Starting at the Great American Bash 1991,  Zenk's new role was to help put over Luger, Mr. Hughes, Nash, and the newly arrived Scott Hall and Steve Austin as lead heels for the Fall.

The first angle, with Scott Hall aka The Diamond Studd (July to late September), was a feud over who was “the real stud in WCW”. It started with Dallas Page and Diamond Studd ripping Zenk's clothes off and leaving him in the ring in underwear and a tie.
 
 

Click here for images of the angle
 

click here for magazine article

Page had been brought in by his drinking buddy, Dusty Rhodes, to put over Scott Hall. That’s how it began anyway -
 

"Diamond Studd (Scott Hall) pinned Z-Man (Tom Zenk) in 6:59. Opened hot with Zenk diving over the top rope into the ring onto Studd. Dallas Page .... pulled down the top rope and Zenk took a bump over. As Zenk went after Page, Studd attacked him from behind and Zenk took a great bump over the guard rail. The action moved pretty well but neither guy sold the others' punches well. Zenk had Studd pinned after a dropkick off the top rope when Page slapped Zenk. Zenk went after Page, Studd kneed him from behind and hit a suplex for the win."   (Meltzer - Great American Bash, July 1991).

click here for images of the match - Great American Bash, 1991

Somewhere along the line, plans for the program changed. The fans didn't care much for Hall or Page. Suddenly Zenk was booked to win – but by pinning Page not Hall. Page was now jockeying Hall for his spot. Had Dusty worked out a deal to put Page over as the ‘hot heel’ instead? Was Hall was too stupid, too naïve or too stoned to realize?

In Hall’s defence, it was near impossible to get the angle over. The matches were too short ( 60 seconds and three minutes) to generate any interest. And the finishes were lame, even by Dusty’s standards.

After one match, Meltzer reported - "Tom Zenk pinned Diamond Studd in a tuxedo match in 3:22 (When the match started it was announced the only way to win was to strip your opponent of his clothes and leave him in his underwear, but the match ended with a pinfall anyway. After the match it was announced the match would end either by stripping the clothes or via pinfall)."

What Meltzer didn't know was that Rhodes had told Zenk  "Don't tear the tuxedo". To make sure he got the point, he sent Zenk a bill for a ripped tuxedo from a previous match. Since ripping tuxedos was the whole point, it didn’t need rocket science to realize Rhodes didn't want the angle to get over. It was just filler. Zenk and Hall meant nothing in Dusty's mind.  It was a side show for the real story line - the push for Dusty's boy -  'the Natural' - Dustin Rhodes.
 
 
 

 

For Clash of Champions XVII, Dusty put nil effort into Z-Man vs Hall. The match was booked for 1:25. Most of it was shown half screen while the cameras followed Sting to an ambulance.

“The action in the match was really fast-paced with good chemistry but nobody noticed and it was over before you could blink" (Meltzer).

As well as burying Zenk, it finally aborted Scott Hall's push as a 'monster heel.' Not long after, Hall exited with an injury. When he returned, he fund himself in the subsidiary role - as DDP's tag partner!
 
 

Next - Luger powerbombs the Z-Man and Dusty attempts to bury Zenk as a referee
 
 

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