Bruno Sammartino vs. Larry Zbyszko

[5.0] "This is one of the most important pre-WrestleMania WW(W)F matches, but it doesn't hold up as a particularly watchable match. It's very basic, and gets the job done. Bumped up a bit for importance."

[3.0] "* 1/2. The main event of a historically important show. Does that make it a good match? Absolutely not, although it was a draw in 1980. Slow, plodding, one-sided, with an anti-climatic finish as Bruno nonchalantly walks out of the cage."

[7.0] "A good old violent match for WWF standards at the time, but disappointing considering the build-up and what this final confrontation could have been. The Shea Stadium is on fire so it's a pleasure to hear but I expected more."

[4.0] "The build of this match is great, but the match itself is nothing special. It's a Larry Zbyszko match. Nuff said. It starts off pretty strong, but it just keeps going on and on and on with nothing really happening Bruno just beats the fuck out of Larry and walks out and wins. Larry kinda no sells it and walks out of the ring and falls on his ass and trips over the steps. This might be my highest rated Larry Zbyszko match."

[4.0] "I'm not gonna let this affect the match rating but for reference, I was watching this on the WWE Greatest Cage Matches DVD. It is really weird hearing modern announcers talk about this match and stuff that would happen after. Other than that, this match is not great. It is slow and not great. I know that was more the style of then, but it really doesn't hold up to today."

[4.0] "I thought this was a really uninspiring match. Their prior encounters without a steel cage were better. Zbyszko really didn't offer much here. Bruno dominated the match and the crowd were into it but unfortunately I was not. There are definitely other Bruno matches that hold up better."

[3.0] "Yeah yeah iconic match between two of the all time greats I get it I get it, but my god I almost feel asleep watching this one. It's just not for me, going back and watching these vintage matches. Bruno will always have my respect, as does Zybysko, but watching something like this in 2024 is just... it feels weird. Like why am I watching this when I could be watching Ilja Dragunov Vs. WALTER? I'll give it a few points for the importance, but I did not enjoy watching this match."

[5.0] "I understand the importance of this match, but I have to rate it based on my personal enjoyment of it, and personally, I didn't enjoy it too much. I'm making my way through Cultaholic's 101 WWE Matches Everyone Should Watch At Least Once and by this point I have seen a couple of matches from around this era, but even Wrestlemania's 3 Andre vs Hogan match felt more enjoyable due to the aura and electricity around the ring. Saw it with Cole and Foley's commentary which was done much later, so that might be the reason why nothing felt too interesting in the match."

[10.0] "A match that's more important than it is good but it's still a goddamn great match. Bruno Sammartino just hated his former protege Larry Zbyszko after his betrayal and needed to get his hands on him. They have an amazingly brutal match (by 1980 standards). Seeing Sammartino triumph was a magnificent experience."

[9.0] "The build to this match was outstanding, with Larry Zbyszko turning on his mentor, Bruno Sammartino. This Battle of the Living Legends took place in a cage match, with Bruno wanting to get his revenge on his protege. For the most part, I feel like Bruno is historically a bad wrestler, but this was an excellent match. The pupil Vs. Teacher aspect of this feud was built greatly and ended perfectly, with the teacher teaching the pupil one final lesson."

[8.0] "A good end of the feud - i need to rewatch it without Cole & Foley on commentary. Bruno destroys Larry, then gets a cut on the arm and Larry works well the arm then the finish."

[6.0] "Larry tried attacking Bruno at the cage door, only to get his arse kicked by his former mentor instead. Bruno spent over 75% of the bout whipping Larry from pillar to post. The crowd ate up all of this, but I struggled to find it all engaging due to its repetitiveness. It didn't help that Bruno's moveset was limited to only a few punches, kicks, and a couple of Irish whips. With that said, there were parts here that I liked. I thought Larry was a tremendous scumbag here, and the way he fed Bruno's attacks had fans jumping up and down like crazy. Zbyszko would only gain the upper hand through corrupt means, such as a low blow or a cheap shot. Bruno gave him one hellacious beating, and he took all of it like a man by bleeding buckets for it. After taking his time beating up his backstabbing student, Bruno calmly walked out the door to claim the victory. I'm afraid I didn't really feel this one on the whole. It obviously had the heat and the story to work, but for such a massive feud-ender, this was a disappointment. [**3/4]"

[6.0] "Nothing flashy, but the visual of the ring and cage in the middle of the baseball field and the roar of the crowd after Sammartino does anything adds a lot to this match. Bruno just hurling Zbyszko around any time he tried to escape never got old. I quite dug the little post match confrontation out of the cage."

[8.0] "I like this match a lot. Most notably is it's build, It's really incredible to see just how popular Bruno was, there aren't many to ever reach those heights. It's a very slow match, but I feel it helps. Fans were super invested."

[4.0] "This was bad. These types of escape the cage matches lend themselves to questionable psychology, which is on full display here. It seems like anytime Zbyzszko goes for the door, all it takes is the slightest intervention and the door is off. And every time Zbyszko tries to escape, Bruno of course grabs him by the tights to give us way more glimpses of Zbyszko's ass than anyone would ever care to see in one sitting. The work is dull at repetitive, but Bruno does sell the arm well enough. The ending is the worst. Bruno escapes the cage at a snail's pace while Zbyszko tries to make the dramatic save and then has to change his pace because Bruno is going so damned slow. Thus Zbyszko has to stop himself from making the save. Just to top it off, we have an awkward exchange afterwards where it looks like Zbyszko is trying to raise Bruno's arm in victory out of respect only for Bruno to give him one more punch in the face. And the fans love him all the more for it. If anything, this gives us a glimpse into how incredibly popular Bruno was. **"

[5.0] "Even looking at this for the first time, it's amazing how Bruno was seen as a hero to these fans. They would all roar so loudly when he got his hands on Zbyszko, and would quiet down whenever the tides turned. It's a decent spectacle delivering on the biggest feud that year; it's not flashy or even memorable, but it gave the fans at the time what they wanted. The banner hanging from the rafters is all that's needed to be said in that regard: "WE WANT BLOOD, BRUNO". There's some nice teases throughout where Larry almost escapes before Bruno drags him back. The finish is definitely a sore spot at just over 14 minutes - Bruno walks out the door and is followed by Larry who, despite getting punched in the head twice, raises his opponent's hand before sulking away. I wouldn't say this holds up very well. Bruno was well past his best and had sustained further injury here in this match, but it's also historic for good reason. Approach it with an open mind and maybe you'll understand why. **3/4"

"It's a classic match which is completely made by it's months long build, it's not a flashy match, it's not a high spot match, it doesn't have all these moves and so called epic visuals. No this is a fight between two men who are at each other's throat and just want to hurt one another. Bruno has a very nasty cut on his arm from the cage while Larry is busted open, close calls when Zbyszko has Sammartino down and seemingly out only for Bruno to come back to the roar of the crowd. I've only just seen the fight recently but I'd happily say that it is a great watch for historic wrestling fans, certain fans will absolutely hate. ***Classic***"

[9.0] "This was great, a fine blow-off to the Sammartino/Zbyszko feud. Having watched Zbyszko turn on Sammartino on All-Star Wrestling and seeing a previous match of their from MSG, this was about as perfect a way to end this historic rivalry, with Larry going on to a successful career in the '80s and '90s in various territories. A must-see for any wrestling fan."

[8.0] "I want to note that this match has a great build-up. A few days before the battle, Bruno talks to Vince and expresses dissatisfaction with the fact that everything has been going on for several months and none of the matches has ended with a sane result. This heats up the interest, because it becomes obvious that the match in the steel cage will finally give us the long-awaited winner. And so it happened. Larry, who in the beginning tried to escape and get an easy victory, was fully interested in defeating his mentor, the match has acquired quite brutal and principled notes, and now the really strongest wins. I will not say that the match turned out to be something special from the inside of the ring, but the confrontation that led to this and the final storytelling clearly benefited him. A legendary match that is definitely worth seeing at least once (***3/4)."