Larry Zbyszko

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Larry Zbyszko
Zbyszko (right) and Bobby Heenan 2005.

Zbyszko (right) and Bobby Heenan 2005.
Data
Ring name Larry Zbyszko
height 180 cm
Fighting weight 113 kg
birth December 5, 1951
Chicago , Illinois
Announced from Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania
Trained by Bruno Sammartino
Newton Tattrie
debut 1973

Lawrence Whistler (born December 5, 1951 in Chicago , Illinois ), better known by his ring name Larry Zbyszko , is an American pro-wrestler . His best-known feud was against his mentor, wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino, in the early 1980s .

Career

Early career and World Wide Wrestling Federation (1973–1981)

Whistler, who was trained by Bruno Sammartino, made his debut in 1973 as " Face " under the name "Larry Zbyszko", which he adopted in honor of the Polish- American wrestler Stanislaus Zbyszko . Initially he performed in the Pittsburgh area at the local promoter Studio Wrestling , but later also received bookings in Vancouver . Before moving to California in 1975 , he competed for almost three years for the World Wide Wrestling Federation .

Zbyszko took part in the 1976 Latin America Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship , which was held in Guatemala City under the organizer Jose Azzari . Three days after the end of the event, which Mil Máscaras won in the final against Jose Azzari, large parts of Guatemala were devastated by an earthquake .

1976 returned Zbyszko back to the WWWF, where he became a tag team with Tony Garea made. Together they won the WWWF World Tag Team Championships on November 21, 1978 , which they had to hand over to the Valiant Brothers on March 6, 1979.

Towards the end of the decade, Zbyszko grew increasingly dissatisfied with the fact that he was not shedding his status as a protégé of Sammartino. He challenged Sammartino to a match, which he justified with the fact that this was the only way to step out of his shadow. The two met on January 22, 1980. Sammartino controlled much of the match until he was struck down with a chair by Zbyszko . Zbyszko became a heel and Sammartino was left in a pool of blood . After this match, a long feud program started between the two, which earned Zbyszko the hatred of the fans. He was attacked several times as a spectator by fans and his car was destroyed. Both Fred Blassie , as well as The Grand Wizard and "Captain" Lou Albano tried to manage Zbyszko, but this refused. In the course of the feud against Sammartino, Zbyszko began to call himself "The New Living Legend" (referring to Sammartino, who was often referred to as "The Living Legend"). The feud culminated in a cage match on August 9, 1980 at Showdown at Shea at Shea Stadium in Flushing , New York , which Sammartino won in front of 36,295 spectators.

National Wrestling Alliance (1981-1983)

Zbyszko left WWWF in 1981 and joined Georgia Championship Wrestling , part of the National Wrestling Alliance , where he began claiming that he had "retired" Bruno Sammartino (Sammartino had retired from full-time wrestling in 1981). After killer Tim Brooks was allowed to win the NWA National Heavyweight Championship from Paul Orndorff on March 20, 1983 , Zbyszko offered him $ 25,000 so that Brooks would leave him the title. Brooks accepted, but the title was declared vacant on April 30 of that year by NWA President Bob Geigel and a tournament was held, which Zbyszko won by beating Mr. Wrestling II on May 6, 1983. This second title reign lasted until September 25, 1983. On that day, Zbyszko had to surrender the belt to Brett Wayne .

American Wrestling Association (1984–1987)

In 1984 Zbyszko moved to the American Wrestling Association from Minneapolis , Minnesota . He was awarded the newly created AWA America's Championship in January 1985 and then had a feud program with Sgt. Slaughter , who was allowed to take the title away from him on June 21, 1985.

This was followed by a feud against Nick Bockwinkel , in which Ray Stevens and the boxer Scott LeDoux were also involved on the part of Bockwinkel . On April 20, 1986 Zybszko lost in a boxing match at WrestleRock '86 against LeDoux and reached a double count out at Battle by the Bay on June 29 of the same year.

After Zbyszko Curt Hennig had helped Nick Bockwinkel the AWA World Heavyweight Championship to defeat , by giving him a roll of coins, with the Hennig then Bockwinkel reflected , he was officially suspended by the AWA "for life". When Bockwinkel announced his retirement from active wrestling shortly afterwards, Zbyszko boasted that both Bockwinkel and Smmartino had "retired".

National Wrestling Alliance (1987-1989)

1987 Zbyszko joined Jim Crockett Promotions and was allowed to win the NWA Western States Heritage Championship against Barry Windham in January 1988 . Later, he was the manager Gary Hart in a tag team with Al Perez put that against Kendall Windham and Dustin Rhodes feuded .

At that time, Hart was demanding title matches for the NWA World Title for both Zbyszko and Perez. Ring announcer Jim Ross was also of the opinion that both would be able to take the title from Ric Flair . However, neither of the two received a match, as Crockett Promotions were soon under new ownership and neither Zbyszko nor Perez received a new storyline. Zbyszko resigned and moved back to AWA in February 1989. The Western States Heritage Championship, which Zbyszko still held at that time, was discontinued.

American Wrestling Association (1989–1990)

On February 7, 1989 Zbyszko took part in an 18-man battle royal for the vacant AWA World Heavyweight Championship , which he won against Tom Zenk in the end .

Zbyszko defended the title against Wahoo McDaniel , Sgt. Slaughter , Greg Gagne and David Sammartino , among others , before he had to hand it over to Mr. Saito on February 10, 1990 . On April 8, he received the belt back and held it until he moved to WCW in December 1990. The championship was stripped from him by the AWA, which had to file for bankruptcy in 1991 .

World Championship Wrestling (1990-2001)

In December 1990 Zbyszko returned to the NWA. He first teamed up with Terrence Taylor , but in the summer of 1991 he teamed up with Arn Anderson under the tag team name Enforcers . After Scott Steiner , one half of the WCW World Tag Team Champions , was injured, the titles were declared vacant and a tournament was held. On September 5th, Zbyszko and Anderson were able to defeat their final opponents Rick Steiner and Bill Kazmeier and thus received the tag team title.

During Halloween Havoc , the Enforcers began a feud against Barry Windham and Dustin Rhodes , in the course of which they broke Windham's hand by crushing them in a doorway. As a result of this action, Zbyszko gave himself the nickname " Cruncher ". Windham was replaced by Ricky Steamboat . On November 19, 1991, the Enforcers had to surrender their titles to Steamboat and Rhodes.

In December 1991, the Enforcers Paul E. Dangerously's Dangerous Alliance joined, which also included Rick Rude , "Stunning" Steve Austin , Bobby Eaton and Madusa . They feuded against Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff , Sting and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ron Simmons . In WrestleWar 1992: WarGames , the Dangerous Alliance lost in a "WarGames match" after Zbyszko accidentally threw Eaton into the ring post that had been freed from the protective pads, which is why Eaton had to give up due to pain. As a result, Zbyszko was removed from the Alliance and returned to Face for the first time since 1980. This was followed by brief arguments against Austin and Eaton before Zbyszko retired from full-time wrestling and added to the commentary team. As a commentator, Zbyszko began to call himself “The Living Legend”, as many WCW fans were unaware of his feud against Bruno Sammartino.

From March 1994, Zbyszko led WCW Pro alongside Dusty Rhodes and Gordon Solie . Soon after, Lord Steven Regal summoned Zbyszko back into the ring. Zbyszko took the WCW World Television Championship from this on May 2, 1994 , but had to give it back to Regal on June 23.

In 1996 Zbyszko joined the team of commentators at WCW Monday Nitro , where he moderated the first hour with Tony Schiavone . In 1997, Zbyszko was challenged by nWo member Scott Hall but declined. Zbyszko stayed on the microphone through 1997, but acted as referee in some of Hall and the nWo matches . At StarrCade in 1997 , Zbyszko returned to the ring. As part of a storyline about control of WCW Monday Nitro , he took part in a match against Eric Bischoff in which Bret Hart acted as referee. Zbyszko won this match and officially got the say in Nitro.

In the following years, Zbyszko only rarely appeared in the ring, including against Curt Hennig in a retirement match that Hennig won. In 2000 he competed with Terry Funk , Arn Anderson and Paul Orndorff against the newly formed nWo, but then returned to the commentary desk until the WCW was sold to the World Wrestling Federation in March 2001.

Independent (2001-2005)

After the sale of WCW, Zbyszko played a few matches for Dusty Rhodes' Turnbuckle Championship Wrestling .

In 2001, Zbyszko urged the WWE not to refer to Chris Jericho as "The Living Legend", as this name was due to him, Zbyszko, according to common law . After the WWE refused to comply with this request and the owner Vince McMahon himself announced Jericho as "The Living Legend" during a TV broadcast, Zbyszko went to court against the WWE. In addition, he challenged McMahon to a shoot fight at the World Wrestling All-Stars Pay-per-View 2002.

On March 2, 2002 Zbyszko won the USA North American Heavyweight Championship of the USA Championship Wrestling League from Nashville , Tennessee by Chris Harris , who took the title from him on March 30. At WrestleReunion on August 27, 2005, Zbyszko played against Diamond Dallas Page in a match, the requirement of which was that Zbyszko, should he win the match, would get five minutes in the ring against the 69-year-old Bruno Sammartino. Page knocked Zbyszko out with his "Diamond Cutter" and pulled him towards him, which gave Zbyszko the victory by pinfall . Sammartino then entered the ring and hit the unconscious Zbyszko with kicks and blows until he was removed from the ring.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003-2006)

Zbyszko made his debut in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on January 15, 2003 when he gave a speech in which he admonished the roster to uphold tradition. This started a feud against AJ Styles , who did not respond to Zbyszko's admonition. Eventually a match ensued, the rules of which were that if Styles were unable to pin him twice in ten minutes, Zbyszko would become his manager. Styles could only achieve one pinfall, so Zbyszko was briefly his manager until Booker Vince Russo dropped this angle and Zbyszko left the league.

Zbyszko returned on June 23, 2004 to assist Ron Killings during his feud with Jeff Jarrett .

Together with Harley Race and Terry Funk , Zbyszko formed the “Championship Committee”, which was created in the event of a draw as a result of the TNA Impact! -Matches should nominate a winner. However, since such a draw is extremely rare in practice, the “Championship Committee” was used less and less over time and was finally dissolved.

In February 2005, Zbyszko joined Planet Jarrett , Jarrett's dominant heel - stable . A few weeks later it was written from the storyline.

At TNA Slammiversary 2005 the returning Zbyszko was appointed "Director of Authority", which he replaced Dusty Rhodes. As a first official act, he took Jeff Jarrett from the King of the Mountain match that evening and filled the vacated space with Raven . At TNA Sacrifice 2005 , he answered Jarrett's request for a match for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship with the stipulation that Jarrett should get his title match if he won his tag team match. Should he lose, however, he would not be awarded a title match for a year. However, since not Jarrett but his partner Rhino won, neither of the two conditions came into effect.

At TNA Lockdown 2006 , Christy Hemme, who made his debut that evening, presented commentator Mike Tenay with an envelope with a message from TNA Management stating that Zbyszko had been suspended while Raven , previously fired by Zbyszko's interference, was reinstated. At TNA Victory Road 2006 Zbyszko lost a hair versus hair match against Raven. After a lost Loser Leaves Company match against Eric Young at Bound for Glory 2006 , Zbyszko was released from the TNA.

Independent (2007 to date)

Zbyszko returned to the independent sector and claimed the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship from AWA Superstars of Wrestling . He claimed that he had been legally entitled to the title since mid-2007. Shortly thereafter, the board of directors of the AWA Superstars of Wrestling Masato Tanaka accepted the championship. Zbyszko submitted documents through his newly appointed "representative" Mister Saint Laurent and his attorneys to prove that he had not lost the title after the bankruptcy of Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association in 1991. After some deliberation and review of the bankruptcy documents, the AWA agreed with Zbyszko. Therefore, Zbyszko received the AWA Superstars of Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship. He lost her to Brian Logan in a three-way match in April 2008 . Third participant in this match was Ricky Landell.

On March 22, 2008, Larry Zbyszko was inducted into the XWF Hall of Fame by its developer Jack Blaze . The XWF was later renamed LPW (Legends Pro Wrestling) .

After four territories split off from the AWA Superstars of Wrestling in order to found the new American Wrestling Affiliates league together with Championship Wrestling of Tennessee , Zbyszko became AWA Superstars World Heavyweight Champion again. The background to this was that Brian Logan took his title and belt with him during the spin-off and the AWA Superstars then no longer recognized the title change at that time. Zbyszko gave the title to Ricky Landell on October 11, 2008 after he published his book Adventures in Larryland with ECW Press.

In 2009, Full Impact Pro signed Zbyszko as Director of the FIP Championship Committee.

On January 29, 2009, Zbyszko took part in a ROH show where he competed against Scotty 2 Hotty .

Since March 2010, Zbyszko has been appearing in live events at WFX , where he regularly appears as an "interim commissioner".

Zbyszko defeated Palmer Canon in a match for the All Out Mayhem Heavyweight Championship in November 2010 .

In March it was revealed that Chris Jericho had criticized Zbyszko's skills as a ring commentator in his book. When this became known to Zbyszko, he repeatedly urged Jericho to tell him personally and questioned his manhood in an internet video. In another video, Zbyszko noted that he saw the reason for Jericho's disrespect in the fact that Jericho was not allowed to use the nickname "The Living Legend" in the WWE because Zbyszko had it protected.

Titles and achievements

  • Legends Pro Wrestling
  • XWF / LPW Hall of Fame (Class of 2008)
  • Southern Championship Wrestling
    • SCW Southern Tag Team Championship with Mister Saint Laurent
  • USA Championship Wrestling
    • USA North American Heavyweight Championship

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Zbyszko's profile on cagematch.de . Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  2. ^ A b c Brian Shields, Kevin Sullivan: WWE Encyclopedia . Dorling Kindersley , 2009, ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0 , p. 182.
  3. ↑ AWA World Heavyweight Championship title history on cagematch.de
  4. ↑ Larry Zbyszko on cagematch.de, accessed on April 3, 2013.
  5. ↑ AWA World Heavyweight Title history . wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  6. ^ AWA World Heavyweight Title (Superstars of Wrestling) history . wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  7. ^ NWA National Heavyweight Title history . wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  8. ^ NWA Western States Heritage Heavyweight Title history . wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  9. ↑ WCW World Tag Team Title history . wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  10. ^ NWA / WCW World Television Title history . Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  11. ^ NWA Beat the Champ Television Title history . wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  12. ↑ PWI 500 1991 . twnpnews. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
  13. ^ PWI 500 of the PWI Years . Willy Wrestlefest. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  14. ↑ WWWF / WWF / WWE World Tag Team Title history . wrestling-title.com. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Zbyszko, Larry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Whistler, Lawrence
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH 5th December 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago , Illinois