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| DP Celebs / Interviews |
Tom Zenk
 
Former Pro Wreslting Star |
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| Dean
S. Planet: What
was it like wrestling in Wrestlemania 3 in front of a record
setting crowd at the Pontiac Silverdome? |
| Tom
Zenk: As
I rememner it Dean, WWF wanted us to start off Wrestlemania
III with a hot match. I think we had 5 minutes and 30 seconds
with a little cutesy finish. We'd been working a program with
Orton and Muraco for a few weeks leading up to Wrestlemania
III. Everything was on cue and we did all the spots. The show
was a definite high spot in my career. It was all downhill
from there!! |
Wrestlemania
III
The
Can-Am Connection (Tom Zenk and Rick Martel) vs. "The Magnificent"
Don Muraco and 'Ace' Cowboy Bob Orton w/ Mr. Fuji
(Tom's account of the events)
Don Muraco and Rick Martel begin the match. Muraco gets himself
stuck in a side headlock, shoots Martel into the ropes and
gets shoulder-blocked down. Muraco backs Martel into the corner,
unloads with heavy punches and knee thrusts. Muraco whips
Martel into the opposite corner, Martel gets out of the way
of a charge and hip tosses Muraco to the mat. Martel leap
frogs himself right into a leg scissors of sorts. One, two,
nope. Martel tags to Tom Zenk and a double monkey flip sends
Muraco down. Orton is now legal. The heels regroup as Zenk
waits impatiently. Both men grapple and now it's Zenk's turn
to get stuck in a side headlock, but he sends Orton into the
ropes and Orton shoulder-blocks him. Zenk recovers and grounds
Orton down with submission holds.
Muraco comes in and nails his own partner as Zenk sidesteps
a punch - a pinning attempt is imminent. One, two, Orton kicks
out. Martel gets tagged back in and works over Orton's left
arm, then tags in Zenk. Muraco gets tagged and distracts Zenk
enough for Orton, on the outside, to deliver a knee to the
back of Zenk. Zenk plays the face in peril as the crowd boos
the heels. Muraco with a neck-breaker leads to a fist from
the second turnbuckle from Orton. One, two, Zenk kicks out.
A whip into the ropes and they both hit head to head. Zenk
lunges towards his corner and tags in Martel. Muraco is tagged
in too. Martel is on fire, as he whips Muraco into a corner.
Muraco goes upside down and over. Now all four men are in
the ring and pandemonium breaks out. Both members of the Can-Am
Connection whip their heel opponents into each other and Muraco
back body drops his own partner. A double dropkick by the
Can-Am on the heels leads to a switch over the top and a high
cross body from Martel to Muraco. One, two, three. Can-Am
the winners in 5:36..
Lots of double-teaming there, but that's what made it fun.
|
The
Can-Am Connection |
Zbyszko
In A Head Lock |
| Dean
S. Planet:
Do you think
is was wrong to let Hogan win that night? |
| Tom
Zenk: Winning
or losing, it's all down to politics. The Hogan-Andre match
at Wrestlemania was the main event but it got blown away by
Steamboat over Macho for the Inter-Continental title. That
made Hogan VERY unhappy, but he got his revenge later. They
took the belt from Steamboat and gave it to Hogan's buddy
Honkey Tonk Man. And that was basically the end of Steamboat's
run in the WWF. |
| Dean
S. Planet:
Is
Rick Martel really that big of a jerk as what I hear? |
| Tom
Zenk: No,
no I like Rick - Rick's a real nice guy. My only dispute with
Rick is that we were part of the same tag team but he cut
his own deal with Vince and lied to me about it. Rick told
me we were getting the same pay - but he was taking twice
as much. When I found out, I left WWF. Otherwise Rick's a
great wrestler and a nice guy. A much better wrestler than
most guys in the business today - but did Rick ever get paid
a million dollars like DDP? |
| Dean
S. Planet:
Who
do you think is the most over-rated wrestler of your era? |
|
| Tom
Zenk: Positively
DDP! Has DDP ever worked Japan? Has Vince ever hired DDP?
The only reason DDP got a job in AWA was because he was willing
to work for free. I heard a few months ago, DDP went to Vince
looking for a job and Vince was too busy to see him!! No,
the only person who ever recognized DDP's 'talent' was his
next door neighbor Eric Bischoff - so what's going on there? |
| Dean
S. Planet: What
do you think of Vince McMahon? |
| Tom
Zenk:
Vince ... Vince was fine but Vince was cheap - he doesn't
pay well. Have you ever heard anyone brag how much they're
earning at WWF? The only money guarantee in my contract with
WWF was $50 a night for TV tapings. Check it out in Dynamite
Kid's book. Vince is only as good as he has to be. And he
still owes me money from Wrestlemania III. |
Tom
Kicks Opponent In Japan |
The
Original High Flyer |
| Dean
S. Planet: Who has been your toughest opponent? |
| Tom
Zenk: The
WCW bookers - they were more concerned with pushing their
sons and their buddies than pushing the real talent. That's
why WCW makes $80 million a year losses and why it's about
to be sold off. So how come it took so long for TBS to find
out? |
| Dean
S. Planet: Which
was a tougher sport to compete in, pro wrestling or body building?
|
| Tom
Zenk:
Well, everything I achieved in bodybuilding was basically
down to me. In wrestling, you don't get anywhere without getting
caught up in politics and egos and fighting for spots. Like
Austin and Goldberg saying, in wrestling you learn to 'Trust
no-one." That's a tough way to live, I reckon. |
| Dean
S. Planet:
In the 80's, who do you think was the best between Hogan,
Martel, and Flair who were all champions of their respective
feds? |
| Tom
Zenk:
Definitely Flair. It's a shame he stayed around too long and
has no legacy in his son. |
| Dean
S. Planet: Which
of your world titles are you most proud of? |
| Tom
Zenk: The
Hart Foundation clued me in back in the WWF - holding a title
meant months on the road without a break and no extra money.
The Harts couldn't wait to drop the tag titles to get back
to a normal schedule. Since then my attitude has been - "Give
THEM the belt and give me the money." |
Rick
Martel, Tom Zenk, and Curt Henning |
Zenk
The Champion |
| Dean
S. Planet:
Do you think there will be a professional wrestler union in
the future? |
| Tom
Zenk: There
has to be - and I'm looking to veterans like Jessie Ventura,
Bret Hart and Roddy Piper who are all outspoken advocates
of a wrestling union. I believe Alex Rodriguez just signed
a contract with the Rangers for $252 million. Yet there isn't
one baseball team, including the New York Yankees, that takes
in half as much money as the WWF. The average salary of a
WWF wrestler is about $700,000, it's not guaranteed and its
less than half the salary of the average major league player
- and only one-fifth the average salary of a player on the
Yankees. How do you explain that? - players unions!! I hear
there's going to be no unions for the XFL either and XFL players
will be making only $35,000-$50,000, plus bonuses -- less
than one-twentieth the average NFL salary. Now I'm sure that
Jessie won't go along with that, Jesse's a union man himself
(Screen Actors Guild) - half his voter base is unionized labor.
And he went on record in Playboy (Nov 1999) calling for hookers
to be unionized - so what's the difference? |
| Dean
S. Planet: What is your take on the murder of Dino
Bravo? |
| Tom
Zenk: I
heard he got shot in his favorite chair fourteen times. I
guess he was in some business deal that went wrong, importing
cigarettes across the border or something. But that's just
hearsay. And it was someone that he knew. He let them in the
house and they shot him in his favorite chair. It's too bad.
Dino was real nice to me, all the time I spent in Montreal.
|
| Dean
S. Planet: Canadian media has accepted pro wrestling
as a sport much more than the American press. Why do you think
there is a difference in beliefs about the validity of the
sport? |
| Tom
Zenk:
I think you still see this in the way Bret Hart kayfabes some
of his newspaper columns. Maybe they just protect the business
better in Canada. |
| Dean
S. Planet: What
was your favorite town to wrestle in? |
| Tom
Zenk :I
liked the North West a lot - and Montreal. And a lot of places
in the south where people asked us to come home and eat with
them, or send some vegetables over to the hotels we stayed
at. How hospitable is that? |
Tom Ready To Rumble
|
Jim Ross Interviews Tom |
| Dean
S. Planet:
As you probably know, Stan Hansen announced his retirement
recently. You two tangled in All Japan and in the WCW. What
was it like wrestling against "The Lariat". |
| Tom
Zenk: Stan
was plain miserable. Wrestling's a dance, and both guys have
to work together to put each other over. But not Stan. Stan
didn't call matches and he ignored all the spots. That meant
he screwed up the match to stop his opponents looking good.
At the same time, it made Stan look strong. I remember Stan
telling Johnny Ace - "Even if you can't get the match over,
you've got to get yourself over." In my opinion, he's a clumsy
stiff worker. He'll take your head off with a clothesline,
then say "Sorry brother, I didn't see properly." I hear he's
ruined his back or something? Poor guy. |
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