Background

In 1987, American wrestling was making a strong return to the mainstream and to prime time television.

Although beginning to play to full houses, wrestling had been a long time in the wilderness and federations such as the WWF were seriously thin on new talent.

A typical WWF card in 1986/7 might have featured Andre the Giant, Kamala, Randy Savage, Jake Roberts, George Steele, Don Muraco - skilled workers but of limited appeal to the new and youthful audiences WWF was seeking to capture.

WWF ranks were also seriously deficient in the glamor department. The NWA had the Rock'n' Roll Express,  the AWA had the Midnight Rockers and the UWF had The Fantastics. WWF had The British Bulldogs - once again great wrestlers but hardly the profiles needed to add credibility to WWF's youthful rock'n' roll pretensions.

Enter the Can-Am Connection,  Rick Martel and AWA/IWA co-worker Tom Zenk.
 
 

"that sound you hear is female fans knocking down the gates at arenas all across the country straining to get a good look at Rick Martel and Tom Zenk. "Tommy and Ricky are, well, they're just the most incredible looking men I've ever seen" sighed Lisa Zitowski at a recent Madison Square Garden show. "They're dark and handsome and just solid muscle. They both have the nicest hair and the prettiest eyes. Tommy and Ricky make my heart beat faster!" (Liz Hunter, PWI, June 1987).

The dynamism of the Can-Am Connection derived not only from their obvious sex appeal but from the combination of Martel's 16 years accumulated ring experience and Zenk's youthfulness and energy.

As such, they contained, in one tight package, enough glamor to hold wrestling's new teen audiences and more than enough wrestling skill to satisfy wrestling's hardened fans.

It was hard to find anyone who wasn't impressed. Even wrestling commentators like Inside Wrestling's Matt Brock, who prided themselves on their hard-bitten cynicism, conceded -
 
          "I've been around long enough to know a hit when I see one and I saw one tonight at
          Madison Square Garden. The Can-Am Connection has all the tools to make it big in
          today's wrestling environment" (Inside Wrestling, May, 1987).
 
Part of the energy and dynamism generated by the duo seemed  to derive from a special
chemistry between the two men.  According to Liz Hunter  "The sudden appeal of Martel is somewhat surprising because he is no newcomer to wrestling."  A year earlier, Martel's career had been in freefall. Hunter attributed Martel's new appeal  to rejuvenation via his association with Tom Zenk, a man 6 years his junior.
 

"Zenk, a mere baby by wrestling standards, is only getting better. Martel renewed by his partner's exuberance, is on the top of his game. "I don't think I've ever seen Rick look better", said former partner Tony Garea. "His drop-kicks, his execution is just perfect. I remember when we were a team, we were pretty tough to beat and Rick just couldn't wait to get into the ring every night. I think he looks at Zenk like a teacher looks at his star pupil and it excites him to think about what they can accomplish together. Rick and Tom can go very far" (Liz Hunter, PWI, June 1987).

"For Rick Martel, it was like a dream come true. Since he dropped the AWA heavyweight title to Stan Hansen, his career had definitely taken a nose dive. He had returned to the Montreal area to recover from a back injury. Many said he was a quitter, something that hurt Martel a lot. To prove he was still around, he worked for good friend and promoter Gino Brito, Sr. in Canada's International Wrestling. Martel used his credibility with wrestlers to bring in new talent to the area, including old friend Tom Zenk" (Ciji Brianne, Wrestling Eye, 1987).
 

Martel had worked on the same cards with Zenk in AWA in 1984 and 1985. But it wasn't until Martel lost the AWA Heavyweight title to Stan Hansen in December 1985, that Martel turned to Zenk for help in rescuing his career.
 

"I remember Nick Bockwinkel was the first to tell me, 'Hey Rick, we just seen a guy who reminds me of a young Rick Martel.' I said, 'who's that.' 'Tom Zenk' 'I heard about him.' Then when I when I saw him in the ring, I said 'Wow', because it's so strange. He really was so similar to me. His style. And later on I found out that Tom had been watching me a lot and kind of copied my style and did a lot of the moves that I was doing. Plus with his looks being the same as me, a lot of people kept comparing us " (Martel, Slam Wrestling, 1998).
 

"Zenk .... had had a very successful stay in the Pacific Northwest, holding both the heavyweight title and the tag team title (with Scott Doring). Zenk soon captured the International [IWA] tag team belts with new partner, Dan Kroffat [Phil LaFon]. Martel was impressed with Zenk's ability and looks, noting their similar coloring. In his mind he began formulating an exciting new tag team. He envisioned The Can-Am Connection, right down to the style of hair and the clothes they would wear" (Ciji Brianne, Wrestling Eye, 1987).
 

"When I decided to go to the WWF, I could see that Tom and I had big potential as a tag team. So I asked McMahon, and of course McMahon had never heard of Tom Zenk. So he had to go on my word.  I said, 'look, I guarantee this is going to make a big impact as a tag team here. Major impact. I know it, I can feel it.' And sure enough when we joined WWF, to this day, Tom and I, had we stayed together, we would have been one of the biggest tag teams of all time. I can say that still."  (Martel, Slam Wrestling, 1998).
 

"Martel sold his stock in the International [IWA] promotion and headed for a short stay in Puerto Rico, waiting for Zenk and Kroffat to drop their [IWA tag] title. In mid-October the belts changed hands. Martel offered Zenk the chance of a lifetime - a lucrative tag team tournament in Japan. And after the Japan tour? The WWF, the supposed land of milk and honey.

The combination was perfect. Two good friends with similar looks and coloring, charisma, speed, agility, determination and desire to make it all come together. For fans, Martel and Zenk were likewise a dream come true. It seemed too good to be real. And for Rick Martel, it was. "(Ciji Brianne, Wrestling Eye, 1987).

WWF matches

In November - December 1986, Zenk and Martel undertook a successful tour with AJPW - during which Giant Baba and Lord Bleares offered the two men both the AJPW tag titles (from Hansen and DeBiase) plus a lucrative contract - to return to Japan on a one- month-on/one-month-off basis, at $20,000 per month each.  For Zenk it was a once in a lifetime offer.  Martel, on the other hand,  argued they were contractually obligated to WWF and that, in any case, their opportunities would be greater with McMahon.

Zenk disagreed - he was earning $2,500 a week in WWF while AJPW were willing to pay double that. What he didn't know at the time - and what Martel, despite their friendship, chose not to reveal - was that Martel was already earning $6,000 a week in WWF - $3,500 more than the tag partner who had helped rejuvenate his career. Unaware of Martel's arrangements with WWF, Zenk agreed to return to WWF on the condition that "if we're not earning $5,000 a week within 6 months" they would quit WWF for AJPW.

Back in the US, the Can-Am Connection received a rapid push through WWF's tag team ranks.

In March, 1987 the duo were playing to wrestling's biggest ever audience and to America's biggest indoor crowd - the 93,173 fans packed into the Pontiac Silverdome for Wrestlemania III; an event simultaneously viewed by millions around the world on closed-circuit broadcasts and pay-per-view television.

At Wrestlemania III,  Tom and Rick  "entered the ring  to a thunderous ovation" and left it with their reputations "solidified... as the up-and-coming tag team in the WWF."
 
By mid 1987, with one of the British Bulldogs (The Dynamite Kid) seriously injured and The Hart Foundation established as heels, The Can-Am Connection was wrestling's number one fan attraction, headlining the wrestling press. In July 1987, acquisition of the championship belts from Brett Hart and Jim Neidhart was only a few weeks away.

That's when the 6 months time limit which Zenk and Martel had agreed in Japan, expired. Zenk was still receiving just $2,500 a week. The promised increase to $5,000 a week in WWF hadn't eventuated. 

That's also when Zenk discovered why Martel had refused the Japan contract and why he'd consistently refused to enter contract renegotiations with WWF -  Martel had been taking more than twice Zenk's salary from the outset!

"On July 10, in Boston, [Ric Martel's] dream became a nightmare. Just hours before a scheduled television interview, Tom Zenk dropped off the keys to their rental car at the front desk of their hotel and left. Martel had been deserted.  Obviously taken by surprise, he went through with the TV spot anyway, supposedly speaking on behalf of Zenk. Rumors circulated that Zenk was injured or maybe delayed somewhere. Martel knew better, but wasn't saying much. What do you say when you know your partner has left you for good?" (Ciji Brianne, Wrestling Eye, 1987)
 

"one day in Boston I got up one morning and I went to the front desk and they said there's a message for you. There was a note from Tom saying 'Rick, thanks for the opportunity but that's it for me.' And that was it. He just quit right on the spot. I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. He left right in the middle of the night, like a thief in the middle of the night .......

McMahon was shocked..... We couldn't believe it because things were going great. The fans were taken by it and everybody was excited about the whole thing. It had really taken off.  And everybody could tell we'd be really doing well. So I asked McMahon, I said 'Look, why don't we give him  three days. Maybe something went wrong. So let's give him three days to rest and stuff and then I'll go talk to him.' So they flew me to Minneapolis and I went to meet him at his house....  (Martel, Slam Wrestling, 1998).
 

"I went to ask him to come back, maybe put in two years, maybe make some money and THEN leave. But he slammed the door in my face. After all I've done for him, he wouldn't give me the time of day. He left me like a thief in the night. It really upset me. That's all I have to say about it."
 

I said 'Look Tom, what went wrong?' He said  'Look, I can't this and that.' And he was really .. I could tell that he had cracked. He just couldn't take it anymore. That was the end of it.

..... I remember telling him, saying 'Look Tom, I don't disagree with what you're doing. I just disagree with the way you're doing it.' I said we have commitments here. Because we had some matches that were already booked. And I'm old fashioned in that way. When I give my word I'm going to be somewhere, if I'm not injured I'm there. I said 'Look Tom, let's at least finish.' Because the WWF had given us the opportunity to show that we were good. Let's not penalize them. Let's finish what you've started like a couple of months. Because he wasn't injured. So I said 'Let's come back and finish the days.' And also I gave my word on his behalf. The least he could do is finish it right FOR ME. Because I had spoke for him. So I says come back Tom and let's finish those days. If you want to go on with your life, that's fine. He didn't want to do that. I said 'that's not right. At least have the guts, the responsibility to come back and finish your days and then go on.' He said 'no, no' and just kept knocking everything. For him, that day wrestling was finished. He was going to go on to other things, better things. And then he tried after, but he didn't succeed" (Martel, Slam Wrestling, 1998).
 

For the benefit of the television audience, Craig DeGeorge announced that Martel's partner had "just up and left" when the going got tough. We were then treated to a sniveling Martel, gasping for breath like he'd just run a marathon. "Cause you see, the competition got to be too much against the Islanders, and my partner left me, quit on me. Yes, I felt bad inside, I was hurt, but the Islanders - you're gonna learn a lesson that I'm not a quitter. I'm a fighter! Yes, I may be alone, but I'm gonna come at you even if it's one by one or with a new partner, because a lot of people want to be my partner!" Enter Tito Santana, who left the Spanish commentator's table to rescue Martel from a double team effort by the Islanders. So emerged the new tag team, the Strike Force - a poor imitation of the original Can-Ams, lacking the charisma, looks and overall appeal of Zenk and Martel. (Perhaps they should be known as the Can-Mexican Connection. Santana had recently been relegated to the undercard and does not seem to have Zenk's main event appeal!)

Meanwhile, as far as the WWF was concerned, Tom Zenk didn't even exist anymore. He was rumored to have retired completely and referred to by Bobby Heenan [Manager of the Islanders] as a cowering idiot. The rumor mill churned out many different versions of where he had gone and why he had left, ranging from his general lack of wrestling skill to various slurs on his personal and moral character (Ciji Brianne, Wrestling Eye, 1987).
 

"I guess Tom was overwhelmed by it all. I think Tom, when it comes right down to it, is not very physical. Wrestling is very hard on your body. Hard on you also mentally. It's hard physically. Tom wasn't mentally or physically hard as I thought he would be. I think that when he realized, when we got to the top, we went up a notch, turned up the volume and went into that category where you really got to put out, day in and day out. Everyday go to that gym. Everyday, even if you're injured, you've got to keep going. I think that was too much for him. And also the pressure of wrestling in front of big crowds and always performing to your top level. He couldn't take that. I remember in the last few weeks, I remember I was the one that was kind of giving the pep talks. I would be excited. 'Oh man, This is great. Look what's going on.' And I always had to kind of push him. I thought it was going to be the other way around, where it was him that was going to be pushing me, saying, 'Oh Rick, this is great. This is fantastic, what's going on.'  But I would be the guy that had to push him. I could feel that something was wrong here  .....  [Afterwards], he never really made it. He had the potential. But then again, he didn't have the potential, because he didn't have what it takes, with what I said earlier, he wasn't mentally or physically, he was not up to par" (Martel, Slam Wrestling, 1998).
 

"When reached in Minnesota, Zenk was having a great time.

"I finally have some time to spend with my friends. I can go to the gym and work out with Scott (past partner Scott Doring), relax, go for a drive .... I actually have a social life again! I work when I want, if I want."

You know everyone thinks that Tom Zenk is all washed up, that he lost his big chance when he left the WWF.

"Well, that's nice. But what nobody seems to realize is that I don't have to be a wrestler .... I'm going to wrestle on my own terms now. I've got a brain and I'm using it. I find it strange that everyone thinks that makes me a quitter! They're just crying because I'm not making them any money! ..... And no, I have nothing at all against Rick, but he's got his life and I've got mine."

Zenk, like Jesse Ventura, tells it like it is. He's not wrong, but will Martel want to hear it? Probably not. It seems like there are sour grapes on both sides but Zenk covers his emotions where Martel wears them on his sleeve. The quest for fame, money and adulation took the ultimate toll on a partnership and friendship. The results have left Martel struggling to hold on to the popularity he so desperately wants. Everyone knows what happens when you don't draw well for Vince. You become expendable. .... Martel and Santana may be making their last ditch attempt at wrestling stardom. Zenk doesn't care. He is what he is. He goes it alone, choosing not to ride on anyone's coat tails.

Regardless of whose side you are on, the facts remain the same - Martel will never match the popularity of the Can-Am Connection with the Strike Force (Ciji Brianne, Wrestling Eye, 1987).
 

The split up of the Can-Am Connection has all the elements of a classic wrestling angle.

In the interview quoted above, Martel recounts a fantasy of desertion, recreating for himself the classic pose of rejected partner. The outlines of Martel's story are broadly -
 

Tom Zenk, whose ring career he had 'carefully nurtured', deserted him "in the middle of the night, like a thief in the middle of the night." When Martel, the "wronged partner" flew to Minneapolis in a search of reconciliation, the door was slammed in his face. Martel returned to the WWF alone, nursing a deep and 'righteous' and (after 12 years) still bitter sense of betrayal.
 

However, in Zenk's case, the split was real and not a 'work'.

Currently we know only Martel's side of the story. As we've seen, that version has been tainted by its partial origins in WWF storylines that were hastily devised to "write" Zenk out of their 1987 TV season. According to these storylines, Zenk was variously rumored to be "a cowering idiot" who'd fled WWF rather than face Bobby Heenan and "The Islanders" ; or who'd retired completely from wrestling because it had become all "too hard".  Different versions of where he had gone and why he had left, were rehearsed, ranging from his supposed lack of wrestling skill to various aspersions on his personal and moral character.

Additionally, Martel's account is heavily colored by his disappointment over the failure of the lucrative business partnership he had developed with WWF. Merchandising deals were lost and a reported 100,000 Can-Am T-Shirts, posters and related merchandising junked. A friend of Martel's explained - "The break-up seriously damaged Rick's earning potential. Rick saw Tom as his key to the money jar.  And [after Tom's departure]  Rick's earning potential never met what it would have - had Tom stayed."

Meanwhile, Martel's recent 'shoot' account (in Slam Wrestling) is remarkable for several inconsistencies - the most significant being his poor estimation of Zenk's abilities ("mentally or physically, he was not up to par") yet his assertion that  "had we stayed together, we would have been one of the biggest tag teams of all time. I can say that still". 

This leads Martel to under-rate Zenk's performance prior to and following their teaming in the Can-Am Connection. For example,  Martel's claim that, prior to Can-Am, "I helped from day one. I helped [Zenk] get booked, get tours done. ... I helped him a lot in the beginning of his career". This overlooks Tom Zenk's 3-year apprenticeship in the AWA and in the Pacific North West where, from 1985 - 86, he simultaneously held the North West Heavyweight and Tag Team Championship belts (with Scott Doring) thanks to Don Owen's considerable wrestling acumen.
 

Again Martel claims that, following the Can-Am split,  Zenk- "never really made it [again]". This  ignores that, while Martel was struggling to maintain his spot in the WWF (as "The Model"),  Zenk was a household name in WCW, winning and defending the US Tag Team Championships (1990, with Brian Pillman) and the NWA TV Championship (1990 - 1991). By all accounts 1990  - not 1987 - was Tom Zenk's  year -  a full three years after his break with Martel.

But perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of Rick Martel's interview is the intensity of feeling displayed towards what was essentially a business relationship that had been dissolved more than 11 years before. Is this evidence of an extraordinary ego or genuine disappointment at a broken friendship? Or a mixture of both?  According to another of Martel's friends "despite what Rick says (or doesn't say), he and Tom, from Rick's point of view, were 'best friends.'"

It's possible that this sentiment was true for both sides of the Can-Am split - and that, stripped of all the inconsistencies and soap-opera dramatics - the dispute was simply over how friends should behave in business.

To date Tom Zenk has never given his side of the storyl .... UNTIL NOW!