In October 1992, WCW booked Tom to a short tour of Japan partnering Jim Neidhart and Chris Benoit in the New Japan Super Grade Tag League II.
In Atlanta, the WCW locker room was in open conflict with Bill Watts over cuts to pay and working conditions. The Steiners were rumored to be leaving for WWF or New Japan. WCW storylines were in disarray and the card for the upcoming Halloween Havoc bore no relation to the storylines being pursued on weekly TV. Dustin Rhodes was in the second year of an undeserved mega-push to the World Championship by his father, WCW booker Dusty Rhodes. Dustin Rhodes would soon be joined by Bill Watts' son Erik in pushes that were motivated by family ties rather than talent.
Prior to the 1991 Supercard, Tom’s Japan bookings had been exclusively with Shohei Baba's All Japan Pro-Wrestling. In undertaking a second WCW-sponsored tour with Inoki's rival New Japan Pro-Wrestling, he was concerned both by old loyalties to Baba and the possible loss of future work with AJPW.
His concerns were only partially alleviated by NJPW’s decision to bill him as “Z-Man” (he was better known to AJPW fans as “Tom Zenk”).
In the tournament itself, Vader and Tatsumi Fujinami had been scheduled to defend their 1991 championship. However, Vader pulled out after a knee operation. In his place Fujinami was partnered by Manabu Nakanishi. Nakanishi, at 220 pounds, had represented Japan in freestyle wrestling at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics (finishing in 11th place) and was being trained by New Japan as a superstar for the late 1990s.
Jushin Liger had also been scheduled to participate but withdrew following a family emergency. Dean Malenko had recently defected from AJPW and was debuting for New Japan in the tournament. Neither Neidhart, Benoit nor Malenko was looking forward to putting Nakanishi over.
Tom and Jim Neidhart were booked to finish last in the series. They made the most of it, playing heels and putting Bam Bam Bigelow over as a face. In all matches Tom or Chris Benoit were booked to do the job, submitting to various finishes including Bigelow and Super Machine's diving headbutts, Masa Chono's Step-over Toe-hold Face-lock (STF), Hiroshi Hase's Northern Lights Suplex, Nakanishi's belly-to-belly suplex and Hashimoto's Leg Lariat.
