9 Wrestling Heels Who Were Totally Justified
3. Stuck In The Shadow Of Greatness
Debuting in 1973 after being trained by no less a wrestler than Bruno Sammartino, Larry Zybysko would carry around that label - Bruno's protégé - for years before finally chafing at the limitations that it set out for him and his career.
Back in the days when kayfabe reigned and commitment to character was everything, Zybysko and Sammartino were portrayed as close friends, like brothers. That changed in late 1979, when Zybysko began to openly question his status in the industry under Sammartino, and query whether the honour of having a living legend as his mentor hadn't in fact placed a glass ceiling over his head. Zybysko was a proper babyface about it, too: it was about pride, and self-respect. He didn't want to be in Bruno's shadow - he wanted to prove that he was on Sammartino's level.
To do so, he challenged the most popular wrestler in the world to a match. Bruno said he had no desire to come out of retirement to wrestle anyone, least of all Zybysko. Back in those days, kayfabe was such that every match was portrayed as a legit shoot fight, as MMA is today - Sammartino's storyline concern was that in order to wrestle Zybysko, he'd have to want to hurt him, and he had no desire to beat up a man hed taken into his home, who was a part of his family. Zybysko's response - completely babyfaced, yet again - was that he couldn't continue with this charade of a career if he wasn't given the chance to prove himself. He would retire if Bruno didn't agree to wrestle him.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Sammartino finally agreed to make a minor comeback: but he still couldnt bring himself to fight his friend. He would defend himself, but he would not - could not - counterattack. The match took place on January 22nd in Allentown, Philadelphia, taped for the newly renamed WWF's Championship Wrestling show. Every time the opportunity came for Sammartino to return Zybysko's offence, the living legend backed off, releasing his former pupil. As the match wore on, Zybysko became more and more frustrated: Sammartino just wouldn't wrestle him. It was like he was being humoured, like this wasn't a real match. It was as if Bruno was looking down at him.
Finally, Zybysko snapped and began drilling Sammartino with punches and kicks, before leaving the ring to grab a nearby wooden folding chair, smashing it over his friend's head and causing him to bleed heavily (Sammartino clearly blades, despite his repeated old school assertions that he's never indulged in the practice). The crowd went bananas - their hero had made his comeback and then been brutally assaulted by his best friend! - and continued to do so for the remainder of the feud, which stretched well into late 1980, culminating in the main event at Shea Stadium, in a steel cage, in front of 36,295 screaming wrestling fanatics, all of whom wanted Zybysko dead.
This was old school heelwork: during the course of the feud, Zbyszko was assaulted on a regular basis by fans, attacked in the street, and after matches. Cars he was travelling in were mobbed (once a taxi was turned over with him inside), and on one memorable occasion he was actually stabbed in the ass in a riot after a match in New York. Still, partisan fans aside, you can see his point of view. He'd made it crystal clear how important the match was to him, and Sammartino refused to take him seriously until Zybysko made him.
The bones of the storyline actually mirrored real life: Lawrence 'Larry Zybysko' Whistler was trying to figure out where to take his career next when he had the idea for the angle, and ran it past his real life mentor Sammartino. The pair were constantly at loggerheads with Vince McMahon Snr over the feud, which the WWF boss never really appreciated, even when it was selling out houses that his handpicked WWF World Champion Bob Backlund was busy emptying.