While Scott Hall and Larry Zbyszko's many encounters can be noted all the back to when a very "green" Hall was trying to break out in the wrestling business in the 80's, this particular feud in WCW all began in 1997 when Zbyszko, a commentator at that time, was often on the butt-end of many nWo and Hall jokes and pranks including a segment on Nitro where Hall and his one-man entourage, Louie Spicolli stole Larry's golf clubs and broke them in the middle of the ring.
At first, Larry Zbyszko turned down the offer to face Hall at the end of 1997, but after being "nailed" by Hall and the nWo along with "Easy E" Eric Bischoff on countless occasions, Larry gave in and at Starrcade '97, Zbyszko took on Eric Bischoff in a match where if Bischoff won, he got control of Monday Nitro, but if Larry won, he could finally get his hands on Scott Hall in a match whenever he wanted. Zbyszko would eventually win his bout against Bischoff thanks to the special guest ref, Bret Hart, therefore setting up a match with Hall at Souled Out '98.
Despite Scott Hall often criticizing Larry Zbyszko for being a slow competitor, Larry took it to Hall pretty fast in their match together. It even looked like Larry had it won via submission until Louie "Rad Radford" Spicolli came in to try to help his buddy out (causing the DQ) - luckily for Larry though, Dusty Rhodes was at his side and came in to deliver Spicolli with three atomic elbows (Spicolli sold them like a champ). Rhodes looked to deliver another elbow, this time to Scott Hall, but Hall moved out of the way and Rhodes lit up Larry with the elbow instead. Rhodes didn't seem too upset about what he had done however as he removed his WCW cap and shirt to reveal .. dun dun dun... a black and white nWo shirt!
Thus heel Dusty Rhodes was born! WCW bite that!
Aftermath: Rumor has it that another Larry Zbyszko epic was in the works just after this match... this time against Scott Hall's goon, Louie Spicolli at Superbrawl. Unfortunately, Louie Spicolli passed away a little less than a month after Souled Out and the match never went on.
As for Rhodes and his new role as a heel, he would then manage Scott Hall and the returning Kevin Nash before leaving WCW for a short stint in ECW. Remember that?
No comments:
Post a Comment