"Z-Man" Tom Zenk is an experienced competitor who has been wrestling in WCW since 1989 and has held such titles as the U.S. tag team championship (with "Flyin'" Brian Pillman) and the World television championship. Johnny Gunn is a young up-and-coming star who is just a few months into his rookie year in WCW and is looking to score his first big title win.

For both men, gold belts may not be very far off. 

Both in the ring and in the hearts of the fans, Z-Man and Gunn are building the type of tag team momentum the mat sport hasn't seen in a long time. They've been competing as a unit since early-November, and have impressed everyone with precision teamwork that includes frequent double-dropkicks and a powerslam/top rope combination that has led to an unbroken string of victories.

Fans are responding positively to Z-Man and Gunn, and we don't mean only female fans who are taken by the smiles and physiques of these handsome grapplers. There is a growing perception in the arenas that as the precision teamwork displayed by Z-Man and Gunn grows more refined, their odds of being in the thick of the Unified World tag team title hunt grow as well.

WCW Magazine's Craig Peters interviewed Z-Man and Gunn shortly before Starrcade 92. "Z-Man and Gunn are two men who are brimming with confidence right now," Peters reported, "and confidence - as opposed to cockiness, which can led to mistakes - is an extremely important factor in this sport. All other skill factors being equal, the team with the greater confidence will win every time. These guys have been winning, their teamwork is improving, and their confidence is increasing. As long as they maintain the momentum they've shown up to this point, they are going to be very, very tough for any team to beat."
 
WCW MAGAZINE: There's an awful lot of buzz throughout WCW about your team, and already people are starting to refer to you guys in championship terms. That's quite a long way to have come, considering that, as we speak, you've only been together as a team for little more than a month.

Z-MAN: That's in terms of what the public has seen, Craig.

GUNN: That's right. Before we had our first match, we put in a lot of hours of training, working on our teamwork, evaluating videotapes, and discussing match strategies.

WCW MAGAZINE: So you actually began as a team...

Z-MAN: Long before we made our in-ring debut in November. Actually, we started working seriously in - I guess it was September. 

GUNN: Right.

Z-MAN: Look, we know what we're up against. We're not blind. The tag team competition in WCW is the best in the world, and a new team can't expect to make a dent in the tag team scene without a lot of preparation.

WCW MAGAZINE: Even if one of the members has significant tag team experience. Championship experience?

Z-MAN: Well, of course that helps. Johnny is new to the WCW scene, but I've been around here for a while, and my experience against some of the guys we've been wrestling has come in handy.

GUNN: Tom has been great, because he's really taken me under his wing, so to speak. He's shown me a lot of moves and maneuvers, taught me some of the more subtle intricacies of even the most basic maneuvers...

WCW MAGAZINE: Actually, Tom, our readers got a good glimpse of that in a feature we did [in our October 1992 issue] regarding you and Marcus Alexander Bagwell.

Z-MAN: I remember. That was a good story.

WCW MAGAZINE: I think a lot of fans were expecting you and Marcus to form the kind of team that you and Johnny have formed. Did anything happen between you two?

Z-MAN: No, not at all. I was happy to show Marcus some things. He sought me out as a mentor, and I helped him over a couple of rough spots. Be he's said many times that he wants to keep his options open, wrestle and tag teams and six-man matches and so on, so the kind of long-term commitment Johnny and I have made to each other just wasn't feasible with Marcus and me. Meanwhile, he's done pretty well for himself, don't you think?

GUNN: That Rookie of the Year award is nothing to sneeze at.

WCW MAGAZINE: No, it's not. And neither is the commitment you spoke of, Tom. It's obvious that you two are spending an awful lot of time together out of the ring to make this team work.

Z-MAN: Well, we both agree that's the way to go.

GUNN: If you're not friends out of the ring, you can't be successful in the ring. I guess that's one of the lessons of the Barry Windham - Dustin Rhodes breakup.

Z-MAN: But it goes beyond friendship. Yeah, I'm anxious to share my wrestling knowledge with Johnny, and he's sopping it up like a sponge - and he's taught me a few things in the last month or so, too, so it cuts both ways. But we share a similar outlook in so many ways, it's frightening. Our sensibilities about match strategies are almost always in agreement, our ideas about new maneuvers to add to our repertoire are very much the same thing and...

GUNN: We even like the same kind of women! (laughs)

WCW MAGAZINE: Well, the women certainly seem to like you!

Z-MAN: No comment! (laughs)

GUNN: (laughs)
 

WCW MAGAZINE: Which brings to mind another question: I saw one recent TBS broadcast where, before a commercial, it said on the screen, "Coming up next: The Hunk Squad."

GUNN: Hey, I kind of like that!

WCW MAGAZINE: What about you, Tom?

Z-MAN: To be honest, I like it, too. But there's another factor to think about when you're tagged like that.

WCW MAGAZINE: Like what? 

Z-MAN: Well, you tend to be viewed as strictly a pretty boy, and your wrestling skills might get overlooked...

GUNN: ...which is actually okay in a way, because your opponents tend to underestimate you, which leads to them being more likely to make a mistake in the midst of a heated match.

Z-MAN: What did I tell you? Johnny's got a great wrestling mind!

WCW MAGAZINE: And a great short-arm clothesline, I wanted to point out.

GUNN: Thanks. I really like that maneuver. It's kind of like the jab in boxing. It's quick, it's effective, and it can really wear down an opponent. Plus, it's versatile. You don't have to worry too much about setting up an opponent for the move, you can fire it off in almost any kind of a situation.

WCW MAGAZINE: Well, it certainly seems like the situations have been going your way these past weeks. How long can you keep up the momentum and keep winning?

GUNN: As long as we have air in our lungs...

Z-MAN: and healthy bodies. Assuming we don't have to deal with any major injuries in the next couple of months, I feel safe in predicting that we'll be wearing championship gold before summer.