WAS LARRY ZBYSZKO HORRIBLE ON COLOR?

Chris Jericho in his new book called Larry Zbyszko one of the worst (or maybe the absolute worst) wrestling announcer ever. I'm sure a lot of fans have fond memories of him because he was associated with a sizzling time period for WCW Nitro as an announcer. Zbyszko upped the bravado level of Nitro, which it had no shortage of with Eric Bischoff also on air.

Where Zbyszko was awful was downplaying the Cruiserweights for some reason. As an undersized wrestler himself, it was hard to understand why he played up the size issue like he did. However, he was also about as immobile and unathletic as it got for a wrestler who achieved what he achieved in his career.

So my take on it was, like many wrestlers who made it big without a lot of athletic skills, he resented and felt threatened by the more gifted dazzling cruiserweights. That feeling bled through into his commentary, and we criticized him for it at the time. Keep in mind Jericho was a Cruiserweight in WCW and he was stung by Zbyszko's less than enthusiastic commentary.

Anyway, Zbyszko was asked about this by someone filming him at his house. It was posted on YouTube. Here's an excerpt of Zbyszko's replay. For context, it came across as a TMZ style ambush, even though it was apparently in his own house while he was hanging out in the kitchen. He started off relatively mellow but then got worked up and went into full pro wrestling promo mode by the end.

In response to Jericho's criticism: "It's not my fault he's short." He then told the cameraman "don't even put that on." But then he said "he's not a wrestler, he's an entertainer." He predicted he'd beat him in five seconds. He said "certainly not" when asked if Jericho is gay because he's on "Dancing with the Stars." Zbyszko said: "Jericho is a f---in' idiot. Anytime this f---ing' five-five-foot-two-inch f---in' punk wants to get in the ring with me, I will show him exactly what it's like to Dance with the Stars." He said he "never drew sh--" and only got a push because the son-in-law of the boss blew out a quad because he got all muscled up to impress the boss.

So Zbyszko managed, in a short rant, to not only call Jericho insecure over being short but also called him out for a fight. What I found most amusing is that Zbyszko, whose only World Title title reign came in the AWA when he was MARRIED TO THE BOSS'S DAUGHTER, decided to criticize Jericho by saying his push came only because THE SON-IN-LAW (Triple H) blew a quad because he got all bulked up to impress his father-in-law, and thus opened a main event slot for Jericho.

Zbyszko did give a sample of why he was pretty much the only reason to watch the dying days of the AWA. He was to the AWA early on as Shane Douglas was to ECW a few years later, as the journeyman loudmouth champion who called out other champions for being scared of him. He alone wasn't enough to save the AWA on its last legs, and the many shows I attended during his final AWA run didn't draw well, but boy was he a blast to watch cut must-see promos on AWA TV every week. "LarryLand" was a theme of his promos and they were among the best in the business.

On a side note, I'm really looking forward to seeing what Jerry Lawler had to say in his final go-home promo for WrestleMania. It airs on Smackdown because, as I reported late last night, his scheduled promo for Raw was cut ostensibly due to time issues. Lawler, even more than Zbyszko, made a career with his mouth and his ring psychology. Lawler did a better job entertaining in the ring with more limited athleticism compared to Zbyszko, who's stalling in the ring to get the crowd worked up often just dragged on too long without a great payoff.

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