Welcome to Last Word on Mania month at Last Word on Sports! All month long we will be doing articles to build up for WrestleMania 31 on March 29, 2015. Be sure to read everything this month by clicking this link. Enjoy!
It’s common for wrestlers with complicated European last names to change to something easier. It’s rare for someone to change a simple last name to a complicated one. Born Larry Whistler, after being trained by Bruno Sammartino he decided to pay tribute to one of the greatest wrestlers of the early 20th century: Stanislaus Zbyszko.
Being the protégé of a wrestling great like Bruno Sammartino in the 70s had its blessings and its curses. Think of it like a wrestler coming out today trained by John Cena. They are going to get more opportunities than most but it’s hard to stop living under that shadow. Despite leaving the World Wide Wrestling Federation territory to travel to California, Larry Zbyszko was rarely considered under the shadow of his gimmick name and instead under the shadow of the biggest star in New York. It’s a lot like being the son of a legendary pro wrestler. His moment of coming out of that shadow ended up being the high watermark of his career.
In 1979, Zbyszko demanded a match against Bruno Sammartino. Sammartino didn’t want to fight him until Zbyszko threatened to retire if he didn’t get the match. The two faced off on January 22, 1980 with Zbyszko showing his frustration of being unable to up his teacher. Taking Sammartino out of the ring, Zbyszko smashed him with a wooden chair, leaving splinters and blood all over the concrete floor. The student didn’t become the teacher. The student burned the school down.
Zbyszko’s became one of the most hated men in the New York area. Attacked by Sammartino supporters in various matches, Zbyszko knew exactly how to get under their skin. While people called Bruno Sammartino “The Living Legend”, he decided to begin calling himself “The New Living Legend”, a title that a lot of World Championship Wrestling fans didn’t really understand was in reference to someone instead of what people just called ol’ Larry. The feud culminated in the Showdown at Shea, one of the biggest events for the future World Wrestling Federation (then the WWWF) of 1980 at Shea Stadium. Sammartino beat Zbyszko in a steel cage match and it was the last anyone saw of Larry Zbyszko in the WWF.
Larry, however, wasn’t done fighting a Sammartino. He soon went to the National Wrestling Alliance territories to fight Bruno’s son David Sammartino. It was here he made the dubious claim of retiring Bruno Sammartino, despite losing in the cage match (Bruno retired from full-time competition in 1981). Zbyszko’s biggest moment was purchasing the NWA National Heavyweight championship from Killer Tim Brooks for $25,000, years before Andre the Giant won the WWF World title to hand it to Ted DiBiase.
Zbyszko’s next trip was to the American Wrestling Association, where he walked in to be handed the AWA America’s championship in 1985. Without a Sammartino to retire, Larry focused his attention now on AWA legend Nick Bockwinkel, losing a feud to him in 1986 but costing Bockwinkel the AWA World Heavyweight championship to Curt Hennig. In the rematch between Hennig and Bockwinkel, Zbyszko’s beating on Bockwinkel was so bad that Nick retired soon after the match. “The New Living Legend” could claim the careers of two legends, making him a legend killer 20 years before Randy Orton was RKO’ing old guys on Monday Night Raw.
After bouncing around between the NWA and AWA, Larry Zbyszko settled into World Championship Wrestling where he took a new nickname in “Cruncher” after slamming a door on Barry Windham’s hand. “Cruncher” Larry Zbyszko soon joined Paul E. Dangerously’s Dangerous Alliance along with the future Stone Cold Steve Austin and 2015 co-Hall of Fame inductee Medusa (Alundra Blayze). Costing the Dangerous Alliance their WarGames match, he was soon kicked out of the Dangerous Alliance and turned babyface for the first time since his attack on Bruno Sammartino. It was here that his in-ring career ended and his commentator career began.
Loved by fans as “The Living Legend”, Zbyszko always sounded the part of a veteran pro wrestler, trying to explain psychology in the ring and why wrestlers do what they do. His favourite expression was to say that wrestling, “was a game of chess”, and would try to follow it up with something about the moves in chess relating to pro wrestling. It was all about bringing the thinking while Tony Schiavone called the match. A part of the rotating commentary booth on Monday Nitro, Zbyszko received a career resurgence with his interactions with the nWo, or as he referred to them, “The New World Odor.” Zbyszko was a long time friend of Scott Hall and the two made sure to have interactions and get the fans excited with the idea of “The Living Legend” coming out of the ring to fight the New World Order. While he eventually did, it was instead to fight Eric Bischoff for control of Monday Nitro at Starrcade 1997. Zbyszko would have a few more moments in the ring, including a match with AWA alumni Curt Hennig and being a member of the “Old Age Outlaws” before sticking to commentary. He was released from his WCW contract only months before their sale to the WWF.
While Zbyszko continued his wrestling and commentary career on the independent circuit and TNA Wrestling in the 2000s, his interactions with Chris Jericho ended up being what made headlines. Jericho tried to call himself “The Living Legend” when he was Undisputed Champion (WWF and WCW World titles) until Zbyszko issued a lawsuit threat on his trademark (despite the fact the trademark was created in the old WWF and was originally used by Bruno Sammartino). Jericho did stop using the trademark, but also spent some time in his book trashing “The Second Living Legend” in the commentary booth. It’ll be interesting to see if they have any interactions at the WWE Hall of Fame, if Jericho shows up.
Whether you call him “Cruncher” or “Living Legend”, Larry Zbyszko had a long and respectful career. While he never truly shook off the shadow of Bruno Sammartino, he was still able to develop a name for himself in several wrestling promotions and showed longevity through the 70s, 80s, 90s to today. It’s important to recognize that he’s someone people felt would never see an induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, along with Ultimate Warrior and Bruno Sammartino. Instead, the bridge has been rebuilt and it’s all water underneath. Larry has been a fixture at the Full Sail University studios for NXT, attending tapings regularly. He wasn’t the biggest at 5’11” and he wasn’t the best talker or best wrestler, but he did have one of the best minds for wrestling psychology. He didn’t just take you to school, he took you to LarryLand.
Larry Zbyszko will be inducted in the 2015 WWE Hall of Fame by his teacher, mentor and hated rival, the original “Living Legend” Bruno Sammartino.
