"Go Northwest, Young Man"
Background
Tom Zenk began his pro-wrestling career in January 1984 in the renegade promotion USA Pro Wrestling. He then worked briefly in Mid South for promoter Bill Watts, before joining AWA in Minneapolis where he gained recognition as a significant new talent.
But before achieving serious star status in the WWF in 1987, Zenk faced two years of ring work in cold gyms, school halls and armories across the north of the US and Canada.
From August to December, 1984 Zenk worked mainly preliminary matches in the AWA but the work was sporadic, around 2 matches a month, supplemented with work as a bouncer in bars around Minneapolis. It was soon apparent that the AWA was Gagne territory with Verne's son, Greg, destined to remain the promotion's top baby face.
"I decided to head up North and try my luck. I went to Canada where the fans named me most improved wrestler of the year in Canada. From Montreal I came to the Northwest and I hope this area will be my big break." (Tom Zenk Interview Wrestling Ringside, No 19, May 1986).
Zenk's tour with Monreal's International Wrestling Alliance had been organized the help of Rick Martel, whom Zenk had met in the AWA in early 1985. The tour lasted four months over summer 1985. During that time Zenk was based in Montreal working for promoter Frank Valois and headlining cards against King Tonga, Jimmy and Ronnie Garvin, Bob Boucher and others. The pay was lousy - $300 - 400 per week compared with the $750 per night paid by Gagne. But he took the tour in the hope of more regular bookings, increased ring experience, and part of the business called 'paying dues.'
Zenk returned to Minneapolis in August 1985 to appear on the first ever pro wrestling program broadcast on ESPN.
Back in the AWA, Zenk was still mainly booked to preliminary matches. And while he was getting wider exposure on television, he decided to look for main event opportunities elsewhere.
"The Northwest was talked about highly by my former [AWA] partner Curt Hennig. He said that Don Owen is a great promoter and highly respected and recommended" (Wrestling Ringside, No 19, May 1986).
In October 1985, Tom Zenk moved to Portland, Oregon.
“I remember driving up thinking this can’t be right, it’s a supermarket! I couldn’t believe they’d converted a bowling alley into a sports arena.”
Tom Zenk
Portland Days
Don Owen was rare among promoters - a good payoff guy who sometimes slipped a wrestler $5 over their share of the house for "good attitude." He ran wrestling in the Pacific Northwest, out of the Portland office, with the help of his son Barry Owen (interview link). Meanwhile, Dutch Savage ran the NWA office in Washington State, with main event wrestlers working out of both offices.
After gauging crowd reaction to Zenk, Don decided to give the young wrestler a push. Zenk began appearing weekly on "Portland Wrestling" (KPTV 12 Portland) also known as "Big Time Wrestling" (KTZZ Channel 22, Seattle), at last main eventing with major angles written around him. The show was televised on Saturdays before a paying audience in the 'Portland Sports Arena' and broadcast from 11.00 to 12.30 the same evening with commentary by Don Coss (interview link).
The Portland Sports 'Arena' was a converted bowling alley that could seat about 3,000 fans.
With a wrestling ring mounted in the middle, there wasn't much clearance for aerial work, as Zenk recalls -
“Check how far down the lights hang. I was always worried I was going to fry someone when I bodyslammed them.”
Zenk's initial matches were singles or partnering PNW Heavyweight Champion Ricky Vaughn (later 'Lance Von Erich'). Shortly into Zenk's tour, Vaughn left for Texas and the PNW Heavyweight title passed to Bobby Jaggers, the federation's top heel. With a heel as champion, the way was clear for a major 'babyface' contender. Enter Tom Zenk.
'Run-ins and stretcher out'
Through October, November and December 1985, Tom Zenk established himself as the rising young star of the Pacific North West, building up an unbroken record of wins against the federation's major heels, Rip Oliver, Karl Steiner, Tim Flowers, Moondog Moretti and 'Mean' Mike Miller. The finishes were rarely clean. Run-ins by Jaggers and Oliver and frequent double teaming meant that Zenk often left the arena by stretcher, ("Rip's Carry Out Service") leaving the crowds shocked, angry and ready for more....
Match by match, heat was generated for the ultimate showdown between Zenk and Jaggers. As his unbroken record grew Jaggers, 'offered a $3,000 bounty' for 'the first man to defeat Tom Zenk,' with the bounty increasing by $500 every week that Zenk remained undefeated. By December the bounty had risen to $7,000 with Zenk still playing it 'scientific' yet still undefeated.
Meanwhile, Zenk was drawing wider attention for his PNW work. Wrestling Ringside reporter Ken Hamblin tracked the young wrestler down in Portland and reported -
Experience isn't the only thing that Tom had on his mind when he signed to wrestle in the Northwest. "I'd like a Northwest Heavyweight title shot sooner or later, but I guess I'm going to have to earn it and prove myself with my wrestling ability."This tremendous ability includes fantastic flying maneuvers. "I've really practiced a lot on drop-kicks, body blocks and the lot. I've put a lot of work into aerial maneuvers, getting as much height as possible to make more of an impact on my opponent (Wrestling Ringside No 19, May 1986).
Don Owen had asked Zenk "What's the most spectacular move you can do for TV." It was important for the wrestlers to show their best moves on TV to help sell tickets for the arena matches. Zenk came up with the "Sky-High" drop-kick. It involved leaping vertically from a standing position over the head of Scott Doring to drop-kick his opponent.
Zenk's flying dropkick from the top turnbuckle also got its first airing in PNW at a time when Steamboat's flying bodypress was considered 'state of the art' ring technique.
While a singles title remained Zenk's primary objective, he was also deepening his experience in tag work. According to Hamblin -
Just because he's gunning for a singles crown, you shouldn't count Zenk out of the tag team competition. "Curt Hennig and I were a great tag team and I love that form of wrestling. As for a partner, I haven't found one. Mike Miller and Moondog Moretti have the belts, and I would love to lift them from around their waists and bring them back to the fans."
In fact, a tag partner was already on the interstate to Portland - but not the one that Zenk would have chosen.
Fighting for spots
From October to December 1985 Don Owen and Tom Zenk worked to promote Zenk as the top baby face in the PNW.
Zenk remained undefeated through the remainder of 1986, despite a 'bounty' and various attempts to 'cripple' him by PNW's top heels led by Bobby Jaggers.
Match by match, heat was generated for the ultimate showdown between Zenk and Jaggers, in a title match scheduled for January 1986.
Wrestlers were paid a share of the house, so there was always an incentive to move to a promotion that drew bigger houses and bigger paydays. Houses had been building as the feud developed between Jaggers and Zenk. Now Billy-Jack and 'cousin' Brady Boone returned to Portland to 'partner' Zenk in tag action against Jaggers and the recently returned Rip Oliver.
The returning Billy-Jack told Zenk "I'm the Hulk Hogan of the Northwest - that's how over I am." Billy considered himself the 'natural' main event of the PNW - despite the top spot being currently filled by Zenk.
Haynes brought Brady Boone (Dean Peters) along to tag with him against Jaggers and Oliver. His plan was for Zenk to partner him in tag matches to ease himself into the currrent angles. Zenk should then quietly return to preliminaries.
The bottom line, however, was that top spot meant getting paid the largest share of the house, and Zenk had no intention of stepping aside.
On the other hand, Haynes had 'nomadic tendencies to test the patience of even his biggest fans" not to mention the 'loyalty' of promoters (Inside Wrestling, October 1986). In particular, he had a reputation with Don Owens for sudden departures even in the middle of a massive push.
Haynes was soon claiming he and Rip Oliver had taken over the booking as part of their deal with the promoters. Possibly Don Owen had decided to keep Haynes happy, knowing he wouldn't stay long beyond Christmas.
Through December, Haynes' main-evented matches against Jaggers and Oliver. Meanwhile Don Owen continued pushing Zenk. To pull this off, throughout December, the official program, Northwest Wrestling News and Views, ceased to differentiate 'Main Events' and 'Preliminary' matches in its "Schedule of Events".
Early January 1986 saw Haynes back tagging with Zenk. By late January, Zenk was headlining as both PNW Heavyweight Champion and PNW Tag Champion (with Scott Doring) while Haynes was back working preliminaries. By late February, Haynes had departed on a sudden tour of Japan.
Zenk's own choice of tag partner was former high school friend Scott Doring, one-time Mr. Teenage America. Doring had been two years ahead of Zenk in college in Robbinsdale and one of Zenk's inspirations for becoming a bodybuilder.Scott had beaten Lee Haney (5 times Mr. Olympia) back in 1980 when Doring took 2nd place in the Mr. USA contest.
Doring and Zenk had both together gone though Verne Gagne's training camp, with Doring going on to work as Rick Steiner's first partner in Montreal in summer 1984.
Doring was staying with his mother's family in Portland and picking up work with PNW when Zenk met him again in late 1985.
Their title spell began on December 14, 1985 when Zenk and Doring defeated Mike Miller and Moondog Moretti for the PNW tag team title.
PNW Champions
PNW Tag Team Champions Scott Doring and Tom Zenk
Tom Zenk and Scott Doring won the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship on December 14, 1985, defeating the team of Moondog Moretti and “Mean” Mike Miller. They held the regional tag titles for about a month before losing them to Bobby Jaggers and Rip Oliver on January 23, 1986.
Subsequently, on January 21, 1986, the scenario that Owen had set in motion back in October, reached a climax at the sold out "SuperStar Extravaganza III", Portland Memorial Coliseum.
One of the wrestlers recalls that "the people there really seemed to pack the big arena. They promoted it as an "Extravaganza" - bigger than life as they knew it in the bowling alley! " The card was headlined by Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes but for many in the crowd the outcome of the feud between Zenk v. Jaggers, that had been building all year, was what they'd come to see. "Ric Flair was watching the match from behind the curtain. The other guys (Dusty,T.A., etc) were just putting in time."
Once again, the finish wasn't clean. Immediately after Zenk's victory, Jaggers and Rip Oliver double-teamed the new champion, 'beating him unconscious.' The Zenk-Jaggers feud had now reached full pitch. "People in the audience were screaming and crying when Zenk was carried out by stretcher. Jaggers and Oliver wanted to get heat on themselves because hot heels draw money. And people wanted to see the baby faces really kick ass on heels they hated so badly."
It was late January 1986. After four months in Portland, Tom Zenk had risen to the top of the PNW. He was the federation's top babyface, he was undefeated and held the NWA's two major Northwest titles. He was over with the crowd, he was doing his job selling tickets, and he had unfinished business with Oliver and Jaggers that would see him through the Spring. He had fended off Billy Jack Haynes and was tagging with his best friend and training partner Scott Doring. His girlfriend was in town and they had found an apartment in Milwaukee, OR about half a mile from town. Tom Zenk was having fun.
Bigger, stronger, having fun
Tom's schedule involved 12 days on and 2 days off each fortnight. Matches took him to small local gyms in high schools, cold and draughty armories, county fairgrounds with the lingering smell of livestock - and every weekend, back to the converted 'sports arena' in north Portland, for the Saturday night taping of "Portland Wrestling."
The thing that Zenk liked most about working in the PNW - apart from the mountains, the promoter and the neighborly community - was that no venue was more than 2 hours from the apartment in Milwaukee, Oregon, that he shared with his girlfriend and their dog 'Mad Max.
Matches were the best of three falls and could last up to an hour. To manage this, a wrestler had to have stamina and intelligence, as well as size.
After the Gym session, Zenk returned to his apartment to relax and listen to music. Then it was time to hit the road. Most cards started around 8 pm - but Don Owen was happy so long as they arrived in time for their scheduled match. Since they were generally main-eventing, that was nearly always the last match of the night.
Medford was the farthest they traveled. PNW program-notes warned that cards were subject to change through "injury, illness, the hazards of travel or the act of God." On their trips to venues in the snow, Owen warned them to look out for 'black ice' on the mountain roads. They drove everywhere in Zenk's Buick Park Avenue with the tires studded when the weather was bad. Ed 'Moondog' Moretti, a member of the 'Clan' (with whom Zenk and Doring were feuding) sometimes rode along. The Buick had a good stereo and amp. Music was The Doors, Grassroots, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Beatles, Stones, and Gary Lewis and the Playboys. They ate on the road and most nights they were home by midnight.
Not far from Zenk's apartment was the infamous Bomber Motel - rent-by-the-month apartments - and the heart of Portland's night life. Many of the wrestlers started out their tours renting there. The motel drive was U-shaped and girls showed up with beer, circling through the drive looking to party with the boys after the weekend shows.
The greatest mistake of my wrestling career
The Pacific North West was providing Zenk with a good living, in a family-based promotion, in a friendly community, in a spectacular part of the country. The only bad spot had been Billy Jack - but, by February, Billy had left the promotion as Don Owen anticipated.
Yet by March, Zenk was heading for Montreal
The International Wrestling Alliance (IWA) based in Montreal was looking for new talent to help fend off WWF who were promoting heavily in Quebec. Rick Martel had a part share in the IWA with Gino Brito and Dino Bravo. He rang Zenk, promising $1,000 a week against the $700 he was earning in Portland - and a promise of occasional tag partnerships with Martel and Bravo.
On March 9 , 1986, in anticipation of his move to Canada, Zenk dropped the singles title to Jaggers in Findley, Washington. They stretchered him out courtesy of “Rip’s Carry Out Service.” That way, Don was leaving the door open for Zenk to return – in case Martel swerved him.
In Montreal, the bigger pay day and the tag opportunities Martel promised never eventuated - but by the time Zenk realized this, it was already too late and too expensive to go back.
His departure from Portland hadn't been acrimonious. When he gave Don his five weeks notice, Owen had offered an extra $1,000 to stay. Don accepted the inevitable with one regret - "Tom, we never got you beat!" They were disappointed and their feelings hurt - but the Owens always acted with great generosity.
It was something Zenk tried to repay in a small way later, when he returned to Portland in February 1988 to support Don Owen on the night Billy Jack Haynes opened his rival Oregon Wrestling Federation.
Epilogue · 1988
Return to the PNW, May 1988
In 1988 Tom Zenk returned to the Pacific Northwest to support Don Owen after Billy Jack Haynes opened the rival Oregon Wrestling Federation.
Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer for March 28th, 1988 wrote —
OREGON — Billy Jack Haynes is getting ready to run opposition to Don Owen in Portland. Rip Oliver and Mike Miller have both quit working for Owen and are expected to start working for Haynes in a few weeks. Kevin Kelly, the Memphis Big Bubba (Fred Ottman/Shockmaster/Tugboat/Typhoon for those who don't know), JT Southern, a heel Chavo Guerrero (who is expected to feud with Brady Boone), and also Curt Hennig and Tom Zenk have been given offers. Hennig likely will not come in, as he is content in the AWA (‘well, as content as anyone can be working for Verne Gagne’), and Don Owen has already billed Zenk as appearing in his promotion.
There's also talk of Brad Rheingans possibly working for Haynes, and Joey Jackson has been discussed as well since he just quit working for Owen, although it's suspected that's because he's going to the WWF as a jobber. Matt Borne is taking Miller's place working for Owen. Al Madrial and Abbuda Dein are headed in, and Brian Adams should be back from Japan soon. The promotion is going to be called the OWWF (Oregon-Washington Wrestling Federation) and they have a wrestling school set up as well.”
Dave Meltzer · Wrestling Observer · March 28, 1988
According to Tom Zenk, “Billy rang me and offered me $1,200 a week to come and work for him. I told him ‘No Billy, I'm loyal to Don.’ He told me, ‘Well I'm calling you a punk. You're nothing but a punk. I'm telling you, face to face, man to man, you're a punk.’ On the opening night of Billy Jack's fed, I drove up to Portland for the rival card that Don was promoting on the same night. I think Billy's promotion lasted only 4 months.” (It closed 7/17/88).
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