Thomas Erwin Zenk (November 30, 1958 – December 9, 2017) was an American professional wrestler and bodybuilder. He was a babyface for his entire career and was best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation from 1986 to 1987, with the American Wrestling Association from 1988 to 1989, and with World Championship Wrestling from 1989 to 1994, as well for his tours of Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling.
Early life Zenk was born in Golden Valley, Minnesota. He attended Robbinsdale High School in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. His 1976 graduating class included fellow future professional wrestlers Brady Boone, Barry Darsow, Curt Hennig, Nikita Koloff, and Rick Rude. He attended the University of Minnesota, where he majored in speech communications.
Bodybuilding career Zenk competed as a bodybuilder. In October 1980, he competed in the "Mr. North Country" competition, placing third. In July 1981, he participated in the "Mr. Minnesota" competition, winning championships in the overall, heavyweight, and "most muscular" divisions.
Professional wrestling career Early career (1984) Zenk was introduced to professional wrestling by Road Warrior Animal, who he met at a bodybuilding contest. He was trained to wrestle by Brad Rheingans and Eddie Sharkey. He debuted in early 1984 with Mid-South Wrestling in Louisiana, with his debut taking place on April 2 at an event Baton Rouge, LA. In his debut, Zenk pinned Jerry Grey. The rookie then traveled to Houston Wrestling, where he pinned John King in his debut. On April 7, he defeated Grey once more at the MSW Superdome Extravaganza - The Last Stampede event.
American Wrestling Association (1984 - 1985) In July 1984, Zenk joined the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based American Wrestling Association, making his debut on July 22, 1984. In a televised match, he teamed with Rick Gantner in a loss to Bobby Heenan & Mr. Saito. Zenk absorbed losses to "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal and the Road Warriors before defeating Bruce Dean on August 18, 1984 at a house show. On September 22, 1984 he teamed with Curt Hennig to challenge AWA World Tag-Team Champions the Road Warriors, but were unsuccessful. As the fall began, the young Zenk continued to perform as an undercard talent and faced Jimmy Garvin in a series of house show encounters. Zenk was winless against the veteran, but did pick up wins over Rick Renslow. Zenk was named Rookie of the Year for 1984 by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, tying with Jushin Liger.
The new year brought little change for Zenk's AWA's, as he absorbed losses to Regal, the Masked Superstar, Butch Reed, Billy Robinson, and King Tonga (Haku). Winless on television, Zenk competed at the AWA StarCage 1985 event on April 21, 1985 in Minneapolis. Teaming with Steve Olsonoski, the duo defeated The Alaskans (Dave Wagner & Rick Renslow). Zenk scored an unexpected draw against Nick Bockwinkle on a televised AWA show on August 21, 1985. The same night, he secured his first televised victory when he pinned the newly arrived Rob Rechsteiner (Rick Steiner), then defeated Brian Jewel and Steve Regal. His final match with the AWA came on September 22, 1985 when he teamed with Curt Hennig to defeat Drew Tossel & Jim Starr.
Pacific Northwest Wrestling, Lutte Internationale (1985 - 1986) In October 1985, Zenk joined the Portland, Oregon-based Pacific Northwest Wrestling promotion, where he received a push. He made his debut on October 19, 1985 at an event in Portland, defeating Tim Flowers. That was start of a lengthy winning streak for Zenk, as he secured victories that fall against Chris Colt, Moondog Moretti, Mike Miller, Bobby Jaggers, and Mega Maharishi. On December 21, 1985, he and Scott Doring won the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship by defeating Moretti & Miller. They lost the Championship to Bobby Jaggers and Rip Oliver the following month. In the same month, Zenk defeated Jaggers for the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship. He held the Championship until March 1986, when Jaggers regained it. Between May 1985 and October 1986, Zenk also wrestled intermittently with the Montreal-based Lutte Internationale promotion in Canada, where he won the Canadian International Tag Team Championship with Dan Kroffat.
World Wrestling Federation (1986–1987)
In October 1986, Zenk was signed by the World Wrestling Federation. He teamed with Rick Martel as The Can-Am Connection. The duo made their debut on the November 15, 1986 edition of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, where they defeated Steve Lombardi & Moondog Spot in a match pretaped on October 28.
On November 14, the new team received their first tag-team title opportunity when they faced The British Bulldogs in Montreal, Quebec. The WWF Tag-Team Champions lost via disqualification, working as heels for this one night. The team then travelled to All Japan Pro Wrestling for the AJPW Real World Tag League 1986 event, losing their opening match to The Funks (Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk on November 19, 1986 at Korakuen Hall. Following the loss the Can-Am Connection was dominant, defeating Kokusai Ketsumeigun (Goro Tsurumi & Rusher Kimura), Mighty Inoue & Tiger Mask, Haru Sonoda & Toshiaki Kawada, and others. Their final match of the tour came on December 12, 1986, where they were defeated by Giant Baba & Hiroshi Wajima in Mito, Ibaraki.
The Can-Am Connection opened 1987 with their first significant televised match, facing Don Muraco & Bob Orton on the January 24th episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling. The match went to a double disqualification when all four wrestlers began fighting in the ring. They began a house show series with former WWF Tag-Team Champions the Dream team (Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake), dominating them in numerous matches. On February 8, 1987 on All American Wrestling, the Can-Ams defeated the Dream Team. On February 10 they faced another newly arrived tag-team in Demolition, battling the future Hall of Fame team to a draw. On February 28 on WWF Superstars, Zenk & Martell teamed with Lanny Poffo to upset the Dream Team & Adrian Adonis, with the climax of the match seeing Adonis accidentally cutting the hair of Brutus Beefcake in an angle that would lead to his eventual face turn and "Barber" gimmick.
On February 27, 1987, Tom Zenk entered singles competition for the first time in his WWF career, battling Canadian superstar Dino Bravo at a house show in Montreal, a match Bravo won. On March 8 in East Rutherford, NJ, the Can-Am Connection entered a tournament to earn a shot at the WWF Tag-Team Champions the Hart Foundation. Zenk & Martell advanced past the quarterfinals after defeating King Kong Bundy & Paul Orndorff via countout, then passed the semifinals after defeating the Killer Bees. The Hart Foundation then handed the Can-Ams their first WWF loss after former referee Danny Davis interfered. On March 15 they entered the Frank Tunney Sr. Memorial Tag-Team Tournament, defeating Jerry Allen & Dan Spivey in the quarterfinals before losing to Demolition in the semifinals by countout. In the opening bout of WrestleMania III on March 29, 1987, The Can-Am Connection defeated Don Muraco and Bob Orton, Jr.
Martell & Zenk continued their feud with Orton & Muraco on the house show circuit, dominating their opponents around the country. On May 3, on Wrestling Challenge, the Can-Ams defeated Kamala & Sika. Four days later on Prime Time Wrestling, Zenk entered singles competition defeated former Intercontinental Champion Greg Valentine after he was dropped crotch first onto the ring ropes. Two weeks later on Prime Time Wrestling, the Can-Ams defeated the Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff. On May 30, 1987 on WWF Superstars, the Can-Ams were sloted to face the Islanders in a rare face vs face match. However, during the match Bobby Heenan arrived to stand in the corner of Haku & Tama. The Islanders turned heel and defeated the Can-Am Connection via countout, igniting a feud between the two teams.
The loss was a mere speedbump for the ascending Connection, who swept Kamala & Sika on the house show circuit. On June 29 on Prime Time, Zenk & Martell pinned Demolition. They then moved on to their house show feud with the Islanders, dominating Bobby Heenan's new charges. On July 9, 1987 in Hartford, CT, the Can-Am Connection defeated the Islanders once more; the team was planned to become the WWF's top face tag team and to win the WWF World Tag Team Championship, but Tom Zenk resigned from the WWF due to a pay dispute.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (1986–1989) In November and December 1986, Zenk and Rick Martel toured Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling, competing in the annual Real World Tag League. He and Martel received the World's Strongest Tag Determination League Fighting Spirit Award.
Between 1987 and 1989, Zenk made multiple tours of Japan with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW).
American Wrestling Association (1988, 1989) Zenk returned to the American Wrestling Association to wrestle a handful of matches in early 1988. He returned again one year later. On May 1, 1988, Zenk took part in the "Battle of Breakfast Cereal", a show recorded for the breakfast cereal manufacturer Kellogg's for a sales conference in which Kelloggs-themed characters faced characters themed after General Mills, Kellogg's' main competitor. In the main event, Zenk and Greg Gagne (wrestling as "The Sales And Marketing Team") defeated Pat Tanaka and Paul Diamond (wrestling as "The Mills Brothers"). Zenk left the AWA once more later that month. This era of The AWA (1985 to 1990) was seen for many years onward, appearing on The ESPN Network Television, as afternoon time-slot re-runs.
On February 7, 1989, Zenk competed in a 20-man battle royal for the vacant AWA World Heavyweight Championship in which he was the last man eliminated by the winner, Larry Zbyszko. He challenged Zbyszko in several return matches before moving to WCW.
World Championship Wrestling (1989–1994) While touring with All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1989, Zenk was signed to a two-year contract with World Championship Wrestling by president Jim Herd. He debuted at Clash of the Champions VIII: Fall Brawl '89 in September 1989 under the ring name "The Z-Man", defeating The Cuban Assassin. His initial entrance music was the theme to the Tim Burton's 1989 Batman. On September 16, 1989, Zenk made his debut on World Championship Wrestling, where he defeated Mike Awesome. He immediately entered a house show series with Norman, where he was victorious throughout September. The following month he moved on to a new series, this time with Bill Irwin, where again he was victorious. Zenk made his WCW PPV debut on October 28 at Halloween Havoc '89, defeating Mike Rotundo in an event held in Philadelphia, PA.
In November 1989 he formed a tag-team with another new arrival to WCW, Brian Pillman. The duo challenged NWA Tag-Team Champions The Fabulous Freebirds, and on the November 18th episode of World Championship Wrestling they defeated the Freebirds via disqualification. On November 9, 1989, at a house show in Knoxville, TN, Zenk sustained his first pinfall loss when he was defeated by Mike Rotundo in a rematch from their recent Halloween Havoc encounter. He rebounded to defeat The Iron Sheik in multiple encounters, but then unsuccessfully challenged Lex Luger for the United States Championship in Pittsburgh, PA on November 19, 1989. In December, he pivoted from singles actions to teaming full-time with Pillman, and the duo defeated The Freebirds in Buffalo, NY om December 7.