Pro-Wrestling Tom Zenk Page

Last updated 21 April 2015

The kiss of death

The kiss of death ......

"kiss of death : the "Judas kiss" (Luke 23:48). In Mafia circles, a sign that one's life will end shortly.

by Tom Zenk

Dynamite and Angle....

Back in the WWF with Martel, our first big date was a TV taping at the Sun Dome, Tampa, Florida, January 26, 1987. The main event was the Bulldogs vs. The Hart Foundation. Dynamite had been in hospital for surgery on the back injury that later crippled him. Vince needed new tag champs. So he booked the Harts over the Bulldogs with the belt change on TV. Tom said when he got home from the hospital he loaded up a couple of syringes of steroids and shot himself in the ass as soon as he could so he could recuperate faster ...

"I couldn't wait till the wife went out to the grocery to get some fuckin' milk or run errands. I had to get outa bed, sneak down the fuckin' steps to the fridge and load up a couple 3cc syringes of juice. Going down the fuckin steps pret-near killed me. The pain shootin through my legs was fuckin horrible. I thought I was gonna to die. I wondered how the fuck I was gonna make it back up to bed before the wife got home. Going down the steps was the easy part. I thought I was gonna pass out from the pain. I thought I really fucked myself good this time."

Dynamite flew down from Calgary and arrived at the Sun Dome in a wheelchair. It was shocking to see him. He was really small, in a lot of pain after the long flight to Tampa, heavily medicated, a shell of his former self. He'd been off steroids and his muscles were wasted, his white tights taut no more, barely concealing his atrophic legs. All the boys stopped by the locker room to say Hi, pay a bit of respect and to wish him well. He should be in bed I thought, but he made the town. He couldn't walk on his own, so he hung to Davey Boy to get to the ring. They just had to get to the mats surrounding the ring, then he 'd be blasted with Jimmy Hart's megaphone, and down for the duration. All the boys gathered around the monitors to see the match. It was really painful to watch. After it was over,Tito Santana rushed down the asile to help him back to the locker room. I remember thinking to myself about Vince "What an asshole, Dynamite shouldn't be here." That was my first ever lesson in how Vince McMahon ran his business. The guy who told us ᷥ were all family' paid Dynamite $50 for the show 栴he contract price for a TV taping堉 saw no future with this 'family.'

So Tommy's in a wheelchair, living on British welfare benefits - his reward for loyalty.I walked out six months later. Vince sent Jack Lanza after me, begging me to come back,so they could 'finish my career' with a pile-driver from the Islanders - "Haku will pile-drive you, break your neck and then we'll say you're out of the business." Nice to see Kurt Angle willing to stick his neck out for Crips and Big Steph's future wealth and happiness. I guess Vinnie learned enough from the past (Dynamite, Owen, Droz) to get Angle to sign them a waiver or something?

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer." "You broke my heart." from 'The Godfather"

In Godfather II, Michael Corleone continues to become more and more isolated. An attempted assassination convinces him to find the parties responsible and punish them with their lives. Unfortunately, Michael's older, feeble-minded brother, Fredo is unwittingly implicated.

CUT TO: The Dance Hall where everyone cheers and throws confetti into the air. MICHAEL walks over to his brother and hugs him.

MICHAEL (whispering into FREDO's ear) "There's a plane waiting for us to take us to Miami in an hour, alright? Don't make a big thing about it."

[He grabs FREDO on both sides of the face and kisses him on the mouth]

"I know it was you, FREDO -- you broke my heart -- you broke my heart!"

Michael delays his decison while their mother is still alive. He banishes Fredo from the Corleone household.

"Fredo, you're nothing to me now. You're not a brother, you're not a friend. I don't want to know you or what you do. I don't want to see you at the hotels, I don't want you near my house. When you see our mother, I want to know a day in advance, so I won't be there. You understand?"

Years later their mother dies. Michael, at the urging of his sister, confronts Fredo and allows him to hug him, letting him believe all is forgiven. But all is not....

CUT TO: Fredo reciting "Hail Mary" while fishing at evening on the lake. Suddenly a shot rings out. Fredo slumps forward, a bullet to the back of his head, as Michael looks on from his home.

Fredo hugs his brother Michael Corleone .....

.....a few Hail Mary's from Bishop Flair.

Steve 'Fredo' Austin
"So about three months passed, and I was still home and damn sure I was done. I was not going to call the company, because I figured I didn't hand in a written notice. I didn't hand them anything saying "I quit" or anything like that. I just figured, "Fuck that, it's over." Finally, I get a card in the mail from Jim Ross. It just said, "Hey, if you need me, I'm here," and it was just signed, "Jim Ross." The letter was as simple as that. And I said, "Well, goddamn, that was cool." When he sent me that card, I picked up the phone and gave him a call, and we talked for two hours.... He said to me, "You know, Steve, what do you think about talking to Vince? He's a fair man, and he's always willing to meet you, you know. Let me talk to him and see if we cant' get you guys together. Would you be willing to do that?" And I said, "You're damn right I'd be willing to do that, because I'd like to look him in the eye and ask him what the fuck happened. And if he wants to ask me something, I want to tell him to his face what I think, what I thought, and why I did what I did..." I said, "Jim, the deal is this: I'd at least like to meet with Vince and shake his damn hand and thank him for the job... We had our disagreements, but I respect the shit out of the guy. I love the guy. And I'd have done anything for him. So Jim set up the meeting in Houston when WWE was in town for RAW. It was one on one, me and Vince, in a hotel room in Houston. Like he said, I didn't know if we were going to fight or hug each other. I told him I felt the same damn thing. We shook hands, hugged, talked and parted ways. But we buried the hatchet. So when I come back and step in, I can look anybody in the eye and I can look Vince in the eye, because the hatchet is buried with him." (Raw Magazine).

Happier times - a family shot from this column last year since then the kiss of death for 'Fredos' Waltman and Hall

Bret 'Fredo' Hart
ᗨen I had my stroke, Vince called in the first day or so, and was very nice. ... Vince offered the olive branch and I took it. I needed closure... I don't want to screw up the chances of my younger family ever working for Vince.... I met up with Vince in Florida. I wanted to make sure Vince knew that it wasn't me making the huge Owen lawsuit move forward. Vince gave me a big hug, and we talked about the DVD, and that it was on the drawing board. And Vince agred to release tapes from WWE for the DVD and pictures for a coffee table book." (On The Record)

Hulk 'Fredo' Hogan
"You broke my heart."
"You, being the sociopath that you are, it probably didn't hurt you." - Vince, on Hogan's betrayal.

This week on Smackdown - "They aired old footage of Hogan through his WWF/E career.... They ended with Hogan and Vince shaking hands and Vince wishing Hogan well before he left the WWF. Vince keeps showing the hand shake over, and over and over. Vince said it was historical, because it was the only time Hogan ever said thanks. Vince said they were friends, but Hogan changed and it hurt him. He then said Hogan betrayed him and went to WCW. ("You broke my heart," - Michael Corleone). Vince said after everything they went through, Vince still forgave him and brought him back. Hogan then challenged him to a match after Vince welcomed him back, and that hurt him again.. Vince said he hates Hogan more then ever because he's forcing him to kill one of his own creations. "

"RAW comes back from commercial and Vince McMahon appears at the top of the entranceway with a mic in hand. McMahon says it takes a real son of a bitch to be successful in this business. So from one son of a bitch to another, McMahon introduces the new general manager of RAW... Bischoff appears at the top of the entrance way and both Bischoff and McMahon hug..... Bischoff said he was the only guy to take it to Vince McMahon and compete with him. Bischoff said that when McMahon needed star power, he signed everyone McMahon once had. Bischoff brings up guys like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall who he signed and stole from Vince McMahon. Bischoff said he took this little family owned company and gave it one swift kick in the crotch. Bischoff said that when McMahon was busy with the Federal Government, he was taking advantage beating McMahon at his own game...."

Stephanie's mysterious kiss - just another failed angle? - or as we're about to find out, 'the kiss of death'

"Eric Bischoff was on the Oklahoma City radio station KATT 100.5 with Rick and Brad last week ..... Bischoff said that he doesn't hold grudges because it takes too much energy. He said he thought that Austin did still hold a grudge because of his firing in WCW.

Bischoff then commented that now that he thinks about it he thinks it is kinda funny sending Austin's termination via FedEx. He then conceded that Austin probably doesn't find it funny." I guess it all depends who gets the last laugh.....

RATINGS
"This week's edition of Smackdown got a 3.0 broadcast rating, down from last week's 3.3. despite pushing the show as "WrestleMania comes early"........

is this what happens with Heyman off booking??

Apparently WWE signed a new deal last week with UPN for Smackdown. The deal means less money for WWE - with McMahon accepting a flat rate payment for the show instead of the advertising revenue collected under the old deal. UPN will now benefit off the advertising and use their CBS/Viacom resources to maximize their return. Linda McMahon argued that, although ratings and advertising revenue "were down a bit," the sell-through on advertising time for "SmackDown!" was up 15% last year (so why give it away? They're no longer in the drivers seat , that's why!!!) She added that "the ratings for "SmackDown!" have seen an uptick recently (LIES!!!) and WWE's goal is to deliver better ratings to UPN." In other words, expect all their efforts to be switched back to RAW.

HHH buries himself... again
"...the Rock vetoed his advertised match with Booker T this past Monday on RAW. The Rock is said to be very upset with Triple H's backstage political power and saw the Rock/Booker match as a way of Triple H elevating himself further. The idea was that if Booker beat the Rock on RAW, then Triple H beat Booker at WrestleMania, Triple H would come out looking the best.

..The Rock also opposed jobbing to Booker T because he felt that WWE hadn't put their heart behind Booker's push, and that the job would end up hurting the Rock more than helping Booker."

>>> the Rock knows.

"(4) Triple H (w/Ric Flair) beat Maven in a non-title match at 4:35. Jim Ross went all out while putting over Triple H as the consummate champion.... Afterward, Triple H threw Maven into the ropes in a way that caused Maven's head to be caught between the top and second ropes. Al Snow ran out and pried Maven free. Triple H spotted Snow and clotheslined him to the mat..."

Commentary from Powell in Torch: " Triple H didn't give Maven any offense... There's no reason Maven couldn't have been given at least a minute of offense instead of being made to look as pathetic as he was. Al Snow was made to look like a chump. ...."

(6) The Hurricane beat The Rock at 9:36 when Steve Austin distracted The Rock. Rock dominated the first few minutes of the match,. .Rock gave Hurricane the next few minutes of offense. ...Hurricane rolled up The Rock and scored the pin."

>>>Once again, HHH buries himself as a business man. Even the shills pick up on the fact that HHH gives poor Maven no offense. He just jobs him - not understanding like the Rock does. I'd like to think Patterson or VKM himself was behind booking the Rock - compare their understanding to HHH's. What a loser......

Like the steroid trial jury I guess. Looking back over Hogan/Terry Bollea's testimony the other day - more on that soon -

Defense: Do you remember Dr. War from Canada, Dr. Pannovich from Denver, Dr. Liebowitz from NY?

Terry B: Yes, except for Dr. Pannovich.

>>>fucking liar. I remember you, Martel and I smoking a joint with Dr. Bob at the Holiday Inn overlooking the Stadium in Denver in 1987. Later, both you and Martel putting the touch on the good doc at the arena. I would guess you both were selling pain. I was watching as you pulled him off to the side, Hulk first then Rick. It caught my eye, as did his Red Ferrari. Doc was a D.O. not an MD.

Defense: Ever hear at any WWF event any agent say, "the Doctor's here, anyone want an advance?"

Terry B: No. Just "does anyone want an advance".

>>>This is why the government wanted me to testify.

So "say your prayers and take your vitamins" - was that all a con??? Why did Hogan or Piper who claim they had stroke and were "one of the boy's", actually have no regard for the boy's? I mean, they both made movies? So they had to get a SAG card, and still they didn't they know? Both were bright enough to know something was wrong with the way we were treated, having spent months on the road, away from family, awash with drugs for almost a decade with Zahorian. Guys died, (Bugsy McGraw and many more followed). A union for the widows and family would have been chump change for human life.After all, what would Big Steph and Shawn do for money if DADDY hadn't been so X-successful? Scary thought. 3/4 of a billion dollars pissed away for NO return, check the reports if you weel. How much fun did you have along the way Vinnie-boy? I heard about nights on Manhatten with the Nasty Boys. They were making you the butt of their jokes... you were the boss and they were fuckin' with you. People thought you were a mental for getting abused like that. Remember those days? Your daddy was right, just as you are right about Paul. Paul, as the Rock pointed out is a manipulator.. Fire him and send a message to us all.

"Bret Hart on On the Record spoke on Curt Henning. Bret said he is devastated. Curt was one of his favorite people in the world. He was Bret's favorite wrestler.He puts over how Curt put Bret over in the first place. How he wrestled at summerslam with a terrible back injury to give Bret the I/C belt, and how amazing he was and the integrity he had."

Curt told me he popped a couple of Percs and went out to the ring in MSG and had his best match ever. The culture was drugs, I'm sure Brett talked to Curt about stuff (drug use) as I did. Curt knew about things - he practised moderation - he was never hooked or constantly fucked up. I'm sure his death really rattled a few cages, it did mine. Bret said he is devastated. I guessCurt proved we're only human. Speaking of which ....

Your feedback .....

Don't forget to tune in tonight at 9:00pm est (not 8:00) for wrestle talk live...Tonights topic is Tom Zenk and the titles he has won.The Sandman will revisit how the Z-man was screwed and how the WWE is bringing the sport of professional wrestling to an all new low

Hey Zenk, i just gotta say, i saw how much bs went on in wcw in the early 90s just by watching halloween havoc in 1991. You could tell when you see Steve Austin walk down the isle all pissed off that he has to make dusty's kid look good. Lets not forget about Tony Shavonie not being able to talk because JR wanted to get his voice over more Im suprised you came out all excited and stuff right before you jobbed to the "WCW Phantom". How could you have come out like that? Seriously what were you thinking that night as you came out? Also, whats up with the Prelim match edit bullshit? I ordered wrestlewar 91 just to see your match with terry taylor and they edited it out? god these guys suck, now i have to ask matt long for those matches again (no offense to matt, he sends me great tapes). And the fact that they have a promo with terry taylor about his match with you and then they dont show it? but hey, i saw your promo AND match with brian Pillman in wrestlewar 92 and let me tell you, it was great, that was pretty much the match of the night. ......

I looked around some of the negative reader feedback on this site, as well as other places on the net toward's Zenk's attitude in his columns. People just think he's some ex-wrestler who's bitter because he never won any world titles in the two main companies. If you don't like the way Zenk talks in his columns, that's too bad because it's the truth. How can you NOT be bitter towards people like HHH who ruin the business? Zenk's been around the business for years and he KNOWS what goes on backstage. I'd sound bitter too if I was to write about what goes on backstage in wrestling. A lot of you people who give the negative feedback are just HHH and Taker marks who don't like the fact that Zenk tells the truth about their heroes who blow up within 2 minutes of walking down the ramp. I look forward to each Tom Zenk column because I like hearing about what Vince tries to hide from us. I want to see someone like Austin go on live tv and shoot on HHH telling everyone what goes on backstage. What can Vince do about it? If Austin gets fired, RAW dies. Ever since Austin left, RAW has been slowly fading off. And to all of you HHH marks, look closely at who's been main eventing every RAW since Austin left. Look at who's been getting 20+ minutes of interview time every show. Look at who's been the "champ" of RAW for like 9 months. He lost it like once that I can recall. And to who? His best buddy HBK who he just won the title right back from. How can you say that HHH doesn't suck when he's been given so many chances and drew 3.2s and 3.4s for the ratings?

3/3...8:12 (3 segments)
2/24...0:00 (was shocked about this one, but oh so glad)
2/17...11:10 2 (segments)
2/10...3:21 (3 segments)
2/3...8:19 (5 out of 11 segments)
1/27...13:20 (3 segments)
1/20...12:00 (2 segments)
1/13...7:46 (1 segment)
1/6...24:09 (4 segments) Total wrestling Time: 30:37

It would be interesting to see how RVD's and Booker's time compare to these numbers.

Just a little about how far HHH will go to bury someone, think about what he did to Jericho in '99 did to Jericho when he was doin' "teach DX a lesson about what they have promo" on the street..they ran into a bum holding a sign that said "will work for food"...Hunter tells the bum, "you can't work, you're as bad as Jericho." Needless to say, wasn't it also Jericho who lost the belt to Big Steph's boyfriend?

Damn..does Tom despise Sid, or what?

"Time to lay the blame!"

Take away the Montreal Screwjob and the rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin a few years ago and what you would have most likely had was Vince McMahon selling what was left of his assets to either Rupert Murdoch or Ted Turner. The screwjob brought him media attention and Austin kept the attention coming. Once Bischoff made the mistake of firing Ric Flair, WCW started its slide into non-existence.

Anyone who claims Austin was a "short term gain" doesn't know what they're talking about. Hunter, on the other hand, hasn't made any gains as far as the business goes. The ratings have been in a huge slide since he became the top man in the company. The only real rise in the ratings since then have been on nights when McMahon or Austin were on, or Hunter was not on. I remember Hunter saying that Chris Jericho was missing a certain something that kept him from being a top guy; Jericho's ratings were higher than Hunter's.

As far as Angle being hurt, give the belt to Benoit and see what happens. It can't be as bad as giving it to Hunter

Zenk's column was great. I believe it answered what i always thought, HHH with Steph wants to run the buisness. Vince can't live forever. I always believed the WCW deal was to get Shane stuck in a smaller capacity of the Mcmahon empire and he almost. Wasn't Shane blamed publicly for the WCW and internet loses. WWE could not have killed the invasion any worse if they wanted too and they did. .... I blame Vince for WWE's fall. He's the boss and has all the power. If someones out of line, it's his job to stop it. Vince is worth less then $500 milion. He has lost over half his fortune in 2 years. Bischoff loses $60 million of AOL mony and he doesn't have control. The xfl could have been a money maker but not on nbc. If you have the hottest thing on cable, why not create your own cable channel. In house programming alone could eat up alot of program time. The reason Vince shits on the wrestlers is cause he can. He see's the wrestlers as his bitches and like any pimp shits on those who make him.He wont sign Goldberg for big money because he doesn't want to push the pay roll up. Nerve of the wrestlers wanting a fraction of the pie they made. When such money can be put on the world, xfl, or any other foolish way to piss money away. Vince and Linda suck as buisness partners. Without Hogan, WWF would have went under in the 80's......

GOTTA DISAGREE WITH ZENK ABOUT THE HOGAN-VINCE PROMO. YES, HULK BUMBLED A COUPLE LINES, YES, IT'S WRONG FOR VINCE TO PUFF HIMSELF UP AS A LEGIT IN-RING RIVAL FOR HOGAN, AND YES THE CROWD WAS NOT WILDLY RESPONSIVE DURING THE EXCHANGE. I THINK THAT HAD TO DO WITH THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE CONTENT AND THE PLACES THEY WERE GOING HAD ME TRANSFIXED, AND IF I WERE IN ATTENDANCE I WOULD NOT HAVE MADE NOISE EITHER BECAUSE I WOULD NOT WANT TO MISS ANY OF THE MUD BEING THROWN. I THOUGHT IT WAS REFRESHINGLY INTENSE AND JUMPED OFF THE T.V. SCREEN. I JUST KINDA SAID..'WOW' WHEN IT WAS DONE. IT SHOWS HOW GREAT A 'REAL' FEUD CAN BE, AS OPPOSED TO THE QUICKLY PACKAGED CONTRIVED ONES THE POOR WRITERS HAVE TO CONJURE UP EACH WEEK. I USED TO REALLY BELIEVE FUNK HATED BRISCO, RHODES HATED FLAIR, AND WHILE VINCE AND HOGAN MAY BE BUDDIES FOR A FEW MINUTES I REALLY GOT SUCKED INTO THAT PROMO. I THOUGHT IT WAS FANTASTIC. IF ONLY THEY COULD MANUFACTURE HEAT LIKE THAT WITHIN THE ROSTER.

I totally agree with the Z-man's feelings on the Hogan vs McMahon match because Vince McMahon doesn't belong in the match. Hogan in a shoot could and would tear McMahon apart. The stipulation should have been that McMahon had a hand in Hogan's matches and saw to it that Hogan had the odds stacked against him. McMahon destroyed Hogan's spirit, now he'll destroy Hulkamania because Hogan will face ......... Then McMahon walks off. If McMahon would come out and introduce GOLDBERG as Hogan's opponent, the crowd pops would be there if they'd get it right and not promote Goldberg before hand. McMahon has no right stepping in the ring with the wrestlers because it hurts the wrestlers credibility.
Perhaps this is why McMahon said it will be a "fight".

If only McMahon could get as excited about the WWE as the man does when he gives himself stroke for being the owner of the company when all McMahon did was back pedal into Daddy's business.

WWE's biggest mistake is the constant mention and over promotion of the concept otherwise known as BRAND EXTENSION. Who in his right mind figures that the average wrestling fan can either comprehend or give a rat's ass about principles of consumer marketing? What is this, wrestling or barbeque sauce?

The McMayhems can't help themselves. The is a genetic failure, as the genes just got watered down. Vince and his brood are following the age old formula for typical family business failure: business grows with the efforts of the founder ( Vince's dad ), rises, then starts to slip with the over ambitious, eye off the ball mistakes of the second generation ( Vince ), then implodes with the nepotistic participation of the "pampered, privileged" ( see Steph's W-Mania/Carrot Top commercial ) third generation. Too bad Shane didn't go to meds school, or Steph to Culianary Institute. I'm sure Harvard and Yale were distruaght that neither of these two ever applied.

I don't read Scherer because I got tired of his justifying McMahon and Russo's booking and "sports entertainment" a long time ago. Pathetic shill if you ask me, worse then Meltzer could ever be. Of course I checkout Wrestlecrap "occasionally" I also can't forget bitterman /www.tomzenk.com .