Dante Martin

Dante Martin
Martin in 2022
Born (2001-03-03) March 3, 2001 (age 23)[1]
St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
FamilyDarius Martin (brother)
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)
  • Angel Caido
  • Angel Dorado
  • Dante Martin
Billed height5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Billed weight187 lb (85 kg)
Billed fromMinneapolis, Minnesota
Trained byKen Anderson
Debut2016

Dante Martin (born March 3, 2001) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He also appears for AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). He performs alongside his older brother Darius Martin as part of the tag team Top Flight.[2]

Early life

[edit]

Dante Martin was born on March 3, 2001, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has an older brother, Darius Martin, who's also a wrestler, currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

Professional wrestling career

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Independent circuit (2016–Present)

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Dante Martin, along with his brother Darius, received his training from The Academy: School Of Professional Wrestling in Minnesota by Ken Anderson and they made their professional wrestling debut in 2016 as the tag team "Top Flight".

Prior to AEW, Martin wrestled for Ireland's Over the Top Wrestling, AAW Wrestling based in Illinois, Game Changer Wrestling, Black Label Pro, Revolution Pro Wrestling, Major League Wrestling (MLW), Warrior Wrestling, Republic Of Lucha, DEFY Wrestling and Preston City Wrestling (PCW).

All Elite Wrestling / Ring of Honor (2020–present)

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On the October 27, 2020, episode of AEW Dark, Top Flight made their All Elite Wrestling (AEW) debut where they lost to Evil Uno and Stu Grayson of the Dark Order. On the November 18 episode of AEW Dynamite, Top Flight fought The Young Bucks in a losing effort. On November 23, it was announced that they had signed with the company.[3][4][5] In February 2021, Darius was sidelined with a torn ACL thus taking him out of action and leaving Dante on his own as a singles competitor.[6]

Over the following months, Martin would receive a significant push, wrestling against the likes of Kenny Omega, Malakai Black, Matt Sydal, and Powerhouse Hobbs. In October 2021, Martin formed an alliance with Lio Rush who was attempting to recruit him as his tag team partner. On the November 11, 2021, episode of AEW Dynamite, Martin teamed with Rush against Matt Sydal and Lee Moriarty where they were victorious.[7][8][9][10][11] On the November 24 episode of AEW Dynamite, Martin accepted Taz's offer to join Team Taz much to Rush's dismay. However, on the December 8 episode of Dynamite, Martin would eliminate Team Taz member Ricky Starks from the Dynamite Diamond Dozen Battle Royal, thus winning the battle royal and removing him from the group. It was revealed that Dante joining Team Taz was a scheme created by Lio Rush and Dante Martin. The following week, Martin fought MJF for the Dynamite Diamond Ring where he lost after a distraction by Starks.[12][13][14] The partnership between Rush and Martin would abruptly end after Rush departed AEW. On the January 12 episode of Dynamite, Dante Martin defeated Powerhouse Hobbs. On the February 18, 2022, episode of AEW Rampage, Martin fought Hobbs in a Face of the Revolution Qualifying match where he was defeated.[15]

Three weeks later on the March 2, 2022, episode of Dynamite, Dante reunited with his brother Darius in the tag team Casino Battle Royal, where Darius would last until the end, until being eliminated by Matt Jackson of The Young Bucks.[16] On the March 9 episode of Dynamite, Martin challenged Hangman Page for the AEW World Championship in a losing effort. After the match, Martin was endorsed by Page as a future champion in AEW as both men embraced and shook hands.[17] The tag-team’s return to action was short-lived, as soon after it was revealed that Darius had gotten into a serious car accident, which was expected to leave him out injured for up to nine months, forcing Dante to return to singles competition.[18]

On May 4, Dante lost to Rey Fenix in an Owen Hart Cup tournament qualifying-round match.[19] On June 3, Dante faced Scorpio Sky for the AEW TNT Championship, but was defeated.[20] On August 12 on AEW Rampage Quake by the Lake, Martin teamed up with Skye Blue to take on Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo for the AAA World Mixed Tag Team Championship which they lost.[21] On September 4, at All Out (2022), Dante competed in the Casino Ladder match, but the match was won by Maxwell Jacob Friedman.[22]

On November 16, 2022, Dante reunited with a returning Darius to team with AR Fox, to challenge Death Triangle, for the AEW World Trios Championship, in a losing effort.[23] On the November 13 edition of Rampage, Top Flight unsuccessfully challenged FTR, for the ROH World Tag Team Championship.[24] On December 10, at Final Battle, Top Flight made their debuts for AEW's sister company Ring of Honor, defeating The Kingdom on the pre-show.[25] On the December 23 edition of Rampage, Top Flight once again teamed with AR Fox, where they won the $300,000 Three Kings Christmas Casino Trios Battle Royal, where the brothers lastly eliminated ROH World Champion, Claudio Castagnoli.[26] Due to this, Top Flight entered a short feud with the Blackpool Combat Club, in which Castagnoli was a member, losing to members of the group over the following weeks. Top Flight achieved their first win over the BCC on the January 16 edition of AEW Dark, defeating Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta, in a three-way tag-team match also involving The Butcher and the Blade, after Dante pinned The Blade. On the January 18 edition of Dynamite, Top Flight defeated The Young Bucks, in an upset victory.[27] In April 2023 at Supercard of Honor, Martin suffered a severe leg injury.[28]

Dante returned on the November 29, 2023 episode of Dynamite, teaming with his brother and Action Andretti to defeating the Hardys and Brother Zay.[29] In December 2023, Top Flight and Andretti unsuccessfully challenged The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn for the AEW World Trios Championship. In August 2024 at All In, Top Flight and Andretti were on the winning team of a 16-man tag team match. In October 2024, Top Flight and Andretti unsuccessfully challenged the Blackpool Combat Club for the AEW World Trios Championship. On the December 4 episode of Dynamite, Top Flight were eliminated by Andretti and Lio Rush during the Dynamite Dozen Battle Royale, teasing a split in the alliance.[30] On December 14 at the Winter is Coming special of Collision, Top Flight were defeated by Andretti and Rush.[31]

Championships and accomplishments

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  • All Elite Wrestling
  • American Wrestling Federation
    • AWF Championship (1 time)[32]
    • AWF Television Championship (1 time)[33]
    • AWF Television Championship Tournament (2020)[34]
  • Canadian Wrestling Elite
    • CWE Canadian Unified Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[33]
  • Glory Pro Wrestling
    • United Glory Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Air Wolf[33]
  • Independent Wrestling International
    • IWI Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Air Wolf[33]
  • Pro Wrestling Battleground
    • PWB Breakout Championship (1 time)[33]
  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated
    • Ranked No. 127 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2022[35]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ City, RJ (February 4, 2024). "Top Flight stays high". Hey! EW. Retrieved February 6, 2024.
  2. ^ Thompson, Andrew (November 23, 2020). "Top Flight signs with All Elite Wrestling". POSTWrestling. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
  3. ^ Tees, David (October 27, 2020). "AEW Dark 10/27/20 Results: Hikaru Shida, Dark Order, SCU, Team Taz, Darby Allin & More In Action!". Fightful. Archived from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  4. ^ "AEW Dynamite 11/18/20 Results: NWA Women's Title Match, Death Triangle Reunites & More!". Fightful. November 18, 2020. Archived from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  5. ^ "Welcome to the team... #TopFlight Darius & Dante Martin are #AllElite". Twitter. November 23, 2020. Archived from the original on March 3, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  6. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (April 23, 2021). "Darius Martin Undergoes ACL Surgery". Fightful. Archived from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  7. ^ Wilkins, Rob (August 11, 2021). "AEW Dynamite Results 8/11/21 Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks vs. Dante Martin and The Sydal Brothers". Fightful. Archived from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  8. ^ Wilkins, Rob (October 16, 2021). "AEW Saturday Night Dynamite Results for 10/16/21 Bryan Danielson vs. Bobby Fish plus more". Fightful. Archived from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  9. ^ Wilkins, Rob (June 26, 2021). "AEW Dynamite 6/26/21 Saturday Results AEW Championship Match Kenny Omega vs. Jungle Boy, and more". Fightful. Archived from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  10. ^ Wilkins, Rob (September 8, 2021). "AEW Dynamite Results For 9/8/21 Jon Moxley vs. Minoru Suzuki, Dustin Rhodes vs. Malakai Black". Fightful. Archived from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  11. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "How did Lio Rush do in his Dynamite Debut? | AEW Dynamite, 11/10/21". YouTube.
  12. ^ Wilkins, Rob (November 24, 2021). "AEW Dynamite Results For 11/24/21 Bryan Danielson vs. Colt Cabana, CM Punk vs. QT Marshall, and more". Fightful. Archived from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  13. ^ Wilkins, Rob (December 8, 2021). "AEW Dynamite Results For 12/8/21 The Young Bucks vs. Orange Cassidy and Rocky Romero and much more". Fightful. Archived from the original on January 20, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  14. ^ "AEW Dynamite Winter Is Coming Results For 12/15/21 Danielson vs. Hangman for AEW Championship Title". Fightful. December 15, 2021. Archived from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  15. ^ Wilkins, Rob (February 18, 2022). "AEW Rampage Results For 2/18/22 Switchblade Jay White vs. Trent Beretta, Adam Cole vs. Ten, and more". Fightful. Archived from the original on February 27, 2022. Retrieved February 27, 2022.
  16. ^ Wilkins, Rob (March 2, 2022). "AEW Dynamite Results For 3/2/22 Adam Cole and reDRagon vs. Adam Page, John Silver, and Alex Reynolds". Fightful. Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  17. ^ Faria, Colby (March 9, 2022). "AEW Dynamite Results (3/9/22): Adam Page Defends AEW World Title, Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley Team Up + More!". Fightful. Archived from the original on March 10, 2022. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
  18. ^ Carey, Ian (May 5, 2022). "AEW's Darius Martin out six to nine months after 'nasty car accident'". WON/F4W – WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, AEW News, AEW results. Archived from the original on January 14, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  19. ^ Carey, Ian (May 3, 2022). "Fenix vs. Dante Martin Owen Hart Tournament qualifier confirmed for AEW Dynamite". WON/F4W – WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, AEW News, AEW results. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  20. ^ "AEW Rampage Results: Scorpio Sky retains the TNT Championship". June 4, 2022. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  21. ^ Staff, A. E. W. (August 13, 2022). "AEW Rampage: Quake By The Lake Results for August 12, 2022". All Elite Wrestling. Archived from the original on August 13, 2022. Retrieved August 13, 2022.
  22. ^ "AEW All Out results: Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. CM Punk for the AEW World Championship, Toni Storm vs. Britt Baker vs. Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida for the Interim AEW Women's Title, Chris Jericho vs. Bryan Danielson, Ricky Starks vs. Powerhouse Hobbs, "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry vs. Christian Cage, Casino Ladder Match". September 4, 2022. Archived from the original on September 6, 2022. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  23. ^ "AEW Dynamite Results: Death Triangle Defeat AR Fox & Top Flight to Retain AEW World Trios Championships, the Elite to Return at Full Gear (11/16)". November 16, 2022. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  24. ^ Collins, Joseph (November 25, 2022). "AEW Rampage live results: FTR vs. Top Flight ROH Tag Team title match". WON/F4W – WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, AEW News, AEW results. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  25. ^ "ROH Final Battle Zero Hour pre-show results: Jeff Cobb vs. Mascara Dorada, Matt Taven and Mike Bennett vs. "Top Flight" Dante Martin and Darius Martin, Willow Nightingale vs. Trish Adora, and Angelo Parker and Matt Menard vs. Cheeseburger and Eli Isom". December 10, 2022. Archived from the original on December 11, 2022. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  26. ^ "AEW Rampage: Holiday Bash Results (12/23) - $300,000 Three Kings Christmas Casino Trios Battle Royale, TBS Title Eliminator Match and More". December 23, 2022. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  27. ^ Howard, Ryan (January 18, 2023). "AEW Dynamite live results: Young Bucks vs. Top Flight, two title matches". WON/F4W – WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, AEW News, AEW results. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved January 19, 2023.
  28. ^ Carey, Ian (April 2, 2023). "Dante Martin released from hospital following ROH Supercard of Honor injury". F4Wonline.com. Archived from the original on July 18, 2023. Retrieved July 18, 2023.
  29. ^ Staff, A. E. W. (November 30, 2023). "AEW Dynamite Results for November 29, 2023". All Elite Wrestling. Retrieved December 4, 2023.
  30. ^ Russell, Skylar (December 4, 2024). "Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal Result; New Match Set For AEW Worlds End". Fightful. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  31. ^ "411MANIA". Lio Rush and Action Andretti Earn Tag Title Match on AEW Collision. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
  32. ^ "AWF Championship". Cagematch.net. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  33. ^ a b c d e "Dante Martin". Cagematch.net. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  34. ^ "AWF TV Title Tournament". Cagematch.net. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
  35. ^ "Dante Martin". Cagematch.net. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved July 2, 2022.
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