WWE Calgary: Round 1, Match 4: #17 Antonio Inoki vs. #48 Tom Zenk

[Shocky]

The following matchup takes place in the WWE Region under WWE Rules from Calgary, Alberta.

#17. Antonio Inoki

vs.
#48
"The Z-Man" Tom Zenk

 

[klunderbunker]

I can't emphasize this enough: INOKI. WHile he's not a legend in America, he is miles ahead of Zenk. The Z Man had one thing going for him: he looked good in his tights. He whined about not getting paid as much as his tag partner and got fired. Tito Santana got his spot and he and Martel had a decent run with the tag titles. Inoki is an absolute legend in Japan along the lines of Hogan over here. Zenk was a bad jobber and he's up against a Japanese legend. Do I need to go any further?

 

[Mr. TM]

Zenk, one of the most useless men in professional wrestling against a Wrestling God? I am wondering if Zenk will get a single vote. If he does, I hope for one heck of an explanation. Inoki had a pretty poor spot going into the tournament, but if this is his challenge, there is no way he will start to be in trouble yet.

 

[48.7 is Approximately 49 Times Better Than You]

Inoki, as KB already stated, is a GOD in Japan. He wrestled and beat greats like Hogan and Andre. There isn't a reason in this world for Tom Zenk, a jobber at best, to go over a legend like Inoki.

 

[jmt225]

Tom Zenk was a crybaby who didn't accomplish shit in the business. He blames everyone but himself for his mishaps and for not living up to whatever potential the dude ever had. Whereas Antonio Inoki is a legend. And it doesn't matter if it's a NJPW ring, or a WWE ring, Inoki would fucking destroy Zenk within two minutes.

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

Inoki's praises have already been touched upon here, so I don't need to comment on him (I probably will have to in later rounds).

However, I can't stress enough how much Zenk blows. I saw in the seeding that someone put this man at the top of their list; I can only assume that this was a joke. Zenk's biggest achievement was curtain-jerking it at WM III with Rick Martel as part of The Can-Am Connection (let's not even talk about his time as the "Z-Man" in WCW).

So, Inoki all the way.

 

[Harthan]

Zenk's best time was as part of the Can-Am Connection, a decent tag team that could very well have beaten the Hart Foundation for the titles if Zenk wasn't so whiny. Some very minor WCW undercard success, and that's about it. Now compare him to Inoki, a legend of the ring, one of Japan's best of all time, and has a great deal of WWE experience, with a kinda sorta title reign (he refused the title, but he did win it). Inoki pretty much speaks for himself and would walk all over Zenk here.

 

[Little Jerry Lawler]

Inoki has beaten Andre and Hogan so Zenk will be no problem for him. Zenk was useless and Inoki will make quick work of him.

 

[Gelgarin]

I don't think my brand of Gelgarin wisdom is needed here. I'll save it for a time when Inoki needs assistance.

We have one of the top five talents in the history of the business, versus some guy who I had to google (Can you believe this, Google Chrome doesn't recognise the word google) to remember who he was.

Inoki wins, and most likely breaks some extraneous limb in order to prove a point.

 

[NSL]

My guess here, is that Zenk will start the match whining about a hair pull, or some other heel-based complaint, and Ionki will go shoot on him and snap his neck. I'm hoping that whoever got him into this thing, did it for the sole purpose of us seeing him get mauled.

Like LJL said, Inoki has beaten the best of the business, and Zenk only ever beat himself.

 

[Father:_Polley]

Tom Zenk is going to suffer quite a humilating defeat here I have to say. Inoki in Japan is the equivalent of Hogan in America, he's that big a deal.

Zenk was nobody, and you gotta think that being American isn't going to help him secure all the votes he's going to need

 

[Tastycles]

Another no contest here. Zenk managed to kill any career that he would have ever had by being a whinging tosser. Whether what he said about Martel is true or false, based on their later careers it was entirely justified.

Without knowing who he was facing, I'd want Zenk to lose, but Inoki is a real legend of wrestling, and would be seeded higher if all of the people picking were aware of him. Not muh else needs to be said really.

 

[Shocky]

I thought no women were supposed to be in this tournament. It seems that Zenk has enough estrogen to not only participate in, but win the WZ women's tournament, Joshi Style. Antonio Inoki might not be a "wrestler" in the truest sense of the form as he likes to shoot a helluva lot, but regardless, he has enough to bitchslap Zenk back into obscurity. I wonder if you keyword searched Tom Zenk on these forums, if his name would appear more then a month ago?

 

[Theo Mays]

Ahhh there is only one way to go here and that is with Inoki. While I'm not real familiar with him, I've seen a few of his matches and the dude is the Hulk Hogan of Japanese wrestling. Z-Man really doesn't stand a chance here.

 

[Bernkastel]

Hmm, a Japanese wrestling legend versus a guy I've never even heard of. After doing some research, I've come to the conclusion that Tom Zenk is no Trish Stratus (I think only one person on this forum will actually get that connection) and had mediocre success in the WWE at best, even if Inoki never wrestled for the E, his accomplishments in Japan easily outweigh the accomplishments of Tom Zenk. I'd even go as far to say that if Inoki were to have traveled to the States to wrestle some exhibition matches for the WWE during that time period, I wouldn't have been surprised in the slightest if Zenk would have been jobbed out to Inoki had they met and competed.

Inoki gets the win here

 

[Final Verdict]

Definitely Inoki I mean the guy has fought them all from hogan, Flair, Brody, Vader, Andre, Backlund who he technically beat for the WWF title that does not get acknowledged anymore. Can't forget he punished Ali's leg to the point he could never fight again.