Tom Zenk in Japan 1992 - New Japan Tag Tourney

Tom Zenk's Japan Tour #8

1994

All Japan Pro Wrestling
Summer Action Series

At the end of June, 1994 after finishing his fifth and final year with WCW, Tom Zenk headed back to Tokyo for the AJPW 1994 Summer Action Series. Zenk hadn't worked for AJPW since mid 1989 when he'd pulled out of a scheduled October tour to sign with WCW. That decision meant burning bridges with Baba and his intermediary, referee Joe Higuchi. Relationships with AJPW were further strained when Zenk's WCW contract required him to work for the rival New Japan during tours in 1991 and 1992.

Despite this, as WON reported at the start of the 1994 tour (7/11/94) "Tom Zenk seemed to be receiving a medium level push on his return to this group after a four year absence."

Baba however was a traditionalist which meant current rankings tended to stand for some time. For the Summer Series, Baba asked him to take jobs "this time around" with a promise he'd be "built up again" over the next few tours.

According to Chris Benoit, "Wrestlers who are used to the big US promotions often view doing jobs as the first step toward getting buried and eventual loss of income... [In Japan] Guys come to me saying "I guess they don't like my work because I'm doing jobs every night since I got here." I tell them to just have good matches and they will take care of you...There are no promises of rewards for jobs...Sometimes I do a two week tour and do jobs every night. But it doesn't matter who goes over since all they care about is having good matches" (Torch, 8/20/94).

Zenk had worked intensively with AJPW during 1987-9 so there was no problem doing jobs - so long as the pay was good. But, as he was quick to discover, Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas, despite five years continuous work for Baba and several years of getting "built up" were still being paid just $2,500 a week - $500 less than Zenk had been earning in Japan nine years previously.

Zenk determined to complete his two contracted tours for "Summer Action Series" (July) and "Giant Series" (September-October, 1994) and then reconsider his Japan future.

In addition to Zenk, the American contingent for the Summer Action Series 1994 included Terry Gordy and his nephew Richard Slinger, Steve Williams who was being pushed to the Triple Crown, The Eagle (aka Jackie Fulton), Johnny Smith, Abdullah the Butcher, Giant Kimala II, Kurt Beyer and Johnny Ace. The series saw Zenk in some unusual pairings - with and against Stan Hansen and Doug Furnas in tag action, and pinning and being pinned by former IWA joint tag champ Dan Krofatt (now wrestling under the borrowed tag of "The Can-Am Express" with Doug Furnas).

The 1994 Summer Action Series was to be Zenk's penultimate tour of Japan.

Date	Match details	Images
06/30/94 Tokyo, Korakuen Hall (TV taping) (2,100 sellout)	Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas over Johnny Ace and Tom Zenk in 17:29 when Kroffat pinned Zenk after a somersault drop off the top rope.
07/01/94 Katsuta (1,800 crowd)	Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi over Stan Hansen, Tom Zenk and The Eagle (Jackie Fulton) in 17:27 when Kobashi pinned Eagle with a moonsault.
07/03/94 Tokyo, Korakuen Hall (2,100 sellout)	Tom Zenk and Stan Hansen over Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas in 11:54 when Hansen pinned Kroffat with the Lariat.
07/04/94 Osaka (2,050 sellout)	Tsuyoshi Kikuchi over Tom Zenk in 10:02 with a rollup.
07/06/94: Tokushima: no match 07/07/94: Marugame: no match 07/08/94: Kochi: no match	xxx
07/09/94 Matsui	Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas over Tom Zenk and Johnny Smith in 14:36 when Furnas pinned Zenk after a released German Suplex.
07/12/94:Kagoshima (TV Taping) (3,500 sellout)	Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi over Stan Hansen, Tom Zenk and Doug Furnas in 19:24 when Kobashi pinned Furnas with a moonsault. Main event - three and three quarter stars
07/13/94 Miyazaki (3,050 sellout)	Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas over Johnny Ace and Tom Zenk in 16:53 when Furnas pinned Zenk after a released German Suplex.
07/14/94 Niage-town (2,400 sellout)	Yoshinari Ogawa and Tamon Honda over The Eagle and Tom Zenk in 13:02 when Ogawa pinned Zenk with a rolling crucifix cradle.
07/16/94 Nagasaki Gym (3,500 crowd)	Tom Zenk and Stan Hansen over Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas in 13:45 when Zenk pinned Kroffat with a counter rollup.
07/17/94 Hakata Star Lane	Bruiser Brody Memorial Night Steve Williams, Terry Gordy and Richard Slinger over The Eagle, Johnny Smith and Tom Zenk in 15:35 when Williams pinned Zenk with the Oklahoma Stampede powerslam.
07/18/94 Onomichi (1,700 sellout)	Abdullah the Butcher and Giant Kimala II over The Eagle and Tom Zenk in 12:53 when Abdullah pinned Zenk with an elbow drop.
07/19/94 Kurashiki (2,700 sellout)	Terry Gordy and Richard Slinger over Tom Zenk and Kurt Beyer (son of The Destroyer) in 13:43 when Slinger pinned Zenk after a splash off the top rope.
07/21/94 Tokyo Korakuen Hall (2,100 sellout)	Tom Zenk over Kurt Beyer in 9:55 with a bulldog.
07/22/94 Shimizu Gym (3,300 sellout)	Jun Akiyama and Tamon Honda over Tom Zenk and Kurt Beyer in 14:01 when Akiyama pinned Zenk with a Northern Lights Suplex.
07/23/94 Kofu (4,400 sellout)	Steve Williams , Terry Gordy and Richard Slinger over Stan Hansen, Tom Zenk and Johnny Smith in 15:58 when Williams pinned Smith with the Doctor Bomb.
07/25/94 Ishikawa (3,700 sellout)	Stan Hansen, Shohei "Giant" Baba and Takao Omori over Steve Williams, Johnny Ace and Tom Zenk in 14:14 when Hansen pinned Zenk with the Lariat.
07/26/94 Ichinomiya (2,350 sellout)	Toshiaki Kawada, Akira Taue and Yoshinari Ogawa over Stan Hansen, Tom Zenk and Johnny Smith in 16:31 when Taue pinned Smith with the nodowa (chokeslam).
07/28/94 Tokyo Budokan Hall (16,300 sellout)	Terry Gordy, Richard Slinger and Kurt Beyer over The Eagle, Tom Zenk and Johnny Smith in 14:28 when Gordy powerbombed Zenk for the pin.

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