The Crusher (wrestler)

Early career

Having developed a liking for professional wrestling, Lisowski continued training with Ivan Racy and Buck Tassie at Milwaukee's Eagles Club when he returned, eventually wrestling Marcel Buchet in his first recorded match late in 1949 as a dark-haired babyface who wore a star-spangled jacket.^[1][3][4] His early career included wrestling three to four nights per week at a Chicago armory, typically earning $5 a night. To support himself and to stay in shape, Lisowski worked various blue collar jobs by day, from meat packing to bricklaying.^[1] Fred Kohler was the first promoter to put him on TV, and by 1954 he had developed a barrel-chested physique that would stick with him for the entirety of his career.^[1] Decades before Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Sandman, Lisowski perfected the gimmick of the beer drinking tough guy.^[4] To elevate his career further, he bleached his dark hair blonde and started to get over as a strongman heel, famous for his bolo punch finisher as well as a devastating full nelson.^[2] This eventually led to him winning the Chicago-area NWA World Tag Team Championship with partner Art Nielson.

Tag team wrestling

Lisowski continued to have tag team success throughout the remainder of the 1950s, often paired with his wrestling "brother" Stan Lisowski.^[2] By 1959, he was being billed as "Crusher" Lisowski, which legend came from a promoter's off-hand comment that he "just crushes everybody." Until early 1965, Crusher was a heel in the AWA. After meeting the team of Larry Hennig & Harley Race for the first time, the fans adopted Crusher and his wrestling "cousin" Dick the Bruiser as full-fledged heroes in AWA territory.^[2] They were sometimes known as "The Cussin' Cousins" and "saloon goons" (a nickname provided by Nick Bockwinkel).^[4] His bluster was legendary, as he would threaten to maul opponents in the ring and afterward "have a party, take all the dollies down Wisconsin Avenue, drink beer and dance the polka." Besides his impressive physique, The Crusher's gimmick was to absorb a tremendous amount of punishment and still be able to make a comeback for the win.^[2] Over the next 15 to 20 years, Crusher and Bruiser were tag partners off and on, and a natural combination due to their common background and brawling wrestling style. Both of them were steel cage specialists, rarely losing matches of that type.^[4] If Dick the Bruiser and Crusher felt they hadn't bloodied their opponents enough during a match, they would trade punches with each other afterwards.^[4] They won the AWA World Tag Team Championship 5 times, the WWA Tag Team Titles (which were from Bruiser's promotion) 6 times, and the NWA International Tag Titles 1 time among others.^[2][4]

Success as a solo wrestler

Introduced at the beginning of wrestling matches as "The Wrestler That Made Milwaukee Famous" (a play on the slogan for Schlitz, "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous"),^[1] Crusher was successful as a solo wrestler, winning the AWA World Heavyweight Championship three times, the first time unifying it with the Omaha version of the World Heavyweight Championship on July 9, 1963, in a match where he defeated Verne Gagne.^[2][4] He was skillful at cutting promos, as he would brag about his "100 megaton biceps" and offer to pummel "da bum" he was facing in the ring with ease, and he often delighted in calling opponents "turkeynecks".^[1][4][6] His most quotable and famous phrase though was: "How 'bout 'dat?"^[1] When asked how he trained for a match, he'd claim he ran along the waterfront in Milwaukee carrying a large full beer barrel over either shoulder for strength (and longtime AWA announcer Rodger Kent often noted that by the end of the Crusher's training run, the beer was gone), and that he'd dance polka all night with Polish barmaids to increase his stamina.^[1] Although much of Crusher's popularity came from the idea that he was a big beer drinker, in actuality, he never drank beer, and according to Baron Von Raschke, he actually preferred wine. In 1981, Lisowski's wrestling career almost came to an end when the 450-pound Jerry Blackwell (who he had feuded with over the "Crusher" moniker) botched a top rope move and landed on Lisowski's right arm, causing nerve damage from his shoulder all the way to his wrist.^[7] Doctors told him he would never wrestle again, but Crusher did strength training for two years while he was unofficially "retired", returning to the ring in 1983,^[4] teaming with Baron von Raschke to beat Jerry Blackwell and Ken Patera for the AWA World Tag Team titles, only to lose them to The Road Warriors in August 1984.^[7][5]

Move to the World Wrestling Federation

Lisowski also had a successful run in the WWF in the early 1960s, where he was the nemesis of Johnny Valentine and a young Bruno Sammartino, primarily in the Pittsburgh promotion.^[4] In the mid-1980s, seeing that the American Wrestling Association (AWA) promotion with which he had the most success over the years was crumbling, particularly when Hulk Hogan and many of the other top talent jumped ship to Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Crusher went to work for McMahon on a part-time basis, appearing at WWF house shows all over the Midwest.^[2][3] Lisowski claimed that he made more money working part-time for McMahon than he did working for the frugal Gagne on a full-time basis. In 1986, Lisowski occasionally teamed with The Machines as Crusher Machine.^[8]

The Crusher's last recorded match was at a WWF house show in Omaha on February 15, 1988, replacing Billy Jack Haynes to team with Ken Patera and face Demolition, who were disqualified when Mr. Fuji tripped Crusher with a cane about three minutes in.^[9] The Crusher's last television appearance was at WWF's 1998 pay-per-view Over the Edge: In Your House where was shown sitting alongside Mad Dog Vachon in the front row.^[4] Jerry Lawler made fun of the two men's age, and tried to steal Vachon's artificial leg, but Vachon hit him over the head with it, and Crusher punched him. As Lawler bailed, the two former enemies shook hands.^[3]