Fredrick Martin Jannetty (born February 3, 1960) was one of the most talented tag team wrestlers of his time. Although his career was continually halted by personal issues and his achievements overshadowed by those of his most notable tag team partner Shawn Michaels.

Jannetty was an amateur wrestler in the state of Georgia, qualifying for the state championship tournament his last three years of high school. He also boxed while in high school, and won many Golden Gloves events. After high school, he wrestled at Chattahoochee Valley Community College in Alabama. He then went to Auburn University to wrestle, but the school dropped its wrestling program. He thought about trying football, but was instead coaxed into professional wrestling by Jerry Oates, who trained him. Jannetty began his wrestling career in September 1983 for Mid-South Wrestling teaming with Jerry Oates (as "cousin" Marty Oates).

Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels first met and struck up a friendship when they both competed for the National Wrestling Alliance's Central States Wrestling territory in Kansas City in 1985. Initially they would only travel together since Jannetty was either teaming with Tommy Rogers as the Uptown Boys, or he was teaming with Central States booker ”Bulldog” Bob Brown. After the team of Jannetty and Brown broke up Michaels and Jannetty started teaming up, although they were not given a team name.

In early 1986, both Jannetty and Michaels were signed by the American Wrestling Association (AWA). The two were paired up by the AWA bookers. The two of them came up with the name The Midnight Rockers inspired by Judas Priest’s ”Living after Midnight”. AWA owner Verne Gagne did not seem to understand the idea, but let the team go ahead and use the name. The two started wearing identical outfits and develop the ”Fun loving pretty boy” gimmick they would be known for throughout their time together.

The team made their first WWF appearance in 1987 only five days after dropping the AWA Tag Team titles. The team was soon fired from the WWF because of excessive partying and not enough focusing on their in ring work.

In 1988 Jannetty and Michaels were contacted by WWF owner Vince McMahon informing them that he was willing to bring them back if they were able to be more professional this time around. By the end of May the team was working for the WWF under the shortened name The Rockers. They officially made their television debut on the June 18, 1988 edition of WWF Superstars of Wrestling. During this run, the team was often called "tag team specialists" by commentator Gorilla Monsoon.

The Rockers were a top team in the WWF's golden era going up against top teams. However by current WWE records, The Rockers never officially held the WWF Tag Team Championship. On October 30, 1990, Jannetty and Michaels did actually defeat the reigning champions The Hart Foundation in a two out of three falls match in Fort Wayne, Indiana to seemingly win the titles. The WWE (WWF) has never officially recognized The Rockers' champion status. During the match, the top rope broke by accident making the match a disjointed affair that would require serious clean up before it could be shown on TV. The Rockers defended the WWF Tag Team title against Power and Glory (Paul Roma and Hercules) on November 3, 1990. Shortly after November 3, it was decided to not air the title change and that the title would revert to the Hart Foundation. In his book, Michaels claims that the Hart Foundation had politicked to keep the title. Michaels claim is contradicted by other claims that the WWF had actually fired Jim Neidhart forcing the title change, but after the match, the two sides came to an agreement, and Neidhart was brought back. The Rockers were never officially credited with a title win, but footage from the match was shown prior to Jannetty's WWF return in 1995.

After teaming together since 1985, The Rockers split up in December 1991 after backstage disputes. The exact nature of the dispute has not been confirmed by the WWF other than it was a monetary issue that led to Jannetty quitting the WWF on behalf of both Rockers. According to Michaels's book, Jannetty had claimed that World Championship Wrestling were willing to give them a very high guaranteed contract but when Michaels inquired about it, it turned out to be an exaggeration. Jannetty disputes this saying that Michaels was the driving force suggesting to quit the WWF, but had Jannetty do the phone call to ask for a release from their contract. When Vince McMahon actually agreed to let them go Michaels appeared shocked according to him, and later went to McMahon unbeknownst to him to explain this was Jannetty's idea only and that he had no intention of leaving the WWF himself. After cooler heads prevailed it was decided that The Rockers should split with Michaels turning heel to feud with Jannetty. Jannetty was not happy about the team splitting, while Michaels could not wait to work as a singles wrestler.

On screen there was no mention of what went on backstage, instead Michaels and Jannetty started to show signs of dissension. During a singles match between Michaels and Ric Flair, Jannetty rolled Shawn into the ring to get pinned. Michaels took this as Jannetty costing him the match instead of helping out. At the 1991 Survivor Series Jannetty caused Michaels to be eliminated by accidentally slamming one of the Nasty Boys into him after which The Rockers argued.

After the buildup, The Rockers wrestled one last match on television, a title shot at The Legion of Doom. The Rockers were unsuccessful following another miscommunication. Michaels launched Jannetty into Animal for a double-team move where Michaels would dropkick Jannetty's back, knocking him on top of Animal. Instead, Animal turned at the last second and Michaels dropkicked him. Animal fell on top of Jannetty and got the 3-count. Following the match, Michaels was irate at Jannetty for getting pinned while Jannetty tried to calm him down. After pushing away an attempted hug by Jannetty, Michaels slapped Jannetty in the face. Jannetty refused to fight back. Michaels slapped Jannetty again, causing Jannetty to lunge at Michaels but stopped short of attacking him and stormed out the ring. Michaels took his wristbands off and stared at the booing crowd.

They got into a legit fight in May 1991 that was instigated by Roddy Piper. The incident according to Michaels happened as the boys were intoxicated, Piper, also drunk, started talking about how Michaels would be an even greater competitor in the business, that he would even be the future of the business. Piper stated, that "Michaels had had a great future in the business and that Michaels had all this talent". Jannetty, believing that to be an insult to him challenged Michaels to a fight to which Michaels declined. Jannetty, however, would not take no for an answer and attacked Michaels which started the fight. Piper pulled the two apart, and Michaels passed out right after, and wouldn't come to until the next day. The story, told by Jannetty, reveals that police were called to the scene and arrested Jannetty. As they were arresting him though, Randy Savage stepped in and prevented him from going to jail by telling the police that it was all part of a storyline even though in reality he did not know the cause of the fight in the first place. Michaels almost quit the WWF over the incident, and Jannetty believes that this incident was one of the factors in the WWF's decision to break up The Rockers.

The final split came on Brutus Beefcake’s "Barbershop" (taped on December 2, 1991, and aired on January 11, 1992) where Beefcake interviewed The Rockers about their recent problems. After seemingly working out their problems, Michaels suddenly superkicked Jannetty, before sending him through the glass window of the barbershop set. Michaels also proceeded to rip a full page picture of the group in half, signifying the separation. The turn had the desired effect of making Michaels a hated heel especially since the WWF agreed to let Jannetty "blade" (make himself bleed) after being thrown through the window, something which was not very prevalent in 1991. It also prevented Jannetty from entering the Royal Rumble in 1992.

Michaels and Jannetty were supposed to feud following the breakup, but Jannetty was suspended by the WWF, due to an incident outside a Tampa night club that occurred on January 25, 1992. Jannetty was arrested in Tampa, Florida, after an altercation with police. His female companion, a 19-year-old named Angela Ialacci, was arrested for trying to use a fake ID. Jannetty assaulted the officer performing the arrest, which led to his arrest. They were found to be in possession of less than a gram of cocaine. Jannetty was charged with possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and resisting arrest with force. He was indefinitely suspended by the WWF following the incident and his singles matches that were taped in January did not air. In March 1992, he was sentenced to 6 months of house arrest and was released by the WWF shortly after. Michaels ended up facing El Matador in the opening match of WrestleMania VIII.

While Jannetty was away, Michaels began developing his “Heartbreak Kid” heel persona including getting Sherri Martel as his manager. Michaels also won the WWF Intercontinental Championship from The British Bulldog. Shortly after his house arrest concluded, Jannetty re-signed with the WWF. On the October 31, 1992 (taped October 12, 1992 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) edition of WWF Superstars, Michaels was in the ring posing before a match, admiring himself in a mirror that Sherri brought to the ring. To everyone's surprise, Jannetty came down through the crowd and entered the ring. Jannetty attacked Michaels, grabbed the mirror and tried to hit Michaels with it. But Michaels pulled Sherri in front of himself so that she got hit with the mirror instead. This led to Sherri being hospitalized from the glass shards when Sherri returned from her “recovery” she turned on Michaels and actually backed Jannetty in his unsuccessful attempt to take the Intercontinental title away from Michaels at the 1993 Royal Rumble. During the match, Michaels rolled outside the ring looking to Sherri for comfort. Sherri slapped Michaels, turning babyface and aligning with Jannetty. Jannetty lost after interference by Sherri backfired. After the match, Sherri was being interviewed backstage when Michaels confronted her. Jannetty attacked Michaels during the confrontation. They had to be separated by referees and officials, indicating that their feud would continue and perhaps lead to a rematch at WrestleMania IX. But Jannetty was released again after rumors circulated stating that he had been under the influence of alcohol or other drugs during the match, leading to its comparably low quality. After the loss, Jannetty was fired by the WWF. However, Mr. Perfect went to Vince & said Shawn deserved some of the blame for the match, and Jannetty was brought back. Jannetty to this day denies having been intoxicated at the event, but explains having been rather tired because of lack of sleep, and that the rumor had been started by Shawn Michaels to escape blame for the match being disappointing.

Jannetty returned once again on May 17, 1993, challenging Michaels for the Intercontinental Championship after appearing out of the crowd on Monday Night RAW when Michaels was being interviewed by Vince McMahon and telling the audience that he would defend his title against anyone at any time. Though Michaels initially tried to back out of fighting Jannetty, he eventually put his title on the line against his former partner. Jannetty won the title that night, thanks to Mr. Perfect preventing Michaels from heading to the locker room where he would be counted out but keep his title. Jannetty had only one title defense on TV, defeating Bam Bam Bigelow by countout on the May 31, 1993 edition of Monday Night RAW. He lost the title back to Michaels on June 6, 1993 in a non-televised match in Albany, New York due to interference from Michaels' debuting bodyguard Diesel. After losing the title the Michaels/Jannetty feud petered out with Michaels focusing on other title challengers while Jannetty wrestled on the mid-card until leaving the WWF in the Spring of 1994.

Jannetty also formed a tag team with the 1-2-3 Kid. Jannetty won the Tag Team Championship with the 1-2-3 Kid from The Quebecers (Jacques and Pierre) on the January 10, 1994 episode of Monday Night Raw. They lost the title to The Quebecers seven days later at Madison Square Garden on January 17, 1994 at a non-televised event when 1-2-3 Kid was pinned following an assisted senton.

In September 1995, Jannetty returned to the WWF and initially worked in the singles division. In early 1996, Jannetty was introduced to Al Snow and told that he would be his new partner as the New Rockers. The idea was initially going to be a more or less straight up return to The Rockers' gimmick, but the decision was soon made to turn them more "silly" and become comedy heels according to Marty Jannetty. They were told that the idea was for them to be like watching the 1960s television show The Monkees, complete with Snow being named "Leif Cassidy" as a play off 1970s idols David Cassidy and Leif Garrett. Going against his better judgment, Jannetty agreed to it, if nothing else than to help Snow out, who was trying to find a bankable gimmick. Jannetty was later informed that former partner Shawn Michaels had been the one to suggest the change in the gimmick. The team was never seriously pushed in the WWF making only a couple of low card PPV appearances before Jannetty decided to leave the WWF in December 1996.

On the SmackDown! shown on March 10, 2005 (taped two days earlier) Kurt Angle announced that as part of his preparation for his WrestleMania 21 match against Michaels' he would face Michaels old partner Jannetty on the following SmackDown. The following Monday, March 14, 2005, Jannetty made a surprise appearance on WWE Raw and, for one night, The Rockers reunited to take on La Résistance (Sylvain Grenier and Rob Conway). Jannetty got the win with the "Rocker Dropper" after Michaels hit ”Sweet Chin Music” on Grenier. Three days later on SmackDown Angle had promised to make Jannetty ”tap out”, just like he was going to make Michaels tap out at WrestleMania 21. Angle made good on his promise and forced Jannetty to submit to his ankle lock submission hold, but only after a nearly twenty-minute match and an impressive showing for Jannetty which saw him nearly pin the Olympic champion. After two good showings on Raw and SmackDown to convince WWE that he was still a very talented performer, they signed him to a contract. However, due to a domestic incident, Jannetty was arrested and thus unable to meet the commitments of his WWE contract. This led to his released on July 6, 2005.

On the February 20, 2006 episode of Raw, Shawn Michaels was pitted against four of the five members of the Spirit Squad in their in-ring debut. After he had used Sweet Chin Music, Michaels was attacked by all five members until an unknown man came storming into the ring to defend Michaels. During the melee, it was revealed that it was Marty Jannetty coming to defend his former tag team partner. Later on Raw, Vince McMahon came out to mention that he would offer Jannetty a full-time contract. McMahon then added a stipulation that Jannetty had to join Mr. McMahon's "Kiss My Ass Club" the following week on Raw.

Jannetty refused, and McMahon instead offered Jannetty the possibility of breaking Chris Masters' signature submission hold, the Master Lock. Jannetty appeared to almost break the hold, but Mr. McMahon (who was officiating) hit Jannetty with a low blow. Unable to break it, he was only released from the hold when Michaels ran in to save him. Shortly after Michaels had saved Jannetty, Shane McMahon ran in the ring with a steel chair and knocked out Michaels. The former Rockers were supposed to continue a program with the McMahons, but Jannetty was absent from the next episode of Raw and instead Triple H and Shawn Michaels reunited as D-Generation X. On March 3, WWE announced that it had severed all professional ties with Jannetty without further explanation.

During a tag team match at the USF Sun Dome in December 1990, Jannetty executed his Rocker Dropper finishing move on Chuck Austin, who was teaming with The Genius. Austin's neck was instantly broken as a result of tucking his head during the move, rather than falling flat on the mat. Austin was paralyzed and sued Jannetty, Michaels, and Titan Sports. When the case finally came to court in early 1994, Austin was awarded $26.7 million. Titan Sports appealed the decision and came to a $10 million settlement. In the end, Jannetty was ordered to pay Austin $500,000.

This skin was made for me by Yondee.