WCW 1991 - The Angles

1. TV title

December 1990 - Z-Man wins WCW World TV Title Match
In December 1990, Tom Zenk was booked to win the World TV Title revitalizing a belt that had lost much of its status during Arn Anderson's tenure.  "A television taping on 12/4 at Center Stage in Atlanta before a sellout crowd was headlined by Zenk winning the TV title from Arn Anderson after a dropkick off the top rope.... a great match" (WON12/17/90).  After the Zenk-Anderson title switch was aired (Saturday -12/22/90) WON reported (1/8/91) -  "An old-style match which lasted 17 minutes. Slow builder but tons of heat for the finish which was most impressive ......" The match drew a 3.4 rating, the best rating for the WCW Saturday show since February 1990.

The TV Title episode
Dusty Rhodes arrives as booker, January 1991 and immediately books Zenk to lose the title to Anderson.

Tom Zenk vs Bobby Eaton

Clash of Champions XIV, "Dixie Dynamite" held in Gainesville, Georgia on 1/30/91. The card was booked by incoming booker Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes sent  Zenk in to defend the World TV Title which he had already booked him to drop two weeks before on 1/14/91. 
 

Tom Zenk feuds with Terry Taylor

 
Tom Zenk and Bobby Eaton vs Terry Taylor and Larry Zbyszko

3. Stud vs Stud

Starting at the Great American Bash,  Zenk's new job 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.

Stud vs Stud angle
 

It was the case of the missing babyfaces. When Dusty Rhodes arrived as booker,  there were  8 top babyfaces  - Sting, Luger, Flair, Zenk, Pillman, Taylor and the Steiner Brothers. 

Dusty's plan was to push the 'fruit of his loins' Dustin Rhodes to the top of the babyface totem pole. That meant getting rid of Dustin's competiton.

By the end of 1991, Flair had gone Luger, the Steiners, Eaton and Taylor had been turned heel. Zenk was made a referee, complete with bow tie and Brian was put in a Yellowdog suit.  If he couldn’t get rid of them, he could always bury them. 
 

The Z-Man is booked  with Dustin Rhodes and Matt Borne (aka "Big Josh") as six-man tag champions against The York Foundation (Terry Taylor, Tommy Rich and Ricky Morton). The Six Man Championship had been hastily resurrected to provide a vehicle  for Dustin, lending credibility to his later push, with Steamboat to US tag team champions.

6. Referee angle

part 1 | part 2 | part 3| part 4 | part 5

It's the fall of 1991 and The Z-Man, weighing in at a substantial 261 lbs is scheduled to wrestle Mr Hughes, 'bodyguard' to World Heavyweight Champion, Lex Luger. Hughes is accompanied to the ring by Harley Race.  Luger who has recently turned heel, attacks  the Z-Man, 

In a subsequent match with Cactus Jack, The Z-Man undertakes a high risk maneuver - a  high dive over the top rope onto Cactus Jack on the floor below. In addition to hitting Cactus, Z-Man hits the concrete and steel barrier, compounding the neck injury inflicted by Luger. 

The Z-Man is "warned by doctors" against wrestling - but he still has unfinished business with Luger. He obtains a licence from WCW to officiate as a referee and begins to establish a reputation as an authoritative official. He intends to make sure that when Luger and Hughes meet Barry Wyndham and Ron Simmons at Halloween Havoc, 1991 the match is going to be a straight forward test of ability.  However Luger and Race have other plans. ..... and so did booker Dusty Rhodes. The angle is wrecked by Dusty's booking of Hallowe'en Havov (below) .....

7. Hallowe'en Phantom

The Z-Man Luger angle is de-railed when Dusty jobs Z-Man  to Ric Rude ("The WCW Phantom") at Halloween Havoc '91.

8. The Lethal Lottery - Starrcade '91
 

"this blew away everything else on the card"

Tom Zenk and Terry Taylor vs Arn Anderson and Lex Luger 

Lex Luger and Arn Anderson v. Tom Zenk and Terry Taylor.  Zenk and Taylorplay the de facto babyfaces.  Taylor and Luger start out with a really nice sequence of stuff, with Taylor back in full face mode.  Zenk comes in and gets tripped up by Race, then hammered by the heels.  Everyone is ON here. ....  Best match of the night.  **** 

" Luger pinned Taylor with a piledriver. From a wrestling standpoint this blew away everything else on the card - three and a quarter stars" (WON 01/06/91).
 

WCW 1991 -  the images

Scrap book 1990 - 1991
 

WCW 1991 -  the articles 

Magazine articles from 1990 - 1994

The Z-Man - Simply Dazzling! 
by Howard Feintuch, Wrestling Eye, July 1991

"Exciting, well built, talented and agile are all words that could be used to describe the Z-Man. Since he became a professional wrestler, Tom Zenk has enjoyed success in such promotions as the PWA [PNW], AWA, All Japan and WWF. The latest successes of the Z-Man have been taking place in the rings of the WCW where winning matches and titles seems to just come naturally for him."

More than a battle of sex appeal

Eddie Ellner article
Eddie Ellner, The Wrestler
 It is your chance to meet wrestling's biggest stars as they answer the questions uppermost in the fan's minds.This time its Tom Zenk.

The Interviews
Interview with Joey Maggs
Part 1 | Part 2
 

Japan Tour, 1991

New Japan/WCW Starrcade '91 
March 21, 1991 in Egg Dome, Tokyo, Japan 

attendance 64,500 

Tom Zenk, Brian Pillman and Tim Horner vs Takayuki Iizuka, Kuniaki Kobayashi and Shiro Koshinaka 

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". (WON 04/01/91). 

Part 1 | Part 2
 

Tom Zenk 1991 Souvenirs/ Memorabilia 

Posters
8 x 10