Zenk on the .net

Believe it or not ......

2012-01-28T17:28:00.000-08:00

source http://chaos-dwarf.livejournal.com/23181.html

Andrew McCarthy (St Elmos Fire, Pretty in Pink) is the greatest wimp character of all time and I mean that in the best possible way. He pulled off the wimpy but lovable 80's guy in many of his films. He also fucked Molly Ringwald so he gets big props there.

Andrew McCarthy didn't have a typical silver spoon fed Hollywood upbringing as some of his colleagues and he was certainly no "richie". Born in the small town of Crazy Crane West Virginia, Andrew's parents Steve and Cynthia were hard working, blue collar folks who were diligent about instilling country charm and down home values in him. Perhaps this is why he comes off as a very nice guy. He was a like able kid who did well in school despite his battle with arthritic dyslexia. This affliction certainly affected Andrew's ability in school but he was determined to overcome it, and he did with treatment and guidance from Dr. Rex Kisamore, a local nervologist who practiced in the neighboring town of Slawsonville. Dr. Kisamore was often on movie sets with Andrew helping him sound out his vowels and memorize his lines.

From Andrew's first childhood onscreen appearances in commercials for Boo Berry cereal and vinyl siding, it was obvious he was a natural. As a child he would practice his craft of taking on various roles while watching and emulating the professional wrestlers he would see on television and at the annual Town of Crazy Crane Lawn Party. To this day, Andrew can often be spotted at independent wrestling events wearing t-shirts of his all time favorite wrestler, former Mr. Minnesota Tom "Z-Man" Zenk of early '90s World Championship Wrestling fame. While Andrew is an accomplished actor and a true gentleman, he certainly takes his wrestling seriously and sometimes gets very emotional at matches. It is rumored that he was once escorted out of a bingo hall in Buena Vista, Va while vocally taunting wrestlers and attempting to round up fellow crowd members to "go with him to get that chain". Mr. McCarthy denies this and other similar accusations ever took place.

why did Tom leave WWF

2012-01-28T16:29:00.000-08:00

source - http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=121225

bomberjacklord
Member
Member # 4879

posted 11-04-2011 12:20 AM

I worked with Tom Zenk quite a bit back in the day, and he told me the reason he left was over money. Not so much that he wasn't being paid well, but that his partner, [Rick Martel], was making (his words) "Ten times more than me!". He told Vince he wanted the same money or he would walk and Vince told him he could do just that. In retrospect, he knew he had screwed up, but nobody in WWE would return his call after he left.

tombaker
Member
Member # 12975

posted 11-05-2011 09:03 PM

From various WONs: For WM1, Orndorff got $20,000, Mr.T got $100,000 and Piper got $75,000; Hogan got between 75k-100k; For WM2, Bundy got $16,000; For WM3, Tom Zenk got $10,000 and as noted Hogan and Andre got 750k, a then payoff record.

IP: Logged

Gladiator High School

2012-01-28T15:54:00.000-08:00

Gladiator High School

source - http://www.areawidenews.com/blogs/1215/entry/45811/

Posted Sunday, January 15, 2012, at 2:14 PM

My 50th high school reunion will take place in August of 2012. I wrote an article for the reunion committee to be placed in the reunion booklet. In the process, I ran across an old newspaper column I wrote in April of 2005, also about my high school -- as follows._
Beyond the obvious theatrics, professional wrestlers are gifted athletes with an abundance of strength and coordination. They are also nasty dudes. If you don't believe it, walk up to one and slap him upside the head. The next 20 seconds of your life with be incredibly exciting, followed by a long period of pain and regret.
Robbinsdale is a suburb of Minneapolis. In the 1940s and 1950s, Robbinsdale High School was legendary in team sports, particularly in wrestling where they were state champions on a regular basis.
Verne Gagne was a graduate of Robbinsdale High School in 1943. In 1944, he won the Big Ten wrestling championship in his weight class as a freshman. After a couple of years in the Marines, he returned to the University of Minnesota and became Big Ten champion in 1947, 1948 and 1949. He was also NCAA champion in 1948 and 1949, a member of the Olympic team in 1948 and AAU wrestling champion in 1949.
Vern Gagne went on to become one of the most successful professional wrestlers in history, winning many heavyweight championships. Years later, he became owner of the AWA (American Wrestling Association).
One of Gagne's professional wrestling opponents was Larry "The Axe" Hennig, a graduate of Robbinsdale High School in the 1950s. Hennig played villain to Gagne's good guy image.
Many other professional wrestlers were products of Robbinsdale High School.
Curt Hennig (class of 1976) -- dubbed "Mr. Perfect" by the promoters, Curt was the son of Larry Hennig. He was an all-around high school athlete who had been offered college scholarships in football, baseball and wrestling. As a pro wrestler, he was a top performer on several circuits.
Rick Rood (class of 1976) -- became Ravishing Rick Rude, a major headliner with a chiseled body and a narcissistic attitude. Former pro wrestler Eddie Sharkey once said, "People didn't realize how tough this guy was. He'd slap guys with an open hand and it looked like their head exploded."
Tom Zenk (class of 1976) -- also known as the "Z-Man," he was a very prolific "scientific" wrestler who became champion of the PNW (Pacific Northwest Wrestling).
Dean Peters (class of 1976) -- former high school gymnast (team captain) who wrestled under the name of Brady Boone. He became a very acrobatic wrestler, later known as the "Battle Kat."
John Nord (class of 1977) -- known as "The Barbarian," Nord was a big bruiser who also played professional football with the New Jersey Generals of the now defunct USFL.
Steve Simpson (class of 1977) -- became the Russian villain "Nikita Koloff" in the ring. Wrestled in Georgia Championship Wrestling, the NWA and the WCW.
Barry Darsow (class of 1978) -- mostly performed as the "Smash" character of Demolition (Ax, Smash, Crush). In the WWF he was "The Repo Man" and in the WCW he was "The Blacktop Bully."
It's quite remarkable so many professional wrestlers came from such a small community as Robbinsdale.
Many others came from the nearby Minneapolis area, such as Jesse "The Body" Ventura, Ric "Nature Boy" Flair, Scott Norton, Jim Brunzell, Brock Lesnar, Sheldon Benjamin and Sean "The Lightning Kid" Waltman.
I attended Robbinsdale High School in the early 1960s. When I was a junior, we were the Minnesota state wrestling champions once again. We were also the state champions in football that year as well.
I wasn't a wrestler though. Rolling around on a mat in the clutches of some sweaty psychopath was not my idea of fun. I preferred more gentlemanly activities, such as pocket billiards and chasing skirts, neither of which was sanctioned by the school. I did reasonably well in pocket billiards but was a bust in my other endeavor.
Robbinsdale High School was not for the timid. Part of the daily lunch menu included a cup of nails. It was a school for gladiators with a little book-learning on the side. If you could survive it, you were prepared for anything the rest of the world throws at you.
_
Quote for the Day -- "Wrestling is ballet with violence." Jesse Ventura
_
Bret Burquest is a former award-winning columnist for The News (2001-2007) and author of four novels. He has lived in Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Kansas City, Memphis and the middle of the Arizona desert. After a life of blood, sweat and tears in big cities, he has finally found peace in northern Arkansas where he grows tomatoes, watches sunsets and occasionally shares the Secrets of the Universe (and beyond) with the rest of the world.http://www.areawidenews.com/blogs/1215/entry/45811/

2012-01-28T15:48:00.000-08:00

FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012

source - http://yorkies1812.blogspot.com/ Blog of The Yorkies - a collective of Toronto FC supporters and season ticket holders.

LETTERS FROM CAMP: Nuts to The AmCan

Can-Am Connection - not Nut-Can Connection

PYRAMID TOURNAMENT

A day after getting all kinds of pun-related gifts, one of our faves was pulled out from under us like a rug covered in health supplements. The Nutrilife Canadian Championship, or as we so lovingly called it - "The NutCan" - is no more. Instead, the Canadian arm of Amway Global will be the branded sponsor of The Voyageurs Cup tournament. "AmCan Cup" just isn't worth doing and we're not looking to get any lawsuits from either Tom Zenk or Rick Martel, so Voyageurs Cup (or V-Cup in a pinch) will do. In addition to the re-branding, it was also announced that TFC will face rivals Montreal Impact in the Semi-Final with the 1st Leg in Montreal on May 2nd with the return in Toronto on May 9th.

OBSESSED WITH ZENK.......

2012-01-26T03:32:00.001-08:00

Extracts from

2011-12-21T02:28:00.000-08:00

JG's Ten Good Guy Wrestling Characters Who Would Have Been Great Heels

By James Guttman Dec 3, 2011 - 12:38 PM

There was once a time when wrestlers didn't turn from good to bad every week. In fact, many characters from years gone by never left one side of the fence. They either always fought for good or always pushed the villainous agenda. But in hindsight, there were more than a few heroes who could have been downright nasty if given the chance. There's a ton of them, but here are ten that I think would have been just fine if they ever decided to switch to the evil dressing rooms…

http://www.worldwrestlinginsanity.com/am2/publish/JGcolumns/JG_s_Ten_Good_Guy_Wrestling_Characters_Great_Heels.shtml

Z-Man

Tom Zenk. They called him the Z-Man. It's because his last name started with the letter Z, not because he made people fall asleep.

But don't quote me on that. I'm only about 75% sure.

The Z-Man came to WCW in the late 1980s fresh from the WWF. As a member of the Can-Am Connection, Tom walked out on his tag team with Rick Martel, forcing the future model to find a new partner. WWF at the time was known for ignoring wrestler departures, but not this time. Portrayed as a deserter, Tom's absence was told to WWF fans and explained as something shameful.

When WCW picked him up, they ignored that and just made him a happy guy in pink trunks. You just accepted it. Who knows? Maybe Tom was just such a nice guy that there was nothing else for him to do. After all, look at that smile. I bet he couldn't say a bad word about anyone. Like if Jim Ross had said something negative about him, he'd be the type of guy to brush it off.

"What's Iceface going to say? It would be like reverse discrimination if I didn't trash Iceface, right? Did you hear about the new doll they have in the WWF? This is just something I saw on the Internet. The story goes that H. Bomb, Jr. fell asleep in the snow and he woke up as Iceface. Yeah, and you can put a buck in his slot and he'll say anything you want. He talks out of both sides of his mouth…" - Tom Zenk

Uh…Holy Crap?

Before shooting online became an art form, Tom Zenk, well, made it an art form. After leaving the business, the former Z-Man spoke out on everyone from Dusty Rhodes to Vince McMahon and did it all with style. Stinging with his words, Tom left fans shocked, stunned, and wondering...

Where was this guy in WCW? I would have paid money to watch this guy.

Zenk wrestles for Kelloggs

2011-11-19T23:55:00.000-08:00

Amanda Hugankiss
wrote Thu May 20, 2004

I've got these tapes in my office I pulled from my company's archives of an event we did for a client of ours in 1989. The client is a cereal giant that was having a sales and marketing meeting at the Minneapolis Hyatt Regency. We hired the AWA to put on show as part of the meeting. .......

I'll describe the event the best I can here. The tapes are different camera angles and isos that were later edited and given to the client. We probably used far more cameras than the AWA was used to. Larry Nelson emceed and anounced from a table in the back. There's a good 20 minutes of an iso camera showing Nelson sitting there bored to death trying to stay awake during part of the program. A guy he announced as Dale Gagne was the ring announcer and Gary Derusha(sp?) was the ref. They changed the names of all the wrestlers for the matches. The faces all represented our client naturally and they won all the matches.

First match was Total the Terrible versus Nutri Rockne (face). Both looked familiar but I can't identify.

Second match was Hondo Honeybee who looked very familiar versus Mr Opportunity (face), the only African American who was announced as being from Omaha and had a jerry curl hairdo.

Third match was The General announced as the leader of that team who I did recognise as Colonel DeBeers versus Doctor K (face) who was none other than Wahoo McDaniels big chop and all.

Final match was a tag team event between a team called the Mills Brothers who looked familiar but I can't identify. Both had black mullets and wore zebra striped tights, one was bare foot and looked Asian and the other looked like Billy Ray Cyrus. They could pass as brothers in the wrestling world and since they had identical tights I assume they wrestled as a team in the AWA. Their opponents were called the S&M team standing of course for sales and marketing. They were the faces and were actually Greg Gagne and Tom Zenk.

The faces won all the matches which were all 10 minutes or less. The S&M team accepted a trophy from the top exec at the end of the show. Cereal was used as a prop in several matches, once to blind a wrestler and Gagne after taking a beating and getting thrown out of the ring eats a handful of our clients cereal and does the Popeye-Spinach routine to rally back in to the match. DeBeers did a good job as head heel and destroyed lots of cereal boxes.

The only reference to the AWA was the logo in the middle of the ring they used. The producer who did this show said it was a lot of fun. During rehearsals they had the wrestlers doing elbow and leg drops on full cereal boxes. I know that Curt Henning was one of the guys who had a great time smashing cereal all over the place because I saw that footage years ago. I'm not sure why he wasn't part of this event. We might have done several days of meetings with different shows each session or the elbow drops on cereal were done just for the fun of it. I only have the footage that I've described. The rest is with the client or lost in the archives.

I don't mention our clients by name but I think you can figure it out.

TOM ZENK AND PHIL LAFON IN ALL JAPAN ACTION

2011-08-27T05:11:00.000-07:00

FOLLOW THE LINK http://www.woopie.jp/video/watch/a96f893c4aa56225

2011-08-12T02:49:00.000-07:00

2011-08-08T04:41:00.000-07:00

2011-07-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

Tom Zenk 6 attires with alt blonde hair.2 mpks for 6 attires included 2 portraits entrance hack (by Yandaolution)moveset (by dabaddguy) no blood (source)

Credit-
Orson's Rick Martel base for arms,legs,trunks and hair on chest back.
Snypernfsu2 body face template knee pads.
Ramfan22890 laces on boots.
Raw 2 hair
DoR2 boots
Lower brightness yandaolution
finding attire 6 dabaddguy
Cam-am connection jacket credit Orson's baseball jacket
entrance hack yandaolution
Moveset-dabaddguy

Big thanks to Orson mostly his bases dabaddguy for the smooth moves
and Yandaolution for the awesome entrance hack.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=2bf5c66...4bbec0582a7e90e

2011-07-30T22:54:00.000-07:00

Remembering Dino Bravo( Discussion the anniversary of Dino Bravo's death in 1992)

".....Im glad you pointed that steroid thing out. In Fact Bravo Started using them only when he joined the WWF back in 1986-87 because McMahon wanted him to have bigger arms. And that's something that Bravo said on many occasions. When he was wrestling in Montreal in the early 80's, Bravo constantly gained some weight but always kept his awesome agility. He lost that agility the day he started using Steroids in the WWF. But if you go on youtube, you will see many of Bravo's old matches from montreal and you will see that Dino was not just a powerhouse and an agile wrestler. He also was a good scientific wrestler. And he was a teacher for the International Wrestling promotion School in Montreal. And amongst his students was a wrestler by the name of Tom Zenk."

Tom Zenk - AWA referee for a night

2011-07-28T03:58:00.000-07:00

"By the way, I noticed during an old match between Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura that the referee was an even younger looking Tom Zenk." MICHAEL BRANCH,Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

Snapshot taken at local AWA house shows in the Rockford, Illinois area by Dixie Moulton around 1985. (source)

true or false?

2011-07-28T03:42:00.000-07:00

Click on image to read full post

Wrestling Fancam - 10/29/92 - TOM ZENK/Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs "Stunning" Steve Austin/Vader

2011-07-24T19:45:00.000-07:00

House Show action - October 29th, 1992 - Danville, IL - Tag team action -TOM ZENK/Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs "Stunning" Steve Austin/Vader

Fan photos

2011-07-22T00:38:00.000-07:00

Scissors, scissors, paper Big Van Vader, Johnny and Tom Zenk -

2011-07-22T00:25:00.000-07:00

Wrestling Observer Newsletter
May 27, 1991

- Owen Hart, who had previously wrestled for the company in January, and Colorado independent worker Too Cold Scorpio wrestled dark matches at TV tapings this week. We can confirm that Owen Hart has signed, and Scorpio might not be far behind. In January, Hart turned down WCW's offer, but now there is apparently more money on the table. There's some feeling that signing Hart will be a nice doorway to his brother-in-law, the recently released from the WWF Davey Boy Smith.

- The company's big angle at the moment is the ninja that appeared this week to stare down Flair. WCW brass has been very tight lipped with who the character will be, but we have learned that it is not a long term angle, and that Tom Zenk filled the role at the tapings. They feel that by dragging it out it would bring comparisons to the Black Scorpio angle last year, which was a critical and box office bust.

- The One Man Gang might be gone. He missed one of the TV tapings which caused an angle to be scrapped. Although his match was shown on TV this week, he's not on any immediate booking sheets. If Gang is gone, casualties by association may be Black Blood (Billy Jack Haynes) and Kevin Sullivan, neither of whom have really impressed on their current run.

- It appears that Butch Reed is on his way out of the company. He is no longer being managed by Teddy Long and we've been told he's just finishing his dates and will not be resigned.

2011-07-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

WWE Vintage Collection - May 8 2011

Cactus Jack & Abdullah the Butcher vs. Tom Zenk & Brian Pillman - January 11 1992

Foley & Abbey take on the Z-Man and Pillman when he was known as Flyin' Brian. Much has been said about the substandard business that WCW were doing then but this was truly from an era where I personally loved the company. Zenk and Pillman were a tremendous tag team and Foley and Abdullah were a strange tag team in that they were actually in a feud with one another at the same time; the demented crazies that they were.

Extremely lively match where all the wrestlers got their chance in the ring with no side having the upper hand. In an exchange between Cactus and Pillman, the Flyin' one botched a move off the tope rope (either that or it was deliberate and I'm just stoopit) and injures his hamstring.

This led to Pillman suffering a disadvantage as Cactus worked on his injured leg and Abdullah hit him with his patented shrunken-head-on-a-stick outside the ring. The gruesome twosome would continue to their wicked ways until the Z-Man was eventually tagged in, but while the ref was distracted, Cactus would whack him over the head with the shrunken-head-on-a-stick (copyright, Jim Ross) and the Butcher picked up the pinfall victory. In the post-match beatdown of Pillman and Zenk, Cactus would inadvertently hit his partner with the shrunken-head-on-a-stick which led to both partners brawling to the back as they did almost every time they tagged back then.

2011-07-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

click here - http://bit.ly/nnBE80

Tom Zenk Interview Transcript (2001)

June 2, 2011

By Eric Gargiulo

Listen to the entire Tom Zenk Pro Wrestling Radio Interview.

The following extensive interview features former AWA, WCW, & WWE wrestler Tom Zenk. Zenk was one of the most outspoken guests in Pro Wrestling Radio history and talks about the current state of WCW, Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Eric Bischoff, Brian Pillman, Hulk Hogan, Diamond Dallas Page, and more. The interview was taped January 06, 2001 and was broadcast on Pro Wrestling Radio.

Tom Zenk: Happy New Year Eric and thanks for having me back. At least you’ve got guts, you’re controversial, and you’re a loose cannon just like my partner Pillman was – that’s why I like you.

Eric - Are you surprised at the response you have gotten in the last few months over your interviews?

Tom - It’s not about the publicity, it’s all a work right? What do I know?

Eric - What are your thoughts on a recent statement [by Bob Ryder] that accused you of not being qualified to make the recent opinions you’ve made about WCW and their potential sale?

Tom - Who? Bob? Bob who? Bob Ryder? He’s a nobody right? Well, I guess we could go down the Bob Barnett path – I think Barnett called Ryder, “‘A disgusting human being, a piece of garbage.” But, that really doesn’t seem fair does it Eric? I’ve never met the guy. I’d prefer to take the high road and take Goldberg’s line and NOT say Ryder is just ‘a fat, bald, goofy looking shill for Eric and DDP’. In fact, I’d like to take my direction from Sting and Buff Bagwell – all ‘born agains’ right? I want to FORGIVE Bob Ryder because, Bob Ryder doesn’t know me, and he certainly doesn’t know anything about my time in WCW. Where was Bob in those days? I heard he came in with Bischoff in 1997. They met on the Net and I know Bob is doing a great job as a stooge for DDP and Eric, and he’s got a right to collect a paycheck just like anyone.
Look at all the good work Ryder does – like last week, he was putting out fires for DDP, acting as a peacemaker for Page and Steiner. Page was fighting with Steiner and Steiner was getting over the top with all the publicity and making DDP look like the girl that he is. Page, oh gosh, he got ten security guys to back him up before he picked a fight with Steiner. And it took a full minute to get Scotty Steiner off him – even with ten security guards. My advice to Page is to jump off a building, go kill yourself, rather than fight with Scotty Steiner. He beat you up in a minute. You had ten guys and they couldn’t pull him off. Maybe have Kimberly fight your fights, DDP because you’re a woman. One good thing is that WCW got a good angle. They got a shoot match with Steiner and Page. Winner takes Kimberly, right? I’d buy the pay per view.
My guess is that Bob tried to trash me because I have been raising issues about the WCW sale to Bischoff. What do you think that the Securities Exchange Commission would find if they looked into that? A fire sale to the arsonist. Bob, I never met you and you have a right to your opinion just as I do ….. But Bob, answer the questions!! I asked 5 questions in my LAW interview. People … want you to answer those 5 simple questions.
I saw you gave Curt Hennig an interview?

Eric - I did.

Tom - He was pretty cool. I was a geek in high school, a big time geek. He gave me the answers to tests in class and if guys would pick on me, he’d say “Shut up, Zenk’s all right.” He just took a liking to me because I was always a nice guy. That’s what the wrestlers would tell you, if you got them one-on-one, was that I was a nice guy. I always treated them nice. You could always be a jerk, but I treated them nice. Curt said I’ve got big ones right? Yeah, well write this down Eric. Five questions and you could really blow this WCW deal apart. Let’s start the new year off with a bang! I cannot believe that the mainstream wrestling journalists are watching the WCW sale go through without raising any questions. They’re already accepting Bischoff’s deal as a done deal. These are the questions that Ryder didn’t answer. And the questions that wrestling journalists should be asking Time Warner and TBS

- Is it OK to sell WCW at a depressed price to the guy that made WCW unprofitable in the first place?
- Is there a conflict of interests in Bischoff being paid as an employee to negotiate the sale of a company to himself?
Just imagine if you had stock in the Time Warner, right?
You learn in your life to do the right thing? I’m no hypocrite – I did the wrong thing plenty of times -but I TRY to do the right thing. Especially for Ted Turner. (Johnny Ace and myself were invited to Turner’s Christmas party in 1990 to put a good spin on wrestling). I’m truly loyal to Ted Turner.
- What about due diligence? Is TBS applying due diligence to the sale?
I mean, come on! Has anyone done a cost-benefit analysis of the implications of the AOL-Time Warner merger for its wrestling product? I mean, real money could be made selling wrestling product across all AOL-Time Warner media outlets. You could download wrestling, you could watch wrestling on demand via the net, etc. Vince would kill for all of their outlets world wide. Is Siegel that naive? …. I can’t believe Time Warner could be so stupid to give all this away to Bischoff for pennies.

Eric - Are you surprised that the sale of WCW has really only come down to two companies?

Tom - Well I’m not surprised that Vince didn’t want to buy it. I’ll bet you money Vince just wanted to get a look at their books. He wanted to get a look at their books and see how to manipulate the guys…….
I think that the Turner people are frustrated because they know they’ve been conned. I mean carnies, cons, and it took them 10 years to see through that?….. In the South it’s called the “watermelon con.” Dusty, you know he is just clever. The “Tennessee handshake,” the right hand out and the left hand with a shiv in the back stabbing you. That’s what they’ve got going on. (In Dusty’s voice) “Hey, Z baby, what you got going on?”

Eric - I tell a story about a recent Interview with the Hokytonk Man, where Honky said Dusty had promised that he would take a ton of guys to Turner with him and never returned anyone’s calls.

Tom - Yeah, he’s just a con, and he’s just a silly con now. It’s poetic justice isn’t it – a great irony that Dusty is still taking bumps? Dusty used his hair, then his hat, to hide his scars from blading. In the ring he used white tape to exaggerate them. In real life, was Dusty ashamed of his ‘fat superman’ persona?
I heard a rumor once that he went bankrupt in Carolina. In Texas and Carolina. Dusty’s the guy who drove Crockett into the ground. And then he’s going to be in control of my life as WCW booker? Steamboat, told me, when wrestling’s hot, it’s hot and ‘two crickets in the ring could draw’. That’s how the second generation sons get into the business – and now Flair justifies it because Gagne did it, Watts did it, Rhodes did it and that’s ‘just the way it’s done’. Well, that’s not the smart way, that’s not the right way…… Greg Gagne? the guys used to like to slam him because he was light like a kite. He’d come up like nothing. He was fun to slam.

Eric - How did the locker room feel about Greg in the AWA days? Was there any animosity?

Tom - No, but Brad Rheingans told me a story one time and it’s kind of sad. He said to Verne, “We protect the business, we put guys through torture in training camp. I was your shooter in camp and trained them but I’ve had to defend your son Greg more than anyone. Anything you’ve ever stood for, a good amateur athletic background. Explain it to me.” (Imitating Verne Gagne) “What do you want me to do? He’s my son, he’s my son. My God!” OK, that’s the sad irony of it, but Greg could work. He put him in a tag team. He didn’t push him like Dusty pushed his son,” The Natural baby,” or Bill Watts put his son over.
Remember Arn Anderson and Doug Dillenger did that con in a gas station to put Erik over? Arn suggested it to Bill Watts, because his contract was up. He was trying to buy longevity or kiss ass to get another contract with easy money from the Turner people, putting the booker’s son over. That’s pretty gracious of Arn. He didn’t step forward and say that he could work a program for me. Neither did Flair but he was good enough to put on a great match with Russo. This is just my opinion. I’m not bitter – I have a better way. I know how to make the playing field level. A meritocracy. We’d have skill based incentives for the wrestlers and make it a team – but not like a Dusty team or clique….. All the bookers have had their chance in WCW. Kevin Sullivan, Terry Taylor, Kevin Nash, you name them. (Imitating Dusty’s voice) ‘Who was the genius baby?’ The only one that had success was Bischoff, because he stole talent from the WWF. Shane McMahon said it best, “My dad made them.”and he did. They made them on WWF TV and how much did the Time Warner shareholders lose when they had to pay off the court costs?
Bischoff and the new WCW will be bankrupt in a year!
Eric doesn’t know how to run anything. He’ll bankrupt those other guys. Give him a year, 18 months at the most. Remember when he wrote on the Internet about ‘Bischoff and the brand names’? Where are the brand names? Where are they now? They are sitting at home and collecting money. They can’t draw on pay per views. WCW PPV’s draw one-tenth of what WWF does!! Just another con, just trying to hang on. Eric’s just a guy that likes hanging around big guys. Hulk is his guy. Where has Hulk been? Is he still getting paid to sit home?

Eric - What is Hogan’s legacy?

Tom - Hulk Hogan had the best houses I’ve ever been on, when he was working with Paul Orndorff. Orndorff was a freak of nature and a great wrestler and aggressive. He had that big square mandible. He looked tough, he was IT. Great body, OK. Hulk Hogan drew but everyone fed Hulk Hogan. Hulk was king, but it was like Bockwinkel and Verne. They had a deal going on, and there was just one top guy. (I suppose now it’s Triple H or the Rock or Steve Austin). But back then, Hogan was the guy in WWF, and they had the biggest houses I’ve ever been on. I would get goosebumps sitting backstage. I couldn’t believe it. They were packed! OK, Today and Hogan’s legacy. What is it? What did Hogan give back? Why did he trash a guy like Kidman? A good looking kid like that- why didn’t he help him instead? ‘Feed the little fish’, whatever you want to call it. Feed him, bring him up, build the self esteem of the whole team. What’s Hogan’s legacy? He didn’t want to put anyone over. Look, I put Page over.and he’s a joke! I didn’t resist any finish, but now I’m going to speak my mind. I owe them that. I feel like I should tell them. The truth will set you free, right? I am not trying to rail on them. I know how wrestling works. So, people should just learn and try to enhance it. Let’s work this out together. We could have a good deal going on.

Eric - Your thoughts on the whole Mark Madden-DDP situation?

Tom - Yeah, Leatherface. Madden is Pillman’s boy, Pillman trained him. I like Madden, I’ve never met him but I like him. It’s like this – Page and Steiner that fight. Page left the building. OK, in the company that I work for, if one of my guys just leaves their post, they’re fired. End of story! No one, not Terry Taylor, nor Johnny Ace, nor anyone with any stroke has enough guts to say to Page, “OK you’re done, good bye.” Problem solved. Same for any of them! Bagwell, you want a release? Go! I think Bischoff should take all of the his brand names, the Millionaires Club and go! If I took over I’d run it a completely different way. I’d train all the young guys and go after the Y generation. I’d treat people like great employees and people from the WWF would be glad to come back down and get the benefits of being employees of AOL-Time Warner. We’d have stock options. We’d bring in Lawyers, Accountants, CPA’s, class people that were already wise to the con and I would smarten them up further. I’d call a meeting with the lockerroom and Ted Turner and go “Here, are you guys proud of what you did to Ted Turner?” The best chance that wrestling ever had and you squandered it? You have places to go? Well bye DDP, I mean who wants DDP? Bagwell? This is a guy that has calf implants. I mean, come on! Where do you think you are going to go? Do you think Vince wants to use Sting? Sting covers up because he’s soft and mushy, he doesn’t diet, and he’s not a hard worker.

Eric - Has anyone that you’ve talked negative about, over the last few months, contacted you?

Tom - No, they don’t care. They don’t care, I’ve always talked this way. They know.

Eric - Jim Ross cared about what you had to say.

Tom - What’s Iceface going to say? It would be like reverse discrimination if I didn’t trash Iceface, right? Did you hear about the new doll they have in the WWF? This is just something I saw on the Internet. The story goes that H. Bomb, Jr. fell asleep in the snow and he woke up as Iceface. Yeah, and you can put a buck in his slot and he’ll say anything you want. He talks out of both sides of his mouth……

Eric - Were you surprised when he came out against your comments about WWF salaries?

Tom - Why would he be mad about the truth? Vince is spreading himself too thin with the XFL. So the XFL provides WCW with a great opportunity. If TBS hangs on to WCW it has a great chance of winning back it’s audience. Forget about the Monday night wars…. We’d start again with the young talent and use all of AOL-Time Warner outlets to push the product and win back audiences. At the moment, I’m sure Brad Siegel is like, “Oh my God, I’m faced with a $80 million deficit.” Bischoff could break the US Government! 80 million dollars in losses, right? But if Eric Bischoff buys WCW it’s going to be Kevin Sullivan, Dusty Rhodes, back as bookers plus Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, DDP, plus Jason Hervey on color commentary……

Eric - ….And the strap on Gary Coleman!!

Tom - How about David Arquette? That’s my point too. You mean to tell me that they all love the business and all the boys were backstage and David Arquette walked out as WCW Champ and nobody said a word? I would have gone in there and leg dove him and pinned him 1-2-3 and put myself over. I mean, it’s just so totally wrong. What’s going on? Doesn’t anybody realize this is going on? Don’t they get it? I mean, if Seigel wants wrestling product in 12 months time he would be insane to sign a noncompete clause with Bischoff’s group. TBS should reserve the right to produce it’s own wrestling product after the sale. We will rebuild it from scratch with a new product. A CEO with kahonies who doesn’t take crap from the talent. Downsize the contracts. No Millionaires Club. You don’t hear about that now. They must be pretty proud that they’re millionaires but they can’t draw! Game over, sorry. Retrain everyone in work rate skills, teach respect for the business. You pay your dues, you job on the way up and you job on the way down, OK? You know, it’s a southeast regional promotion there. You have to start over from scratch, build a young feeder territory where the guys can learn how to manipulate crowds, learn how to work. Do the thing, build confidence and you have guys like Eaton, maybe Harley Race to mentor young talent. Take care of their own kind. Bring back knowledgeable people that will do the right thing in teaching the new generation of talent. I mean, veterans like Flair and Arn even. Ricky Steamboat. What’s he doing running a gym? He loves the business. They all love the business. I love the business which is why I am talking about it. At the top you need a Bishop. The Bishop of the cult. Flair is the Bishop. Melzter is the high Priest and you (Eric) are like a Deacon of something like that, I don’t know how it all shakes out. And above all you build confidence in the young guys, because that’s what it is all about. Young guys are the life blood of the wrestling business.
I’m sure Scotty [Steiner] is just sick of the bull and all the politics.

Eric - If you could take one guy and put them in the WCW locker room as your authoritative figure, who would it be?

Tom - Well, I don’t know. Scotty Steiner and I, we were buddies. We’d go four wheeling. I like the Steiner boys. Scotty blew up on Flair because he just wants his own time. Scotty is a freak. He’s good you know? He’s not a goof ball or loose cannon. He called Page out but I’m sure that he’s just sick of the bull and all the politics….
I would have Scotty Steiner, Kevin Walchoz, and Scott Norton on the payroll. I would sit everyone down and tell them the way it was going to be and if they didn’t like it, go plead your case to them. I would give them a case of beer, whatever they wanted, fix them up with a lounge room, a big TV, eight hours a day they’re on the payroll. And if you want to talk crap, go and face them.

Eric - What do you think of the choice of Scott Steiner as world champion?

Tom - Real good, he’s jacking the ratings. They should do the best to enhance him. They should feed him people. They should run the guys through him like they did with Hogan. DDP should raise his hand to do a job for Scotty. What, egos? Everyone put DDP over. Like Chris Kanyon. I guess he was a friend. DDP is like Dusty. Dusty gave them all those [ring] names and ‘gave them their start in the business’. That’s the way they try to create loyalty – “Who gave you the start in the business baby?” That’s a simple con. Well, okay DDP, let’s strip those pants off you and get into shorts and let’s see those knee braces -The Forrest Gump of professional wrestling. He’s not going to draw money. Don’t they have rules at the WCW Power Plant? Page was 39, I think when they started training him years ago. Were there no young guys left to train? Do you think it’s a good investment of Ted Turner’s money to pay him that kind of money [$1.25 million a year]. It’s over for DDP and if anyone that doesn’t like me saying it – well trash me!

Eric - So, who in WCW would you build the company around currently?

Tom - Steiner, Goldberg, Mike Sanders… Flair would always have a job and so would Arn Anderson. WCW should be a southeast regional promotion. We need the Bishop (Flair) and we need Arn because they’re buddies. Everyone needs a buddy in wrestling. Arn’s a great talker. And we’re going to build self esteem, because I’m sure, at the moment, the guys have none. …. Bischoff, he’s nothing. He was a bad coffee boy. He was a camera man for the AWA. He was an announcer – and he wasn’t even a good announcer. I remember Dusty told DDP he was clever with all his cliches and stuff? But no. Mike Graham told me at the Ramada bar that they were just working Page. Why isn’t DDP an announcer or commentator? Because he can’t talk, and he can’t interview. Nobody has ever bragged about DDP’s interview skills, but Page bought it anyway! He put it in his book – how much Dusty regarded him.But they were laughing at him. That’s what a geek he is! He went up to see Vince, but Vince couldn’t see him. He didn’t have time. Page is the biggest expose of wrestling ever. Page is the biggest joke of all.

Eric - How much more time do you think Dallas will have in the business?

Tom - He doesn’t have long. But I guess that’s up to Eric. Eric and DDP, they’re buddies, they were neighbors. I don’t know if they belong to a Swingers Club? What do you think? Pillman used to stay over at his house. Do you think he was trying to get a shot at Kimberley? I know Brian, geez. Page was a mark for Pillman. Pillman didn’t like him. He harassed him on the Bruise Cruise. He was a joke. Give it up Page! He’s a geek. Look at Scotty Steiner. Steiner made a monkey out of him. Then Page had to do damage control, courtesy of Ryder. He’s a joke, he’s a laughing stock. Kevin Nash works him. Nash plays both sides of the fence and stirs the pot and picks up his check for nothing. It’s a great con!
Listen to the entire Tom Zenk Pro Wrestling Radio Interview.

THE Z-MAN ON EBAY

2011-07-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

OLE ANDERSON .... and the Z-Man

2011-07-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

stevelikescurse

writes (Thursday, May 27th, 2010 | 01:36 pm (UTC))

"I remember that [Meltzer] show with Z-Man saying that Ole Anderson declared he would suck cock all day for what Sting was being paid. Memories, man . . . I get misty-eyed thinking about it."

The transcript ......

Tom to Ole "[Why are you breaking my balls]. What about a guy like Sting? He's making $750,000 a year. Why don't you go after him? All the people are dressed like chairs! Ole says to me, '$750,000 a year?!? For $750,000 a year, I'd suck cock all day, line 'em up!' And, Ole, Rock Rogowski, if you're listening, you sue me for slander if that's a lie, because that's the damn truth. (Wow. 4 appositives. Is that some kind of record?) What do you say to that? What do you say to a guy that says something like that? He went after me and Pillman, but not a guy like Sting who wasn't drawing, but was making $750,000. But Ole said, 'Line 'em up. [He'd] suck cock all day.' for $750,000."

Dave: "We've gotta go to a break right now."

Tom: "Yeah, you like that one, huh?"

Dave: "Oh yeah."

-Tom Zenk on the WOL, 10/00

...Meanwhile here's Ole denying he killed off the younger talent to push his old buddies instead....

SEPARATED AT BIRTH .....

2011-06-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

Is it Matt Bomer ('White Collar') without his shirt or the Z-Man, Tom Zenk.?

HALLOWEEN HAVOC 1989

2011-06-18T07:23:00.000-07:00

The Z-Man vs. Captain Mike Rotunda: source

"Rotunda sure is letting his hair grow out. I know, that was a weird observation on my part. While I'm on the subject, why is Rotunda introduced as "Captain", especially since the Varsity Club was no more at this point? Z-Man is, of course, Tom Zenk, a.k.a the most angry midcarder to hit the internet in the early part of the 21st century. Lockup, and Rotunda with a waist-lock takedown. Lockup, and Z-Man with a standing side headlock. Irish whip, and Z-Man with a shoulder block. Lockup, and Z-Man with another headlock and shoulder block. CLIP JOB! Rotunda takes Z-Man over with a suplex and covers for a two count. Rotunda slaps on a front facelock, then turns it into an abdominal stretch. Yes, he uses the ropes for leverage. Rotunda is dripping sweat, and even by his standards of heavy sweating, that must've been a hell of a clip job. Rotunda releases after being caught cheating, then quickly applies a rear chinlock. Z-Man escapes with elbows to the midsection, but Rotunda kills him with a flying clothesline to a pretty good face pop. Irish whip, and Rotunda misses a dropkick. Whip to the corner, and Z-Man puts Rotunda down with a back elbow. Rotunda rakes the eyes. Whip to the corner is reversed, and Z-Man rolls through a cross body for the three count at 4:17, clipped down from about 13-minutes. Quite off topic, but I'm amazed Vince Russo never formed a tag team called "The Sea Men", considering his level of immature humor and penis jokes. *1/2 Not much was here, but it looked okay, and I'm sure the full match was a bit better. Stupid THE clip jobs." source

2011-06-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

Halloween Havoc 1992 in Philadelphia

THREE SIDES TO EVERY STORY.....
ONE THE ONE HAND
- Opening match: Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson & Michael Hayes v. Johnny Gunn , Tom Zenk & Shane Douglas. Gee, which side do you think the Philly crowd will cheer? The faces nearly get booed out of the building here, in case there was any doubt. The Pretty Boys clean house early. Zenk gets beat on for a while, then makes a hottish tag to Shane, and the heels cheat like nuts to regain the advantage. Jesse is in awe of the fans' reaction. Shane escapes a figure-four (oh, the irony) and makes the hot tag, and a pier-six erupts. Gunn (later to become Salvatore Sincere or Tom Brandi , depending on your view) hits the Thesz Press for the pin. Crowd does not approve. Good opener. **3/4

ON THE OTHER - chri...@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu writes Dec 31, 1992 on rspw
1) Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton/Michael Hayes vs. Johnny Gunn/Tom Zenk/Shane
Douglas

In all likelihood, this match will NOT make the tape, but I think it should, as it was one of the best matches of the night. The fans popped BIG TIME for the heel team and booed the faces. This made Arn and Bobby work harder, which is great as they are hard workers anyway. They really played up the crowd and wrestled well. However, the faces were scripted to win. Gunn with the (ack!) Lou Thesz press. **3/4

AND
HUGE crowd pops for all three heels (AA, BB, Mike Hayes) as well as Tom Zenk.
Jesse even mentioned it after I was grinning at the cheers for the heels.

--Otto "Cactus Hack"

2011-06-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

From rspw 1 July, 1991 - " I've recently been watching (and thoroughly enjoying) older matches that the AWA are showing from their archives and it seems that an awful lot of current WWF stars were involved with the AWA. Is there some sort of story there or is it typical? In other words is the AWA merely showing the brief moments when currently popular wrestlers were simply 'passing through' or was there some sort of mass exodus of wrestlers to the WWF from the AWA.

By the way, I noticed during an old match between Hulk Hogan and Jesse Ventura that the referee was an even younger looking Tom Zenk.

BRANCH, MICHAEL

2011-06-15T11:40:00.001-07:00

1991 - WCW Clash of the Champions XVII was held at the Civic Center in Savannah, Georgia. Here are the results of the show, which was aired live on TBS:
- Big Josh defeated Thomas Rich in a Lumberjack match.
- Bobby Eaton defeated Firebreaker Chip.
- Tom Zenk defeated The Diamond Stud (Scott Hall) in less than two minutes.
- WCW Television Champion Steve Austin defeated PN News.
- Cactus Jack defeated Van Hammer.
- Dustin Rhodes & Ricky Steamboat defeated Arn Anderson & Larry Zbyszko to win the WCW World Tag Team Title when Steamboat pinned Anderson.
- WCW Light Heavyweight Champion Brian Pillman defeated Johnny B. Badd.
- Rick Rude defeated Sting to win the WCW United States Title.
- WCW World Champion Lex Luger defeated Rick Steiner.

2011-06-15T07:37:00.000-07:00

WWE Classics OnDemand Updates

- Here are the latest updates for the WWE Classics OnDemand service…

Bad to the Bell:
* Bad Breed vs. Pitbulls ECW 1/17/95
* Bad Bad Leroy Brown vs. Mike Rotundo NWA World Wide Wrestling 10/13/82

* AWA World Tag Team Champions Badd Company vs. Ken Patera & Tom Zenk AWA All Star Wrestling 4/2/89

* WCW World Telvision Champion Steve Regal vs. Johnny B Badd Fall Brawl 1994
* For The Vacant WWF Intercontinental Championship: The Bad Guy Razor Ramon vs. Rick Martel Raw 9/27/93

Abdullah The Butcher:
* Abdullah The Butcher, Mike Rotunda & Norman vs. Cactus Jack, Kevin Sullivan & The Punisher NWA Main Event 4/8/90
* Abdullah The Butcher, Terry Funk & JT Smith vs. Jimmy Snuka, Don Muraco & Kevin Sullivan ECW 10/12/93
* Abdullah The Butcher vs. Ron Bass NWA World Wide Wrestling 7/23/85
* Abdullah The Butcher vs. Manny Fernandez Starrcade 1985

Classics Rewind:
* WCW Starrcade 1998

2011-05-28T03:22:00.000-07:00

from The Encyclopedia of Professional Wrestling: 1… (Paperback)

by Kristian Pope, Ray Whebbe

2011-05-24T04:09:00.003-07:00

トム・ジンク（Tom Zenk）ことトーマス・アーウィン・ジンク（Thomas Erwin Zenk、1960年 11月30日 - ）は、アメリカ合衆国の元プロレスラー。ミネソタ州ゴールデンバレー出身。
より原音に近いファミリーネームの表記は「ズィンク」だが、本項では日本のプロレス史における慣例的な表記（日本語圏で一般によく知られている名前）に則る。

[編集] 来歴

カート・ヘニング、リック・ルード、スコット・シンプソン、バリー・ダーソウ、ジョン・ノードらを輩出したロビンズデール・ハイスクールの出身。学生時代からボディビルに熱中し、後に "Mr. Minnesota" など数々のタイトルを獲得した。
ルードやシンプソンをコーチしたエディ・シャーキーにスカウトされ、1983年にビル・ワット主宰のMSWAにてデビュー。1984年からはバーン・ガニアの牛耳る地元ミネソタのAWAに登場、甘いマスクと肉体美を持つベビーフェイスの新鋭として、次代のスター候補と目された。
1985年より、太平洋岸北西部のオレゴンやワシントンをサーキット・エリアとするNWA圏のPNW（Pacific Northwest Wrestling）に参戦。1986年1月21日にボビー・ジャガーズからパシフィック・ノースウエスト・ヘビー級王座を奪取した。同年下期からはカナダのモントリオールに進出、11月には同地区のスターだったリック・マーテルのパートナーとして、全日本プロレスの世界最強タッグ決定リーグ戦に初来日した。
以降も本格的にマーテルとタッグチームを結成し、翌1987年、カンナム・コネクション（Can-Am Connection）のチーム名でWWFに参戦。ハート・ファウンデーション（ブレット・ハート&ジム・ナイドハート）やドリーム・チーム（グレッグ・バレンタイン&ブルータス・ビーフケーキ）などヒールのトップチームと対戦し、3月29日のレッスルマニアIIIではカウボーイ・ボブ・オートン&マグニフィセント・ムラコから勝利を収めるも、契約のトラブルでジンクのみ短期間でWWFを離脱した。
その後は古巣のAWAに戻り、1989年2月7日にセントポールで行われたAWA世界ヘビー級王者決定バトルロイヤルにも出場。サージェント・スローター、ワフー・マクダニエル、ケン・パテラ、マイク・ジョージ、アキオ・サトー、パット・タナカ、ポール・ダイヤモンド、マニー・フェルナンデス、グレッグ・ガニアらを抑え、ラリー・ズビスコと優勝を争ったが、オーバー・ザ・トップロープで失格し戴冠は果たせなかった。
また、この間には全日本プロレスの常連外国人選手となり、1986年11月の初来日から1989年7月まで5回に渡って来日した（最強タッグには1987年大会にもザ・ターミネーターをパートナーに参加するなど、2年連続で出場している）。
1989年末、当時まだNWAに加盟していた初期WCWと契約。Zマン（Z-Man）と名乗ってブライアン・ピルマンとコンビを組み、1990年2月12日にトーナメント決勝でファビュラス・フリーバーズ（マイケル・ヘイズ&ジミー・ガービン）を破りUSタッグ王座を獲得。同年12月4日にはアーン・アンダーソンから世界TV王座を奪取している。1991年3月21日には、WCWとの提携ルートで新日本プロレスの東京ドーム大会に参戦。新日本には翌1992年10月にも来日し、ジム・ナイドハートと組んでSGタッグ・リーグ戦IIに出場した。
1993年はリッキー・スティムボートとドス・ホンブレス（Dos Hombres）なる覆面タッグチームを一時的に結成し、5月23日にWCWの本拠地アトランタで行われたPPV "Slamboree" に出場、ヒールターンしたピルマンとスタニング・スティーブ・オースチンのハリウッド・ブロンズが保持するWCW世界タッグ王座にスチール・ケージ・マッチで挑戦した。
1994年の初頭にWCWを離れ、同年6月と9月には全日本プロレスに久々に登場（日本には通算9回来日）。以降はインディー団体を転戦し、1996年に引退した。

[編集] 得意技

[編集] 獲得タイトル

PNW

NWAパシフィック・ノースウエスト・ヘビー級王座：1回
NWAパシフィック・ノースウエスト・タッグ王座：1回（w / Scott Doring）

Lutte Internationale

カナディアン・インターナショナル・タッグ王座：1回（w / ダニー・クロファット）

NWA / WCW

NWA USタッグ王座：1回（w / ブライアン・ピルマン）
NWA世界TV王座：1回
WCW世界6人タッグ王座：1回（w / ダスティン・ローデス&ビッグ・ジョッシュ）

CUSTOM MADE Z-MAN

2011-05-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

source - Titantrap: Gold Club Veteran

2011-05-22T03:21:00.000-07:00

BRIAN PILLMAN WEEK – 5/18 Match of the Day: Pillman & Tom Zenk vs The Young Pistols (Smothers & Armstrong)

source
We continue our week-long tribute to Brian Pillman on the week of his birth with a WCW United States Tag Team Title bout from an early-1992 edition of WCW Power Hour, as Pillman teamed with “The Z-Man” Tom Zenk against Tracy Smothers (who might get his own week on Match of the Day soon) and Steve Armstrong, collectively known as the Young Pistols.
The match is absolutely a showcase for Pillman & Zenk’s offense, as they bump the Pistols around like pinballs almost the entire bout. But, the most entertaining part of the match is absolutely the Pistols’ stooging. Smothers became known later in his career as a master stooger, but man alive both guys were awesome being goofy little henchmen in this match. The match isn’t incredibly long, but it’s a perfectly energetic little TV match.

!

MACHO MAN

2011-05-22T03:20:00.000-07:00

The Fuj says:

May 20, 2011 at 7:08 pm

I loved the fact that when he shot you into the ropes, he clapped his hands before hitting you with the back elbow…
If you are friends with me on Facebook, I pretty much dedicated my afternoon to Macho Man.
I don’t talk about wrestlers much anymore. Of course Flair 85-93 rules. WWF 86 got me into wrestling. Became a smark in 03 through the Tom Zenk rants, but honestly in terms pure entertainment… Move over Lex cuz Savage was the real total package.
From his look… The frizzy hair… awesome, aweosme sunglasses. The lavish robes…. The pink Macho Man t-shirt which I will be getting off of ebay now.
to the his work… Even the shitty Memphis stalling work, to the crisp WWF work to the horrible WCW work…
To his promos… Nonsensical and coked out as they were. I swear for about a year on youtube, I watched “The cream” promo, its fucking classic. He just keeps pulling out creamers. Puts one on Mean Gene’s head. Gene no-sells it and Macho keeps talking.
The “Freak out” promo, in his ICW days is another one. Watch that promo and tell me he doesnt look like Dr. Teeth from the muppets.
He wasn’t my favorite in the ring, He wasnt my favorie on the mic, he wasnt a box office draw, but when you put all of it together, he is definitely top 5 GOATs in my humble opinion. Truly in a class of his own.
There will never be another.
RIP

2011-05-22T03:14:00.000-07:00

Sunday, 8 May 2011
Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk: Z-Man & Brian Pillman vs Cactus Jack & Abdullah The Butcher (source)
So, I was watching WWE Vintage Collection, when all of a sudden up comes a Z-Man match. Seeing as how I've got 10 minutes to kill, and we've not had a Zenk update for a while, I thought it'd make sense to give it some attention. It's a simple enough story for a tag match: the faces are quick and full of energy, whilst the heels are brawlers who just want to hurt people. Z-Man fights out of the opposition corner early and takes over on Cactus with some nice high flying offence. He does get caught in an Abby nerve hold, which he then breaks out of before hitting a nice enzuigiri. Pillman is in and full of gusto, which is why I always like face teams who are smaller and more explosive, where the fans' excitement at the hot tag is matched by the fire of the incoming face. It's certainly the case here, with Pillman ripping into Abby, including hitting the Butcher with an impressive slam. Pillman slips on a springboard attempt and immediately starts selling knee, which was either planned or some very quick improvisation from him. Pillman bumps like a pinball for Abby, which makes some average offence look deadly. Z-Man comes back in and hits a nice pair of superkicks on the Butcher, which Abby sells with an ace glazed expression. Zenk locks on a sleeper, but the referee is distracted by Pillman brawling with Jack, which allows Cactus to hit Z-Man with the Butcher's staff for the win. Great formula tag match, it allowed both teams to look good and highlight their strengths.

1987 - WRESTLING BECOMES GLAMOROUS.....

2011-05-18T01:43:00.000-07:00

2011-05-18T01:05:00.001-07:00

Rick Steiner Shoot Interview DVD

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"The Dogface Gremlin" Rick Steiner talks about his entire career. Steiner has been through it all from early territories like UWF to the big two with NWA/WCW and WWE to being a major star in Japan and he holds nothing back talking about it all here. From his brother to his true feelings on Ric Flair, Steiner isnt afraid to speak his mind. Here is what Steiner talked about: -His collegiate career. -His relationship with his brother growing up. -Training with Eddie Sharky. -His early days in AWA. -Thoughts on Vern Gagne. -Going to work for Bill Watts. -Steiner talks a lot about the controversial Watts? -UWFs travel schedule. -How did the UWF crew treat him as a newcomer? -Who helped him? -Memories of Buzz Sawyer in and out of the ring. -His early matches vs. Steve Williams and Jim Duggan. -Thoughts on Eddie Gilbert. -First impressions of Sting & Jim Hellwig. -Teaming with Sting. -What did they learn together? -Rick talks about his favorite and least favorite guys to work in UWF. -Steiner talks about when he and Steve Williams helped save people in a car accident. -He talks about The Freebirds. -When did he realize UWF was in financial trouble? -Details on when UWF was sold to Jim Crockett. -What was the first show like with Dusty Rhodes as booker. -Is it true some guys almost walked out? -Was he surprised there wasnt an invasion angle? -How did the NWA guys treat the UWF guys? -Were there any problems between the two groups? -Memories of his first Starcade in 1987. -Where did the idea with The Varsity Club come from? -Teaming with Kevin Sullivan and Rick Steiner. -Rick compares Watts and Rhodes as bookers. -Did he like the idea to turn babyface. -His thoughts on Ric Flair. -Changes in the company when Ted Turner bought it. -Was he ever offered a deal by Vince McMahon in the 80s. -Thoughts on Jim Herd. -How close was he to Scott when Scott was in USWA. -Memories of some of the top guys like Terry Funk, El Gigante, Tom Zenk, Brian Pillman, Sid Vicious and Paul Heyman

2011-05-18T01:03:00.000-07:00

One of the AWA's legendary tag teams, Wayne Bloom and Mike Enos, -The Minnesota Destruction Crew sat down with RF Video for a new shoot interview to cover their entire career. Some may know them as the Beverly Brothers in the WWF, and both Wayne and Mike talked about what it took to survive, and thrive, in the cut throat conditions within the major promotions. This is a great DVD for anyone who was a fan of the AWA, enjoyed good tag team wrestling, or just likes hearing a good story about some of the most colorful characters in the business as Bloom and Enos worked with them all. In a nice treat, Bloom and Enos covered how they met, broke into the business, and became tag team partners. Forget Tough Enough, you'll get the real story on what it takes to get into the wrestling business and what they had to do to develop their noteworthy promos. All the names you loved in the AWA, such as Verne Gagne, the Midnight Rockers, and Tom Zenk, get their due in this entertaining shoot!

2011-05-18T00:56:00.000-07:00

2011-05-18T00:44:00.000-07:00

Ghosts from Wrestling Past

Times were tough for the old WCW in the late-eighties, it seemed that most of the quality wrestlers left or were fired.

It was a real bitch to be a wrestling fan and Greensboro 's crowds started to drop off. I had gone to Baltimore one last time and watched first hand the destruction of the great Mid-Atlantic territory. This was the infamous show where Ric Flair left for the WWF and I watched a stunningly bad championship match with Lex Luger verses Barry Windom. This was a show that is still considered by most fans as the worst show ever and I was witness to a lot of fan hatred and a promotion who really didn't give a shit.

Security was really going nuts trying to locate and destroy all the negative signs in the crowd. Always remember that at the start of a show, the announcer would ask everyone to hold up their signs to 'see how creative they are.' All they wanted to do was steal your sign.

I snuck in a sign that said, "WE WANT FLAIR!" and hid it under Big Eddie. That sign really got the fans going when I stood on my chair and got the crowd chanting for the Nature Boy. I know this got over the noise sweetener because a lot of folks said they heard it on the pay for view.

There were two other memorable moments on this show. First, they had a lumberjack match and walking to ring side was P.N. News wearing a t-shirt and cut off pants. The guy looked like a wreak and as he stood there at ringside some guy yelled right into his face in an amazing Yankee accent and I quote, "NEWS, YOU FAT FUCK!"

News just stood there in his flip-flop shoes like the fat fuck that he was and I laughed my ass off.

Second, the next morning I witnessed at the bar Dusty Rhodes and David Crockett toasting and celebrating their freedom from Ric Flair. And I can tell you this, David Crockett looked at Dusty like he was his long lost girl friend with stars in his eyes. Which struck me as very creepy. These two guys were really happy that Flair was gone and it made me sick.

Note to readers, this is another reason why I hate Dusty Rhodes and you should too.

At the next Greensboro card I got this brainstorm. The main event was going to be a cage match with five on five. This match had sinker written all over it. So this is what happened. When all these guys walked to the ring, we put bags on our heads. Not just any bags but bags with the name of all the great talent that was gone from the promotion. These bags had the following names written on them. Flair, Blanchard Arn Anderson, Hawk, Animal, Jim Cornette, Stan Lane , Bobby Eaton, Steamboat, Buzz Sawyer and a few others I can't remember but you get the drift.

Then I held up a large sign that said, "GHOSTS FROM WRESTLING PAST!"

We then all began moaning like ghosts haunting the Coliseum.

I think I was under the Arn bag.

When Kevin Sullivan and Sting came out they totally lost it laughing. Sullivan just took a look and screamed laughing,

"That's Funny! That's Great!"

Then Tom Zenk walked over shook my hand and said, "Come on guys, Get Serious! This is wrestling!"..............

2011-05-18T00:39:00.001-07:00

Breaking News: Kitty Kelley Tell-All of Linda McMahon Will "Shock, Surprise"

By Canadian Bulldog, World Wrestling Insanity News
(Hollywood, CA) - An upcoming biography of World Wrestling Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Linda McMahon by famed tell-all novelist Kitty Kelley will "shock and surprise" people, according to anonymous sources.
"People see Linda McMahon on television and think she's this quiet, reserved, and slightly ugly, woman," said our source, whom we swear isn't Dr. Tom Pritchard. "But there's a whole other side to her that will come out in this book."
Among the dirt allegedly spilled in the book "Linda McMahon: Wrestling Whore" are the following claims:
In February 1992, husband and WWE Chairman Vince McMahon came home to find Linda in bed, snorting IcoPRO off the backs of WBF Bodystars Gary Strydom, "The Future" Jim Quinn and Cameo Kneuer.
She killed the original Dink The Clown during a 1994 argument over an evening's payoff.
Stephanie McMahon was fathered not by Vince, but rather Harley Race.
In the late-1990's, she was often seen backstage chanting Satanic verses along with members of The Ministry of Darkness.
She came up with the entire WCW/ECW InVasion angle and threatened to "bitch slap" anyone who tinkered with her storylines.
Her ill-advised attempt to market Ravishing Rick Rude-brand condoms in 1989.
Once spotted running out of Titan Towers, chasing after Sean Mooney with a tire iron.
She had a torrid four-year love affair with Mister Bob Backlund that culminated in the December 1983 "throw in the towel" finish.
She was originally going to be the person behind GTV.
However, proof of the book's existence thus far is slim. Apart from a book cover that we admit COULD have been photoshopped by the same jerks who do up phony "Return of Bret Hart" posters for the Survivor Series, there is no evidence the book has been published, green-lit, or even written.
(Unlike other wrestling-related books such as this one and this one, which we at World Wrestling Insanity News can proudly vouch for.)
And Kelley, who has previously written tell-alls on Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Nancy Reagan and others, surprisingly did not return phone calls when contacted by a website about professional wrestling. This makes us just think that she's trying to keep the book launch a secret for now.
"Just wait till you get to know the real Linda," laughed our source. "She'll rue the day she forced herself on me, or my name's not Tom Pri… I mean… uh, Tom… Zenk."
-30-
Canadian Bulldog is a borderline journalist who writes weekly for World Wrestling Insanity and Online Onslaught and has published his own book of nutty e-mails to wrestlers. See his obscenely expensive Canadian BullBLOG for more details. He welcomes your comments at CanadianBulldog@worldwrestlinginsanity.com

2011-05-18T00:31:00.000-07:00

Big Daddy Cool lived up to his reputation and agreed to talk about any and all subjects from DX to the N.W.O. to the Death of WCW to Eric Bischoff to Oz to Tom Zenk and everywhere in between. You can hear the free show by clicking here - JG‘s Radio Free Insanity featuring Kevin Nash. You can also hear exclusive quotes from the 47 minute unedited shoot by going to the free information page of ClubWWI.com.

2011-05-18T00:27:00.000-07:00

The Honky Tonk Man on ClubWWI.com - 42 Minutes: The False Rumor About Him Started In Mick Foley's Book, The Former I.C. Champion Who Came Up With "Rhythm and Blues," Rowdy Roddy "PiperNutz," The Two People Still On His Ass-Whooping List, Pushing Elizabeth, The Person Who Came Up With The Vote of Confidence Campaign, The People Who Played Peggy Sue, Why He Left WCW, Rockabilly, Tom Zenk, Killer Kowalski, and More

2011-05-02T04:11:00.001-07:00

Miami Herald - May 10, 1992 - 10D SPORTS

ATLANTA VIOLENCE MOVES EX-VILLAIN Ramblings from the ring: * Kudos to World Championship Wrestling for its increase in charity work. Teddy Long, a notorious manager of villains, has shown his out-of-the-ring character through participation in several events in the inner-city area of Atlanta. Long, WCW executive vice president Kip Frey, Tom Zenk, and Rick and Scott Steiner visited an Atlanta housing project last Monday where violence erupted after the Rodney King verdict in Los Angeles.

2011-05-02T04:10:00.000-07:00

2011-05-02T03:34:00.000-07:00

click to enlarge

2011-05-02T00:24:00.000-07:00

Adam Copeland discusses his early influences in Adam Copeland on Edge -

2011-05-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

The Great Book of Washington, D.C. Sports Lists - Page 103

2011-04-30T23:16:00.000-07:00

Entrant###30 - 04-09-2011

I used to read Tom Zenk´s rants back in the day (whatever did happen to his columns?) and he was always quick to point out that while Michaels no doubt had a serious back injury, he was just biding his time to return when Austin and Rocky were out of the way. And lo and behold, when does Shawn seemingly make a miraculous recovery in time to fight his buddy HHH???? Looks like Zenk was right about Shawn. Probably something to Helms beliefs that HBK is still a wolf in Sheeps clothing despite his new outlook on life.

2011-04-29T00:23:00.000-07:00

April 27th, 2011

Mark Satrang
Pro Wrestling Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/pro-wrestling-in-national/top-wcw-pay-perviews#ixzz1KtlIph6v

#2 – WCW WrestleWar ‘92
Everything I said about SuperBrawl II in regards to the no nonsense wrestling and great matches completely applies here, which is no coincidence since they followed each other in pay per view chronology. The top three matches save the show and just blow anything the WWF was putting out at the time away. Two best friends Flyin’ Brian Pillman and “Z-Man” Tom Zenk battled over Pillman’s Light Heavyweight Championship. They told a story of two friends putting aside their friendship for the sake of a Championship, money and glory and put together a four star match to boot.

WOM 1/18/88

2011-04-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

Dave Meltzer in Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 18 January, 1988 reported -

-- Tom Zenk's legal problems with the WWF were also settled out of court, as the WWF sued Zenk for $70,000 for breach of contract. He'll have to give Titan a percentage of his earnings in 1988, but it will be a much smaller percentage than the WWF originally wanted. The whole deal was that the WWF wanted to make an example out of him.

AWA
-- Tom Zenk agreed to start working for the AWA. Zenk signed on the advice of Giant Baba, who wants to push him, but feels he has to make a name for himself in the US first.

WON 1/25/88

2011-04-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

Summary of Meltzer Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 25 January, 1988

AWA
-- The Midnight Rockers are now the tag champions. The storyline, which they were forced to do after the fact, was that the 12/27 match against Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose ended with a double pin, but when Stanley Blackburn reviewed the tape, he overruled the referee and made the Rockers the champions. The actual story is that the Original Midnight Express have quit the AWA. Announcer Larry Nelson said on TV, "We have heard a rumor they got hurt." Rose wasn't making any money and wanted a guarantee to make it worth his time to commute from Georgia. Condrey had a guarantee, but it was cut by Verne Gagne, so Condrey quit on the spot. There was talk of them coming back and jobbing the belts in the ring, but Verne simply decided he wanted nothing to do with them anymore. Dave says he has heard varying stories on Paul E. Dangerously -- both that he's still with them and that he's not with them -- but that Paul E. was not at the last TV taping. The Rockers are still wrestling instead of Memphis and not in the AWA, but everyone expects that to change soon.

-- Tom Zenk is in and will probably get a good push, but Dave worries that Verne will bank on him too much. Zenk coming in is why Verne has been hesitant to really push Nord the Barbarian all that hard, although he's probably the most over wrestler in the Twin Cities at this point, aside from Hogan. They are afraid to push him too much because they don't think he will stick around.

WON 2/15/1988

2011-04-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 15 February, 1988 reported

AWA
-- The final card at the Minneapolis Auditorium happened on 02/04 before a low turnout of 1,700 fans. They were hyping it as Nostalgia Night, and the WWF countered by running "Mad Dog Vachon Night" in the same market the following week, and even ended up bringing in old AWA stars for their show like The Crusher, Nick Bockwinkel and Blackjack Lanza. Verne had Red Bastien, Killer Kowalski, Carl Eller (never wrestled, but was a member of the Minnesota Vikings Purple People Eaters front four in the early 70s), Butch Levy, Leo Nomellini, Hard Boiled Haggerty, Dick the Bruiser (who wrestled), Billy Robinson and perennial jobber Kenny "Sodbuster" Jay, who actually got the biggest pop. Verne Gagne and Stanley Blackburn were in attendance as well. Dave says Zenk/Robinson stood out in the wrong way, because Zenk is the only potential contender they have for Hennig, and a 50-year old guy took him to a 20-minute draw. He also controlled the entire match, which was in slow motion and Zenk had no opportunity to do anything to get himself over. The AWA now doesn't have a venue lined out for the Twin Cities.

-- Adrian Adonis is out until March at the earliest. The match where he broke his ankle was a match against Ricky Rice that did air on TV.

-- Kelly Kiniski quit. He was unhappy with his $170 weekly check and went back to Canada.

-- Nord the Barbarian quit. He's hugely over in the AWA because of his car commercials, but Verne never wanted to push him because he didn't think he could last.

-- Still no word on the future of Paul E. Dangerously.

WON 2/29/88

2011-04-09T20:19:00.000-07:00

Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsleteer 29 February, 1988 reports -

AWA
-- The Rock & Roll Express is scheduled to debut as babyfaces at the 02/20 tapings. Dave doesn't think this makes sense, since they were always booed on Crockett shows in the Twin Cities, and they have a natural feud with Michaels and Jannetty. Later in the issue, Dave says Morton and Gibson didn't even show up, but Pat Tanaka and Paul Diamond did, and they won the tag titles.

-- Tom Zenk quit the same day he was to do an angle with Curt Hennig at a TV taping, because he wanted a guarantee. He also didn't understand the logic of doing a time limit draw with Billy Robinson before feuding with Hennig.
-- The Nasty Boys have been let go.

-- In addition to Curt Hennig, Kevin Kelly and Madusa Miceli are also on guarantees. Hennig's is $1,500 per week and Kelly and Miceli's is less than $300 per week.

-- The AWA will restart on 3/19 in Las Vegas.

-- "I believe the word in Minneapolis is that due to all the confusion from the 2/4 Hennig vs Greg Gagne match that they are saying the title is held up. So they've got the tag title held up in three cities but nowhere else, and the singles title held up in two cities with two different challengers."

-- Wally Karbo and Verne Gagne have settled their lawsuit out of court, with Verne agreeing to pay Karbo whatever he owes him. Karbo is settling for 10 cents on the dollar.

-- They shot an angle at the Las Vegas tapings with Baron Von Raschke and Sheik Adnan El-Kaissey. "Boy, they'll pack them in for those grudge matches."

-- "I'm told the recent AWA cards have drawn between 42 and 300 fans."

-- "On the Minneapolis TV show which aired on 2/21, Verne said that all the promoters in the Midwest want to recognize Greg as the champion. He later said if Stanley Blackburn doesn't like it, then maybe the AWA will have to find a new president. I wonder what Stanley Blackburn feels about being put in the position of being the top heel in the AWA. Maybe he can team with Sheik and feud with Verne and the Baron. Verne even compared the current situation to the forming of the AWA back in 1957 when Edouardo Carpentier beat Lou Thesz (one of the falls was via DQ) and the NWA wouldn't recognize the title change but the promoters in the Midwest took it upon themselves to recognize Carpentier and those promoters wound up as the AWA a few years later with Verne as champion after Verne beat Carpentier (at least when they bring up old stories, they are true stories.)"

-- There is pressure on Curt Hennig, and they appear to be covering their backsides if something happens with him. He took a hard bump on his neck and shoulder and was supposed to be in traction, but worked in Portland and Las Vegas through heavy pain. He did miss two spot shows, which the office was furious about. Dave suspects they are looking for an excuse to cut out his big guarantee. "Hey, if Curt's available, I just hope some guys looking for a Fourth Horseman wake up."

WON 02/08/88

2011-04-09T20:15:00.000-07:00

Dave Meltzer , Wrestling Observer Newsletter 8 February, 1988

AWA
-- Kelly Kiniski has been fired, and they have pretty much no heels left.

-- Tom Zenk is signed to face Billy Robinson on the 02/04 show at the Minneapolis Auditorium, the last show at the arena before it is torn down, and Dave is surprised by that match, because independent promotions won't use Robinson because of his rep of shooting, and that he could easily show Zenk up/

-- Baron Von Raschke and the Nasty Boys are now full-time. Steve DiSalvo is splitting time between the AWA and Calgary.

-- Adrian Adonis suffered a broken ankle during the Minot, ND, TV tapings. There was a hole in the ring and Adonis stepped into it during an Irish whip spot. This also caused him to miss his scheduled New Japan tour, and he's not expected back for at least two months.

-- Kevin Kelly and Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissey got into a fight while taping a promo that started as a work before tempers started flaring and they were really fighting. Kaissey was beaten to a pulp.

-- An AWA album will be coming out soon, featuring Greg Gagne, Baron Von Raschke, Wahoo McDaniel, Jerry Blackwell, Tommy Rich, Dick Slater, Jerry Lawler, Jeff Jarrett, the Midnight Rockers and Tom Zenk. The album is being recorded in Atlanta. Blackwell, Rich and Slater were there because the Gagnes helped them get an insurance break for their new promotion. Lawler and Jarrett were there because there is planned to be more talent swapping between both territories in the future. In fact, Curt Hennig is scheduled to work a heavy schedule for CWA because the AWA is no longer running a full schedule.

WON 03/28/88

2011-04-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

Meltzer - Wrestling Observer 28 March, 1988 reported -
-- They are trying to say Hennig injured Tom Zenk and ran him out of the AWA, even saying "As you all saw ..." when it never aired or even happened. "The AWA has this thing about burying guys who leave of course, but to have the audacity to say, 'as you all saw' for an event that nobody saw because it never took place is something I'm not even sure World Class has ever done."

OREGON
-- Billy Jack Haynes is getting ready to run opposition to Down Owen in Portland. Rip Oliver and Mike Miller have both quick working for Owen and are expected to start working for Haynes in a few weeks. Kevin Kelly, the Memphis Big Bubba (Fred Ottman/Shockmaster/Tugboat/Typhoon for those who don't know), JT Southern, a heel Chavo Guerrero (who is expected to feud with Brady Boone), and also Curt Hennig and Tom Zenk have been given offers. Hennig likely will not come in, as he is content in the AWA ("well, as content as anyone can be working for Verne Gagne"), and Don Owen has already billed Zenk as appearing in his promotion. There's also talk of Brad Rheingans possibly working for Haynes, and Joey Jackson has been discussed as well since he just quit working for Owen, although it's suspected that's because he's going to the WWF as a jobber. Matt Borne is taking Miller's place working for Owen. Al Madrial and Abbuda Dein are headed in, and Brian Adams should be back from Japan soon. The promotion is going to be called the OWWF (Oregon-Washington Wrestling Federation), and they have a wrestling school set up as well.

-- Curt Hennig was in Portland on 3/5 and unable to wrestle due to back and neck injuries. The AWA title was announced as being held up in Portland with a Hennig (who's a babyface in Portland) match against The Grappler, "... but instead The Assassin represented Hennig and beat Grappler which made hennig the 'new' AWA champion and if you understand that, you're ahead of me."

"500 Days Of Tom Zenk"

2011-01-29T23:45:00.000-08:00

Tanya Gold

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Tanya Gold
Born	1973 United Kingdom
Occupation	Journalist, Author
Notable credit(s)	Daily Mail columnist The Guardian columnist The Independent columnist

Tanya Gold (born 31 December^[1] 1973) is a British journalist. She was educated at Kingston Grammar School and Merton College, Oxford.^[2] She has written for a variety of newspapers in the United Kingdom, including The Guardian, the Daily Mail, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph and the Evening Standard. In 2009 she was highly commended in the Feature Writer of the Year category at the British Press Awards. In 2010 she won Feature Writer of the Year at the British Press Awards.^[3]
She is best known for writing comic observational articles.^[4] She has also written articles exploring her recovery from alcoholism,^[5] and her undercover investigations into the television series Big Brother and the descendants of Nazis who converted to Judaism and moved to Israel. She has also written a column about giving up smoking, "The Quitter".^[6] She is the agony aunt for Esquire magazine. Gold has a monthly column in Power Slam magazine entitled "500 Days Of Tom Zenk" in which she reviews a different Tom Zenk match every day for 500 days. The column achieved controversy in November 2010 when in a review of a 1991 fancam recording of a ten-minute draw between Zenk and Ricky Morton she "shouted out" 1930s Irish fascist leader Eoin O'Duffy.
In October 2008, she wrote an article for The Guardian about her alma mater: "Oxford is hellish. It needs to be broken apart and stuffed with state school kids - for its own good."^[2] She criticised Merton and Oxford University, as well as the University's chancellor, Chris Patten, for a culture she saw as privileged, stratified by socioeconomic status, and emotionally repressive.

[edit] References

^ Tanya Gold (December 29, 2009). "Nightmare on New Year's Eve"". http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/dec/29/nightmare-on-new-years-eve.
^ ^a ^b Tanya Gold (October 2, 2008). "Oxford is hellish. It needs to be broken apart and stuffed with state-school kids - for its own good". http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/02/oxforduniversity.
^ Tanya Gold (June 5, 2008). "So what if Max Mosley played dodgy sex games? Some of those who condemn him should look at their own pasts". http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/05/secondworldwar.fashion.
^ Tanya Gold (September 16, 2008). "They seek her here . . .". http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/sep/16/celebrity.culturaltrips.
^ Tanya Gold (January 29, 2008). "As a recovering alcoholic". http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jan/29/gender.world.
^ Tanya Gold (December 21, 2004). "The quitter". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2004/dec/21/lifeandhealth.smoking.

2011-01-27T00:22:00.000-08:00

WrestleMania rematches

celebritysentry.com

With RAW this Monday having a WrestleMania rematch card, I decided to look back through the history of WrestleMania and see what our possibilities are.........

WrestleMania III Rick Martel & Tom Zenk vs. Don Muraco & Bob Orton It would be classic to see Tom Zenk on RAW. Doubt it.
Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake vs. The Rougeau BrothersMight be fun. But it won't happen.
Butch Reed vs. Koko B. WareReed was seen in the already-forgotten Theodore Long-Kristal Marshall wedding angle. Koko still works. Let's make it happen.
Ricky Steamboat vs. Randy SavageLeave this one the way it is.
Honky Tonk Man vs. Jake RobertsIs Alice Cooper going to be there?
Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff vs. The Killer BeesDo I have to go there? you need to be humbled, you great high jumper?

Marvez: Catching up with 'Cowboy' Bob Orton, father of Randy

Wed, 01/26/2011 - 12:38 By ALEX MARVEZ, Scripps Howard News Service

"Wrestlemania" entrenched WWE as the dominant U.S. promotion. But it was outstanding veteran hands raided from regional groups, like Orton, Piper and Hogan, that comprised the backbone of WWE's national expansion.
"A lot of things fell into place," Orton said. "We had the best talent and, of course, (WWE owner) Vince McMahon had the novel idea of going nationwide. When Hogan came in, he was so hot that it just clicked. And then we got stars from other areas like Cyndi Lauper, Mr. T, Liberace and Muhammad Ali involved. People loved to watch it."
They also loved to hate Orton, who would rile fans by using a cast on his forearm as a weapon against baby-face opponents. Orton was never really injured, but still donned the plaster for well over a year.
While his role at "Wrestlemania I" was more prominent, Orton said his most memorable wrestling moment came in an undercard tag-team match with Don Muraco against the Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel and Tom Zenk) at "Wrestlemania III" in 1987.
"'Wrestlemania I' had all the hype, but I didn't actually wrestle," said Orton, who cost Piper and Orton their match by accidentally whacking the latter with his cast. "I was involved in the main event, but I didn't get to do what I enjoy doing best. Plus at 'Wrestlemania III,' there were 90,000-plus people (in attendance). It was just awesome."

DOS HOMBRES - Tom Zenk or Shane Douglas?

A wrestling fan since 1986, Sir Jorge of Sir Jorge's Pro Wrestling Blog, still cannot tell who was under the mask .....(yes it was Tom Zenk)

Jorge, reviewing Steve Austen's greatest matches writes, " 3. Stunning Steve Austin & Brian Pillman vs. Dos Hombres (Ricky Steamboat & Tom Zenk) - This match took place inside a Steel Cage. Wikipedia said that it was Tom Zenk under the mask, but I was under the impression that it was Shane Douglas. This match was another instant classic, one that featured some amazing moments. The finale was great, with all the guys flying across the ring, and Austin hitting his finisher The Stun Gun to get the win for the Blonds. "

2010-12-31T09:40:00.000-08:00

トム・ジンク
ＴＯＭ　ＺＩＮＫ

■１９６０年１１月３０日
■ミネソタ州ミネアポリス出身
■１８５cm　１００kg
■得意技：ドロップキック

高校卒業後、ゴールド・ジムで体を鍛える。Ｅ・シャーキーにスカウトされて８３年にＭＳＷＡ地区でデビュー。ＷＷＦではリック・マーテルと組んでカンナム・コネクションとして活躍。８６年、全日本プロレスの最強タッグ決定リーグ戦にリック･マーテルと組んで参加。抜群のチームワークで活躍。９チーム中６位で敢闘賞。８７年の最強タッグにもターミネーターと組んで参加。８９年末にＺマンとなって、ＮＷＡに進出。ＷＣＷではジョニー・ガンと組んで活躍。以後、ＷＣＷとの関係で新日本プロレスに２回登場。

Portland update from Fans of Portland Wrestling and WrestlingClassics.com

2010-12-23T12:34:00.000-08:00

Portland Wrestling's weekly Saturday night cards and TV tapings were held at the Portland Sports Arena. The building still stands and is part of the Mount Olivet Baptist Church. Its at 8501 North Chautauqua Blvd. Portland, OR 97217.

Oh and it's was never a studio. It was a converted bowling alley turned wrestling arena/ flea market. At the time of Portland Wrestling, it was an old building. Not that it was broken down at all, but no effort was ever made to really clean it up. If you went to the Portland Sports Arena, you would smell like Winston's for the next week..... Andyou could always count on cold hot dogs & warm RC. It was a GREAT place for pro wrestling!!!

(Above) Inside of the old sports arena today. The double doors at the end of the hallway are about the only things left from the Sports Arena days. You can't see them, but right next to the Pepsi machines are the steps the wrestlers would take to get to the ring. The steps to the old Crow's Nest interview area were about where the two chairs and table are sitting.

Dynamite Kid and some of the Klan in the Crows Nest

In the "Crow's Nest" TV interview area, circa 1986 - Billy Jack Haynes, Tom Zenk & Brady Boone confront Rip Oliver, Bobby Jaggers, Mike Miller, while Don Coss holds the mike and the middle ground.

Zenk was at his biggest...

....a melee erupts.

Not Jay Tabb writes ......

2010-12-19T10:49:00.000-08:00

Not Jay Tabb is a blog named after the 2007/08 Coventry City player of the year. It is also my attempt to rediscover what I love about pro-wrestling. For while I still watch the WWE and TNA regularly, I don't invest in tapes or seeking out new wrestling anywhere near as much as I used to. Using the collection of tapes I've amassed over the years, Youtube and new purchases, I aim to give an opinion on, and enjoy, as much pro-wrestling as possible. Wish me luck

Saturday, 21 August 2010

Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk: Tom Zenk vs Rob Rechsteiner (AWA 21/08/1985)

One of the things I want to do with this blog is to find out if my taste in wrestling as a kid was worthless or not. There are a selection of wrestlers who I was a big fan of between the ages of 10-18, and I want to see if I still like them now. One of these wrestlers is Tom Zenk, and Youtube threw up this interesting curio, where the Z-Man is fighting a pre-fame Rick Steiner, going under his birth name, in the AWA. Zenk is the veteran here, with Steiner looking a little green in the early stages of the match. There is a nice spot early in the match where Steiner powers Zenk onto the top rope, then foolishly jawing with the crowd, allowing Zenk to hit a crossbody for two. Zenk has some fine fiery babyface offence and Steiner makes a decent attempt at covering for over-early sell of a dropkick by rolling to the outside as if he'd deliberately avoided contact. There is a botched attempt at an airplane spin, seemingly from Steiner leaping too early, but a second attempt sees Zenk pick up the three. Hard to really make a judgement on Zenk from this match, which was essentially a squash and saw Zenk lumbered with a very green Steiner, but there were positive signs in his offence.

Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk: Can-Am Connection vs Sika & Kamala

Yes! This is exactly the kind of glorious wrestling madness I wanted to rediscover when I undertook this opus. The Can-Am's of Tom Zenk and Rick Martel are a team I've always wanted to see more of, and check out that opposition. In kayfabe terms, that's a sensational mix of monsters. Adding to the lunacy is George Steele on commentary, contributing nothing more than grunts. The big fellas dominate the early stages, but Zenk wriggles free when Kamala tries to splash him against Sika. Martel tags in and Kamala bumps huge over the top rope for a Martel dropkick. With Sika left alone in the ring, Martel uses his quickness to elude the wild Samoan's attacks and ground him with an armdrag. Zenk comes in and continues the assault on Sika's left arm. Sika's strength allows him to take control again, allowing him and Kamala to work over Zenk. The savages work over Zenk with some basic, if fun offence, including a spot where Kamala rams Zenk headfirst into the thick Samoan skull of Sika. The hot tag comes out of nowhere and leads to all four men in the ring. Martel stops Kamala hitting Air Africa on Zenk and then hits a sloppy crossbody on Sika to win. Despite the hot tag literally coming from nowhere, this was good fun, especially with the heels being the kind of larger-than-life monsters that make for enjoyable tag encounters. Zenk kind of got shafted though, barely getting in any offence with Martel clearly positioned as the dominant Can-Am.

Friday, 24 September 2010

Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk: Z-Man vs Cuban Assassin

Gary Michael Capetta announces this is Zenk's NWA debut, so this can't be long after his leaving the WWF due to an alleged pay dispute. Zenk takes an early advantage over the Assassin with some typical fiery babyface offence. Messers Ross and Cornette on commentary give the Z-Man some verbal fellatio, as Zenk keeps the advantage with several armdrags. Assassin gets in a small modicum of offence, but misses a diving headbutt from the second rope. The match is pretty much a showcase squash for Zenk, who looks good throughout- he's got superb dropkicks and he works the end sequence well, reversing Assassin holds and niftily putting on a sleeper for the win. This is the best Zenk has looked in EDILTZ so far, because he was given a role in the match that let him showcase his abilities. A good sign.

Saturday, 18 December 2010

Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk: Zenk & Bagwell vs Taylor & Flamingo

Z Man & Marcus Bagwell vs Terry Taylor & Scotty Flamingo
This comes in the middle of a fued between Bagwell and the Taylor Made Man. Bagwell starts with Flamingo and looks pretty darn good, showing a fiery athleticism that was missing from the Buff Bagwell days. Taylor comes in as the veteran of the match as pointed out by JR, and plays the role of the cocky vet very well, whilst also letting Bagwell look good against him. Zenk also displays some good babyface fire when he comes in, hittng flying headscissors on both heels and busting out a springboard crossbody on Taylor which pops the crowd. Flamingo manages to make a blind tag to Taylor, who gets the advantage on Zenk from behind and starts pumping out some heeling tactics, starting by choking Zenk behind the referee's back. The heels continue to work Zenk over, cutting off the ring and drawing Bagwell in to distract the ref whilst they choke Zenk out. Zenk fires back with a neckbreaker, and makes a pretty abrupt hot tag to Bagwell. All four guys end up in the ring, allowing Zenk to hit a superkick on Taylor for the win. The match could have used another 5 minutes or so to stretch out the heat sequence on Zenk, but it was a perfectly decent wrestling match, with all four bringing a fact tempo to the match.

Zenk & Bagwell vs Taylor & Flamingo

2010-11-30T23:39:00.000-08:00

Prowrestling Net writes (#0 November, 2010) - " Former WWE wrestler Tom Zenk (a/k/a Z-Man in WCW) celebrates his 52nd birthday today. He was born on November 30, 1958. He stirred up a lot of attention with his shoot commentaries and blogs, but it's been a while since I've heard anything about Zenk."

Quote:

Originally Posted by DoubleDrive

I have no idea what you are talking about sir... And neither does Tom Zenk!

Yesss.....that is what I remember. Was it still a JCP product at that point, or had WCW bought out WCW by then? I don't remember, I was young, and didn't know any of the backstage shit back then...kayfabe was great...

edit: I guess the WCW sheet in the background of the photo should be a clue...h ah aha

REVIEW ; ZENK ALWAYS IMPRESSES

WCW/NJPW Rumble In The Rising Sun 1991

Segment 2 - NJPW: (Team Shiny Jackets!) Shiro Koshinaka, Kuniaki Kobayashi, and Takayuki Iizuka vs. WCW: (Team Mullet Power!) Tim Horner, Brian Pillman, and Tom Zenk.

Vice: Vice needs to see more Brian Pillman and Z-Man. This much is obvious. Tim Horner and the Japanese folk.. not so much.

Fun opening match. Japan wins. That’s basically it.

Cewsh: MULLETS!

Okay, so this is the 90s. All the Americans have huge, fluffy mullets, and all of the Japanese guys have ridiculously high pants and shiny jackets. Also good to remember, is that this is probably the first time that an American audience was in any way exposed to Japanese wrestlers to this extent, and certainly to the Japanese fanbase. JR has to make a point of telling the audience that the fans aren’t bored, but are instead maintaining a respectful silence. I’m actually blown away, initially, by how amazing Ross and Schiavone are working together as an announcing team. They complement each other incredibly well, and Ross especially is just fantastic to listen to. Seeing this really does drive home how much of a shell of himself he’s become these days. Depressing, really.

The match itself was hard to get used to at first, because we as wrestling fans have gotten used to some truly incredibly displays of high flying, and exciting opening match wrestling in the past 18 years, and to see this, I wasn’t even conscious, at first, that that’s what they were going for. As the match unfolded, though, it became more clear, and I actually found myself impressed, not with Pillman or the Japanese guys, and certainly not with Horner, but instead with Tom Zenk. What the shit happened to Tom Zenk? The guy had an amazing look for the early 90s, and his offense was actually really fun to watch. To say nothing of how fluid a team he and Pillman were. I was really getting into the guy, and it’s a good thing, because I just finished watching the match twelve seconds ago, and I couldn’t tell you anything about the Japanese guys, aside from the old one with the Harley Race sideburns. They were basically just there, and seemed like complete cannon fodder for the Americans.

Which, of course, made it even weirder when the young one (Kobayashi I think?) ran in and hit a Dragon Suplex on Horner to get the win. Seemed completely contrary to the match altogether, but it was probably booked by arrangement between the two companies anyway, so I guess I can see how it would work out that way.

Interesting opener. Not great. Not bad. Interesting.

65 out of 100.

---------------------

BALTIMORE SUN

Posted by: Michael in Virginia | June 22, 2010 11:59 PM

The leader of NXT should be someone with legitimate long time heat on Vince and the WWE -- a former wrestler who left on less than ideal terms and has remained estranged from the company.
Bruno Sammartino isn't too hot on the mike, and the Bret Hart story now appears over, so how about former Can Am Connection member Tom Zenk?

--------------
FLASHBACK - Ever wonder why you didn't see much of Tom Zenk in 1988 - well .... Wrestling Observer, Jan 18th, 1988 reported.....

"-- Tom Zenk's legal problems with the WWF were also settled out of court, as the WWF sued Zenk for $70,000 for breach of contract. He'll have to give Titan a percentage of his earnings in 1988, but it will be a much smaller percentage than the WWF originally wanted. The whole deal was that the WWF wanted to make an example out of him. "

Favorite match ever

2010-04-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

Midnight Express vs Pilman/Zenk - Capital Combat 90 which is along the same lines as the Cowboys match from GAB 90 but which I prefer just for the crazy pace and telepathic spots everyone pulls off. God I love that match so much. (Forums Deathvalley Driver)

Mat classics images

Would Tom Zenk have been a better world champ than......

2010-02-19T03:45:00.000-08:00

Would Tom Zenk have been a better world champ than: 1) Lex Luger 2) Sid Vicious 3) Sting 4) Scott Steiner 5) Booker T

join the discussion at Wrestling Classics

I think Zenk would have been better than Dusty. Remember I am not saying 'was he better than...' or 'did he have a better career'? I am asking, knowing what you know of the guys I picked and their title reigns, could Zenk, if pushed right have been a better draw and a better NWA/WCW World Champion?

****

Zenk could work his butt off and he could do the humble face or the smartaleck heel. What's the deal huh? Most sports would love to have a young good looking guy who was a great athlete and who had the build. What up? I guess it is more important to protect your spot than to do what's right for the business. Right?

join the discussion at Wrestling Classics

Prize for the most frequently asked question is .........

2010-02-05T03:55:00.000-08:00

kideternity

Join Date: Feb 2010

Tom Zenk - when I look back at old tapes I just don't know why he didn't go any further, great look, great talent! What happened?

Shooting the Messenger ...

2010-01-20T12:33:00.000-08:00

Wrestlers who speak out against WWE and drugs sitation labelled 'bitter' says UK Sun

"Some people do say it but it is dismissed as sour grapes. They are written off as jealous or guys who never made it. But they are the ones with their eyes open" says Jim Cornette

UK Sun newspaper
Wednesday 20 January, 2010

By SIMON ROTHSTEIN

JIM CORNETTE has blasted WWE owner Vince McMahon over the large number of grapplers who have died young.

Cornette says that wrestlers he either befriended, managed or trained during his time working for the WWE between 1993 and 2005 are now dead - including the recent tragic passings of Eddie 'Umaga' Fatu and Tony 'Ludvig Borga' Halme and previous deaths including Eddie Gurrero, Davey Boy Smith and Andrew 'Test' Martin.

He told us: "It is never easy when a friend dies.

"But at first it was 'oh my gosh', then it was 'oh no', then it was 'not again' and finally you're not surprised anymore.

"It is never good, but it isn't shocking. That's the sad thing.

"It is more shocking if a professional wrestler from the 1980s is actually found in good health and living a nice life with no problems.

"When I was a kid watching wrestling in the 1970s, every couple of years you would hear of a few wrestlers dying in a car wreck.

"Now a month doesn't go by that you don't hear some about wrestler dying at an early age, because of drugs or by-products of drugs which are by-products of the unfortunate work environment that they found themselves in."

Look at Vince himself....he is 64-years-old and on the cover of Muscle and Fitness.

Cornette blames the epidemic on a number of things, including the trend to headline shows with wrestlers who had bodybuilder style physiques.

He singles out 1980s and 1990s world champions such as Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior and current main event star Triple H as examples, although all proved very popular with fans.

He told us: "It is no secret that in WWE a guy of average ability with a great physique will always get a bunch more chances in WWE than a guy with great ability and less impressive physique.

"That is what Vince has always tried to book and always tried to push.

"And look at Vince himself. OK yes, he has great genetics and trains vigorously, but c'mon he is 64-years-old and on the cover of Muscle and Fitness. That is the example he is setting.

"When I was working for rival firm NWA in the 1980s, we used to joke that half of the guys in our main events weren't big enough to open the show for Vince McMahon.

"A lot of the guys in the 1980s got on this s*** and it creates a dependence, a mental if not a physical one.

"Of course no one ever told you that you had to take steroids to get a job and there wasn't a bunch of 10 boys in the locker room sticking needles in their asses out in the open.

"But just look at the hiring practices. Who got the pushes and who didn't.

"Then when heat got on the WWE in the early 1990s about it, things changed and it was the smaller guys like Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart who were featured on top.

"But as soon as the heat was off of the steroids issue, the big guys started creeping back in.

"And even if it is not as prevalent recently as it was in the 1980s it was still obviously there, up until the past few years when the heat got back on again after Benoit.

"So, that's the steroid problem."

Talking about other issues, Jim continues: "The style of pro wrestling has got so much harder with bigger bumps, so painkillers come into it.

"In the old days, the fans thought we were hurting each other but we really weren't.

"Now, the guys are really hurting each other and the fans don't believe anything because they were told it's phoney.

"There are also guys who lose their push and need surgery, but put it off and off because they have the mentality that, not only does the show need to go on, but also somebody else might take their spot and they might not get it back.

"Then you take into account that wrestlers' careers are so much shorter because there is no territory system and they're on national television every week. Many more get burnt out.

"Guys get depressed when all of a sudden, after being stars for three or four years, they can't get a job because there is no place else to work.

"That then leads to a drug problem.

"So it's all of these things - fewer places to work, change in the style and Vince's hiring practices and who he pushes.

"All of those have lead to early deaths from heart attacks and drug and steroid related problems."

"Some people do say it but it is dismissed as sour grapes. They are written off as jealous or guys who never made it. But they are the ones with their eyes open."

Cornette does concede that the WWE are trying to tackle the problem.

The company have imposed a strict Wellness Policy on their talent - suspending and even firing those who fail drugs test.

They also offer to pay for any current of former star to get rehab, an offer that four per cent have taken up.

However Cornette believes these moves may be down to the company wanting avoid the bad publicity that came in the wake of the Chris Benoit murder/suicides.

While there is no evidence that WWE have anything but the best intentions, Jim claims: "The WWE are doing a lot but that's probably because of the bad publicity.

"They're a publically traded entertainment company and a bunch of their employees or former employees are dying at an early age.

"And let me just say this - top guys with a lot of money to spend can always get the good stuff if they want it to beat the test.

"Although for the guys who don't make much money, then they have to get clean now they are doing legitimate testing."

Although Jim, who currently works for indie group Ring Of Honor, is the one of the only people currently in the wrestling industry prepared to speak out - many former stars have.

However those grapplers, including Marc Mero, Bruno Sammartino and Superstar Billy Graham, have been labelled as bitter.

Is Jim worried that the same accusations may be levelled at him?

He says: "People may say I'm biased because the WWE screwed me out of a business deal here in Louisville with Ohio Valley Wrestling, and yes I am biased.

"But at the same time, look at it!

"A lot of people won't say what I am because they still want a job.

"Some people do say it but it is dismissed as sour grapes. They are written off as jealous or guys who never made it. But they are the ones with their eyes open.

"Nobody can dispute the facts. They just try to shoot the messenger.

"So I don't care what they think of me and I'm sure they don't care what I think of them.

"I'm just telling the truth."

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/wrestling/2815458/Jim-Cornette-blasts-WWE-over-number-of-grapplers-who-have-died-young.html#ixzz0dBcKTYr3

Steve Austin Legacy DVD Review

2009-12-27T16:23:00.000-08:00

http://www.angrymarks.com/news/View.php?ArticleID=2946

Written by Stevie J.

EXTRACT ....

Steve Austin found his singles push derailed though when Dusty put him in a tag team with Brian Pillman, which Austin was not happy about at first. Austin says that as time went on and they drove down the road together working shows "things started to click" and that they enjoyed making each other laugh. Pillman eventually decided they should be called the Hollywood Blonds and the name stuck. This leads to our first wrestling match of the whole DVD set.

* Hollywood Blonds (C) vs. Dos Hombres (WCW Tag Team Championship steel cage match)

This match is from WCW's Slamboree PPV on May 23rd, 1993. I don't know if Dos Hombres always wrestled under a mask but it's to WCW's benefit here as they had to fool people into thinking Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas were the challengers. Douglas had been fired before the PPV though so Tom Zenk took his place under the mask. Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko even argue they don't know who is Douglas and who is Steamboat due to the masks during the match, and it's all a little absurd because Schiavone then contradicts this by saying he can tell Steamboat is the one wrestling Austin because of his knife-edge chops. The Blonds were a good team and the wrestling here is just fine but I'm not convinced this is the best example of Austin's tag team days they could have included. I do like some of the spots in the match, such as Austin being from the top of the cage like a tree of woe, but manages to escape just before his opponent rams into the fence. Another good spot is when Steamboat takes his mask off just before going to the top of the cage where he does a flying crossbody onto both Austin and Pillman. The Blonds retain when Austin pins Zenk off a Stun Gun and in the words of 'Super Chico' Bryan Alvarez, "This was fine." WINNERS AND STILL WCW TAG TEAM CHAMPS: THE HOLLYWOOD BLONDS.

Personally I think I would have preferred if they had put the career bio and the matches in seperate places, but I realize that probably would have been too much like other Austin releases such as "The Stone Cold Story." Austin talks about how much fun he and Pillman were having together and how over they got with their antics. Unfortunately in the whacky world of pro wrestling "getting over" is often the OPPOSITE of what a promoter wants you to do. Instead of being happy that you were successful in connecting with the crowd the promoter gets upset that a "mid-card act" or "filler team" is more popular than the established veterans or the guys at the top of the card. As a result WCW forced Austin and Pillman to split up, which meant they had to have a feud once the team ended.

2009-11-13T01:53:00.000-08:00

11-11-2009,
TheDarkOne

I always wonder what Raw and the E would be like under different management. The great Tom Zenk used to talk at length about this and watching last night's episode made me think of this.
I don't think the program is unwatchable from week to week, but they suffer from using the same tired bits and turns. I wouldn't mind seeing some of the younger talent get wins over DX for example but under the current state of affairs I don't see it happening unless it's a build to another pay per view where the good guy eventually wins. I think the show suffers most from not having a consistent heel champion. Every time Orton gains moment the Champ shows up. It would be great to see Orton, Jericho, and possibly a few others create a stable that would be unstoppable by any of the faces but so many of the heels have been made to look so weak it would be a hard sell.

Vindictive booking.....

2009-10-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

A Column by Derek K. for OWW on well regarded workers like SD Jones brought the following response from Harvey McCarthy. McCarthy's piece in turn raises the question - "If it's the job of the booker to fill arenas, why do some bookers downcard wrestlers with huge fan followings?" The answer, according to Dusty Rhodes - "vindictive booking."

"Harvey McCarthy wrote: ......I don’t think wrestling fans today appreciate what we had in the 1980s. I remember when Jim Powers and Paul Roma were repackaged into winners. They had a reverse decision over the Harts with the help of Mr. T. It was the start of the Young Stallions. Unfortunately, those two men didn’t get along and Vince broke them up. How about when PJ Walker pinned Mike Rotundo on Raw? He became Aldo Montoya not long afterwards. The fact that the “upset” could happen kept us tuned in through out all the other squash matches. Eventually, wrestling switched from pure jobbers to guys that promotions, especially WCW, wanted to bury. Tom Zenk is the best example of someone who many fans consider a jobber because of the way his career ended. He was brought into WCW to be a star. According to online interviews, he was supposed to have been a top five babyface. In the end, he was used to make other guys look good. Ironically, like Lanny Poffo in the WWF, they both started at the top of the card, but ended at the bottom when the bookers changed. Zenk, like Poffo, made good money but their careers stalled when they became “Jobbers to the Stars.” Oddly enough, like SD Jones and Iron Mike Sharpe, they had huge fan followings. Now, wrestling seems to be the same guys recycled over and over again. Why would I care that John Cena is going to face Shawn Michaels at Summer Slam, for example, when they have wrestled 20 times on TV already this year?"

Ric Flair and the WCW title Debut on WWE TV

2009-09-23T02:41:00.000-07:00

September 09, 2009 By: Eric Gargiulo

Ric Flair and the WWE made pro wrestling history 18 years ago today. On September 9, 1991 Ric Flair debuted on WWE Prime Time Wrestling with the WCW title. Flair did the unthinkable, leaving WCW without dropping the title and bringing it to the rival. Now you know why Vince McMahon was so afraid of Bret Hart jumping to WCW with the belt?

This was truly a top ten moment in the history of pro wrestling. I remember thinking at the time that it was the greatest thing I had ever seen as a wrestling fan. For years, the Dream Match between Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair had been talked about. Finally, it would happen. On top of that, Flair never dropped the WCW belt and brought it with him. It didn’t get any better for a wrestling fan in 1990.

There was never and probably never will be another moment like this in my lifetime. For one, there is no WWE competition at the level of a Ric Flair in 1990 to steal. Secondly, there are so many legal ramifications in this generation that nobody is going to risk such an act. This was truly one of the last outlaw moments in pro wrestling.

Not everyone was excited about this moment. I talked to several WCW wrestlers at the time who were very angry. Tom Zenk who wrestled as the Z Man in WCW at the time was one of those wrestlers. A lot of the WCW wrestlers took it as a personal slap in the face by Ric Flair. Even one of Flair’s best friends, Barry Windham recently told me that he still hasn’t completely forgiven Flair for what he did in 1990 with the WCW belt. As a WCW wrestler, it didn’t get any more personal than this. Scott Steiner is another WCW wrestler at the time who continues to express bitterness over Flair’s jump.

The story has been told several times by Ric Flair. Flair’s side of the story is that he and WCW executive Jim Herd were constantly at odds. Both were in the middle of a contract negotiation. Herd demanded that Flair drop the belt to Barry Windham. Flair hung up on him and refused. Flair called Vince McMahon, made a deal, and took the belt with him.

It was expected that Flair and Hogan would break records. For whatever reason, Flair was a flop in New York. Former WWE office employee J.J. Dillon has written in his book about the fact that the match didn’t draw and bombed at the box office. In an unheard of move at the time, the WWE canceled their planned WrestleMania main-event of Hogan and Flair a few weeks before the show because of this. The buzz was there, but WWE fans weren’t buying the Nature Boy’s act.

Flair would leave the WWE only a few years after joining the company. Flair returned to WCW amidst controversy. In retrospect, it is quite shocking that Flair was allowed to come back to the company. Flair refused to drop the belt and brought it to the competition with intentions of putting WCW out of business. This wasn’t business for Flair, it was personal. Eric Bischoff was one of the few guys to recognize this and gets a lot of heat today for disrespecting Flair. In hindsight, did Flair deserve anything less?

It is funny to me in looking back on this story. Flair has done a lot of interviews criticizing guys like Hulk Hogan, Dusty Rhodes, and Bruno Sammartino. Flair is first to point out a guy like Lex Luger or Bret Hart for disrespecting the business he professes to love so much. At the same time, none of these guys ever performed such an egregious act in the business as Ric Flair.

Vince McMahon is another one who has dirty hands in this mess. The whole idea behind the screwing of Bret Hart was to prevent him from leaving as champion and taking the belt to WCW. Unlike Flair, Hart had too much class to do something like that. I truly believe him when he says he wouldn’t do it. Someone growing up in a wrestling family at that time in the business would never dream of such a thing. People wonder where Vince McMahon even got the idea of a screw job. It is easy, Vince was scared of retribution!

Happy Anniversary Ric Flair!

RE-EVALUATING THE CHAMP PART II

2009-09-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

Top 25 matches from .....

NWA/WCW Power Hour 1990

Three WCW fans provide their take on the top 25 matches shown on WCW Power Hour in 1990. Zenk's name appears 5 times in the top 10 - something of an achievement given the boys are neither independent thinkers nor Z-fans. Though begrudging in their praise, the numbers do not lie and the re- evaluation continues.....

Top 25
(1) Midnight Express v. Brian Pillman/ Tom Zenk (04/20)- 70 pts
(2) Sting, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson v. Great Muta, Buzz Sawyer, Dragon Master (01/26/)- 68 pts
(3) Arn Anderson v. Great Muta (01/12)- 64pts
(4) Steiner Brothers v. Doom (03/30)- 54 pts
(5) Ric Flair v. Tom Zenk (02/02)- 49 pts
(6) Road Warriors v. Doom (02/23)- 41 pts
(7) Doom v. Tom Zenk/ Brian Pillman (06/16)- 40 pts
(8) Brian Pillman/ Tom Zenk v. Samu/ Joel Deaton (05/04)- 39 pts
(9) Tom Zenk v. Galaxian II (01/05)- 34 pts
(10) Ric Flair v. Tommy Rich (03/09)- 33 pts
(11) Midnight Express v. Lightning Express (08/31)- 32 pts
(12) Cactus Jack v. Eddie Gilbert (03/23)- 29 pts
(13) Rock n' Roll Express v. Doom (07/01)- 28 pts
(14) Ric Flair/ Arn Anderson v. Tim Horner/ Mike Rotunda (10/26)- 25 pts
(15) Brian Pillman v. Tim Horner (09/14)- 24 pts
(16) Freebirds v. Southern Boys (06/23)- 19 pts
(17) Ric Flair v. Robert Gibson (04/06)- 18 pts
(18) Midnight Express v. Tom Zenk/ Brian Pillman (06/09)- 17 pts
(19) Scott Steiner v. Ron Simmons (04/27)- 17 pts
(20) Michael Hayes v. Tracey Smothers (07/14)- 17 pts
(21) Tommy Rich/ Tim Horner v. State Patrol (07/07)- 17 pts
(22) Midnight Express v. Tommy Rich/ Tim Horner (07/22)- 16 pts
(23) Ric Flair v. Eddie Gilbert (01/12)- 16 pts
(24) Arn Anderson v. Buzz Sawyer (01/19)- 15 pts
(25) Bobby Eaton v. Tracey Smothers (09/28)- 15 pts

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Tom Zenk and Lee Scott

2009-08-11T04:14:00.000-07:00

Lee Scott is my older brother; amazed there is anything on Youtube for him - he mainly wrestled in the Independents. He said that Muta was the most pure athlete he ever worked with or seen in any capacity. Lee suffered a fractured rib in a match with Tom Zenk (ironically, in the short time that he was there, Tom was one of the people he socialised with most) Lee found his contract had been cancelled while he was on the sidelines.

Dos Hombres (Zenk and Steamboat) vs Pillman and Austin

2009-07-25T19:05:00.002-07:00

The Dos Hombres Controversy

from Pier 6er from NY loves Mika Tan

I believe that WCW had released Shane Douglas, but I'm not sure why. It was so obvious to me that Brad Armstrong was under the hood during the Center Stage tapings. I had no idea that Zenk wore the mask at the blowoff cage match against Austin & Pillman until I read about it the following week in the WON. Having Armstrong and Zenk teaming with Steamboat was fine for me, as I found both men to be more talented than Shane Douglas!

RE-EVALUATING THE CHAMP

2009-07-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

WCW/NJPW Rumble In The Rising Sun 1991

Segment 2 - NJPW: (Team Shiny Jackets!) Shiro Koshinaka, Kuniaki Kobayashi, and Takayuki Iizuka vs. WCW: (Team Mullet Power!) Tim Horner, Brian Pillman, and Tom Zenk.

Vice: Vice needs to see more Brian Pillman and Z-Man. This much is obvious. Tim Horner and the Japanese folk.. not so much.

Fun opening match. Japan wins.

Cewsh: MULLETS!

Okay, so this is the 90s. All the Americans have huge, fluffy mullets, and all of the Japanese guys have ridiculously high pants and shiny jackets.
As the match unfolded, I actually found myself impressed, not with Pillman or the Japanese guys, and certainly not with Horner, but instead with Tom Zenk. What the shit happened to Tom Zenk? The guy had an amazing look for the early 90s, and his offense was actually really fun to watch. To say nothing of how fluid a team he and Pillman were. I was really getting into the guy, and it’s a good thing, because I just finished watching the match twelve seconds ago, and I couldn’t tell you anything about the Japanese guys, aside from the old one with the Harley Race sideburns. They were basically just there, and seemed like complete cannon fodder for the Americans.

Which, of course, made it even weirder when the young one (Kobayashi I think?) ran in and hit a Dragon Suplex on Horner to get the win. Seemed completely contrary to the match altogether, but it was probably booked by arrangement between the two companies anyway, so I guess I can see how it would work out that way.

Source

Time to re-evaluate the champ ....

2009-01-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

Readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter will be familiar with Meltzer’s Observer Star Ratings List applied to all major league matches. The following list shows matches scoring between 3 and 5 stars from the JCP/NWA/WCW leagues (i.e. excluding WWF/E)

Zenk features 8 times in match's with more than 3*'s over the period 1990 – 1992, placing him 3rd in the list of top babyfaces for the period, behind Pillman and Sting.

FACES number of matches in the top 92 of 1990 - 92
Pillman 20
Sting 12
Zenk - 8 ( 4 in singles and 4 in tag)
Rhodes - 8
Douglas - 3

HEELS
Eaton - 22
Steiner Bros - 16
Anderson - 14
Flair - 13 (moved to WWF in August 1991 returning early 1993)
Windham - 13
Luger - 10

The List

1990 (34 matches)

2/6/90 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Doom (Titles vs. Masks) ***
2/17/90 Rock & Roll Express vs. Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane ***1/2
2/17/90 Arn Anderson vs. Shane Douglas ***1/4
2/17/90 Ric Flair vs. Brian Pillman ****1/2
2/18/90 Ric Flair/Arn Anderson vs. Rock & Roll Express ****+
2/25/90 Rock & Roll Express vs. Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane ****1/4
2/25/90 Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger ****1/2
3/24/90 Ric Flair vs. Ricky Morton ***3/4
5/19/90 Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane vs. Brian Pillman/Tom Zenk ***3/4
5/19/90 Doom vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner ***1/4
5/19/90 Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger (Cage) ***1/2
6/13/90 Rock & Roll Express vs. Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane ***1/4
6/13/90 Barry Windham vs. Doug Furnas ***
6/13/90 Doom vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner ***3/4
6/13/90 Paul Orndorff vs. Arn Anderson ***
7/7/90 Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane vs. Southern Boys ****3/4
7/7/90 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Michael Hayes/Jimmy Garvin ***1/4
7/7/90 Lex Luger vs. Mean Mark ***
7/7/90 Sting vs. Ric Flair ***3/4
8/18/90 Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane vs. Brian Pillman/Tom Zenk ***1/2
9/5/90 Lex Luger vs. Ric Flair ***3/4
9/21/90 Scott Steiner vs. Bobby Eaton ***3/4
9/22/90 Scott Steiner vs. Ric Flair ***1/2
9/22/90 Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane vs. Southern Boys ***1/2
9/23/90 Scott Steiner vs. Arn Anderson ***
10/?/90 Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner ***3/4
10/27/90 Tommy Rich/Ricky Morton vs. Bobby Eaton/Stan Lane ***1/2
10/27/90 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Nasty Boys ***3/4
10/27/90 Doom vs. Arn Anderson/Ric Flair ***
11/20/90 Brian Pillman vs. Buddy Landel ***1/2
12/16/90 Bobby Eaton vs. Tom Zenk ***
12/16/90 Lex Luger vs. Stan Hansen ***1/4
12/16/90 Doom vs. Arn Anderson/Barry Windham (Street Fight) ****
12/16/90 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Masa Saito/Great Muta ***1/4

1991 (27 matches)

1/30/91 Tom Zenk vs. Bobby Eaton ***
1/30/91 Terry Taylor vs. Ricky Morton ***
2/24/91 Bobby Eaton vs. Brad Armstrong ***1/4
2/24/91 Itsuki Yamazaki/Mami Kitamura vs. Miss A/Miki Handa ***1/2
2/24/91 Terry Taylor vs. Tom Zenk ***1/2
2/24/91 Lex Luger vs. Dan Spivey ***3/4
2/24/91 Ric Flair/Arn Anderson/Larry Zbyszko/Barry Windham/Sid Vicious vs. Sting/Brian Pillman/ Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner (War Games) *****
4/13/91 Ric Flair vs. Brian Pillman ****
4/27/91 Barry Windham vs. Brian Pillman ****
5/19/91 Michael Hayes/Jimmy Garvin vs. Young Pistols ***1/2
5/19/91 Barry Windham vs. Brian Pillman ***1/2
5/19/91 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Sting/Lex Luger ****1/2
5/19/91 Bobby Eaton vs. Arn Anderson ***1/4
5/19/91 Ric Flair vs. Tatsumi Fujinami ***3/4
6/12/91 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Hiroshi Hase/Masahiro Chono ****
6/12/91 Ric Flair vs. Bobby Eaton (2/3 falls) ***1/2
7/14/91 Lex Luger vs. Barry Windham ***
9/5/91 Brian Pillman vs. Badstreet ***3/4
10/27/91 Bobby Eaton vs. Terrence Taylor ***1/2
10/27/91 Steve Austin vs. Dustin Rhodes ***1/2
10/27/91 Lex Luger vs. Ron Simmons (2/3 falls) ***1/2
11/?/91 Bobby Eaton vs. Johnny B. Badd ***1/4
11/?/91 Sting vs. Cactus Jack (Submission or Surrender) ****1/4
11/17/91 Ricky Steamboat/Dustin Rhodes vs. Arn Anderson/Larry Zbyszko ****1/4
11/17/91 Rick Rude vs. Sting ***
12/29/91 Lex Luger/Arn Anderson vs. Terrence Taylor/Tom Zenk ***1/4
12/29/91 Sting/Abdullah the Butcher vs. Bobby Eaton/Brian Pillman ***1/4

1992 (31 matches)

1/?/92 Steve Austin vs. Ricky Steamboat ***1/2
1/21/92 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Big Van Vader/Mr. Hughes ***1/4
1/21/92 Brian Pillman/Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Taylor Made Man/Tracy Smothers ***1/2
1/21/92 Cactus Jack vs. Van Hammer (Falls Count Anywhere) ***1/2
1/21/92 Dustin Rhodes/Ron Simmons/Barry Windham vs. Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton/Larry Zbyszko ****
1/21/92 Sting/Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Rude/Steve Austin ***
2/29/92 Brian Pillman vs. Jushin Liger ****3/4
2/29/92 Barry Windham/Dustin Rhodes vs. Larry Zbyszko/Steve Austin ***3/4
2/29/92 Bobby Eaton/Arn Anderson vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner ***1/4
4/4/92 Brian Pillman vs. Brad Armstrong ***3/4
5/17/92 Brian Pillman vs. Tom Zenk ***3/4
5/17/92 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Tatsumi Fujinami/Takayuki Iizuka ***3/4
5/17/92 Sting/Nikita Koloff/Ricky Steamboat/Barry Windham/Dustin Rhodes vs. Rick Rude/Steve Austin/Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton/Larry Zbyszko (War Games) *****
5/?/92 Rick Rude vs. Dustin Rhodes ***3/4
6/16/92 Dustin Rhodes/Barry Windham vs. Arn Anderson/Bobby Eaton ***1/4
6/16/92 Jushin Liger/Brian Pillman vs. Chris Benoit/Biff Wellington ****1/4
6/16/92 Terry Gordy/Steve Williams vs. Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner ****
6/20/92 Sting vs. Cactus Jack (Falls Count Anywhere) ****1/2
6/20/92 Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Rude (30:00 Iron Man Challenge) ***1/2
6/20/92 Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner vs. Terry Gordy/Steve Williams ***1/4
7/?/92 Brian Pillman vs. Steve Austin ***3/4
7/12/92 Ricky Steamboat/Nikita Koloff vs. Jushin Liger/Brian Pillman ***1/4
7/12/92 Big Van Vader vs. Sting ****
8/?/92 Tom Zenk/Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs. Terry Taylor/Scotty Flamingo ***1/4
9/2/92 Ricky Steamboat vs. Steve Austin ***1/4
9/2/92 Rick Rude/Jake Roberts/Big Van Vader/Super Invader vs. Sting/Rick Steiner/Scott Steiner/Nikita Koloff ***1/4
10/25/92 Ricky Steamboat vs. Brian Pillman ***1/4
10/25/92 Barry Windham/Dustin Rhodes vs. Steve Austin/Steve Williams ***
12/28/92 Barry Windham/Great Muta vs. Brian Pillman/Too Cold Scorpio ***1/4
12/28/92 Ricky Steamboat/Shane Douglas vs. Brian Pillman/Barry Windham ****1/4
12/28/92 Big Van Vader vs. Sting ****1/2

Does anyone have a DVD of this match?

2009-01-10T14:51:00.000-08:00

AWF Pumpkin Brawl 1996 with Tom Zenk, Sgt. Slaughter, Santana, Nailz, Sheik

By Brian Hoops, PWTorch.com Specialist Contributor

PW Torch.com Nostalgia Review
"AWF Pumpkin Brawl 1996"
By Brian Hoops, PWTorch.com Specialist Contributor
October 19, 2007

This week's look at nostalgia takes us back to the American Wrestling Federation and the "Pumpkin Brawl 96." The AWF was a national professional wrestling
organization, founded in Chicago, Illinois in 1994 by promoter Paul Alperstein. The organization was short-lived, lasting only until December 1996 and enjoyed only limited success. The company ran several house shows and was building towards running a PPV event, but closed before a PPV card could be put together. The AWF did have syndicated television, however it was on a very limited basis. Sportschannel America, a satellite company carried the program in its weekly block of wrestling during 1995 and 1996. The AWF heavyweight champion was Tito Santana and the tag team champions were Greg Valentine and Tommy Rich.

One of the house shows the company ran occurred October 23, 1996 in Minneapolis, Minnesota called Pumpkin Brawl 1996. The reason this show makes our nostalgia review was the autograph session held prior to the wrestling card and the legends that appeared. As Minneapolis was the heart of AWA territory, several former AWA stars were on hand before the card in an autograph signing session. Stars that were signing autographs included; Rock & Roll Buck Zumhoff, Tito Santana, Sgt. Slaughter, Tom Zenk, Baron Von Raschke, Eddie Sharkey and Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie. The show was broadcast on local cable access with Mick Karsch handling the play-by-play duties.

First match of the evening was Wayne Bloom against the Joker. Wayne Bloom was a former AWA World Tag Team champion and former WWF World Tag Team champion, as one half of the Beverly Brothers. The Joker was a small, local guy in a mask. Bloom didn't work very hard and the match wasn't very good. Finish came when the Joker threw Bloom into the ropes and tried to follow up with a splash. Bloom moved and rolled up the Joker for the three count.

[photo by Wade Keller (c) PWTorch]

Next match is tag team action, featuring former AWA alumnus, former WCW World TV Champion and former WWF World Tag Team Title holder Tom Zenk teaming with local wrestler Billy Blaze against local wrestlers the Chi-Town Thug and The Hater. The Hater had a tryout match with WCW in the late 90's. This was a pretty-good match, considering local independent talent worked most of the match. Zenk worked early in the match, gaining the upper hand on the Thug before tagging in Blaze. Thug and Hater worked over Blaze most of the match, before Blaze made the hot tag to Zenk. Finish came when Blaze threw Thug into Hater's elbow and Blaze covered thug for the pin. Zenk gave Hater a superkick and threw him into the wall after the pin.

Lenny Lane vs. Horace the Psychopath is next. Both guys are local Minneapolis based wrestlers, but Lane would go on to wrestle for WCW in the late 90's, winning the WCW World Cruiserweight Championship. Being at the event live and seeing Lane for the first time, you could tell he had a ton of potential. Horace was doing the escaped inmate from the insane asylum gimmick, but he could hold his own in the ring with Lane. This was a very good match, that had ample time to build. In fact, it was a better match than the majority of what WCW or WWF would put on PPV in 1996. Finish came when Lane gave Horace a flip tope over the top rope to the floor and rolled Horace back into the ring. Lane tried to do a moonsault off the top rope, but Horace moved and did a senton onto Lane then covered him for the win.

Local wrestlers J.B. Trask and Dan Jesser were in the next match. Trask received a tryout match a few years later with WCW in a dark match prior to Nitro. Match itself was nothing special with Trask rolling Jesser up for the pinfall.

Next match is a tag team match; Tito Santana & Sgt. Slaughter vs. The Black Top Bully (Barry Darsow) & Nailz (Kevin Wacholz). Nailz and Bully were managed by Sheik Kaissey. From a nostalgia standpoint, the match was great as all four had wrestled previously in WWF and AWA and had numerous championships between them, however all the guys were past their primes and the match itself wasn't very good. All four guys were counted out of the ring for the finish.

Main event was an over the top battle royal, called "The Pumpkin Brawl." The guys used in the battle royal were the local, independent wrestlers. The in ring action was very good. Horace the psychopath was the Pumpkin Brawl battle royal when he eliminated Lenny Lane.

Summary: I was at this house show live and it was fun seeing some of the stars of the AWA that I grew up watching. The wrestling on the show was very good with the independent wrestlers putting on a strong effort and several showing potential. It was a fun evening of wrestling.

Next week we look go back 15 years and look at the WCW Halloween Havoc 1992 PPV.

I hope you enjoyed this week's column. As always your questions, comments and thoughts are always welcomed, and you can contact me at bhoops@iw.net.rrero vs. Jushin Liger (late '95) – 28 (3)

Zenk on the .net

Believe it or not ......

why did Tom leave WWF

Gladiator High School

Gladiator High School

FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012

LETTERS FROM CAMP: Nuts to The AmCan

OBSESSED WITH ZENK.......

Zenk wrestles for Kelloggs

TOM ZENK AND PHIL LAFON IN ALL JAPAN ACTION

Tom Zenk - AWA referee for a night

true or false?

Wrestling Fancam - 10/29/92 - TOM ZENK/Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs "Stunning" Steve Austin/Vader

Fan photos

WWE Vintage Collection - May 8 2011

THE Z-MAN ON EBAY

OLE ANDERSON .... and the Z-Man

SEPARATED AT BIRTH .....

HALLOWEEN HAVOC 1989

The Z-Man vs. Captain Mike Rotunda: source

目次

[編集] 来歴

[編集] 得意技

[編集] 獲得タイトル

CUSTOM MADE Z-MAN

BRIAN PILLMAN WEEK – 5/18 Match of the Day: Pillman & Tom Zenk vs The Young Pistols (Smothers & Armstrong)

MACHO MAN

1987 - WRESTLING BECOMES GLAMOROUS.....

Rick Steiner Shoot Interview DVD

Breaking News: Kitty Kelley Tell-All of Linda McMahon Will "Shock, Surprise"

The Great Book of Washington, D.C. Sports Lists - Page 103

WOM 1/18/88

WON 1/25/88

WON 2/15/1988

WON 2/29/88

WON 02/08/88

WON 03/28/88

"500 Days Of Tom Zenk"

Tanya Gold

[edit] References

WrestleMania rematches

celebritysentry.com

Marvez: Catching up with 'Cowboy' Bob Orton, father of Randy

Wed, 01/26/2011 - 12:38 By ALEX MARVEZ, Scripps Howard News Service

DOS HOMBRES - Tom Zenk or Shane Douglas?

A wrestling fan since 1986, Sir Jorge of Sir Jorge's Pro Wrestling Blog, still cannot tell who was under the mask .....(yes it was Tom Zenk)

Portland update from Fans of Portland Wrestling and WrestlingClassics.com

Not Jay Tabb writes ......

Saturday, 21 August 2010

Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk: Tom Zenk vs Rob Rechsteiner (AWA 21/08/1985)

Friday, 24 September 2010

Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk: Z-Man vs Cuban Assassin

Saturday, 18 December 2010

Everyday Is Like Tom Zenk: Zenk & Bagwell vs Taylor & Flamingo

Favorite match ever

Would Tom Zenk have been a better world champ than......

Prize for the most frequently asked question is .........

Shooting the Messenger ...

Steve Austin Legacy DVD Review

Vindictive booking.....

Ric Flair and the WCW title Debut on WWE TV

RE-EVALUATING THE CHAMP PART II

Top 25 matches from .....

NWA/WCW Power Hour 1990

Tom Zenk and Lee Scott

Dos Hombres (Zenk and Steamboat) vs Pillman and Austin

RE-EVALUATING THE CHAMP

Time to re-evaluate the champ ....

Does anyone have a DVD of this match?