"Crusher" Lisowski

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Real Name - Reginald Lisowski
Lifespan - ?/?/25 - 10/22/05
5'11" 260 lbs. - Milwaukee, WI
Aliases - Reggie Lisowski, Crusher Machine
Athletic background - n/a
Peak Years - 60s

Place in History - Reggie Lisowski, also known as the "Crusher" or the "Man Who Made Milwaukee Famous," is one of those great characters of wrestling's golden age. He was a rugged blue collar worker not doing much in his native city, before getting exposure thanks to Fred Kohler and the Dumont Network. He eventually packed on pounds and became a blonde brawler and he was rising through the ranks slowly in the 50s. Finally he added the name "Crusher," cut his hair and began getting pushed as a major player throughout the United States in the early 60s. Eventually he returned to the Midwest, specifically the AWA, where he became a key rival of Verne Gagne. He was the ideal rival for the technical babyface and they feuded over the belt for several years with Crusher enjoying two brief reigns. He also beat Mad Dog Vachon, who largely replaced him as the top singles heel, for his third and final title and turned his focus towards tag wrestling. Dick the Bruiser, called Crusher's cousin because they looked remarkably alike, became the partner of Crusher and they made a menacing tag team. However, the duo fast became fan favorites amongst the blue collar fans as they took on up-and-coming heel tag teams. The Crusher became a popular brawler armed with his "Bolo" Punch and was one of the uppercard mainstays that both kept the AWA going and eventually held it down. He mainly bounced between AWA and Bruiser's WWA promotion based out of Indianapolis. Holding the AWA Tag title on and off for much of the 60s and into the 70s, usually with Bruiser, but also with Verne Gagne, Billy Robinson, Red Bastien and later Baron Von Raschke in the mid-80s. He went into semi-retirement due to his body starting to break down in a major way, but he returned when Hulk Hogan's departure crippled the AWA. He was a shell of his former self and the AWA lost interest in him, however the WWF gained interest and used him to try to help attendence in the Midwest until `89.