Twin Cities · early 1980s
From bodybuilding to wrestling
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, St. Paul's Sports and Health Club was a centre of the Twin Cities bodybuilding scene. Tom Zenk and a small group of friends trained there in their late teens and gradually became part of that local circuit. Among Zenk's bodybuilding friends was Scott Doring, a Mr. Teenage America and Mr. U.S.A. runner-up.
Although Zenk was a contemporary of Curt Hennig, Rick Rood, Barry Darsow, Brady Boone and John Nord at Robbinsdale High School, his strongest early association was with Doring and the bodybuilders. A string of Minnesota contest successes eventually opened the door to professional wrestling.
“After I won the Mr. Minnesota contest, I was approached by Animal of the Road Warriors. Animal suggested that if I was interested I should go to Ed's training camp.”
Zenk enrolled in Eddie Sharkey's wrestling school in 1983. After three months of training he debuted in January 1984 for Skip Sponsel's short-lived USA Pro promotion. When USA Pro folded in the spring, he briefly tried Bill Watts' Mid-South territory. In Louisiana he was stiffed by Watts out of his first week's wages. With no money and nowhere to stay, things weren't looking good. 10 days into the tour he was recalled to Minneapolis by a medical emergency in his family. “I said to myself, I'll go home - drive all the way through. I told myself 'you can always get work with Verne.'”
Summer 1984
The Gagne camp
Back in Minneapolis, Zenk went to see Wally Karbo and soon met Verne Gagne. Gagne saw potential in the young bodybuilder and invited him to an AWA training camp. When arrangements did not immediately follow, Zenk and Scott Doring took the initiative and phoned Gagne's office themselves to secure dates and instructions.
The camp was deliberately severe. It taught the basic feints, falls and holds of wrestling while testing conditioning, resolve and — just as importantly in the territory system — a newcomer's willingness to adapt to the promoter's way of doing business.
“It was a tough process. I was so used to doing things my own way — but Verne convinced me that if I wanted to be a wrestler, I'd have to make some big changes.”
Additional coaching came from Olympian Brad Rheingans, and Zenk began accompanying the AWA circuit, watching established workers and learning the territory's rhythm.
“A killer Olympic throwing exercise that Brad had come up with involved a specially made heavy log, about 6 ft and 200lbs that you had to bear hug in the middle and swing through your legs, then over your right shoulder, back through your legs, now over the left shoulder and so on and on until he said stop. You had to balance that damn log just to swing it and get in the groove of the exercise. I was dripping with sweat and my hands kept slipping off the log but there was no stopping until Brad gave the word.”
Tom Zenk
August 1984
Into the AWA
The results archive documents the surviving cards, television tapings, line-ups and advertisements from this period.
“Gagne had a sweet territory, a nice easy loop around my home state and the five state area with time off for the hunting season and some skiing in Denver or Salt Lake City. And Verne was always a good payoff guy. I remember him telling me, “You should get down on your knees and thank God there’s such a thing as a ‘work’” i.e., free money. This was on the last day of camp, outside the horse barn where they’d set up the ring. Verne had me step outside, one on one, so no one else could hear, for an anointing of sorts. They were going to let me in on the business...”
Tom Zenk
With the AWA, Zenk entered a territory that still carried a deep roster of veteran talent and a distinctly traditional wrestling style. His early matches were designed to give him ring time against experienced workers who could set the pace and cover the mistakes of a rookie.
According to the contemporary Heyman profile, his first AWA match was against veteran Jimmy Doo in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The young wrestler quickly discovered that learning on the road meant difficult nights as well as victories: he later recalled being badly bruised by Kendo Nagasaki, “tortured” by Mr. Saito and battered around by Jimmy Garvin.
Through the second half of 1984, Zenk worked mainly in preliminary bouts. Surviving records show appearances across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Manitoba and other AWA stops, with bouts against Steve Regal, Nick Bockwinkel, Larry Zbyszko, Billy Robinson, Jimmy Garvin and other established names.
Character and craft
The reluctant “face”
Once the mechanics of the job were beginning to settle, Zenk had to establish an in-ring identity. His own inclination was toward playing a heel. Nick Bockwinkel argued the opposite: men with Zenk's looks and physique were uncommon in wrestling and, in Bockwinkel's view, made him a natural babyface.
Zenk consequently began his AWA career as a clean-cut scientific wrestler. He later credited several veterans for making the education easier. Steve Regal could talk a rookie through a match and keep the pace manageable; Jimmy Garvin was similarly easy to work with. Harley Race made the strongest impression.
“Harley Race was the best of the best — smooth, like a feather, great timing and great pace in the ring.”
Tom Zenk