:05.829 was. It is just an incredible journey. From a 00:18:05.829 --> 00:18:08.289 16 -year -old girl in Mississippi asking a giant 00:18:08.289 --> 00:18:10.990 promoter for a shot, to surviving the literal 00:18:10.990 --> 00:18:13.470 elimination of her entire department, to essentially 00:18:13.470 --> 00:18:15.250 defining the art of the professional wrestling 00:18:15.250 --> 00:18:17.410 manager for an entire generation. She wrote the 00:18:17.410 --> 00:18:20.839 blueprint. She really did. And... You know, the 00:18:20.839 --> 00:18:22.900 next time you face a massive roadblock in your 00:18:22.900 --> 00:18:25.359 career, think of Sherry. When the path you're 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:28.160 on disappears, sometimes the only option is to 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:30.660 grab a microphone, cause a little chaos, and 00:18:30.660 --> 00:18:33.380 build a completely new path yourself. Her survival 00:18:33.380 --> 00:18:35.980 instincts were completely unmatched. But as we 00:18:35.980 --> 00:18:38.500 look back at her career, considering her origins 00:18:38.500 --> 00:18:41.259 as a highly skilled championship level athlete, 00:18:41.900 --> 00:18:44.119 there is a lingering thought about the constraints 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:46.559 she was forced to work within. Yeah, and we want 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:49.680 to leave you, the listener, with this final provocative 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:52.690 thought to ponder. Right. Sherri Martel is rightfully 00:18:52.690 --> 00:18:55.269 celebrated as a legend for successfully navigating 00:18:55.269 --> 00:18:58.029 the hyper -masculine world of 80s and 90s wrestling 00:18:58.029 --> 00:19:01.490 but elevating the era's biggest male stars. But 00:19:01.490 --> 00:19:03.589 consider the physical bumps she took and the 00:19:03.589 --> 00:19:05.609 psychology she mastered. The sheer talent she 00:19:05.609 --> 00:19:08.220 had. Exactly. Did the industry's reliance on 00:19:08.220 --> 00:19:10.519 her as a manager actually rob us of seeing what 00:19:10.519 --> 00:19:13.119 she could have accomplished in the ring? If women's 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:15.079 wrestling had simply been given the respect and 00:19:15.079 --> 00:19:17.519 television time it deserved back then, instead 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:20.039 of firing her department, what kind of legendary 00:19:20.039 --> 00:19:22.420 matches could sensational Sheri have given us 00:19:22.420 --> 00:19:24.559 as the main event star she truly was?