BOB BACKLUND vs LARRY ZBYSZKO (10/11/1980; WWF Philadelphia Spectrum; 00:24:27) 4*
LOW NOMINATION (This took a while to warm up but after 7 minutes or so of Larry stalling, this took off. Great back and forth action.
 

BOB BACKLUND vs LARRY ZBYSZKO (10/11/1980; WWF Philadelphia Spectrum; 00:24:27)

Zbyszko has a bandaged knee and is annoyed that referee Mari Savoldi wants to check it before the match starts. The bell rings and Zbysko stays his distance while they circle each other. Backlund goes to the middle of the ring and dares Larry to meet him in the middle. The first several minutes are a good example of how stalling can work versus when it just feels like nothing is happening. Larry is avoiding engaging with Backlund, but it’s all done with movement and reaction. Larry and Backlund will circle each other and, even though Larry is staying back, he is in motion circling about. When he bails it’s always punctuated with an emotional outburst of some kind, causing the crowd to get on his case. When he does engage and the one move goes awry, it’s back to higher ground but he emotes the frustration with how things went. After seeing the stalling done earlier on the card, I can appreciate how it feels different with the way Zbyszko is doing it here. Zbysko catches Backlund by the leg and tries to lift him and Backlund just smiles, knowing he can counter this easily (which he does by powering up on both legs and then flipping Zbysko over). Larry goes for a headlock, and they really struggle over the hold. Again, a key difference in how to make these things be effective and work well. They work a stretch with Larry applying a sleeper, Backlund shows some good struggle while fighting out of it. They do a nice pin counter sequence and Backlund keeps going after Zbyszko’s knee when given an opening. Things build to Zbysko bringing out a foreign object to try to neutralize Backlund and he finally can use it when Backlund has him up for a suplex attempt. Both men are down and Backlund still ahs enough to come to his fete and, after a struggle, hits a piledriver on Larry. However, a leg on the rope saves Larry. An airplane spin by Backlund accidentally knocks down the referee and, when Backlund goes to check on the ref, Larry decks Backlund with the foreign object to send him outside. Larry wakes the ref and Backlund is counted out.

 I’d give this a solid nomination, I really enjoyed it, although I think having watched several matches where the stalling feels so lifeless versus how it was done here helps me appreciate it in this match. On a set surrounded by more faster moving opening segments, it may not be as appreciated.