By Corvus...
This was evidently the week for former WCW employees to take their frustration out on their former teammates.
In the "deservedly peeved" category, I'd like to extend some kudos to Perry Saturn.
Perry Saturn took a shot at the most famous man in Pro Wrestling, and arguably the most destructive force in WCW, none other than Hulk Hogan. In his latest commentary, posted at www.perrysaturn.com, one of the newest employees of the WWF slammed Hogan, saying:
"On the A&E story of pro wrestling Hogan told how Andre the Giant passed the torch to him, and what an honor it was. But he never had enough self respect or honor to do the same for someone else. He has made comments like one of the things wrong with WCW is they are pushing guys who couldn't draw at a flea market, and named Kidman as an example. Billy Kidman has more talent in his pinky finger than Hogan does in his entire body."
And that wasn't all. He went on to say:
"He has said that the Radicals were all pieces of sh*t for not being team players. This comes from a guy who has his own dressing room and doesn't even see or talk to most of the boys...nobody has taken more and given less back than Hogan...He has held down guys like Scott Steiner and Chris Benoit and nobody has ever deserved a push more than Benoit...In closing I think Hogan is a washed up, over-the-hill, back-stabbing, parasitic PIECE OF SH*T!!!!"
You can't get much clearer than that. If anyone knows the frustration of working in WCW, and thus under Hogan's shadow, it would be Perry Saturn and the rest of the Radicals. Good luck with your WWF career Perry, you deserve a place in the spolight.
Now...moving on...
And in the "just plain bitter" category, you can slot notorious failure, the Z-Man, Tom Zenk.
Tom Zenk is somewhat notorious in the Wrestling industry for his failure to live up to his potential. He's also notorious for opening his trap and badmouthing anyone in the industry he feels bitter towards, and that list is a long one. He's slammed Arn Anderson, and Ric Flair with the greatest frequency, but many, many others have gained Zenk's ire over the years. However, most everything that Zenk says can be taken with a grain of salt. Although there is a grain of truth to some of his statements, it is well known that Zenk is prone to exaggeration and outright deception when it comes to slamming his "enemies".
But...Zenk, very much like Jim "Warrior" Hellwig, is a man who seems to have subscribed to his own manufactured myth. Obviously bitter over his own obvious inability to succeed, Zenk has spent the past few years making minor attempts to destroy the accomplishments of anyone more successful than he.
In his latest rant, Tom Zenk has taken his shot at WCW in its entirety. He has directed his ire at some of those at the very heart of WCW's woes ( Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Kevin Sullivan, and Hulk Hogan. ), and those who aren't really part of the problem ( DDP, Ric Flair, and Sting. ).
Unlike Saturn...Zenk has been out of the loop in the past few years, and any info he gets is second-handed, or formed in his own mind. Not only that...but Zenk pretty much bashes everybody in an effort to make himself look better.
Of Sting...Tom Zenk said this:
"(7) Where's Stink - I heard a saying once that "your're only as good as
you have to be" - and that's Sting the #1 backstabber, stooge, the man
rivalling Hall as the employee with the most time off on full-pay, still
trying to take over the Flair "franchise of WCW" gimmick. It looks like
Sting has no idea how to reinvent himself for the third time. All that
Russo could come up with was a rerun of "the scary man who comes down
from buildings." I don't think Stink appreciated the sarcasm of that
suggestion. Said Stink - " I don't know what happened with that and how
it would come across from a mark's stand point .... But I don't
know if it's also one of those 'been there, done that' ideas. I don't
know if it would work again." On the situation in WCW - "It's been
wearing on me for two years. . But I don't know if I can weather much
more. And I don't know if the fans can really, either." So how much life
is left in Sting? - "How much life is left? I'll tell you what: If
things don't change sometime soon, it's not looking too good. ..." Maybe
he should spend some of his months off renting videos to steal another
gimmick. Meanwhile Steve, cover your body and cover your face, you still
may have a place? Face paint and a fat man suit, lets go with it !!
Sting told me in 1991 he wanted to reinvent himself in acting but
judging from Family Feud nobody thought too much of him then.
Ratings from his movie Shutter Speed confirm this, with a 1.22 rating
for its premiere last Sunday night - the lowest rated show
on TNT that day. Like all the rest Steve's just a wrestler, nothing
more. And when the chips are down, he reinvents himself as a born-again
- "I am born-again. It happened at the end of August in 1998" - "born
again" after you stooged on your friends (Luger in particular) and
cheated on everyone else. Steve is a real class act - truly a role
model for all the little Stingers"
And you, Mr. Zenk, are a bitter, whining, backbiter who couldn't make it in the industry, and now spend your time knocking anyone who has made a name for himself. Mr. Borden is now a Christian, something which isn't easy. It takes work and dedication, and Mr. Borden has not once shied away from sharing his beliefs since his "rebirth", no matter what possible ridicule may come from it due to the fact that Christianity doesn't seem to be a very popular religious choice these days.
But then again Tom, you wouldn't know much about courage, honor, or hard work...would you?
Arn Anderson has had a lot to say about the opinionated Mr. Zenk in the past, but he isn't alone. Rick Martel also offered us a glimpse at the REAL Tom Zenk in an interview with SLAM! Wrestling back in April of 1998.
In the interview, Martel paints a picture of a man who seemed to have real star potential, but in the end didn't possess the fortitune needed to compete at the WCW, WWF level.
When Asked why the team of Martel and Zenk didn't last, Martel gave the following answer:
"I guess Tom was overwhelmed by it all. I think Tom, when it comes right down to it, is not very physical. Wrestling is very hard on your body. Hard on you also mentally. It's hard physically. Tom wasn't mentally or physically hard as I thought he would be. I think that when he realized, when we got to the top, we went up a notch, turned up the volume and went into that category where you really got to put out, day in and day out. Everyday go to that gym. Everyday, even if you're injured, you've got to keep going. I think that was too much for him. And also the pressure of wrestling in front of big crowds and always performing to your top level. He couldn't take that. I remember in the last few weeks, I remember I was the one that was kind of giving the pep talks. I would be excited. 'Oh man, This is great. Look what's going on.' And I always had to kind of push him. I thought it was going to be the other way around, where it was him that was going to be pushing me, saying, 'Oh Rick, this is great. This is fantastic, what's going on.' But I would be the guy that had to push him. I could feel that something was wrong here. So sure enough one day in Boston I got up one morning and I went to the front desk and they said there's a message for you. There was a note from Tom saying 'Rick, thanks for the opportunity but that's it for me.' And that was it. He just quit right on the spot. I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. He left right in the middle of the night, like a thief in the middle of the night."
When asked if he has stayed in touch with his former partner, Martel went on to say:
"No, in fact that was the last day that I talked to him. Because I remember telling him, saying 'Look Tom, I don't disagree with what you're doing. I just disagree with the way you're doing it.' I said we have commitments here. Because we had some matches that were already booked. And I'm old fashioned in that way. When I give my word I'm going to be somewhere, if I'm not injured I'm there. I said 'Look Tom, let's at least finish.' ...He didn't want to do that. I said 'that's not right. At least have the guts, the responsibility to come back and finish your days and then go on.' He said 'no, no' and just kept knocking everything. For him, that day wrestling was finished. He was going to go on to other things, better things. And then he tried after, but he didn't succeed."
I believe that says all you need to know about the character of Tom Zenk, a notorious enigma, underachiever, and quitter. If you'd like to read the Martel interview in its entirety, just visit SLAM! Wrestling.
And if you want to take a gander at Tom Zenk's ranting, just visit his appropriately named website tomzenk.com. Always good for a chuckle.
February 16th, 2000
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