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In October 1992, WCW booked Zenk to a short tour of Japan partnering Jim Neidhart and Chris Benoit in the New Japan Super Grade Tag League II.
Prior to the 1991 Supercard, Zenk's Japan work had been exclusively for Shoehi Baba's All Japan Pro-Wrestling. In undertaking a second WCW tour with Inoki's rival New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Zenk was troubled both by old loyalties to Baba and the possible loss of future work with AJPW. These concerns were only partially moderated by New Japan's decision to bill him as "Z-Man" ( - whereas he was better known to AJPW fans as "Tom Zenk").
In the Tournament itself, Vader and Tatsumi Fujinami had been scheduled to defend their 1991 championship. However, Vader pulled out after a knee operation. In his place Fujinami was partnered by Manobu Nakanishi. Nakanishi, at 220 pounds, had represented Japan in freestyle wrestling at the Barcelona Olympics and was being trained as a superstar for the late 1990s.
Jushin Liger had also been scheduled to participate but withdrew following a family emergency. Dean Malenko had recently defected from AJPW and was debuting for New Japan in the tournament . Neither Neidhart, Zenk, Benoit nor Malenko were looking forward to putting the rookie Nakanishi over.
Zenk and Neidhart were booked to finish last in the series. They made the most of it, having a good time playing heels and putting Bam Bam Bigelow over as face (see below). In all cases its was Zenk or Benoit, not Neidhart who did the job, sucbmitting to various 'devastating finishes' including Bigelow and Super Machine's diving head butts, Masa Chono' s Step-over Toe-hold Face-lock (STF), Hiroshi Hase's Northern Lights Suplex, Nakanishi's belly-to-belly suplex and Hashimoto's Leg Lariat.
On the bus to one of the venues Benoit was overheard telling Zenk that "someone at WCW mustn't like you" to have booked him to this series and to these matches. It wasn't difficult to guess who.
It was Zenk's second and last tour with New Japan. In 1994 he returned to Japan - but this time to Baba and AJPW.
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Scott Norton and Super Strong Machine over Tom Zenk and Jim Neidhart when Machine pinned Zenk after a diving headbutt (11.13). |
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Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki over Tom Zenk (billed as Z-Man) and Jim Neidhart in 14:14 when Hase pinned Zenk with a Northern Lights Suplex. |
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Riki Choshu and Shinya Hashimoto over Tom Zenk and Jim Neidhart in 8:09 when Hashimoto pinned Zenk after a Leg Lariat. |
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Tatsumi Fujinami, Keiji Muto and Masa Saito over Tony Halme, Tom Zenk and Jim Neidhart |
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Riki Choshu, Masa Saito and Takayuki Iizuka over Tom Zenk, Jim Neidhart and Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit) in 9:44 when Choshu pinned Kid with a Riki-Lariat. |
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Masahiro Chono and Tony Halme (Ludvig Borga of the WWF) over Tom Zenk and Jim Neidhart in 8:53 when Chono made Zenk submit to the STF. |
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Tatsumi Fujinami and Manabu Nakanishi over Tom Zenk and Jim Neidhart in 6:45 when Nakanishi pinned Zenk with a belly-to-belly suplex. |
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Tatsumi Fujinami, Osamu Kido and Manabu Nakanishi over Jim Neidhart, Tom Zenk and Masanobu Kurisu in 10:46 when Fujinami made Kurisu submit to the Dragon Sleeper. |
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Bam Bam Bigelow and Keiji Muto over Tom Zenk and Jim Neidhart in 11:50 when Bigelow pinned Zenk. |
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Bam Bam Bigelow and Super Strong Machine over Tom Zenk and Jim Neidhart in 11:00 when Bigelow pinned Zenk after a diving headbutt. |
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Super Strong Machine, Tatsutoshi Goto and Hiro Saito over Tom Zenk, Tony Halme and Pegasus Kid (Chris Benoit) in 11:32 when Machine pinned Zenk with a diving headbutt. |
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| 1. | Riki Choshu and Shinya Hashimoto (winners) | 9 |
| 2. | Hiro Hase and Kensuke Sasaki | 9 |
| 3. | Keiji Mutoh and Bam Bam Bigelow | 8 |
| 4. | Masa Chono and Tony Halme | 8 |
| 5. | Scott Norton and Super Strong Machine | 6 |
| 6. | Tatsumi Fujinami & Manabu Nakanishi | 2 |
| 7. | Jim Niedhart and Tom Zenk | 0 |
