Athletes - Tom Zenk

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	Athletes - Tom Zenk

Tom Zenk is a former professional wrestler best known by his stage name Z-Man.

Career

Tom Zenk attended High School with other Pro wrestlers Nikita Koloff, Brady Boone, Curt Hennig, Rick Rude, The Berzerker, and Barry Darsow. He started wrestling in 1984 in the Pacific Northwest territory where he feuded with Bobby Jaggers.

Zenk then went to the World Wrestling Federation with Rick Martel as the "Can-Am Connection" but left shortly after arriving due to a contract dispute.

He wrestled in the American Wrestling Association in early 1989 and was the last man defeated by Larry Zbyszko in the battle royal to fill the vacant AWA World Heavyweight Title.

He went to the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions in late 1989 and formed a tag team with Brian Pillman. They won the United States Tag Team Titles and feuded with The Fabulous Freebirds and the Midnight Express version of Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane.

When the NWA changed its name to World Championship Wrestling in 1991, he was feuding with Arn Anderson over the TV Title. Later that year, he feuded with the York Foundation and the Fabulous Freebirds.

Zenk left WCW in early 1992 and finished his career in the independents in 1996. Now retired from wrestling, Zenk is currently working for an international distribution firm.

Controversy

In 1999, Tom Zenk gave a series of interviews on the radio and on the Internet where he discussed behind-the-scenes stories from his time in the WWF (even claiming he was paid only $50 per television appearance) and WCW, releasing years of pent up frustrations about the politics of wrestling that he dealt with as an active wrestler. While heavily critical of the WWF and Vince McMahon, most of Zenk's venom went toward former wrestler and WCW booker Ole Anderson. Zenk's opinion of Ole was venomous to say the least, as he accused Ole of sabatoging the careers of countless up and coming wrestlers (including himself, Brian Pillman, and then rookie Steve Austin) out of spite for his own failed career and the low pay that he received as booker. One of his most controversial statements toward Ole, was a story he told where Ole Anderson once proclaimed that he would perform oral sex on men if he could be paid the same amount of money as most of the wrestlers working for WCW at the time.

Zenk's bitter, yet insightful rantings caused him to gain a new audience amongst many wrestling fans on the internet. Capitalizing on this newfound interest in him, Zenk began a weekly column on his personal website that were filled with both insight towards the world of professional wrestling and a general loathing of the current state of wrestling, most notably the WWE and incestuous relationship between WWE owner Vince McMahon, his daughter and head WWE writer Stephanie McMahon, and top wrestler Triple H. After two years of writing, the website was shut down after the WWE threatened to sue Zenk for the columns. Ultimately, Zenk was forced to remove his columns from his website which reopened several months later.

Finishing and signature moves

Dropkick
Tandem Dropkicks
Superkick

Championships and accomplishments

1-Time WCW World Television Champion
1-Time WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Champion (with Dustin Rhodes
and Big Josh)
1-Time NWA United States Tag Team Champion (with Brian Pillman
)
1-Time Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion
1-Time Pacific Northwest Tag Team Champion (with Scott Doring)
1-Time Canadian International Tag Team Champion (with Dan Kroffat)

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ranked him # 343 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter

1984 Rookie of the Year (tied with Jushin Liger)

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Tom Zenk ]

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