Name: Stanislaus Zbyszko
Year Inducted: 2003
Induction Category: Pioneer Era

Stanislaus Zbyszko

At the suggestion of a wrestling promoter, Stanislaus Cyganiewicz changed his name to Stanislaus Zbyszko. He started wrestling in his native Poland before World War I in the Greco-Roman style. He was a master wrestler of the style. A world traveler, Zybyszko had a famed 1923 match against The Great Gama. The attendance for this legendary bout was 100,000. He first won the World Heavyweight Championship in 1921 defeating Ed "Strangler" Lewis. His second reign came when he pinned Wayne Munn, a big wrestler at that time who stood six feet six inches and weighed 220 pounds. The Polish master, at the age of 50, won the world title for the second and last time in this Munn bout. Years later during World War II, his off the mat talents of a linquist were put to use by the War Department. He was a wrestler, philosopher, poet, musician and now an inductee into the PWHF. Zybyszko's brother Wladek was also a claimant to the world title. Stanlislaus was 86 years old when he died on September 23, 1967.

-Tom Burke