Wrestling Arsenal

Gallery 730 Straight Shooting
	Who can forget the impressive duo called the Can-Am Connection, Martel and Zenk. They look like brothers, but there were plenty of hard feelings between these two according to Tom Zenk's fascinating interview on TomZenk.com. Let's check out parts of Zenk's interview...

What were your first impressions of Martel? He was a solid impressive worker. But I was never a mark for him or for wrestling really.
Rick (Martel), on the other hand, was a real mark for the business - a 'working mark' as Scott Doring and I used to call guys who took it too seriously.
	And I did respect Rick. I still respect Rick. He was a great worker by today's standards.
	Was there any conscious imitation of Martel on your part? I learned from some of his moves. I knew we'd be a team and I realised he was grooming me for it.
I knew the deal and I saw what was coming. I knew at the time he was taking a real interest in me because he saw money in it - and I went along with it. That meant developing a compatible in-ring style.

Who originally came up with the concept “Can-Am Connection?” Rick came up with the name. He had the jackets made.
I had the flags and the trunks made. Rick went down to see Vince and convinced him it was Vince's idea, to put Vince over.
	Did any of your early impressions of Martel survive your actual encounter with him? Well, I learned early on that he can be real charming - on and off like a switch.
	He's a good guy - but knowing what I know now, he was really only cultivating me to get where he wanted to go.
	Some people think the whole world is a movie and he had a part for me. He was going to work me - a young dumb guy - and I played along...... for a while anyway.
	He was playing me with the promoters (as in) "I've got this kid..." But it was mainly a business deal. On the road I drove and he'd sleep.
Did you share any interests in common? No - apart from working out and stuff. Rick was a mark for bodybuilding.
Did your working relationship with Martel ever develop into a friendship - or did it remain largely a working relationship?
Well, I THOUGHT we were friends ....but I caught him lying too many times for a good interpersonal relationship.
What sort of things did he lie about? He lied to me about his age. He lied about money.
You know the saying "Do as I say and not as I do"? The first time I heard that phrase was from Rick. My father never told me that.

	When I asked him "what did you make last week?" y'know, he couldn't look you in the eye. He was making $6,000 a week in Japan while I was making $2,500 as his partner.
How do you respond to Martel's comments that in the early stages of your career, you modeled yourself in part on him? Zenk: Yes, I saw some of the moves he made and I always took bits and pieces from the people I respected.

Was there anything else about him that annoyed you? He was real cheap. He'd book us into Red Roof Inns. I thought if we're going to work in this business at least we could stay in Marriotts and Holiday Inns.
I often wondered how come we had to scrimp and save - instead of looking after our main asset - our bodies?
I never managed to get high self-esteem from the money in WWF.
We were over like Kings on Earth. People came up to us at airports - businessmen, everyone.
Great push..... but no money!! I've never been so insulted as I was in WWF. Whoever had the throttle on my money should be ashamed of themselves.

	What would be some of the best memories of working with him? I was just starting out and I wasn't that good a worker back then. He gave me a lot of good insight.
	He critiqued my work. He gave constructive criticism. I played naive. I played dumb.
I sold, I played the part of the lesser guy with no ego. All the old timers like to believe they're 'working' the young guys.

	Do you think he had plans to form a tag team with you as far back as PWN or did the idea come later?
	He had the plans a long time before - and triggered them to suit his career.

There's a story that Martel wanted you to form a brothers' tag team. Is this true?
That's when I really began to be suspicious of him - when he tried to hook me up with his wife's sister. He wanted a tag partner for life.

	I was the "Young Lion," "Young and Upcoming Champion," "Tom Terrific" etc.
	How did the IWA promotion manage against WWF? Everyone knew we couldn't compete. So Martel flew off to cut his own deal with Vince [McMahon].
Martel claims he 'lost $50,000' when he left IWA. I knew that if he screwed Bravo, he could screw me.
In many ways I think he had no respect for other people - Rick looked out for Rick.
Did Martel discuss with you anything about his plans for WWF? All I heard back [from his meeting with McMahon] was that Vince wanted all white instead of all blue jackets and trunks for the tag team.


	We signed separate contracts. I signed in Montreal. Rick would never let me see his copy of the contract.
	I think Rick thought I was a mark for the business, a young guy with "stars in his eyes" who was just happy to be in the ring.
Veterans think they can work "naive", "dumb", young wrestlers - but I always regarded wrestling as a business. I was in it for the money.

I assumed that, in any negotiations, it would be me and Rick against the promoter. But Rick had worked for Vince before and Vince went along with the idea of Rick taking a larger share of the contract money.
As far as I'm concerned, I was totally honest with him. And it was he who broke the trust between us. It was ultimately Rick, with his greed, who split the Can-Am Connection.

	Martel has argued that he was a veteran offering to help a younger wrestler into the spotlight. Is there ANY merit in this argument?
Rick had experience but, on the other hand, I had youth. From my point of view, it was a combination of equal partners. Rick wasn't doing me any favors.

	Rick often says in the wrestling press that we COULD have been the best tag team ever - but I have no doubt in my mind we WERE the best tag team!

We had the looks, body, size and we put out 100% each night for the WWF. We had it all! And Rick spoiled it with his greed - and I'm sure that's why he's still bitter about it.
Rick tried to convince McMahon that it was Vince's idea all along - to make Vince the genius that Vince wanted to be.
Rick was a good worker and put Vince over. They made a deal. Rick conducted the negotiations with McMahon in the US while I was still working in Montreal.
He told me "a ship can only have one captain" and I agreed, given his long experience in the business, that he would be "the captain".
	He treated me like my brothers would treat me and I trusted him. He was a caring, good guy. He was nice to me. I was raised on respect and I respected him. You've got to take a chance on someone and I took a chance on him.
	Did you ever get the feeling that Martel was maneuvering you to increase his longevity by bringing you onboard?
Yes, I knew Rick had been thinking about the Can-Am for a long time... People told us that we looked like brothers.

After the Montreal promotion's decline, it was obvious that he needed a new "ticket to ride," and, I guess, I was it!
But it seems that in almost every match, Martel used you as a sort of 'face in peril' who took most of the bumps from the heels and then hot tagged him in. Is this a fair description of how you were used in WWF?
All anyone has to do is look at the tapes and see that I was used to do all the selling while Rick made all the comebacks and did all the finishing moves.
After a few months on the road with the WWF a young kid came up to me in Ohio and said "Man, yo' the guy who gets ya' butt kicked and tags in yo' partner and he cleans house. How come?" And I said to Martel, "I think the fans are catching on!"
When I said "I want to talk to Vince" Rick would say "Wait until we get the belts - we'll have more leverage then." When I said it's be better to get things sorted out right away, Rick said "No. Two-on-one wouldn't be a good idea."
	"Then Garvin and Patterson began using their stroke in the office to harass me - cock-watching me in the showers, crude remarks, and then petty harassments if you snubbed them - like Terry Garvin had started warning me about supposed dress code violations. I'd heard rumors about them and the way they'd tried to manipulate guys like Barry O. Trying to hit on them."
	I said to Rick "you'd better get your French Connection buddies squared away or you're going to be working alone." After that he gave me the cold shoulder in the car the whole way to Worcester. He acted real huffy - and when we arrived at the hotel, he threw the car keys at me. I went to my room to think things over.
	Can you give us some indication of how seriously 'over' Can-Am Connection were in the US at the time? It was big time! We were OVER! The TV was so strong.
People noticed us everywhere. Sophisticated people wanted autographs for their kids... We burned the Rougeaus, we burned Janetty and Shawn Michaels.

We had the look, everything. They would put us on after Hogan to pop the crowd. We were main event and they always had us go on last... I've never been so over in my life!
Here are some descriptions of the Can-Ams from Pro Wrestling magazines, to show the heat these studs produced... "Just over a year ago, a new tag team burst onto the WWF scene. Tall, dark and handsome, long brown hair, white spandex briefs, long boot laces - The Can-Am Connection. From their first appearance, they seemed destined to wear the gold around their waists. For Rick Martel, it was like a dream come true."
"Remembers Martel, 'I was passing through Montreal and one of my friends told me about a guy who looked and wrestled like me. I had a night off and went to the arena to watch. As soon as I saw Tom mix it up, I got a weird feeling. I really felt as if I was watching a videotape of myself: it was a mirror image. I knew we'd be tag team partners one day.'"
"Zenk swears by Martel, who has been something of a big brother to the youngster. 'Rick is so calm, so cool,' Zenk explained. 'He knows how to get you over the rough spots, not just in the ring but in wrestling life also.'"
"Introducing The Can-Am Connection, and 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, the WWF's gift to the ladies. Now look around any WWF arena and what do you see? Ecstasy!"
"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!"
	"Enter the Can-Am Connection. Rick Martel and Tom Zenk will have it all. They've got great looks and great bodies, and they've got great looking women pursuing those looks and bodies."
	"Electrifying. Stupendous. These two words best describe the two hottest mat personalities in the sport today. Rick Martel and partner Tom Zenk, dubbed the 'Can-Am Connection' by promoters."
	"The handsome, well groomed twosome, with all the traveling time they log, manage to continue to keep their bodies in excellent shape. At times Martel and Zenk have had to literally duck out of hotels by way of alley exits to avoid mobs of well-wishing women. On more than one occasion they have been physically attacked by ladies ripping their shirts and jackets. Being tagged 'heart-throbs' would be an understatement."
	"In addition to their similar styles and builds, Martel and Zenk have similar facial features as well, and manes of long dark hair, which send their female fans into a tizzy wherever they appear. Prior to a match, you can always tell which car they are arriving in as they approach the arena, as it is the one perpetually surrounded by pretty girls clamoring for a look at their heroes."
	"Besides being a top-notch team, Martel and Zenk have also caught the eyes and hearts of the many young ladies following the WWF. They adopted these two handsome men as their favorites, from the first time they stepped in to the ring together."
	"Martel, clearly the senior member of the team and team leader, tends to carry the Can-Ams in many matches, preferring to tag off to Zenk only when they are at an advantage or when absolutely necessary Zenk is still learning from Martel and that cuts down signficantly on the quick tags that are necessary to overwhelm an opposing team."
	Tom Zenk: "Martel is bad news. In the days when I teamed with Rick, back in 1987, I never really trusted him. That's why I left the Can-Am Connection, right when we were on the verge of winning the WWF World tag team title. Martel simply was more concerned with ego than he was with winning matches, and I could see that it was going to lead to trouble someday. If he came to NWA today, I'd challenge him to a match, not team with him. He's embarrassed everyone who's ever known him in the past, and I'd try to beat him just to avenge all the people he's hurt."