PASSING THE TEST

Passing the Test
by Mike Pachuta
When people have dreams in life, they can do two things. They can sit around hoping that the dream comes true, or they can do something about it. Andrew "Test" Martin's dream was to become a World Wrestling Federation Superstar. Because he did something about it and his dream came true.
"I have been a wrestling fan all my life," Test said as he recalled how he decided he wanted to become a sports-entertainer. "The whole story really begins when I was about 20 years old..."
At the time, he was working as a bartender and a bouncer at bars in Toronto, and many of his friends had the same type of job that he had. "One of my good friends was a head doorman at a club, and we would always go over there to watch Pay-Per-Views," Test recalled.
It was while they were watching one of the Pay-Per-Views together that they started tossing ideas around. "It was kind of funny, but we were sitting there joking about becoming wrestlers, and then it got more serious, and then we looked at each other and said 'Hey, we're big guys, why can't we do that?'" Test said.
He and his friend started talking more and more about working for the Federation. The more they talked, the more they wanted to do it. So, Test decided he wanted to give it a try. But there was one problem - he had no idea how, or where to start.
"We tried to phone around, but we couldn't get any answers," Test recalled about his early struggles breaking into the business.
"So when the WWF had a show at SkyDome, we decided to go down there and see what we could do." All they wanted to do was talk to someone. Anyone. "We thought we should try to talk to one of the wrestlers, but we would have talked to anyone. We just wanted to see if they could put us in the right direction. We would have settled for a security guard."
And they did. "We ran in to a guy working security at the event and he told us that the wrestlers would be at the Planet Hollywood restaurant after the show," Test said.
So Test and his buddy high-tailed it over to Planet Hollywood before the end of the show. It turned out that, because of their size, they had no problem getting in.
"When we walked in, they thought we were wrestlers," Test laughed. "So we just said 'Yeah, we are.' They led us upstairs to the VIP area."
While he was up in the VIP area, some Federation Superstars started making their way into the restaurant. One of those men was Bret Hart, whose father runs a world-renown wrestling school. But before Test had a chance to begin talking to Hart, the restaurant owner realized that Test didn't belong. The man asked Test to stand outside the VIP area.
"After we stood there for a while, Carl DiMarco, the President of WWF Cananda, started speaking to us," Test said. The two must have impressed DiMarco, because the next thing they knew, he had brough Bret Hart out to meet them.
"Bret talked to us for a little bit, and he was just going to give us the numbers of good wrestling schools," Test said. But Hart did much more than that. "Two days later, I got a phone call from Carl asking me to come into the office. I went down, he asked some background questions, and a few minutes later, Bret called him and offered to train us himself."
Three days later, Test quit his job, loaded up his truck and headed out to Calgary, where Hart trained his students. "We trained right at Bret's house, and Leo Burk trained us and Bret trained us when he was home," Test smiled. Not bad for a guy who had no clue how to beak into the business four days earlier.
His first day in Calgary, he stopped at a bank and met a man who he never imagined he would see again - Chris Jericho.
"I was just standing there and I over heard some guys talking about how they were going over to Bret's house to train," said Jericho. "They said that they came from Toronto and they were nervous about it and everything. And one of those guys was Test."
After working intensely at Harts' gym, Test finally got his big break and joined up with the World Wrestling Federation. Now, he is the European Champion.
"It's absolutely great," Test said of his ride from bartender to a Federation Champion.
"I'm very proud of him, he's doing good," Jericho added. "He's coming along great. He's learning the respect for the business and he's not taking anything for granted.
Test just remembers a time when becoming a superstar, and a champion, seemed to be an unlivable dream.
"You know," he said, "You grow up watching this on TV...sometimes I just stop and think 'I'm walking around with a WWF belt.' It's cool, I don't care what anybody thinks."