All Japan Pro Wrestling · 全日本プロレス

Summer ActionSeries II · 1988

20 AUGUST — 9 SEPTEMBER 1988

Tom Zenk’s complete 1988 return to Japan: the tour program, match record, contemporary reporting, ringside action and life between the matches.

01
Background

Introduction

Tom Zenk returned to All Japan Pro Wrestling for the Summer Action Series II, a three-week tour opening at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall on 20 August and closing in Chiba on 9 September 1988.

The tour immediately paired Zenk with Johnny Ace. Their televised opener against Yoshiaki Yatsu and Takashi Ishikawa introduced the Japanese audience to Ace’s new finishing move—the Ace Crusher—after Zenk suggested that Ace establish a recognizable finish for the fans.

“Zenk … is far larger and more muscular than when he was on tour here during the tag tournament … Ace and Zenk are being groomed for the tag tourney this year. Zenk’s dropkicks are still among the best.”Wrestling Observer · 5 September 1988

The schedule also carried unusual emotional weight. On 29 August, Zenk and Jerry Oates wrestled Hiroshi Wajima and Takashi Ishikawa at the Bruiser Brody Memorial Show in Budokan Hall, held six weeks after Brody’s death in Puerto Rico.

15 documented bouts
7–2–6 wins · losses · draws / NC
21 days across Japan
1988 Summer Action Series II tour emblem
02
Official tour material

The Program

The complete surviving program sequence—tour correspondence, schedule, cover, roster, team portraits, wrestler profiles and contemporary promotional photography.