theidealstranger

One of the sports greatest pioneers and one among what the historians consider Gods of Wrestling, he is more known for the later generation for his last name which was taken in tribute by Larry Zbyszko.

Starting out with the carnival days when he defeated the travelling strongman in an open invitation, he joined a promoter based on success of Georg Hackenschmidt as Europe's greatest grappler which was well supported by his physicality and build to match the strength he brought in.

He quickly rose the Greco-Roman ranks in Europe registering a first victory in a Paris Tournament beating the then established stars. His first controversies among others started when he had a intense rivalry with a Turkish Champion who turned out to be a paid set up to lose to him starting the "fake" trend. He however kept up with his skill learning catch wrestling and peaked when he took on Frank Gotch to an hour draw. He went on to beat Dr Roller and Mahmout establishing himself as one of the greatest leading to him challenging Frank Gotch for becoming the undisputed world champion in what happens to be another controversial match, a screwjob if you will.

Before the actual start of the match, a customary handshake was supposed to happen which was converted to a pin in seconds by Gotch and was legally counted much to the fury of Zbyszko and helped Gotch win the match with a second pin half an hour later. Gotch made sure he never faced Zbyszko again. He then set his eyes on the next and possibly the biggest challenge any wrestler ever had at that time, The Great Gama who many feared and did not take on and the match ended in a draw mainly because of Zbyszko's defensive tactic of staying on the ground for more than two hours after being taken down in minutes for most of the match, damaging his reputation badly even though he was the only wrestler till then who faced the Gama and did not lose. A rematch was scheduled but Zbyszko no showed making Gama the winner of John Bull Tournament, a third controversy.

But the most famous and highest impacting controversy of his career was when he shot on Wayne Munn during a match he was supposed to lose, took the world title and left to join the rival camp of Joe Stecher dropping the title to him permanently damaging the Gold Dust Trio and starting the trend of using only grapplers to hold the title in fear of being shot on and ending his career in the process as a two time world heavyweight champion.

He went on to train the likes of Antonio Rocca, Harley Race, Johnny Valentine. A forgotten legend.

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“My manner of thinking, so you say, cannot be approved. Do you suppose I care? A poor fool indeed is he who adopts a manner of thinking for others!” ~ De Sade

Srdjan99

I have seen a few videos of him on YouTube. He was really good, and he's definetely a legend for that times

truk83

The feuds back then almost seemed real.

septurum

He retired in 1928 so I don't think there is much footage of him. I'd like to see some if there is. He is one of the legendary shooters and is definitely a mythical name for me. I hold him in the same regard as Gotch and Hackenschmidt.

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He who seeks vengeance must dig two graves. One for his enemy and one for himself.

Mike Zybyszko

The first match with Gama was legit, and exposed a real weakness in Gama's style that certainly would have lead to defeat at the hands of better skilled wrestlers such as Gotch or Hackenschmidt. The fact that Zbyszko could totally neutralize Gama's offense by hugging the mat showed his intelligence as a true wrestler. Other wrestlers in legit contests would have used this to craft winning strategies as nobody is invincible. It was a good policy of Gama to do almost all worked matches to keep up his aura.

The second match between the two was all worked as Zbyszko did not mind doing jobs for cash even if it meant getting squashed in seconds. He did those jobs not only to Gama, but Gotch as well.

Here is some footage of him:

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"If anyone asks you if you've paid your dues, you tell 'em the check is in the mail."

Not removing until:

[ ] Hulk Hogan vs Hawk Hogan

theidealstranger

That match divided the fan following into two based on clippings. While some appreciated his intelligence in saving face and drawing the match, others, from the audience point of view, started turning their backs to him viewing it as cowardice. Ofcourse, post the Gold Dust Trio Screwjob, he would have been a risky proposition and his second match seemed like a work though nothing was ever confirmed. It looked more like match that was fought by Gama and Zbyszko to make sure Gama had a perfect legacy of having defeated everyone he faced.

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“My manner of thinking, so you say, cannot be approved. Do you suppose I care? A poor fool indeed is he who adopts a manner of thinking for others!” ~ De Sade

Mike Zybyszko

To give an example of why it is that Zbyszko exposed Gama in the first match look no further than Alexander Karelin. He had absolutely zero problems with an opponent hugging the mat. In fact, the match was his at that point as he would gut wrench suplex those guys on to their heads. Many guys submitted when they knew he was going to do it. It is because of this that I have no doubt at all that both Gotch and Hackenschmidt would have beaten Gama in legit contests.

__________________
"If anyone asks you if you've paid your dues, you tell 'em the check is in the mail."

Not removing until:

[ ] Hulk Hogan vs Hawk Hogan