In the subsequent rematch on March 13th, 1976 in Indianapolis, Ox Baker and Chuck The Monster O'Connor defeated Crusher and Bruiser to capture the held up WWA tag team titles. Crusher and Bruiser bounced back on May 1st, 1976 at Market Square Arena in Indianapolis by winning a steel cage match over Baker and O'Connor to regain the WWA tag team titles. O'Connor soon left the WWA and Killer Karl Von Krupp took his place as Ox Baker's partner. 

Baker and Von Krupp were unsuccessful in their attempts to beat Crusher and Bruiser. Crusher and Bruiser eventually lost the WWA tag team titles in a huge upset to the Bounty Hunters Dave and Jerry Novak on August 14th, 1976 in Indianapolis.

The remainder of 1976 and the first few months of 1977 saw the Crusher battle old rivals Mad Dog Vachon and Baron Von Raschke in singles and tag team bouts. Crusher also found time to team with such partners as High Cheif Peter Maivia, Ox Baker, Andre the Giant, Verne Gagne, Ray Stevens and Larry Hennig against AWA tag team champions Blackjack Lanza and Bobby Duncum. As 1977 wore on, the Crusher cut back his wrestling schedule greatly often taking time off to heal some nagging injuries. It was abundantly clear by this point Reggie the Crusher Lisowski was no longer the in ring performer he once was. Crusher still was very popular with the fans and remained one of the AWA's best drawing cards. To compensate for his deteriorating skills and conditioning, the Crusher incorporated even more comedy into his wrestling style.

Crusher's comedic talents were never more evident than in August of 1977 when he began feuding with the Super Destroyer (Don Jardine) and manager Lord Alfred Hayes. Jardine was best known under a  mask as The Spoiler but in the AWA he was billed as the Super Destroyer. Lord Alfred Hayes initially came to the AWA as a wrestler using the Tower of London submission hold but was quickly made a heel manager after establishing himself in the territory. Lord Alfred procured the services of Angelo King Kong Mosca to help the Super Destroyer in his battles with Crusher. 

Crusher countered Lord Alfred's pairing of Mosca with Super Destroyer by teaming with Doctor X, Dick the Bruiser, Larry Hennig, Ray Stevens and Billy Robinson. Hayes played the uppity superior Brit role to perfection and was the perfect comedic foil for the Crusher. Crusher became so disgusted with Hayes that he confronted Hayes on an interview segment during an edition of All Star Wrestling wearing a beautiful light blue tuxedo to mock his lordship. Hayes and Super Destroyer ended up attacking Crusher and ripping the Crusher's tuxedo to shreds. Crusher was so incensed at what Hayes and Super Destroyer had done that he told Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo to sign a handicap match between himself and the duo of Lord Alfred Hayes and the Super Destroyer. Karbo replied that Crusher must have a tag team partner against Hayes and Super Destroyer. Crusher looked under the ring and pulled out ring attendant, part time referee and long time AWA preliminary wrestler George Scrap Iron Gadaski. Gadaski was dressed in his work clothes and was covered in grease. Crusher asked Gadaski to be his partner against Hayes and the Super Destroyer. Gadaski agreed and the match was set for November 24th, 1977 at the Minneapolis Auditorium. Crusher and Gadaski won that match in Minneapolis and took their mini feud with Hayes and the Super Destroyer to several towns on the AWA circuit. Tuxedo matches between Lord Alfred and the Crusher also took place in many AWA cities.

The next goal for the Crusher was to unmask the Super Destroyer. Don Jardine had a disagreement behind the scenes with the AWA hierarchy about losing his mask and left the territory. The AWA announced on television that Crusher had unmasked the Super Destroyer on March 25th, 1978 in Denver, Colorado. 

Although Mosca, Super Destroyer and Lord Alfred Hayes were his main adversaries in 1977 and 1978, the Crusher challenged AWA champion Nick Bockwinkel on several occasions during that time period. While Crusher never did beat Bockwinkel for the AWA title, their matches always drew big crowds which was a testament to what a great champion Bockwinkel was and to what a beloved figure the Crusher was to the AWA fans. Even at his advanced age, the Crusher remained one of the most popular wrestlers in the AWA.

After Don Jardine abruptly left the AWA, Bob Remus (Sgt Slaughter) came back to the AWA under a mask billed as the Super Destroyer Mark II one week after Jardine left. Remus was a graduate of Verne Gagne's training camp in 1974 and had toiled as an undercard performer in the AWA during 1974 and 1975. Lord Alfred Hayes managed Super Destroyer Mark II and the duo was earmarked to feud with the Crusher. Before the feud could really get going, Crusher suffered an injury in mid May of 1978 that sidelined him until the beginning of 1979. Once Crusher returned to ring action, he resumed his feud with Super Destroyer Mark II and Lord Alfred Hayes. 

Crusher recruited legendary midget wrestler Lord Littlebrook to be his partner against Hayes and Super Destroyer Mark II. The bouts pitting Crusher and Lord Littlebrook against Lord Alfred Hayes and Super Destroyer Mark II took place in nearly every AWA city during the first half of 1979. The feud with Lord Alfred Hayes and Super Destroyer Mark II continued until July of 1979 when Crusher once again decided he needed some time away from the ring wars.

Crusher returned to action in September of 1979 going to Indianapolis, Indiana to team up with Dick the Bruiser against WWA tag team champions Nature Boy Roger Kirby and Golden Boy Paul Christy. Crusher and Bruiser battled Kirby and Christy to a no contest on September 8th, 1979. There was never any thought given to Crusher and Bruiser winning the WWA tag team titles from Roger Kirby and Paul Christy. Crusher was just brought to Indianapolis in order to draw a large house.

The next stop for the Crusher was Atlanta Georgia. Crusher arrived in Atlanta during mid September of 1979 and immediately began teaming with the most popular wrestler in Georgia, Wildfire Tommy Rich. On September 21st, 1979 in Atlanta, Georgia, the Crusher and Wildfire Tommy Rich defeated Ole Anderson and Ivan Koloff in a steel cage match to capture the Georgia Tag Team Titles. Crusher and Tommy had a few successful title defenses before dropping the straps to Ole Anderson and Ernie Ladd on October 5th, 1979 in Atlanta.

Thanks once again to George Lentz, the publisher of the Crusher Lisowski record book. Thanks also to AWA historian Jim Melby and to Tim Dills who had more Crusher results in Georgia than anybody else.

Being that the articles on the career of the Crusher have run longer than originally expected, my column on AWA enhancement wrestlers won't appear until the June edition of this column. Those of you wanting to see a particular AWA prelim guy covered, please write me privately here.

NEXT MONTH:

The final years of Crusher's career.