Former WCW and AWA performer Thomas Erwin “Tom” Zenk, passed away December 9th at age 59.
Zenk, a Minnesota wrestling peer of Rick Rude and Curt Hennig, was mostly known for his runs in WCW and the AWA, with brief runs in WWF/E and New Japan. In his later years he was an interviewer with WCW, and retired in 1996. He dropped so far off the radar and left wrestling behind that even longtime friends of his in wrestling like Rick Martel and Missy Hyatt only found out about his death today, lamenting on Twitter what a nice guy he was and that it was tragic they’d lost touch with him to the point of not even hearing about his death right away.
Zenk attended high school, in Robbinsdale, MN with fellow future pro wrestlers Nikita Koloff, Brady Boone, Curt Hennig, Rick Rude, John Nord, and Barry Darsow. Only two of those names are still with us.
Just found out that Tom Zenk passed away. I always got along with him and he was always super nice to me when I knew him from WCW in 1989-1994 and for a min in AWF in 1996.I hope he's at peace
— Missy Hyatt (@missyhyatt) December 17, 2017
Sad to hear about the passing of Tom Zenk, the Can Am Connection were the foundations of what became Strike Force with Tito Santana.
Zenk was introduced to Rick by the late great Mr Perfect in AWA before they went over to the WWF.
Sending love to his friends & family also ❤🙏
— Rick Martel (@RickMartel2021) December 17, 2017
THE TOM ZENK EXCELLENT ATHLETE EXCELLENT PERFORMER. HE COME FROM THE MINNESOTA I TEACH HIM THE A TO THE Z. HE RESPECT THE LEGEND AND I LOVE HIM FOREVER pic.twitter.com/fktz3cusBx
— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) December 17, 2017
Rest in Peace Tom Zenk.
— Christopher Daniels (@facdaniels) December 17, 2017
Zenk ‘s time as a pro wrestler was mostly unremarkable, winning a few titles but never really rising past tag teams or the midcard. He did have a brush with controversy when his bried stint in the then WWF ended after he was counted among the group of young wrestlers accusing Pat Patterson of sexual harassment in the early 90’s.
According to his Wikipedia entry he has no family to survive him.
