"thor did have a great showing. zeus admits he COULDN'T kill thor"
Because he wasent meant to. Thats clear in the story.
"zeus did still look quite out of it when herc was ready to whack him with the axe and he didn't get up right way. no way to tell if herc could have finished it, but it did look that way"
He was down, bloodied and asking Hercules what would his decision be. Rule by the axe or heart. Herc lets the axe fall on the floor and in the next panel Zeus is holding his son (blinded of one eye and with an useless arm) smiling and without any marks of battle.
"frustrated because he couldn't beat them anywhere near as easily as he'd expected, iMo . . ."
Except anytime they tried they would get ko. And at the beginning he was doing it casually.
Even the Avenger who was stated to -hurt- Zeus by giving all she had (Captain Marvel/Photon) was amazed he was standing up, and without any injuries. When they all dogpiled at him, one move made them all go down.
They had a pretty good showing, yes. But not one where i see Zeus had any real trouble of beating them. Likewise for his fights with Thor.
Getting frustated because he -couldnt- would imply he was doing his best. Wich wasent the case.
Getting frustated because say someone like Thanos like in his fight with odin wasent going down as easily as he would expect, while using a high range of his power its valid.
