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While the WWE and the rest of the world continues to focus on the Chris Benoit tragedy, it would seem that most have forgotten the life of a Legend. A woman who was an inspiration for Divas and young people today. Luckily, she has many fans who continue to mourn her and remember her legacy. She is the "Sensational" Sherri Martel. Sherri Martel lived in a time when the world of sports-entertainment was dominated by men. Therefore, in order for her to have gotten recognition as an accomplished woman wrestler and manager, she had to be like the boys. Sherri was tough no doubt, but the people who knew her as a friend said she was as sweet a person as you can find in this world. Martel was a three-time AWA champion defeating Candi Devine each time. She vacated the title when she left for the WWF. There, she defeated her mentor The Fabulous Moolah to win her one and only Women's Championship. However, that by no means meant that Sherri was done. In fact, some say that her career was just getting started...as a manager.

Sherri came to manage Randy "Macho King" Savage and became known as "Queen Sherri." She would manage Savage against the likes of the Ultimate Warrior and Dusty Rhodes as well as feuding with Sapphire and Elizabeth. Sherri would then go on to manage the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase before managing HBK and started one of the most famous love stories in sports entertainment. Her good looks would start a feud between Shawn Michaels and Ricky Martel. This feud would come to an end when at SummerSlam 1992, Michaels and Martel would fight once and for all for the love of Sherri. After Michaels and Martel started fighting, Sherri would pass out and the two boys started an argument over who can carry her backstage the most gallantly. After that, Michaels would start a feud with Marty Jannety, which involved Sherri hitting Jannety with a shoe when she intended to hit Michaels with. This would end at WrestleMania 9 when Michaels would lose to Tatanka w/Luna Vachon.

After that, Sherri made brief stints in the original ECW managing Shane Douglas to the ECW Heavyweight Title and WCW where she managed Ric Flair. Sherri Martel then hung up her boots and retired. She still made brief appearances at independent promotions. Then on April 1, 2006, Sherri Martel was inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase.

Sherri would pass away at her mother's home in Birmingham, Alabama at the young age of 49. As mentioned earlier Sherri is remembered by many fans as a pioneer of professional wrestling, specifically women's wrestling. Today, especially in the WWE, women are being sexually exploited for their bodies, not their wrestling skills. Fortunately, new promotions such as SHIMMER wrestling promote old-fashioned women wrestling and not just some dumb models in bikinis trying to throw a punch.

As JR and Dr. Tom Pritchard said on WWE.com, "Sherri was one of the boys. She could spit, cuss and do just about everything a man can ten times better than they do. And for all I know, I bet she could give some men (not to mention all the Divas) in the WWE a run for their money.". Sherri Martel's spirit lives on in every women wrestler today, and while she is gone, her legacy will never be forgotten.

RIP-Sherri Martel
1958-2007

By Baraa Elhariry (View/Submit your feedback here)