A fictitious Tom Zenk facebook page has 4999 friends including many ex WCW and AWA wrestlers, holding daily conversations with a wannabe Z-Man
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
UBER RARE VIDEO OF TOM ZENK IN VIENNA, 1988
Congratulations to youtube channel Sergji for unearthing this VERY rare Tom Zenk video - featuring All Stars wrestling, Vienna in Spring 1988 at the Ferry Dusika Stadion. Tom Zenk vs Afa the Wild Samoan,with commentary by Jazz Gitty!
All Stars Promotions was based in Fridley, MN, with ties to AWA, and hired workers, mainly out of Minneapolis, with international visibility through US wrestling broadcasts into Europe (via Sky Sports, German DSR television, etc.) The tour was billed as "Superstars of Wrestling - Die Besten Catcher aus USA (the Best of American Wrestling)."
Originally, Kamala was booked to headline with Tom Zenk in a 'Beauty and the Beast' angle.
But Kamala was unavailable. He was replaced by Afa of the Samoans. Other talent included Derrick Dukes, The Terminators (Riggs and Wolff), Wendy Richter, Bambi, Peggy Lee Leather and Luna.
The tour was scheduled for 22 matches in 22 towns across Europe between April 13 and May 6, 1988.
For more information, please refer to http://tomzenk.net/euro1988.html
If you have any further information on this tour - we'd love to hear from you - email admin@tomzenk.net
All Stars Promotions was based in Fridley, MN, with ties to AWA, and hired workers, mainly out of Minneapolis, with international visibility through US wrestling broadcasts into Europe (via Sky Sports, German DSR television, etc.) The tour was billed as "Superstars of Wrestling - Die Besten Catcher aus USA (the Best of American Wrestling)."
Originally, Kamala was booked to headline with Tom Zenk in a 'Beauty and the Beast' angle.
But Kamala was unavailable. He was replaced by Afa of the Samoans. Other talent included Derrick Dukes, The Terminators (Riggs and Wolff), Wendy Richter, Bambi, Peggy Lee Leather and Luna.
The tour was scheduled for 22 matches in 22 towns across Europe between April 13 and May 6, 1988.
For more information, please refer to http://tomzenk.net/euro1988.html
If you have any further information on this tour - we'd love to hear from you - email admin@tomzenk.net
Congratulations to youtube channel Sergji for unearthing this VERY rare Tom Zenk video - featuring All Stars wrestling from Germany in Spring 1988 at the Ferry Dusika Stadion. Tom Zenk vs Afa the wild Samoan,with commentary by Jazz Gitty!
All Stars Promotions was based in Fridley, MN, with ties to AWA, and hired workers, mainly out of Minneapolis, with international visibility through US wrestling broadcasts into Europe (via Sky Sports, German DSR television, etc.) The tour was billed as "Superstars of Wrestling - Die Besten Catcher aus USA (the Best of American Wrestling)."
Originally, Kamala was booked to headline with Tom Zenk in a 'Beauty and the Beast' angle.
But Kamala was unavailable. He was replaced by Afa of the Samoans. Other talent included Derrick Dukes, The Terminators (Riggs and Wolff), Wendy Richter, Bambi, Peggy Lee Leather and Luna.
The tour was scheduled for 22 matches in 22 towns across Europe between April 13 and May 6, 1988.
For more information, please refer to
http://tomzenk.net/euro1988.html
If you have any further information on this tour - we'd love to hear from you - email admin@tomzenk.net
All Stars Promotions was based in Fridley, MN, with ties to AWA, and hired workers, mainly out of Minneapolis, with international visibility through US wrestling broadcasts into Europe (via Sky Sports, German DSR television, etc.) The tour was billed as "Superstars of Wrestling - Die Besten Catcher aus USA (the Best of American Wrestling)."
Originally, Kamala was booked to headline with Tom Zenk in a 'Beauty and the Beast' angle.
But Kamala was unavailable. He was replaced by Afa of the Samoans. Other talent included Derrick Dukes, The Terminators (Riggs and Wolff), Wendy Richter, Bambi, Peggy Lee Leather and Luna.
The tour was scheduled for 22 matches in 22 towns across Europe between April 13 and May 6, 1988.
For more information, please refer to
http://tomzenk.net/euro1988.html
If you have any further information on this tour - we'd love to hear from you - email admin@tomzenk.net
Monday, March 5, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
R.I.P.
Doug Furnas Reportedly Dead: Former AJPW & WWF Star Battled Parkinson's Disease
By on March 3, 2012
5,968 reads
Doug Furnas (Photo by WWE) Dave Meltzer at F4WOnline.com has picked up the reports circulating in the Tennessee wrestling scene that former world class powerlifter and international wrestling star Doug Furnas passed away Friday night in his sleep. He was 50 years old.
After playing college football, he went into powerlifting, where he set numerous records before breaking into pro wrestling territory around his hometown of Knoxville, TN. He soon ended up in All Japan Pro Wrestling as the tag-team partner of Danny Kroffat (Phillip LaFond), replacing Tom Zenk, who had signed with WCW.
With Kroffat (a brilliant but incredibly underrated worker) at his side, he improved rapidly. While Kroffat was the anchor of the team, Furnas developed into an excellent performer himself. Combining standard power wrestler offense with an array of moves that showcased his impressive leaping ability, agility and flexibility, he was a very exciting wrestler who never missed a beat while working with the best in the world.
As the Can-Am Express, Furnas and Kroffat had a series of classic matches with the Footloose (future AJPW main-eventer Toshiaki Kawada and the late Samson Fuyuki) over the All Asia Tag Team Titles. The consensus best match of the feud took place on one of the greatest cards in wrestling history: AJPW's June 5, 1989 Budokan Hall show (which was main-evented by the consensus best match in another famous rivalry, Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu).
Over the next few years, they were the anchors of the upper mid-card tag team division that fought over the All Asia Titles. Furnas would have a brief run in WCW in 1990 as well as a run with Kroffat in Mexico's UWA in 1992, but was largely exclusive to AJPW until he and Kroffat started working for ECW to feud with Sabu and Rob Van Dam between Japanese tours in 1996. While in ECW, they caught WWF's attention.
With injuries piling up from the more dangerous AJPW style, Furnas and Kroffat (now wrestling as Phil LaFon) signed with WWF and quickly started a feud with tag team champions Owen Hart and "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith. The two teams had good chemistry, highlighted by their match at In Your House: Final Four in February 1997.
When the feud ended, though, Furnas and LaFon got lost in the shuffle, especially with the Road Warriors having returned to the company. At one point, Jim Cornette was shown to be scouting them so he could have a new team to manage after Hart and Smith dumped him, but it never went anywhere.
A car accident that summer caused their bodies to start breaking down faster, though they recovered and were sent to ECW as part of the heel "Team WWF." After a couple months, they returned to WWF TV as allies of the Hart Foundation and were set to become full members of an Owen Hart-led version of the group when Bret Hart left the company. But that fell through when Smith and Jim Neidhart quit the company. From there, Furnas went back to ECW for a few months before retiring.
He largely fell off the radar at that point and didn't return to All Japan when Kroffat/LaFon did for a tour in late 2001. A few years later, he revealed in an an emotional letter to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that he was suffering from Parkinson's disease and detailed his strong resolve to fight it.
While most of the world didn't realize it, since he worked outside of the country during his prime, he was one of the very best wrestlers in the world in the early 90s, and everyone reading this should make sure to check out some of his best matches online.
Rest in peace.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
| Dan Michaels Champion   Posts: 311 Gender:  |  Re: Flair and BlackJack and Tom ZenkReply #1 - Feb 20th, 2012, 3:48pm |
/nwalegends.com/
Saturday, February 18, 2012
ZENK IN THE ZEITGEIST
The name of Tom Zenk invades the zeitgeist, even run down halls and backyard wrestling venues ....this from the 'underground fed' Valley Championship Wrestling 2002.
JOE SPOSTO ANNOUNCES THE PARTICIPANTS FOR THE TOURNAMENT, BUT DOES NOT KNOW WHO THE MYSTERY ENTRANCE IS. HE CALLS OUT ARIES WHO ACCORDING TO HIS SOURCES BELIEVES THE MYSTERY TO BE TOM ZENK. ARIES ALSO PLUGS HIS NEW BOOK: ABSOLUTELY ARIES.
JOE SPOSTO ANNOUNCES THE PARTICIPANTS FOR THE TOURNAMENT, BUT DOES NOT KNOW WHO THE MYSTERY ENTRANCE IS. HE CALLS OUT ARIES WHO ACCORDING TO HIS SOURCES BELIEVES THE MYSTERY TO BE TOM ZENK. ARIES ALSO PLUGS HIS NEW BOOK: ABSOLUTELY ARIES.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Every Day Is Like Tom Zenk SPECIAL
Not Jay Tabb writes -
Rick Martel & Tom Zenk vs the Funk Brothers (22/11/86)
The Funks start off playing face, showing mutual respect to Zenk and Martel, but early signs of frustration show when the younger team manage to keep up with them on the early exchanges. The first sign of the Funks' heeling comes when Dory repeatedly throws Zenk outside the ring (with some big bumps taken by Zenk) to be thrown back in by Terry, only for Terry to give Zenk an atomic drop (almost hitting a cameraman) before throwing him back in, to the rage of Martel. Martel begins to brawl with Terry outside, while Dory works over Zenk on the inside, hitting a nice piledriver for two. Martel comes in on a hot tag, following a reversal of Dory's spinning toe hold, and Terry does everything in his power to draw the ire of the crowd and make Martel look good: he runs away from Martel all around the ring, cowers in the ropes and offers a handshake in an attempt to placate Martel. Martel, as a good face, accepts the handshake, but the audience knows that Terry can't be trusted. So when Terry tries to double-cross on a clean break, and Martel avoids contact, the crowd erupts and a two count off a crossbody gets a huge pop. Zenk is brought back in with his own crossbody for two, but Terry rolls him up for three. Good tag affair with plenty of heat, the fired-up babyfaces meshing well with the sneaky heels.
Tom Zenk & Rick Martel vs Giant Baba & Hiroshi Wajima (12/12/86)
The crowd are psyched for Wajima right from the start. Zenk manages to hit one of the highest standing dropkicks I've seen on Wajima as Martel holds him in a bearhug. Baba comes in and the match quality quickly goes downhill, including him putting Zenk in a headscissors for what feels like ages. Wajima at least has some energy and shares some fierce exchanges with the two gaijin. This is my first time seeing Baba, and he's really not my cup of tea. His bumps and offence both are really low impact and go beyond being safe into being business-exposing.The difference between him and Wajima are night and day, so it comes as a relief when Wajima comes in like a house on fire and levels Zenk with a backdrop driver and a lariat for the win. Not a good match
Tom Zenk & The Terminator vs Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara (21/11/87)
The Terminator is the brother of Johhny Ace and Road Warrior Animal. At this point, Zenk is more established in Japan and is actually getting some decent offence in, getting to look good against both Tenryu and Hara. Zenk and Tenryu share some nice exchanges during the opening section, including a swank sequence where Zenk goes from a hammerlock into a headscissors on Tenryu. Zenk also nails a nice standing inziguiri on Hara. Terminator doesn't fare so well, making the mistake of exchanging chops with Tenryu. Zenk rescues his partner from a Tenryu top rope elbow, but is unable to stop him falling prey to an enzuigiri and powerbomb for the Tenryu win. Pretty enjoyable, if a bit short.
Tom Zenk & The Terminator vs John Tenta & The Great Kabuki (11/12/87)
Early bad break for Zenk as he botches an attempt to springboard out of the corner, only for things to get worse then Tenta press slams him. After his mistake of chopping with Tenryu last match, this time Terminator goes for a test strength with Tenta. Again he doesn't win, but does get to knock the big man down with a clothesline. Tenta looks great here, moving with a fair bit of speed and he sends Zenk flying out of the ring with a big shoulder tackle. He also levels Terminator with a dropkick out of the corner. In fact, aside from a small flurry of offence from Zenk, it's pretty much the Tenta show, as he soon squashes Terminator with a powerslam and an elbow drop for the win.
Tom Zenk & The Terminator vs Abdullah The Butcher & TNT (12/12/87)
This TNT sadly isn't Savio Vega. Zenk & Terminator get the chance to look pretty dominant in the early stages, working over TNT with some double-teams and sending him outside for more punishment. Against Abby, it isn't quite the same, with Terminator making an offensive mistake for the 3rd match in a row by trying to headbutt the Butcher. Abby works Terminator over outside, including feeding him to a TNT chairshot and pins him with an elbow drop inside. Match lasted about 5 minutes. This is the last Zenk/Terminator match on the disk, all of which have seen Zenk getting in some solid offence, only to be let down by his partner. At this point you'd assume Zenk would be looking elsewhere...
Tom Zenk & Stan Hansen vs Abdullah The Butcher & Jimmy Snuka (30/08/88)
One year later and Zenk has a hell of an upgrade for his tag partner. Hansen jumps Abby as he gets in the ring, and it is on. Abby and Hansen brawl outside, while Zenk and Snuka tangle in the ring (which most fans aren't watching). Eventually, we get back in the ring, where Abby and Snuka double team Zenk repeatedly, including a series of chokes on the rope and Abby jamming a fork into Zenk's neck. all Hell soon breaks loose again with both teams brawling outside, while Snuka chokes Zenk with a chain. Chaos keeps reigning with Hansen snapping at one point, hurling a table in the ring. Eventually the ref has had enough and it's a double DQ. Despite it's sloppiness and Snuka looking far from his best, this is a fun little brawl.
Tom Zenk & Dan Kroffat vs Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki (18/04/88)
This is for Kawada & Fuyuki's All-Asian titles. Fuyuki is a future founding member of Team No Respect. This match is notably faster than the last few matches and provides a refreshing change of pace, with Zenk looking noticably energized in his early exchanges with Kawada. Kroffat also looks good and both teams seem to have nice chemistry. Kawada sends Zenk to the floor, but misses a pescado, allowing Zenk and Kroffat to double-team Fuyuki, leading to a Zenk springboard splash for two. Kroffat busts out Cattle Mutilation on Fuyuki at one point, before hitting him with a Razor's Edge and I'm really starting to love this match. Kawada gets double-teamed with a swank suplex/missile dropkick combo from the gaijin, and you get the feeling that Zenk and Kroffat should have teamed more often, with Kroffat just bringing out more and more swank offence, including a powerslam that has a real nice snap to it. Against the run of the match, Kawada hits a crucifix on Kroffat for the win, but this was just a great match by all four men.
Tom Zenk & Jim Brunzell vs the Fantastics (11/07/89)
Some more nice tag-team wrestling. Zenk almost sneaks an early pin by catching Fulton in a small package as he ducks a Brunzell leapfrog. Zenk also does some nice work by catching Rogers with a springboard crossbody from the corner, then faking him out on a second attempt to hit a beautiful dropkick. The Fantastics, predictably, work fantastically (sorry) as a team, but Zenk and Brunzell look good together too. Zenk hits a choice powerslam when he catches Fulton coming off the top rope. The Fantastics have some beautifully executed double-teams here, including a fun double monkeyflip on Brunzell. Zenk seems to be positioned as the powerhouse of the match, and he does good work in the role, catching Rogers and Fulton with a double clothesline before hitting a good running powerslam on Rogers. The end comes when the less-established team misses a double-team move, allowing the Fantastics to double-team Brunzell with an assisted top-rope backsplash for the win. I could happily have watched another 10 minutes of this.
Tom Zenk, Stan Hansen & Doug Furnas vs Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (23/07/94)
Zenk is sporting some rather fetching pink trunks. A fun spot near the start sees Kikuchi running from Zenk and Furnas, thinking he's outsmarted them, only to get hammered by Hansen from behind, who throws him to Zenk and Furnas to attack outside the ring. The American team looks good early on, with Hansen and Furnas combining for a nice double-team shoulderblock on Misawa. The home team focus on keeping Hansen down, with Kobashi and Misawa both getting to look good against him, Kobashi even fighting to get the big man over for a suplex. It doesn't last too long, and soon Hansen and Zenk combine to hit a second-rope clothesline into a back suplex on Kobashi. Hansen also takes Kobashi to the floor for a DDT. The hot-tag to Misawa gets a massive reaction, which he repays by taking Hansen down with a flying elbow.Both teams exchange fast tags and offence, with a Furnas release German suplex on Kikuchi looking particularly impressive. Things break down quickly, until we're left with Furnas in the ring with Kobashi, who hits a moonsault for the win. Fast, frentic and crucially, a lot of fun.
Overall, this has done nothing to dilute my appreciation of Tom Zenk. What I saw on this disk was a great tag-team worker with great babyface fire and high athleticism. Four of the matches here are legitimately great, and I think it's fair to say Zenk pulled his weight in there. EDILTZ will continue, but it'll be hard for me to find better examples of how good he was than this
For more go here
SATURDAY, 29 JANUARY 2011
EDILTZ (Every Day Is Like Tom Zenk) Special!! The Best Of Tom Zenk
You can only imagine my joy when, weeks after starting this blog, I spotted a DVD for sale from IVP videos called The Best Of Tom Zenk!! For the bargain price of $3, it consists of 2 hours of Zenk from his Japan tours between 1986 and 1994. This should be excellent.
Rick Martel & Tom Zenk vs the Funk Brothers (22/11/86)
The Funks start off playing face, showing mutual respect to Zenk and Martel, but early signs of frustration show when the younger team manage to keep up with them on the early exchanges. The first sign of the Funks' heeling comes when Dory repeatedly throws Zenk outside the ring (with some big bumps taken by Zenk) to be thrown back in by Terry, only for Terry to give Zenk an atomic drop (almost hitting a cameraman) before throwing him back in, to the rage of Martel. Martel begins to brawl with Terry outside, while Dory works over Zenk on the inside, hitting a nice piledriver for two. Martel comes in on a hot tag, following a reversal of Dory's spinning toe hold, and Terry does everything in his power to draw the ire of the crowd and make Martel look good: he runs away from Martel all around the ring, cowers in the ropes and offers a handshake in an attempt to placate Martel. Martel, as a good face, accepts the handshake, but the audience knows that Terry can't be trusted. So when Terry tries to double-cross on a clean break, and Martel avoids contact, the crowd erupts and a two count off a crossbody gets a huge pop. Zenk is brought back in with his own crossbody for two, but Terry rolls him up for three. Good tag affair with plenty of heat, the fired-up babyfaces meshing well with the sneaky heels.
Tom Zenk & Rick Martel vs Giant Baba & Hiroshi Wajima (12/12/86)
The crowd are psyched for Wajima right from the start. Zenk manages to hit one of the highest standing dropkicks I've seen on Wajima as Martel holds him in a bearhug. Baba comes in and the match quality quickly goes downhill, including him putting Zenk in a headscissors for what feels like ages. Wajima at least has some energy and shares some fierce exchanges with the two gaijin. This is my first time seeing Baba, and he's really not my cup of tea. His bumps and offence both are really low impact and go beyond being safe into being business-exposing.The difference between him and Wajima are night and day, so it comes as a relief when Wajima comes in like a house on fire and levels Zenk with a backdrop driver and a lariat for the win. Not a good match
Tom Zenk & The Terminator vs Genichiro Tenryu & Ashura Hara (21/11/87)
The Terminator is the brother of Johhny Ace and Road Warrior Animal. At this point, Zenk is more established in Japan and is actually getting some decent offence in, getting to look good against both Tenryu and Hara. Zenk and Tenryu share some nice exchanges during the opening section, including a swank sequence where Zenk goes from a hammerlock into a headscissors on Tenryu. Zenk also nails a nice standing inziguiri on Hara. Terminator doesn't fare so well, making the mistake of exchanging chops with Tenryu. Zenk rescues his partner from a Tenryu top rope elbow, but is unable to stop him falling prey to an enzuigiri and powerbomb for the Tenryu win. Pretty enjoyable, if a bit short.
Tom Zenk & The Terminator vs John Tenta & The Great Kabuki (11/12/87)
Early bad break for Zenk as he botches an attempt to springboard out of the corner, only for things to get worse then Tenta press slams him. After his mistake of chopping with Tenryu last match, this time Terminator goes for a test strength with Tenta. Again he doesn't win, but does get to knock the big man down with a clothesline. Tenta looks great here, moving with a fair bit of speed and he sends Zenk flying out of the ring with a big shoulder tackle. He also levels Terminator with a dropkick out of the corner. In fact, aside from a small flurry of offence from Zenk, it's pretty much the Tenta show, as he soon squashes Terminator with a powerslam and an elbow drop for the win.
Tom Zenk & The Terminator vs Abdullah The Butcher & TNT (12/12/87)
This TNT sadly isn't Savio Vega. Zenk & Terminator get the chance to look pretty dominant in the early stages, working over TNT with some double-teams and sending him outside for more punishment. Against Abby, it isn't quite the same, with Terminator making an offensive mistake for the 3rd match in a row by trying to headbutt the Butcher. Abby works Terminator over outside, including feeding him to a TNT chairshot and pins him with an elbow drop inside. Match lasted about 5 minutes. This is the last Zenk/Terminator match on the disk, all of which have seen Zenk getting in some solid offence, only to be let down by his partner. At this point you'd assume Zenk would be looking elsewhere...
Tom Zenk & Stan Hansen vs Abdullah The Butcher & Jimmy Snuka (30/08/88)
One year later and Zenk has a hell of an upgrade for his tag partner. Hansen jumps Abby as he gets in the ring, and it is on. Abby and Hansen brawl outside, while Zenk and Snuka tangle in the ring (which most fans aren't watching). Eventually, we get back in the ring, where Abby and Snuka double team Zenk repeatedly, including a series of chokes on the rope and Abby jamming a fork into Zenk's neck. all Hell soon breaks loose again with both teams brawling outside, while Snuka chokes Zenk with a chain. Chaos keeps reigning with Hansen snapping at one point, hurling a table in the ring. Eventually the ref has had enough and it's a double DQ. Despite it's sloppiness and Snuka looking far from his best, this is a fun little brawl.
Tom Zenk & Dan Kroffat vs Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki (18/04/88)
This is for Kawada & Fuyuki's All-Asian titles. Fuyuki is a future founding member of Team No Respect. This match is notably faster than the last few matches and provides a refreshing change of pace, with Zenk looking noticably energized in his early exchanges with Kawada. Kroffat also looks good and both teams seem to have nice chemistry. Kawada sends Zenk to the floor, but misses a pescado, allowing Zenk and Kroffat to double-team Fuyuki, leading to a Zenk springboard splash for two. Kroffat busts out Cattle Mutilation on Fuyuki at one point, before hitting him with a Razor's Edge and I'm really starting to love this match. Kawada gets double-teamed with a swank suplex/missile dropkick combo from the gaijin, and you get the feeling that Zenk and Kroffat should have teamed more often, with Kroffat just bringing out more and more swank offence, including a powerslam that has a real nice snap to it. Against the run of the match, Kawada hits a crucifix on Kroffat for the win, but this was just a great match by all four men.
Tom Zenk & Jim Brunzell vs the Fantastics (11/07/89)
Some more nice tag-team wrestling. Zenk almost sneaks an early pin by catching Fulton in a small package as he ducks a Brunzell leapfrog. Zenk also does some nice work by catching Rogers with a springboard crossbody from the corner, then faking him out on a second attempt to hit a beautiful dropkick. The Fantastics, predictably, work fantastically (sorry) as a team, but Zenk and Brunzell look good together too. Zenk hits a choice powerslam when he catches Fulton coming off the top rope. The Fantastics have some beautifully executed double-teams here, including a fun double monkeyflip on Brunzell. Zenk seems to be positioned as the powerhouse of the match, and he does good work in the role, catching Rogers and Fulton with a double clothesline before hitting a good running powerslam on Rogers. The end comes when the less-established team misses a double-team move, allowing the Fantastics to double-team Brunzell with an assisted top-rope backsplash for the win. I could happily have watched another 10 minutes of this.
Tom Zenk, Stan Hansen & Doug Furnas vs Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi (23/07/94)
Zenk is sporting some rather fetching pink trunks. A fun spot near the start sees Kikuchi running from Zenk and Furnas, thinking he's outsmarted them, only to get hammered by Hansen from behind, who throws him to Zenk and Furnas to attack outside the ring. The American team looks good early on, with Hansen and Furnas combining for a nice double-team shoulderblock on Misawa. The home team focus on keeping Hansen down, with Kobashi and Misawa both getting to look good against him, Kobashi even fighting to get the big man over for a suplex. It doesn't last too long, and soon Hansen and Zenk combine to hit a second-rope clothesline into a back suplex on Kobashi. Hansen also takes Kobashi to the floor for a DDT. The hot-tag to Misawa gets a massive reaction, which he repays by taking Hansen down with a flying elbow.Both teams exchange fast tags and offence, with a Furnas release German suplex on Kikuchi looking particularly impressive. Things break down quickly, until we're left with Furnas in the ring with Kobashi, who hits a moonsault for the win. Fast, frentic and crucially, a lot of fun.
Overall, this has done nothing to dilute my appreciation of Tom Zenk. What I saw on this disk was a great tag-team worker with great babyface fire and high athleticism. Four of the matches here are legitimately great, and I think it's fair to say Zenk pulled his weight in there. EDILTZ will continue, but it'll be hard for me to find better examples of how good he was than this
For more go here
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Believe it or not ......
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.
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
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
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/
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/
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.Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
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.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Zenk wrestles for Kelloggs
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.
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.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
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