Martin Casaus

Martin Casaus
Born (1985-03-05) March 5, 1985
West Jordan, Utah
Residence Utah
Website https://www.MartinCasaus.com
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Magnificent Martin[1]
Martin Casaus
Marty Martinez
Tristan Gallo
Billed height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Billed weight 245 lb (111 kg; 17.5 st)
Billed from La Jolla, California (LU)
Trained by Derrick Hubbard
Steve Nielsen
Tom Howard
Debut 2003

Martin Casaus (born March 5, 1985) is an American professional wrestler, actor, voice over artist, and entrepreneur of Mexican descent. He is a former contestant on WWE Tough Enough and is currently the Lucha Underground Champion on Lucha Underground.

Personal life

Martin was born March 5, 1985 to Francis and Cheryl Casaus in West Jordan, Utah. Casaus was a 4 sport student athlete in high school and turned down college scholarships in Lacrosse and Football to pursue his academic studies. His parents put in overtime at their jobs so they could enroll Casaus in private schools until college. Casaus was the first in his family to graduate college. He received a bachelor's degree in Business Administration with a 3.98 GPA. Casaus has one brother who is currently in the United States Navy. Casaus holds a series 7 and 63 financial professional licenses[2]

Career

Early career

Casaus first started training to become a wrestler in 2003 at the Utah-based Ultra Championship Wrestling-Zero (UCW). He was trained by Derrick Jannetty and Steve Nielson. Adopting the ring name "Tristan Gallo", he was placed in Stevie Slick's faction, "The Dynasty", as an arrogant heel and cronie to Slick. He made his debut in a singles match against Mochi Pedro in October 2003 at "Hallowicked". Setting up a tag team with Justin Wilde called Double Cross and beginning a feud against the masked group Los Mochis.

Gallo teamed with UCW-Zero wrestler Khan Kussion to win his first wrestling title, the UCW-Zero Tag Team Championship against the same Los Mochis, Mochi Paco and Mochi Damien. They lost the titles to the Mochis in a rematch the next show. After Khan Kussion was fired from UCW; Tristan teamed with cousin, GQ Gallo, to win the UCW Tag Team titles a second time from the Mochis. He won the first ever UCW Ultra X title match in a four-way elimination match with Derrick Jannetty, Mochi Paco, and Nature Boy X. This began a lasting feud against Mochi Paco.

Gallo had his first Heavyweight Title Match against Derrick Jannetty. He was unsuccessful even with the help of CEO Stevie Slick. Tristan and GQ Gallo won back the UCW Tag Team Titles from the Mochis once more only to lose them from the team of Tyson Ferrari and JMB.

In 2006, Gallo got his second chance to win the UCW heavyweight title against JMB, but he lost. On his third attempt he won the UCW heavyweight Title at "Survival Quest" on July 28, 2006, Gallo lost again. After his partner GQ Gallo and former partner Khan Kussion began a feud, he found a new tag team partner in Devon Payne. They won the UCW Tag Titles for Tristan's fourth time. They teamed up to form the team "Total Control." At the time they were holding 3 of the 4 belts in UCW. They began a feud with Derrick Jannetty and Radical Ricky, or "High Risk" as they were known. High risk ended up winning the tag titles on "Season Beatings 5" December 2, 2006 in a 30-minute tag team iron man match.

On January 20, 2007 Gallo faced David Young in his first title defense. Tristan Gallo was pushed into Young's spinebuster by Devon Payne and lost the Heavyweight Title.[3] The tensions in Stevie Slicks dynasty grew when Stevie slick hit Tristan with a chair in a match vs Jean Martell. Tristan soon began getting mixed reactions from fans because of the tension between him and his teammates, Devon Payne and Stevie Slick. Devon Payne won the UCW heavyweight match at "Ring of Rage" on February 17, 2007 against Young. The match was a lumberjack match with only high risk as David Young's lumberjacks.

On March 24, High risk (Radical Ricky and Derrick Jannetty) teamed with Marty Jannetty to take on Total Control (Tristan Gallo and Devon Payne) and Validus. The team lost to a superkick by Jannetty and challenged High Risk to a TLC match for the tag titles. On April 14, 2007 at "TLC Carnage" High Risk retained their tag titles when Devon Payne turned on Gallo pushing him off of a 12-foot ladder to the floor. Gallo was formally kicked out of the Dynasty when Devon Payne, Magnus, Validus, and Stevie Slick pummeled him after the match. David Young, Derrick Jannetty, and Radical Ricky made the save. Tristan was granted a title shot at "Revenge" with a match choice Tristan said he would have the fans choose.

On May 12, 2007 at "Revenge" Gallo faced Payne in a fan picked "No DQ, No Holds Barred, Last Man Standing match", Gallo with the help of Derrick Jannetty and Radical Ricky fought back every member of Stevie Slicks dynasty to win the UCW heavyweight championship back for the second time. Devon Payne was unable to get up to a 10 count from a "Perfector" from the top rope through a table. At "Summer Assault" Tristan was hit with the UCW heavyweight title by Validus and lost the belt. He was granted a rematch and won the UCW Heavyweight title for the third time by defeating Validus at "Survival Quest".

In the early 2000s Casaus began working in the independent wrestling scene. He wrestled as Tristan Gallo in many promotions across the country, especially in the mid west. He later changed his name to reflect his real name after WWE Tough Enough used it during the show

World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE (2007, 2011)

Casaus had his first WWE tryout at the FCW training center in 2007. Casaus was announced as a competitor on the revival of WWE Tough Enough season five which began airing on April 4, 2011. The competition consisted of in and out of ring training, along with challenges in and out of the ring.

On the seventh episode ("Running With Wolves"), Casaus had a freak accident that sent him to the emergency room. He later returned to the training center on crutches with his title belt around his waist, revealing to Tough Enough host Stone Cold Steve Austin that he was forced to leave the competition after doctors would not allow him to continue. Casaus was the only contestant that got to hang his belt up, as well as the only competitor to never be in the "Bottom Three".[4]

Lucha Underground (2014–present)

In September 2014, Casaus confirmed he signed with El Rey network's new show Lucha Underground, that began airing on October 29.[5] He worked the tapings under the ring name "Magnificent Martin".[1] Casaus debuted on (aired April 29, 2015) as Marty "The Moth" Martinez, a fan who interfered in the match between Cage, King Cuerno and Hernandez. On February 22, 2015, Martinez had his first aired match, where he was defeated by Prince Puma.[6] July 15, Marty demanded and lost a match against Sexy Star for one of the seven ancient Aztec medallions which she had won only moments before, due to the fact the insignia on the medallion was of a moth; confirming his claims of having "Aztec blood". His character then was tweaked to be mentally unhinged after he kidnapped Sexy Star and likely tortured her along with his storyline sister Mariposa for the duration of Lucha Underground’s hiatus in the summer. In Season 3, his character developed an obsession with ring announcer Melissa Santos, which led to a rivalry with Fénix, who was having a storyline relationship with Melissa. The rivalry culminated in a Luchas de Apuestas match at Ultima Lucha Tres with Fénix putting up his mask against Marty's hair. During the match, Marty used Mariposa (who had accompanied him) as a human shield and deliberately pulled her into the path of a dive by Fénix, causing her to turn on him and be instrumental in his losing the match, after which his head was shaved by Fénix and Melissa. In season 4 he was the last man eliminated in Aztec Warfare 4, losing to Pentagón Dark.

Acting career

In 2004 Casaus had his first taste of the entertainment business when appeared on the TV show Everwood to play an uncredited featured folk style wrestler. He immediately began acting training.

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2004 Everwood "Evil Wrestler" Uncredited Season 2 Episode 12
2007-2011 NWA Showcase Tristan Gallo
2011 WWE Tough Enough Self
2013 Barter Kings Trader
2014–current Lucha Underground Marty the Moth Martinez
2016- Current AAA Lucha Libre Worldwide Marty the Moth Martinez

Film

Year Title Role Notes
2012 Vampired Bully
2017 Sandy Wexler Night Night wrestler

Championships and accomplishments

Luchas de Apuestas record

Winner (wager) Loser (wager) Location Event Date Notes
Fénix (mask)Marty Martinez (hair)Boyle Heights, CaliforniaUltima Lucha Tres Part IIJune 25, 2016[8]

References

  1. 1 2 Johnson, Mike (2014-09-06). "Early spoiler notes from first Lucha Underground TV taping". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 2014-09-07.
  2. ↑ "film television and wwe tough enough wrestler martin casaus signs with shielia Erickson management". www.abnewswire.com. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ "WWE Tough Enough". USA Network. 2012-03-30. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
  5. ↑ Johnson, Mike (2014-09-06). "First Lucha Underground taping for the El Rey network tonight, updates on all we know". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 2014-09-06.
  6. ↑ Boutwell, Josh (2015-02-28). "Viva la Raza! Lucha Weekly for 2/28/15". Wrestleview. Retrieved 2015-02-28.
  7. ↑ "The Oklahoma Wrestling Fan's Resource Center". oklafan.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-24. Retrieved 2013-09-15.
  8. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (July 4, 2016). "July 4, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: NJPW G1 tournament preview, Ali vs. Inoki anniversary, more". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Campbell, California. p. 32. ISSN 1083-9593.
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