Tom Zenk in WCW 1991
 
 

 

The booking wars .... continued
 
 
From previous weeks  

When Ole Anderson returned as WCW chief booker in May 1990 he set out to replace WCW's contracted wrestlers with cheap, short term workers who could be pushed or jobbed as it suited him.  

It was widely expected that, after a brief exposure to Anderson's regime, most of WCW's young contracted workers would jump to Titan when their contracts expired in early 1991. Tom Zenk however had a 2 year contract (unusual at the time).  It would need additional pressure to make Zenk quit. When Zenk refused to go, Anderson applied the simple logic that "getting beat kills your career" and booked Zenk to an unending series of losses and humiliations - (Part 1 (Jan - May 1990); (Part 2 (June - December, 1990)  

But in the end it was Anderson who was forced out.  

The interim booking committee, replacing Anderson, provided a brief and mismanaged push for Zenk (including the WCW TV title) which terminated three weeks later with the arrival of Dusty Rhodes. 
 
 
 
When all else failed there was always ...........blood !! 

" Dustin is doing horrible blading acts to draw attention. Ric Flair in commentary says that he will be facing Dustin Rhodes sooner than everyone thinks. Meltzer notes "I can see a lot of people resenting him [Dustin Rhodes] because he's going to be pushed to that status before he's ready for it." (WON 06/03/91) 
   
 
Pat Patterson's Cruel Joke #1 -  polka dots and a black valet for the obese and, some say, bigotted Rhodes
 
 
Dustin and Barry... joined at the hip by family tradition
 
Pat Patterson's Cruel Joke # 2 - "Shattered Dreams" 
 
 
   
 
TOM ZENK IN WCW
1991 MATCH RESULTS
 Part 1
 
Date Place
Card
 Result 
W = Win 
L = Lose 
D= Draw
Notes
WON = Wrestling Observer Newsletter
DM = Dave Meltzer in WON and his 5* match rating system
12/28 Jacksonville      
3,600 crowd		 Tom Zenk and Lex Luger vs Stan Hansen and Big Cat W two and a quarter stars
12/29 Pennsylvania Hall, Philadelphia      
2,000 full house		 Tom Zenk and Brian Pillman vs Stan Hansen and Big Cat W xx
12/30 Chicago Tom Zenk vs Mad Man W xx
1/1 Corpus Christi      
2,000 crowd		 Tom Zenk vs Bobby Eaton W xx
01/02/91 Beaumont, TX      
1,100 crowd		 Tom Zenk vs Bobby Eaton W Dusty was announced to the workers as the new booker Monday night. "Magnum TA is in as road agent and the booking team appears to be Rhodes, Windham, Magnum, Grizzly Smith, Kevin Sullivan, Ron West and Jody Hamilton. Dusty Rhodes first act is to change the main event at the upcoming Clash from Flair-Pillman to Flair-Scott Steiner. He's starting a Ron Simmons babyface turn and going to have Anderson and Windham broken into singles wrestlers with Anderson in a three-way program with Zenk and Eaton (tweener) for the TV strap..... Most figure that Rhodes will have free reign to do just whatever he wants, at least for now as he tries to position everyone the way he wants them. Dustin is coming." (WON 1/14/91)
01/08/91 Center Stage, Atlanta, Georgia  Tom Zenk vs Master Blaster Blade W xx
01/12/91 Washington, DC      
1,350 crowd		 Tom Zenk vs Arn Anderson W "Tom Zenk pinned Anderson to keep the TV title" (WON 1/14/91)
01/11/91 Meadowlands Arena, East Rutherford, NJ Tom Zenk vs The Black Angel W xx
01/12/91 D.C. Armory   
Washington, DC		 Tom Zenk vs    
Arn Anderson		 W xx
01/14/91 Cobb County Civic Center   
Marietta, or Parry, Georgia		 Tom Zenk vs    
Arn Anderson 		 L Anderson regains the WCW World Television Championship   

see story behind this match   
 
01/15/91 Columbus, GA      
TV taping		 Tom Zenk vs Terry Taylor (x3) W,W,W "Zenk and Taylor had three bouts at the taping. First a time limit draw with Taylor as the subtle heel, then an 'accidental' DQ on Taylor, still subtle heel and then another hardcore DQ on Taylor as a full-fledged heel" (WON 1/28/91). Diamond Dallas Page debuted in WCW as manager for the Freebirds.
01/17/91 Jacksonville Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida       
2,300 crowd		 Tom Zenk vs Bobby Eaton L Bobby Eaton d. Tom Zenk via disqualification when Zenk threw Eaton over the top rope    
 
01/19/91 University Hall,   
Charlottesville, VA      
2,500 crowd		 Tom Zenk vs Bobby Eaton W "Dusty's official title in front of the screen will be "Good-will ambassador for WCW".
01/20/91 Chicago      
1,300 crowd (snow and sleet)		 Tom Zenk vs Bobby Eaton W "Zenk drew Eaton in 15.52 one star - no high spots at all."
01/21/91 Center Stage,   
Atlanta, Georgia		 Tom Zenk vs Chuck Coates W xx
01/26/91 Leflore County Civic Center, Greenwood, Mississippi Tom Zenk vs Bobby Eaton W  xx
01/30/91 Georgia Mountains Center, Gainesville, Georgia  Tom Zenk vs Bobby Eaton  
 		 W Zenk over Eaton via a backslide in 7:08
01/31/91 Clash of the Champions XIV    
The Scope, Norfolk, Virginia		 Tom Zenk vs  Bobby Eaton  W see story behind this match
02/02/91 Civic Center's Pennsylvania Hall   
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania		 Tom Zenk vs  Bobby Eaton  D Tom Zenk battled Bobby Eaton to a time 
limit draw 
 
02/04/91 Center Stage, Atlanta, Georgia  Tom Zenk vs  Joe Cruz W Tom Zenk d. Joe Cruz via submission; 
02/05/91 Gainsville, GA    
(tv taping aired 3/2)		 xx xx xx
02/06/91 Augusta, GA   
(1,200 crowd)		 Tom Zenk vs Dan Spivey L "Barry Horowitz quit" WON 2/18/91   

WCW debuted on TSN cable in Canada   

Meltzer on Dusty Rhodes - " I thought the idea of not having him wrestle and just book was so he could stay behind the scenes. With as much talk as everyone is doing about him and almost building the shows around him, he might as well be wrestling..... It appears Rhodes is going to give Brian Pillman the super-push as a new Magnum T.A. character since Scott Steiner's stock as a singles wrestler has gone down and Steiner wants to work tags anyway. Mike Graham is coaching Pillman now..."  (WON 2/18/91).   
   
xx xx xx xx by 3/3 Dustin Rhodes has arrived and is working in the mid-card.
02/08/91 Civic Center   
Roanoke, Virginia   
(2,500 crowd)		 Tom Zenk vs Buddy Landell W xx
02/10/91 Main Event TV  Tom Zenk  vs Terry Taylor xx drew a rating of 3.1
02/10/91 Richmond Coliseum, Richmond, Virginia   
(2,100 crowd)		 Tom Zenk vs Rip Rogers W xx
02/15/91 Jacksonville   
(3,500 crowd)		 Tom Zenk and Bobby Eaton vs Arn Anderson and Barry Windham  W Great match - Eaton pinned Anderson - three and one quarter stars (WON 02/25/91)
02/18/91 Montgomery, AL   
(tv taping to air WCW Pro on 3/9)   
(1,500 crowd)		 Tom Zenk and Bobby Eaton vs Terry Taylor and Buddy Landel W "Bobby Eaton beat Buddy Landel via DQ when Terry Taylor interfered, then Tom Zenk made the save but Eaton decked Zenk after Zenk had saved him.....Pillman getting a big singles push coming out of the PPV"    

"Oliver Humperdink debuted under a new name (he and Nikita Koloff are scheduled to debut Phoenix, Arizona as a heel and will work a program with Lex Luger for the U.S.belt.)"   

"A tag match saw Eaton and Zenk beat Taylor and Landel, however Eaton and Zenk never shook hands during the match"  (WON  02/25/91)   

New segments on WCW Pro - 'The Diamond Mine' with Dallas Page and 'Larry's Legends' with Larry Zbyszko
02/21/91 Macon, GA Tom Zenk vs Dr X. (Randy Culley) xx xx
02/22/91 UIC Pavilion   
Chicago, Illinois   
(2,600 crowd)		 Tom Zenk and Rick and Scott Steiner (U.S. tag team champions)   
vs   
Stan Hansen, Barry Windham and Larry Zbyszko		 W Zenk pinned Zbyszko -great match -  three and a half stars (WON 03/04/91)
02/23/91 Bruce Hall,   
Milwaukee, Wisconsin   
(1,800 crowd)		 Tom Zenk vs Bobby Eaton W  xx
02/24/91 Wrestle War '91   
Veterans Memorial Coliseum,   
Phoenix, Arizona   
(7,000 crowd) 
 

Scott Keith noted -  
"Terrence Taylor v. Tom Zenk.  The York Foundation angle was originally designed for Mike Rotundo, but he bailed for the WWF in December of 1990, so Taylor was re-tooled into the "computerized man of the 90s".  I never understood how calling Tom Zenk "the Z-Man" could be considered a good gimmick.  Back during the "dartboard" booking phase in 1991, WCW was throwing the York Foundation angle out there every week and letting  
the fans fill in the blanks.  Long story short, the fans came to the conclusion that either Bobby Eaton or Tom Zenk would be joining pretty soon, and got pretty excited about it.  So one week Alexandra York gave  
an interview categorically denying that either Eaton or Zenk was associated with the York Foundation, and the angle went utterly downhill from there.  They really, really almost hit something special with the York Foundation angle and the four-way feud between Taylor, Eaton, Zenk  and Arn Anderson, but they blew it as usual.   Mat wrestling to start, with Taylor emphasizing his heel status by not breaking in the corner, stalling, etc.  Zenk holds onto a side-headlock for quite a while but a belly to back breaks it and gives Taylor the momentum. ..  Zenk keeps fighting Taylor off and makes the comeback with the superkick for two, but Taylor is in the ropes.  Zenk hits the enzuigiri and goes for a cross-body, but the ref is distracted, and Taylor gets the pin on a schoolboy rollup.  Not either guy's best match, but still very good.  ***  
 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tom Zenk vs Terry Taylor 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 L 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 		 Terry Taylor d. Tom Zenk via a reverse roll-up in a no-disqualification match in 11:00;    

"Ms York predicted Taylor would win in less than 15 minutes. Taylor took a lot of big bumps early. This turned into a great match with a lot of heat. Taylor was the only heel on the card that was a true heel.... Zenk did a lot of hot moves for near falls at the end. Finish saw Alexandra York distract ref Lee Scott as Zenk had Taylor pinned. As Zenk went to argue with Scott, Taylor snuck up from behind and schoolboyed Zenk for the win. There was a lot of heat on the finish. Three and a half stars" (WON 03/04/91)   

"Because WCW hasn't run in Phoenix in years, there was very little familiarity with a lot of the wrestlers.... the wrestlers in the middle matches had to earn whatever reaction they got."  

Commenting on the Japanese style of many of the matches (i.e. the absence of a distinctive heel), Meltzer notes - "Even Taylor/Zenk which did have a strong face/heel differentiation, worked the match closer to a japanese style than a more theatrical U.S. style. U.S. fans have been weaned on face/heel as being the entire basis of pro-wrestling for so many decades that matches lacking  the strongly defined roles are hard for fans to accept. I think that's why it took excellent work before fans got into some of the matches."   

Meanwhile Pillman  was getting a hardcore push in the main event - the War Games themselves with Flair, Sting, Windham all juicing and plenty of low-blows. Pillman scheduled to lose and be carried from the ring. Pillman acted injured as Vicious (aka 'Sloppy Sid') mis-timed two power bombs with Pillman  "KO'd" and hospitalized.   
    

"if Rhodes is going to spend so much television time getting himself over as a character ....then he might as well be wrestling."   

According to Meltzer, this is "the best card I've seen in the United States since the 1989 Baltimore Bash".   

The PPV grossed around $3 million  of which $1.4 million wnet to WCW.   

The Zenk Taylor match gets good reviews in the newsletters  ("very good", "commendable"). 
 
02/26/9 Center Stage   
Atlanta, Georgia		 Tom Zenk vs Buddy Landell W Buddy Landel pinned Tom Zenk, but Landel was disqualified when Taylor attacked Zenk after the match.   

"Expect a mid-card program with Zenk and Eaton feuding with Taylor and Landel for several months, culminating in scaffolding matches with Eaton and Landel... (Landel)  has dropped weight and is going to be given a push now (wonder why?)" (WON 03/04/91)
02/28/91 Chattanooga   
(3,000 crowd) 		 Tom Zenk vs Terry Taylor W xx
03/01/91 Baltimore    
(4,500 crowd) 		 Tom Zenk vs Bobby Eaton  W "Tom Zenk pinned Bobby Eaton when Terry Taylor (now called Terrence Taylor) distracted Eaton". (WON 03/11/91)
03/05/91 Marietta, GA    
(1,300 crowd)    
tv taping for WCW Pro		 Tom Zenk vs Terrence Taylor W "Buddy Landell was fired  [for an incident on the road]. Buddy had been on double secret probation anyway so this was more a straw that broke the camel's back than a singular incident...Taylor pinned Tom Zenk on TV when Mr. Hughes interfered." (WON 03/18/91)   

At the same time "Magnum T.A. told Landel that no matter what he reads, he's only on suspension, he's not fired...." (WON 04/15/91) 

"Taylor hit Eaton with the [York Foundation] computer and he juiced. Zenk then got the computer and went to steal it but Mr. Hughes leveled him with a clothesline."(WON 03/18/91)
03/06/91 Greenville, SC   
(1,800 crowd) 		 Tom Zenk vs Terrence Taylor D "two stars" (WON 03/18/91)
03/08/91 Knoxville   
(3,000 crowd) 		 Tom Zenk vs Terrence Taylor D "They need to move more tapings away from Atlanta, Marietta and Gainesville because the crowds don't react..... Titan faced the same problem out of Poughkeepsie NY and had to move it around."  (WON 03/18/91)
03/10/91 The Omni,    
Atlanta, Georgia		 Tom Zenk vs Barry Windham L This had originally been booked as a match between Zenk and Anderson for the World TV title (WON 03/04/91)   
 
03/14/91 St. Joseph, MO  
(near sellout 3,400 crowd)		 Tom Zenk vs Terry Taylor D Pillman's push seems to have faltered except for some outings with Flair.. "
03/15/91 Kansas City  
(sellout 3,000 crowd)		 Tom Zenk vs Terry Taylor D "Two stars" - (WON 04/08/91)
03/16/91 Kiel Auditorium,    
St. Louis, Missouri  
(4,300 crowd)		 Tom Zenk vs Terry Taylor D Tom Zenk wrestled Terry Taylor to a 20-minute draw
03/21/91 New Japan/WCW Starrcade '91 
  
Egg Dome, Tokyo, Japan 
  
drawing 64,500 ($3,160,000)		 Tom Zenk, Brian Pillman and Tim Horner vs Takayuki Iizuka, Kuniaki Kobayashi & Shiro Koshinaka 
 

go here for images and report of the match

 L  Iizuka pinned Horner   

"Anderson's style of .... facial gestures, believable brawling, solid but unspectacular offensive moves and a few big bumps isn't compatible with what gets over in Japan.... Tom Zenk, Brian Pillman and Tim Horner vs Shiro Koshinaka, Takayuki and Osamu Matsuda ...should be a good fast-paced match with enough excitement for its spot on the show. Zenk, Pillman and Horner have all worked in Japan and have the ability to do well." (WON 03/11/91)  

Zenk was introduced as the Z-Man although having much more recognition in Japan as Tom Zenk. (This wasn't necessarily a problem for Zenk who had been unwilling to breach faith with AJPW by working the New Japan card - see above). The match was worked Japanese style with one hot move after another - including some of Zenk's established moves - the shy-high drop kick, the catapult splash, the double drop-kick, etc. Zenk opened the match with three dropkicks on Kobayashi. Pillman utilized stiff chops that could be heard in the cheap seats. Horner and Zenk did the solid stuff, Pillman and Zenk the high flying action and Pillman the flashier moves, including a Satoru Sayama splash off the top rope.  After several hot near falls Iizuka pinned Horner (after 12:10) with a Dragon suplex (full nelson into a german suplex). Meltzer, who observed the action, scored the match three and three quarter stars - the best rating of the card second only to The Steiners vs Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki, "a definite match of the year candidate .... Four and and half stars". (WON 04/01/91).  

go here for images and report of the match 

"Arn Anderson and Barry Windham beat Masa Chono and Masa Saito in 9:17. There was nothing wrong with this match but it got no heat at all. Actually the work itself was better than average but it came off live like a dead match. Finish saw Windham clothesline Saito and Anderson pinned him. Two stars" (WON 04/01/91).  

After the Sting vs Muta match "Sting attacked Muta and gave him the Stinger splash and Scorpion and Sting was booed pretty heav[il]y...When the Japanese tried to get Sting off, Tom Zenk, Rick Steiner, Tim Horner and Brian Pillman jumped in and they ahd a mini-Battle Royal with the Americans vs the Japanese."  
  

The US PPV was cut from 14 minutes to 7 to push Pillman whereas Meltzer thought all 3 men had performed equally well.
03/30/91 Civic Center's Convention Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tom Zenk vs Terry Taylor L xx
xx xx xx xxxx The Rock 'n Roll Express had come in cheap to replace Zenk and Pillman in May 1990 - now  " Robert Gibson was given his notice ... Morton has been kept on salary even though he didn't have a contract. Then again his injury was suffered on the job. But they've decided to do away with The Rock 'n Roll Express, Midnight Express and Four Horsemen forever and create new things." Windham and Landel were lining up to be taken seriously with Windham distancing himself from Flair and Anderson.
xx xx xx xx Dusty Rhodes now doing an interview segment on the new "WCW Saturday Night". Larry Zbyszko is putting Dustin Rhodes over in a series of matches. The Meadowlands crowd boos Rhodes unmercifully after he messes up a finish against Buddy Lee Parker.
04/06/91 WCW TV Tom Zenk and Bobby Eaton vs Terrence Taylor and Larry Zbyszko L by DQ "a great bout" (WON 04/08/91) By this time, the Z- Man dolls are on sale. 
04/14/91 The Omni,   
Atlanta, Georgia 
(5,000 plus crowd)		 Tom Zenk vs Larry Zbyszko W "Tom Zenk pinned Zbyszko - two stars". (WON 04/22/91). "Zenk re-injured his bicep at the last Omni card. It was diagnosed as torn fibers in the belly of the bicep and he'll be put for four weeks." (WON 05/06/91)
05/19/91 Superbrawl '91  
Bayfront Center Arena 
St. Petersburg		 xx xx "Tom Zenk who wasn't supposed to wrestle on the PPV was at the card and did some hosting duties.." (WON 05/27/91). Taylor loses to Rhodes. Pillman doing more hardcore work with Windham in a taped fist match. Eaton wins the TV title from Arn Anderson.
xx xx xx xx "They've got to figure out what they are doing with Pillman because nothing seems to make sense. He came out of the [Superbrawl] PPV with the chance to become a hot face  and has been given more time in the ring in hot matches on tv than any other face. But he's doing jobs at the arenas and even on television. Did about 19 jobs for Windham all within five minutes last week. Yet this weekend he was he was basically pushed harder than any other wrestler as this underdog hero, but he didn't win one of his three TV main event matches..." (WON 04/22/91). 

"Flair and Windham beat Sting and Pillman in a four star cage match when Windham pinned Pillman who juiced really bad" (WON 05/20/91). 

"6/01/91 During Windham's squash a rat came out ...his mask came off revealing Brian Pillman"
xx "This past week the wrestlers called a meeting and basically demanded more time off because they seem to be working 28 or 29 dates per month which is wearing everyone out which leads to more no-shows. Apparently the June schedule is being reworked with guys getting some time off although during the Bash tour everyone has seven straight weeks and the stars will be working just about every night but the guys will get a week off after the Bash..." (WON 05/12/91). xx xx "Windham's contract is up for renewal at the end of this month and given the current situation one would think he's got some pretty decent negotiating leverage right now. I can't imagine him leaving as with Dusty Rhodes getting more and more power, Windham should retain his strong influence." (WON 04/29/91). 

Taylor and Anderson and The Freebirds are putting Dustin over in tag work with Rhodes partnering Ricky Morton. Morton is double crossing Rhodes leaving him in the ring two-to-one but of course he still wins. Rhodes is given lots of run ins to make the save 
 
xx "As long as WCW continues to push so many good ol-boys, cowboys, southern boys , hillbillies and simple minded mountain men, they will always be perceived as a southern regional promotion. WCW is limiting its audience and surely they must realize this. As time goes by, it is becoming obvious Dusty Rhodes is the wrong man for the job ....." Vic Stanley in WON 05/12/91. Sam Nord writes to ask  - how is it the Nasty Boys never win WCW tag titles but shoot to the top in WWF. If competition is harder in the WCW than WWF, then how come Arn Anderson and Terry Taylor are doing better in the WCW than they ever did in the WWF? (WON  05/12/91). xx Z- Man cards in The Stomp Collection (Impel) released, 04/29/91. The collection includes Sid Vicious who is all but gone and Mr. Wall Street who hasn't been around in months; Doom who are no longer a tag team and The Southern Boys who no longer use that name. The Scott Steiner card had Steiner on the back in black and white but Tracy Smothers on the front in color.
xx "They had a new interview segment [for World Championship Wrestling] with Dusty Rhodes and Jason Hervey. Dusty may not get TV ratings up and he may not get house show attendance up, but one thing is certain, he will get Dusty Rhodes over. By the end of the 6/8/91 taping Rhodes should be just about the most over babyface in the promotion" (WON 05/20/91). xx xx Steve Austin comes in to WCW -The Diamond Stud (Scott Hall) managed by Diamond Dallas Page and working like Scott Hall also arrives (WON 05/06/91) Zenk is missing because of injury and a letter in WON from a New York fan regrets Z's absence from a recent Meadowlands show. 

Pillman is now helping to put Dustin over. Dustin is doing horrible blading acts to draw attention. Ric Flair in commentary says that he will be facing Dustin Rhodes sooner than everyone thinks. Meltzer notes "I can see a lot of people resenting him [Dustin Rhodes] because he's going to be pushed to that status before he's ready for it." (WON 06/03/91) 

"Tom Zenk received a one-year contract extension at his same $156,000 per-year salary..... Tom Zenk will be back in about the time you read this." (06/03/91). 
 
xx xx xx xx "Just a few days before ...Clash of Champions, the higher ups at World Championship Wrestling ..decided to greatly reduce the television exposure of Dusty Rhodes ...Rhodes was taken off as color commentator on ...Clash ..In addition there are reports that Rhodes Bull Drop Inn segment is being dropped as well by orders of those above  ...what this means as far as Rhodes' future as booker is certainly going to be the subject of much speculation. Certainly nobody can be happy with the results of where the promotion currently is ....the company has actually fallen to even greater depths since his arrival" (WON 06/17/91)
06/06/91 Hammond, IN 
(590 crowd)		 Tom Zenk vs Oz (Kevin Nash) L xx
06/08/91 Milwaukee 
(750 crowd)		 Tom Zenk vs Mike Graham W xx
06/12/91 Clash of the Champions XV - "Knocksville U.S.A." 
Civic Auditorium, Knoxville, Tennessee 		   
Tom Zenk and The Young Pistols (Steve Armstrong, Tracey Smothers) vs  The Fabulous Freebirds (Jim Garvin and Michael Hayes) and Badstreet (Brad Armstrong). 
 		 W Meltzer previews the PPV match - "Freebirds and Badd Street (new name for Fantasia who is Brad Armstrong) vs Young Pistols and Tom Zenk should be a top-notch match as well, as given the opportunity Brad can be one of the best workers in the world and few people work harder than the Pistols. Zenk is no slouch  tho' Hayes and Garvin sometimes are" (WON 06/03/91).   

"a triple-pin occurred at 4:44. Smothers pinned Badstreet, Zenk pinned Hayes and Armstrong pinned Garvin. Each pin was scored with a sunset flip over the top rope." 

Meltzer noted that the whole PPV was rushed and the opener was no exception - "They did about as good as they could do given the limited amount of time they had. This probably would have been a really good opener if they'd had time. It was evident that they were rushing ... It came off more like a Lucha Libre match than a pro-wrestling match, however, with them rushing through spots without building heat. " (WON 06/24/91). 

Letters note - "A good match but ruined by the replay which clearly showed the three Birds positioning themselves for the triple pin ....What a coincidence that the longest match on the show featured Dustin Rhodes --- or did it just seem like the longest." 

The fans were chanting USA during the match "I guess they must have been chanting for Zenk since he's the only guy in the match not from the South." 
 
06/17/91   Chicago,  
Illinois		 Tom Zenk and Rick Steiner vs Stan Hanson and Dan Spivey W by DQ Pillman appears as The Yellow Dog and in various barnyard costumes (rat, chicken)  - rapidly becoming The One Man Zoo. 
06/23/91 The Omni, 
Atlanta, Georgia 		 Tom Zenk vs Diamond Studd (Scott Hall) L "Another angle opened the feud between Tom Zenk and Diamond Studd over who is the real Stud in WCW. Zenk knocked down Dallas Page and Studd attacked him and they ended up ripping Zenk's clothes off and leaving him in the ring in his underwear and a tie." (WON 06/24/91 Meanwhile Pillman is now The Yellow Dog after losing a Loser Leaves Town match. "Mr. Hughes, Oz (Kevin Nash) and Diamond Studd are going to get pushed all the way to the top of the card as the lead heels for the fall" (WON 06/24/91)
06/27/91 Memorial Hall, 
Joplin, Missouri 		 Tom Zenk vs Diamond Studd (Scott Hall) W xx 
06/28/91 Convention Center, 
Tulsa, Oklahoma		 Tom Zenk vs Diamond Studd (Scott Hall) W xx
xx Dusty Rhodes on Jim Ross's radio show claims that Muhammad Ali learned his interview style by watching Dusty ....called the Omni "The House that Dusty built"...claimed he had been a baseball of the caliber of Reggie Jackson and Rick Monday ...and when a caller suggested WCW test for steroids, the Dream replied "I think steroids are a drug and I'm living proof that you don't need steroids to be the best in this profession" (WON 06/17/91). 
 		 xx xx  "the booker's son still [will] not do a job when he's outnumbered 2-to-1 by pushed heels....as Ben Franklin would say, "The only things certain in life are death, taxes and a rhodes not doing a job." (Eric Krol, WON 06/10/91). 

The sheets are unanimous - Dusty Rhodes is not taking WCW anywhere but down. 
 
 
 
 Next Week - Tom Zenk Match Analysis for Jan - June 1991
 
 
THE TOP 23 US MATCHES OF 1990
(source Wrestling Observer Newsletter, 1990 - not in any order)
 

Dave Meltzer's 65 Best Matches of 1990 from the Wrestling Observer Yearbook include only 23 matches from the US. 2 of these feature Tom Zenk and Brian Pillman. Despite their success, Ole Anderson disbanded the team at the height of their popularity and worked for 7 months to force Zenk out of WCW - read the story. 
 

    07/08/90 - Midnight Express vs. Southern Boys  
    02/25/90 - Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger  
    02/13/90 - Ric Flair vs. Brian Pillman  
    02/07/90 - Ric Flair and Arn Anderson vs. Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton  
    03/13/90 - Ric Flair vs. Ricky Morton  
    02/25/90 - Midnight Express vs. R'n'R Express  
    12/16/90 - Doom vs. Barry Windham and Arn Anderson  
    08/24/90 - Ric Flair vs. Sting  
    07/16/90 - Curt Hennig vs. Tito Santana  
    12/28/90 - Curt Hennig vs. Roddy Piper  
    10/30/90 - Curt Hennig vs. Big Boss Man  
    06/25/90 - Arn Anderson vs. Barry Windham  
    10/01/90 - Steiners vs. Midnight Express  
    04/09/90 - Tom Zenk and Brian Pillman vs. Midnight Express  
    10/27/90 - Steiners vs. Nasty Boys  
    02/28/90 - Tom Zenk and Brian Pillman vs. Midnight Express  
    09/05/90 - Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger  
    04/23/90 - Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger  
    11/10/90 - Eddie Gilbert vs. Cactus Jack  
    04/01/90 - Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior  
    11/09/90 - Stan Lane and Eddie Gilbert vs. Terry Funk and Cactus Jack  
    04/22/90 - Rockers vs. Hart Foundation  
    06/13/90 - Doom vs. Steiners