However, no sooner were the papers signed than it became clear that, promises notwithstanding, those further down the line at NWA had no real plans for Zenk.
The promise
A debut without a plan
The best 'gimmick' the NWA could come up with was to debut him as "The Zodiac Man" a caped crusader throwing star-signs to the audience in much the same way as "The Candyman" later distributed candies. Zenk quickly vetoed the idea. He debuted instead as 'The Z-Man' with no costume — just plain white trunks. For his debut, 9/12/89 at NWA's Clash of Champions ("Fall Brawl '89") Colombia, SC, Zenk was booked against The Cuban Assassin, David Sierra. Zenk regarded the debut as essentially a 'dud match.' Sierra called the match but didn't do much calling or flying around. As Dave Meltzer observed at the time — "Nobody 'knew' Z-Man and he just showed up out of nowhere with no build up" Things were made worse when Ross and Cornette pulled a "Who is he routine?" in their commentary. Since a great number of people recognized Zenk, this was simply insulting the fans. For Meltzer "It was too routine a performance for a debut match... Zenk has the potential to be a star here, but only if he's spectacular in the ring." Despite all their promises, the NWA had done nothing to provide Zenk with an auspicious beginning in the promotion.
Things began to improve in January 1990 following a reshuffle of the booking committee. The new committee, which operated from January to March 1990, comprised Jim Ross, Kevin Sullivan, Ric Flair, Terry Funk and Jim Cornette. Ole Anderson was out, and Jim Herd and Jim Barnett were no longer taking as active a role in booking decisions. The power now lay with Flair, Cornette and Sullivan in terms of putting matches together, with Ross and Funk in production of the TBS and syndicated television shows respectively (WON 2/1/90).
In December 1989, Flair had seen the potential of teaming Zenk and Pillman and while Flair was chief booker 'The Z-man and Flyin' Brian' received a solid push. By late January The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (1/22/90) was reporting "Zenk and Pillman are looking way better as a team than anyone expected... Rock'n Roll aren't going to cut it this time around. Zenk and Pillman fit the same niche and are younger, fresher looking and tons better in the ring to the fans."
After several months of build up, Tom Zenk and Brian Pillman won the finals of an 8-team tournament, on 2/12/90, to become the United States Tag Team Champions.
Meanwhile Flair, who now dominated the booking committee, was using his position to push himself with matches over the younger talent.
In late January, early February, Zenk was booked for two matches against Flair. In the first (in Greensville, 1/23) Contemporary accounts and the crowd response suggested that Zenk made the stronger impression, while Flair's performance was described as below his usual standard. After a confusing start, with both men playing face, the crowd was backing Zenk. Apparently frustrated and seeking crowd support, Flair backed Zenk into the turnbuckle for a series of trade mark slaps to the chest. These were delivered so stiffly that they cut Zenk's chest and drew blood. Out of character, Flair turned heel, using Zenk's trunks to reverse a cradle for the pin. In their second match (2/4 Texas) Flair played heel from the start and called the match. The two men never met in singles ring action again. On 2/17 Flair booked himself to win over the smaller Pillman. Pillman, as Flair's protege and always anxious to please, worked more actively than the independent Zenk to put Flair across. As a consequence of their performances both Zenk and Pillman became the top candidates for the Fourth Horseman spot (WON 3/5/90) though Flair favored Pillman, the smaller of the two. By this time, Flair was under increasingly heavy criticism for booking matches to make himself look good. The practice was beginning to cause morale problems among the rest of the workers. The Observer, generally sympathetic to Flair, noted — "Part of the problem from [the] management side is that the [booking] committee all consists of active performers and the ego problems are another can of worms... Let's just say for example that the booker of the NWA [i.e., Ric Flair] was also potentially its biggest drawing card... and he pushed himself. Those underneath... will still complain and point out the weaknesses. Then you have a management that joins in and yet the guy is still being pushed as the top guy while everyone tries to shoot him down." (WON 2/26/90).
In response to increasing criticism, Flair resigned as NWA booker in the first week of March. Jim Herd and Jim Barnett began to take a more active role in booking decisions.
A team begins to click
Meanwhile, The Z-Man and Flyin' Brian had been generating considerable heat across the country defending the US Tag Team Titles against the Freebirds and later the Midnight Express (Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton). Zenk and Pillman actively sought more work with the Midnights since it was readily acknowledged that Bobby Eaton was among the best workers in the circuit. However the Midnights and their 'manger' Jim Cornette were already struggling to save their spots within the organization.
The heat in a feud being developed between Zenk, Pillman and the Midnights increased markedly following a match on 2/28 in Altoona, PA (broadcast on 3/10) when an interesting new twist was introduced. Towards the end of the match, Zenk went for his trade-mark sleeper-hold finisher on Lane. Cornette interfered, hitting Zenk with a 'loaded' tennis racquet. Zenk was thrown from the ring while Lane, Eaton and Cornette triple-teamed Pillman, 'injuring' his throat with the racquet and 'stealing' the tag belts. The fan reaction was enormous.
The heat
The new booking committee, however, decided against pushing the Pillman-injury angle, arguing that they didn't want to play up damage to internal organs or exploit Pillman's throat problems as a child.
This was later recognized as a major booking mistake since the effect was to tone down the heat in a very promising angle. "Zenk and Pillman vs Midnights had a hot angle, but most of the heat was killed in the boardroom and the rest of the heat was done away with this weekend when Zenk and Pillman [were booked to steal]... the belts back" (WON 4/2/90)
In fact, the Committee's decision to tone down the angle reflected a reluctance to increase the profile of Jim Cornette and the Midnight Express. By March Jim Crockett had resumed some kind of power role and the booking committee now comprised Crockett, Jim Herd, Jim Ross, Jim Barnett, Jim Cornette, Kevin Sullivan, Wahoo McDaniel, Jody Hamilton and Terry Funk. As a former ally of Flair, Cornette's influence was in rapid decline as was that of Kevin Sullivan. In fact, The Observer (2/4/90) noted "Cornette is fading from the company at this point..." The mistake of downplaying the Pillman-injury angle became apparent in New York on 4/26 when Zenk and Pillman defended their tag titles against the Midnights in a straight title defence. With all heat now removed from the feud, the hard core Meadowlands crowd supported the challengers and booed the champs. Nonetheless, both teams turned in a four star performance with Zenk and Pillman successfully defending the belts.
East Coast audiences, in particular New York and Philadelphia crowds, were recognized as having 'seen everything' and being openly hostile to 'faces.' (According to Jessie Venture "They boo even Santa Claus in Philly!"). Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace had received similar treatment earlier on the same card and Zenk was to receive a second dose later in the evening when he subbed for Ricky Morton in a match between the Rock'n Roll Express and Freebirds. Zenk's response was (a) philosophical — "You don't swim upstream. They chuck lemons... you make lemonade. I was making money. They'd paid for their tickets and could shout whatever they liked" — and (b) professional "You don't let the crowd lead the match. When they shout 'boring' grab a headlock and hold on to it and really bore them. Then give them a high spot. You lead the match. You control it at your pace. Otherwise you get carried away and make mistakes."
Nine days later (5/9) in Syracuse, NY, the U.S. tag champions turned in another four star performance in a successful title defence against The Wild Samoans. A series of matches against the Samoans began to rekindle some of the heat lost from the Midnight Express feud. By this time the Midnight Express were having serious problems renegotiating their contracts, problems that were only resolved within days of the "Capital Combat" PPV.
The Ole factor
Then, in the first week of May, 1990 the NWA formally announced the selection of Ole Anderson ('Rock") as new NWA chief booker over candidates such as Bill Watts and Dusty Rhodes
The booking committee, led by Flair, which had ousted Anderson in January 1990, had considered him too old to be wrestling and removed him from active ring work in February 1990. His unsuitability for continued ring work had been made clear for all when the Freebirds — settling an old score — 'blew him up' in a match in Dayton, Ohio. The Observer (2/26/90) welcomed the Committee's decision, commenting that while "Ole is awesome in interviews... [we] wish we didn't have to watch him wrestle." In normal circumstances Anderson should have faded out to make way for younger talent. Indeed an 'I Quit" match had been booked between Scott Steiner and Ole Anderson that would have ended Anderson's career. But the match didn't take place. Instead, in an unexpected twist, Anderson was back and bitter and apparently gunning for what WON described as NWA's "stable of experienced top quality workers."
In the same edition that announced Anderson's appointment, The Observer warned its readers, with astonishing accuracy — "Expect... Tom Zenk to be putting guys over with Anderson as booker" (5/21/90).
Anderson apparently believed that, Zenk, with his 'defection' from WWF and supposed 'nomadism' in AWA, PNW, Japan, etc., was 'footloose' and possibly a 'quitter' — a 'weak link' who could be forced out if enough pressure was applied. "It was like a domino. Break one and all will fall."
"Putting other guys over" or jobbing talented to less talented workers was a recognized method of pressuring a wrestler out. 'Jobbing' took heat away from a star and often demoralized him. In April, Shane Douglas had left NWA rather than continue losing heat by putting Mark Callas over, arguing that "If you lose too many matches on TV millions of people see it. After a while, people stop following you."
The first clear sign that Anderson was specifically targetting Zenk came when Zenk was reported 'injured' on 5/12 in a Detroit match and was replaced (by Paul Drake) for a scheduled 5/13 return match with Pillman against the Samoans in Chicago. Zenk had in fact 'no-showed' the Chicago match to return to Minneapolis for family reasons. Anderson retaliated with an unprecedented $2,500 fine. As the Observer Newsletter commented "Since no-showing at that time, and even now, was a somewhat frequent occurrence without fines anywhere near that level, Zenk's lawyers protested to management" (WON, 8/20/90). Zenk's attorney had business connections to Ted Turner and the matter was quickly resolved in Zenk's favor. Jim Herd warned Anderson to back off. Anderson complied, but only temporarily.
Anderson's next move was to require all NWA talent to relocate to Atlanta. Under Zenk's contract the company had undertaken to fly him home to Minneapolis whenever he had two clear days in the booking schedule. Anderson revoked this in the hope of applying additional pressure.
Zenk and Pillman had been employed under a contract system introduced by Jim Herd. Herd believed in picking winners and making long term investments in them. Anderson, on the other hand, believed that long term contracts gave too much security to the wrestlers and too little power to the bookers.
The young talent in NWA saw their contracts as a reward for years of hard work in the journeymen ranks. If they owed loyalty to anyone, it was primarily to the company and men like Herd and Barnett who recognized and nurtured their talent. They owed nothing to Anderson and generally regarded him as an uninspirational old-style manager who rewarded cronyism rather than talent and hard work. In short, they weren't 'Ole's guys' For his part, Anderson believed he could make a star out of anyone and regarded talent like Zenk and Pillman to be interchageable with that of Gibson and Morton or Rich and Landell — depending on who he chose to push. And since Morton and Gibson were available at $75,000 why pay Pillman and Zenk twice that amount to stay around? In Anderson's reasoning it was a two for one sale. For one of their salaries he could get two of his guys and push them in their place.
Anderson began to recruit older and cheaper talent under less secure conditions of employment — men who 'owed Anderson from before' — in short, 'Ole's guys,' who could be relied on to be pliable and loyal because Anderson had the power to make or break them. The names he recruited included Paul Orndorff, The Iron Sheik, Buddy Landell, Bob Orton and The Junkyard Dog. The Observer noted — " It appears we are going back in time, about eight-to-ten years to be exact, with the return of all the "old favorites" with the emphasis on the word old and not favorites. Looking at the whole thing collectively it isn't a good sign... " Letters to The Observer criticized Anderson for "emptying the old grapplers' home." and talked of a "Seniors Tour" in the "Nostalgia Wrestling Alliance."
Capital Combat
Stepping up the pressure on Zenk and Pillman, Anderson now booked them to drop the US tag belts to the Midnight Express at 'Capital Combat', May 19, 1990. Zenk and Pillman responded by turning in a performance that ranked among the top ten performances of 1990. Their tactic was to make it glaringly obvious to everyone, through their perfromance, what was going on in the NWA.
The Observer reported — "Midnight Express won the US Tag team titles from Tom Zenk and Brian Pillman in 20.19. Jim Cornette was placed in a cage at ringside... Pillman's chest was all bruised up before the match even started courtesy of working most of the past week with Flair. Good fast action all the way. In some spots the guys seemed slightly flat, I would guess because of the heat [no air conditioning]. Still, it was the best match on the card. Zenk and Pillman did most of their best moves early. Midnights gained control when Pillman missed a tackle at the 10 minute mark and they worked him over for most of the rest of the way... Midnights did their usual hot moves, including two or three new ones while working Pillman over. The hot tag to Zenk was the biggest pop live of the entire night. After Zenk kicked out of the rocket launcher and Eaton missed a tackle into the corner, Zenk put the sleeper on. It turned into a four-way and Lane gave Zenk an enzuiguiri (karate kick to the back of the head, although it looked more like the upper back) and Eaton cradled Zenk for the win [*** and three quarters.] "
Within weeks, despite their good showing, the highly successful tag team of "The Z-Man and Flyin' Brian" had been disbanded by Anderson while Morton and Gibson were being pushed in their place.
With Anderson's intentions now clear and Zenk refusing to quit ('until hell freezes over') Anderson began jobbing him out to an endless succession of 'hot heels' (Vader, Hansen, Vicious, Callas, etc). The Observer reported (6/25/90) that "Morale is pretty bad because everyone is so unsure of what their spot is." By June, Pillman — despite his friendship with Flair — had joined Zenk in jobbing to Callas, Vicious and others.
Zenk and Pillman were now receiving dramatically less push than the veteran Tommy Rich though "the fans have been rejecting Rich since his return last summer.' The Observer (6/4/90) reported that there "appears there will be a renewed push for Tommy Rich, while Tom Zenk, Norman and Cactus Jack don't appear to be seeing a whole lot of push... Pillman [is] booked mainly with the Iron Sheik and Mean Mark. That could mean lost in the shuffle but it may mean being shuffled to the bottom of the deck, but [it] doesn't look like he'll be keeping the high face spot either." By mid June, Mick Foley had had enough. The Observer (6/18/1990) reported "Cactus Jack finished up on Sunday night in Sunrise FL. Ole Anderson was going to job him out so he decided it would be best to quit. It appears both Brian Pillman and Tom Zenk are going to be phased down and out respectively" — with more than a year left to run on their contracts.
Though split up for their next PPV appearance (6/13 Clash of Champions — 'Coastal Crush' — Citadel, Charleston, SC) Zenk and Pillman continued to put in solid professional performances. Zenk unexpectedly found himself partnering Mike Rotunda against the Samoans without the benefit of any storyline. Zenk and Rotunda won in 5.27. Dave Meltzer reported — " Finish saw Rotunda thrown over the top rope behind the ref's back. Fatu then gave Zenk a Samoan drop and splashed onto him off the middle rope. Rotunda then pulled Zenk out of the ring behind the ref and Fatu's back and switched places. When Fatu picked Rotunda up, Rotunda 'surprised' him with a cradle. Good finish." Pillman was booked against Mean Mark Callas and lost. Having missed a spot he received considerable criticism. The Steiner Brothers, also under considerable pressure from Anderson, showed the strain and fought openly with him backstage. The Steiners had expected to retain their belts at Clash but were instead booked to lose them to Doom. They rewarded Anderson with a not very clean finish.
After "Coastal Crush" Anderson removed Zenk from the booking schedule for almost a month while hiring two new 'faces' — Tim Horner ('The Star Blazer') and Brad Armstrong ("The Candyman"). Both these men had worked for Anderson before and were willing to come in at cheaper rates. Anderson told Zenk he had nothing for him, expecting him to 'take the hint.' But it was summer, Zenk had an empty schedule and the checks were still rolling in. So he didn't take the hint. He reportedly told Anderson "Thanks for the time off" and went home to spend June on the sun-deck.
With the alleged no-show, the fine, the engagement of lawyers, the loss of the tag belts, the disbanded tag team, the enforced spell away and a squash to Vader booked for July — this must have been an extremely stressful time. If Zenk had time to reflect on the first two months of Andersons' tenure, it must have been clear what was to come for as long as Anderson was booker — reduced bookings (Zenk was absent from NWA cards from 6/13 to 7/4) and an increasing number of losses (50% of all matches).
Returning to NWA in July, Zenk hung on despite continuing pressure and harassment from Anderson. He found support among some of the veterans, including Harley Race who told Zenk — following a match where both men had worked to put each other over — "If you know how to work, they can never kill you off. And kid, you know how to work. Don't ever forget that. Keep taking what you have to take and do what you have to do — but never quit."
"Taking what you have to take" now included being booked to put over Vader at the Great American Bash '90, Baltimore Arena, Baltimore, MA on 7/7. NWA contracts stipulated that all finishes were final. If Zenk refused the match precisely as it had been booked, then Anderson finally had grounds for termination. Zenk took the match and worked to buff his body to make it obvious they were deliberately crushing one of the top babyfaces instead of using a jobber. Wrestlers and smarts, at least, would know what was going on.
The match was scheduled to last just over 5 minutes but after 2 minutes Anderson gave the signal to 'go home.' Again, this was a recognized way for a booker to humiliate a worker by screwing the match. As The Observer reported (box below), with no time for the match to develop, it simply became a squash.
Summary
In the old-style regional federations, personal 'loyalty' and subservience to the booker/promoter had always been the key to survival. In mid 1990 Anderson was trying to resuscitate this old-style atmosphere in the NWA stacking it with middle aged wrestlers ('Ole's guys') who had grown up in the old federations, were cheap, expendible and above all knew their place. In this context young wrestlers like Pillman and Zenk, who owed Anderson nothing and hoped to get on through talent and hard work rather than partonage and cronyism, were regarded as 'too independent', 'too expensive', 'troublesome' and even 'rebellious'.
Tom Zenk, after years of hard work and independence, having finally scored one of wrestling's glittering prizes — a secure two year contract with a six figure salary — now found his career actively and arbitrarily undermined for reasons unrelated to his talent or work rate. It was a stressful time but Zenk struggled to keep the stress out of his ring performance. When things seemed particularly grim he adhered to Harley Race's advice and his own natural instinct to " take what you have to take and do what you have to do — but never quit!"
It goes a long way to explaining Zenk's capacity to withstand Anderson's onslaught (and Anderson's resulting anger and frustration) that Zenk never regarded wrestling as a matter of life or death. If Anderson refused to recognize his talent and instead "beat him like a rented mule" Zenk was prepared to take it on the chin and smile, as long as the checks kept coming in, If he needed reassurance about his ring abilities, he could turn to veterans in the business like Race, Herd and Barnett. Or simply listen to the crowd decibels as he entered an arena. And after the matches there were always the parties. He may not have been NWA's current pushed 'star' but in the bars and at the parties, the crush was always around him and around Pillman — not Flair, and never Anderson. He and Pillman could still put up more numbers than any of the 'pushed' wrestlers.
Pin me and pay me — but you’ll never make me quit.
The pressure
Anderson wanted to force out Zenk and the other young talent contracted by Jim Herd (Executive VP, NWA). Anderson planned to replace them with ring veterans (guys who 'owed' Ole) plus 'green and cheap' workers recruited on a limited or no contract basis.
The Observer (8/13/1990) confirmed that, under Anderson, there would be "no more guaranteed money contracts for wrestlers when the current pacts expire, sometime next spring or summer... Without guaranteed money contracts and being paid on the houses... all but a few wrestlers would probably want to make the switch [to Titan]. I expect early next year that some of the guys under contract will be phased down and out while greener and cheaper talent will be brought in for the same spots. In fact one could make that assumption just looking at the 9/5 Clash line up." The Clash of Champions XII card included new and cheap talent in almost all the main event matches.
Despite critical and popular success, the tag team of Z-Man and Flyin' Brian had been disbanded by Anderson and the uncontracted Rock'n Roll Express brought in to replace them. In solo matches Zenk was being booked against veterans like Buddy Landell, Dutch Mantell and The Iron Sheik or green talent like Zan Panzer (the son of Gene Anderson — Ole's former partner in "The Minnesota Wrecking Crew"). He was tagged with the newly recruited Tim Horner and Brad Armstrong, while Pillman was teamed with Tommy Rich. Rich was receiving a greater push than either Zenk or Pillman, despite his proven failure to get over with the fans.
Anderson also brought in a series of 'monster heels' — Sid Vicious, Mark Callas, Vader, Stan Hansen, etc and booked the contracted workers, particularly Zenk and Pillman, to put them over. Zenk was booked to lose to Vader through August 1990.
The Japanese promoters wouldn't permit either Vader or Hansen to be defeated in the US. In booking Zenk for defeat by Vader and Hansen, Anderson was not only removing heat from Zenk in the US but, at the same time killing the reputation he had made for himself in Japan. A letter in The Observer in August (8/13) questioned Anderson's booking practices — in particular "Letting the dull Van Vader squash Zenk was..a surprise. Vader is all hat and no skill." Others were equally skeptical — "Big Van Vader is nothing but pure WWF" and " I don't think Vader will get over in the NWA".
On 8/6, Anderson temporarily reconvened the tag team of Zenk and Pillman — but only as a vehicle to put across Sid Vicious. A title match was arranged between Zenk and Pillman and the Midnight Express and 'abandoned' mid-match when Vicious ran in, attacking everyone in ther ring -
Before his arrival, TV audiences had a momentary glimpse of what they might have been seeing if Anderson were pushing NWA's real talent — "A solid three and and a half star match" (WON 8/30)."Match was real good until it was halted" (WON 8/13).
August 6, 1990 — NWA match between Tom Zenk and Brian Pillman vs. the Midnight Express; interrupted by Sid Vicious, causing the match to be abandoned.
Another of Anderson's 'monster heels' was his old school friend, Stan Hansen. Initially Anderson had booked Paul Orndorff against Hansen for Clash XII (9/5). Hansen was already a millionaire through his work in Japan -"the most miserable millionaire in the world" — but had little profile among US fans. However, among wrestlers, Hansen was notorious as a stiff worker and brawler. Despite playing heel, Hansen rarely called a match. His opponents were forced to work as best they could with little co-operation from him. Orndorff refused to job for Hansen on tv and quit. Instead of choosing one of NWA innumerable jobbers, Anderson booked Zenk for another humiliating squash.
The Observer (9/17) protested — "Stan Hansen pinned Tom Zenk in 3:18 with a lariat. Hansen worked fast and stiff. It was fine given the time limitations since it was all action, but for the life of me if I had a guy who was under contract to earn $156,000 per year (like Zenk is) who is a pretty decent worker, I'd have at least made this a competitive match. Hansen obviously needed to get over in the end, but if he got a clean win, having a good match and winning would help him just as much. And destroying Zenk in this fashion when he can mean more in a tag team with Pillman (which they are putting back together again) and given his contract is about as smart as throwing $3,000 each week into a furnace... Tom Zenk filled in for Paul Orndorff who was taken off the card either because he wasn't going to do the job for Hansen on television... or [they] just filled Zenk in in the place."
By September, it was clear to wrestlers, wrestling journalists and, increasingly, NWA's executives that Anderson's appointment had been a disastrous mistake. "Less people are going to house shows... Cable ratings have been good not because of improved booking but because Herd has been able to get TBS to keep the shows' time slots more consistent." In house shows, the "B" team to which Zenk and Pillman had been 'relegated' were bringing in consistently better houses than Anderson's "A" Team.
Serious disagreements began to develop among senior NWA management. The Observer reported "Jim Herd and Ole Anderson aren't seeing eye-to-eye about usage of older talent like Bob Armstrong, Buddy Roberts, Ivan Koloff and even Stan Hansen.
Following publication of the card for Halloween Havoc 1990 — The Observer again protested "The line-up for the 10/27 PPV makes it more than obvious that the NWA is trying to phase down the guys under contract and replace them with cheaper and less experienced talent. For example, on this card, the Midnights who have contracts, are phased down to the opener with mainly non-contract guys in the second through seventh match. Pillman and Zenk aren't even on the show... The idea is obviously with the exception of Sting, Luger, Vicious, and to a lesser extent Flair, Steiners, Doom and maybe Arn Anderson, to make sure the contract guys don't get hot or have any noticeable following so when they are cut loose at the end of their contracts it isn't a loss. So this is the business reason for these unknowns being pushed, simply because even though the NWA is committed to paying the other guys anyway, the new guys will work cheaper in 1991.. This is the same recipe Verne Gagne used for his great success [in] the latter part of the decade". (WON 9/24/90)
Herb Kunze in Canada was among those wondering aloud at the logic' behind the booking for the Havoc card, informing his readers (October 1990) that, for some reason " they seem to be jobbing out Tom Zenk."
For Tom Zenk, with a two year contract and a six figure salary, there was no way Anderson would force him out. His motto became "Pay me and pin me... but you'll never make me quit." Anderson, however, was unrelenting. In September, 1990 he booked Zenk for a series of straight losses to the unknown 'Master Blaster Steele' in bouts booked to last less than two minutes. The Observer concluded "Basically.. they are trying to get Zenk to quit and he hasn't yet so they are turning up the pressure" (10/8/90).
In August, September and November, Anderson was again under pressure from low ratings and record low attendances, and responded by re-forming the tag team of the Z-Man and Flyin' Brian. Each time they hit the ring, Zenk and Pillman turned out 3 and 4 star performances. And each time, as the team began to gather heat, Anderson disbanded it, jobbing out Zenk and Pillman. The Observer (10/1/90) reported Pillman tagging with Alan Iron Eagle and Zenk still jobbing to Vader! Having disbanded Zenk and Pillman, Anderson introduced a new replacement babyface tag team, The Renegade Warriors (Mark and Chris Youngblood), plus the unknown JW Storm (Jeff Warner) who Zenk was booked to put over. El Gigante completed Anderson's stable of new ' talent.'
They used us like whores — it was only bickering over the price.
In October, 1990, one of the NWA wrestlers wrote anonymously to The Observer to report — "They are bringing in and pushing guys who have never worked on live national television. They had the Indian guy (Alan Iron Eagle) laying in the hallway two minutes before his television match teaching him how to do an Indian Deathlock. He has had only 23 matches in his entire career. Tony Zane went out in the parking lot after doing an angle with Sting and got busted. They handcuffed him and towed away his car in front of a lot of fans... If the Detroit Red Wings weren't winning, would they bring back Gordon Howie? If the Lakers weren't winning would they bring back Wilt? If the Red Sox weren't winning, would they bring back Yaz? No, and it doesn't work that way in wrestling either. Guys who are too green, too old or are simply 6-foot-8 or more seem to be the only guys getting a push here."
By mid-October, Jim Cornette and Stan Lane had had enough and quit. Bobby Eaton chose to stay with 6 months remaining on his contract. Cornette and Lane's decision came after an argument with Anderson over booking Eaton to work three times at a tv taping. "Ironically the Midnights were... the company's most consistent act nightly on the road but at the same time were given virtually no push and almost treated as glorified jobbers... Cornette was one of Anderson's biggest supporters when he was first named booker, although that changed 180 degrees."
The turn
By November, The Observer was reporting (11/19) that "Ole Anderson's position [is] anything but stable" The pressure on Zenk lifted slightly as Anderson fought to shore up his own position. The Observer reported "Tom Zenk is getting a renewed push." A further sign that Herd was reasserting his authority came with the news that The Renegade Warriors and some of Anderson's 'cheap and green' workers, including Jeff Warner (JW Storm) were on their way out. Despite The Observer's premature claims about a renewed push for Zenk, the quality of his opponents barely improved throughout November and December.
This became apparently clear, at Clash of Champions XXIII "Thanksgiving Thunder" (Jacksonville, Florida 11/20) where Zenk was booked against the inexperienced Brian Lee. "Tom Zenk pinned Brian Lee in 3:10 after a dropkick off the top rope. Decent paced but you could tell they had never worked together because of timing problems. Still it was decent enough except for Zenk missing a flying bodypress off the top rope while Lee was still in Tallahassee or somewhere." (WON, 12/3/90). Lee oversold a throw and missed his spot for the high finish by a mile. Zenk was wild.
In early December, the Observer (12/3/90) reported that "Most of the [NWA] wrestlers seem to be excited" over the news of Ole's impending departure... The thought is that the promotion has hit rock bottom with Ole Anderson at the helm." On the other hand there were rumors of Dusty Rhodes coming in as a replacement. "The thought is that Rhodes will be a good booker so long as he himself isn't an active wrestler. Of course with his son naturally going to be brought in, that has to be almost as bad." (Meltzer uses the word 'naturally' with only faint irony — suggesting that, even among journalists, nepotism was wrestling's accepted modus operandi). It was a sign of how far things had sunk that Rhodes was generally regarded as incapable of doing further damage to the NWA.
In the first week of December 1990, NWA confirmed Ole Anderson's sacking and the release of road agent Bob Roop. An interim committee was appointed comprising Jim Ross, Tony Schavione, Kevin Sullivan and Ric Flair. The new committee began to discard the workers recruited by Ole — in particular JYD, Iron Sheik, Night Stalker (Bryan Clark) and Rocky King (WON 12/10/90). At last the contracted workers began to be pushed again. However talk of Zenk getting a push proved premature when the booking sheets for January showed him booked against the Iron Sheik for the 1/11 Meadowlands show.
Finally, in December, a brief push arrived when Zenk was booked to win the TV belt, revitalizing a title 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. Told it was a great match. They are doing a gimmick where Zenk has a 46 match winning streak so he's getting a big push now with the new booking team."
Things were beginning to look up for Zenk... or were they?
