Posted on 10/24/2005 1:12:17 PM PDT by Rakkasan1
Reggie "The Crusher" Lisowski, a professional wrestler considered a man of the people because of his blue-collar Milwaukee roots, died Saturday night. He was 79.
Lisowski never fully recovered from surgeries to remove a tumor at the base of his brain stem, his son David Lisowski told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Sunday.
"He worked out on his last day. That's how he wanted to go," said David Lisowski of Delafield, Wis. "He did concentration curls and triceps work. He just had to work out every day. ... In his mind, he never thought he was old."
Two surgeries had affected Lisowski's ability to swallow and left him partially paralyzed, his son said.
Promoter Frank DeFalco said Lisowski was a constant in the world of wrestling in a career that went from the 1950s to the 1970s.
"The Crusher was a mainstay in professional wrestling for so long," DeFalco said. "He sold out the Milwaukee Auditorium and Arena on a number of occasions."
Lisowski learned to wrestle while in the Army in Germany during World War II and returned from the war and played semi-professional football, his son said.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Didn't he wrestle Bugs Bunny once?.............
..."I'm gonna go take care of some turkey necks"
he kicked our former governor's butt on several
occasions.
He wrestled the Bruiser all the time, if I remember right.
They and Black Jack Lonzo (sp?) were on professional wrestling on TV all the time in the 1960s.
Oh, back when wrestling was REAL?..........
And Vern Gagne (sp?) . . . ah simpler times.
RIP Crusher
Yeah! THE CRUSHER!...........
Dang! Missed it by _that_ much!
It's amazing I remember all those guys. I thought they were just local wrasslers.
The Crusher was very cool.
I remember seeing Bruno at the Garden back in the 50's when he wrestled Haystacks Calhoon (500lbs). The look on Haystacks when Bruno lifted him for a body slam was priceless.
There were lots of great "wrestlers", but Flair was the greatest because of his interviews. Nobody could sell a show like that guy.
Of course, everyone knows who was the greatest tag team of all time....
Dick "The Bruiser" and a host of other wrestling greats came to our high school one time and did an exhibition wrestling show in our gymnasium. Very cool!
Can anyone explain to me how Pro-Wrestling works ?
Who gets to determine who becomes the next champion and who gets to be the good guy and the bad guy ?
There used to be a time when all American hero Bob Backlund was a good guy who refused to bend the rules and he was "made" champion for years. Then inexplicably, he lost to a "bad guy" named the Iron Sheik via a submission hold he used to escape from in other matches.
Then, he disappeared and a few years later, came back as a psycho. Most of my friends tell me that they like him more when he is "bad".
Then we have Hulk Hogan who went from bad to good to bad and then back to good ( so many times, I can't count ).
Same thing goes with the Undertaker ( who I take it, is back to being "good").
Who writes these scripts anyway ?
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