1954 signaled a huge change in the wrestling career of Reggie Lisowski. His once dark head of hair was now bleached blond. His lean but still very muscular physique had morphed into a barrel-chested look making Reggie appear even more powerful. His new finishing maneuver was the full nelson. The biggest alteration though was Lisowski's conversion to rulebreaking. For the first few years of his career, Reggie was a beloved fan favorite. By 1954, he had become a villainous heel who almost always was booed by ringside fans.

Reggie Lisowski began teaming frequently with another muscular heel named Art Neilson. Lisowski and Neilson were an immediate success capturing the NWA World's Tag Team Titles from Bill Melby and Jack Witzig at the Marigold Arena in Chicago, Illinois on February 13th, 1954. Reggie and Art took their feud with Melby and Witzig to places like Massachusetts, Iowa, Nebraska and New York in February and March of 1954. The rest of 1954 saw Lisowski and Neilson defend the tag straps against other such outstanding teams as Hans Schmidt and Hans Hermann, Verne Gagne and Argentina Rocca, Pat O'Connor and Yukon Eric, The Sheik of Araby and Gypsy Joe, Luther Lindsay and Jack Clayborne, Don and Red McIntyre and Ivan and Karol Kalmikoff. Exactly when Reggie and Art lost the Chicago version of the NWA tag team titles is a bit of a mystery. The Crusher Record Book published by George Lentz states Lisowski and Neilson lost the belts to Ivan and Karol Kalmikoff on November 30th, 1954 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Wrestling Titles Histories published by Gary Will and Royal Duncan offers two other scenarios for the tag title switch. One is Reggie and Art were beaten for the tag titles by Hans Schnabel and Lou Newman on March 7th, 1955 in Peoria, Illinois. The other is Lisowski and Neilsen lost the straps to Pat O'Connor and Roy McClarity on March 19th, 1955 in Moline, Illinois. Reggie and Art continued to team for several more months until going their separate ways after a match against Yukon Eric and Chest Bernard on August 28th, 1955 in Dubuque, Iowa.

For the duration of 1955, Reggie Lisowski mainly competed in singles matches against such foes as Dick "The Bruiser" Afflis, Angelo Poffo, Verne Gagne, Bearcat Wright, Roy McClarity, Dick Beyer and NWA champion Lou Thesz. An interesting storyline developed between Thesz, Afflis and Lisowski. Dick the Bruiser defeated Reggie Lisowski on November 18th, 1955 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois. The very next night in Milwaukee Afflis was scheduled to meet NWA champion Lou Thesz in a title match. However it was announced to the fans at the Milwaukee Arena that Dick the Bruiser had suffered a serious gash requiring 16 stitches in a match with Reggie Lisowski the previous night in Chicago. Bruiser was unable to perform due to his wound so Reggie Lisowski was awarded the NWA title match against Lou Thesz. During the Thesz/Lisowski encounter, Dick the Bruiser showed up at ringside. Thesz eventually beat Reggie to retain the NWA title. The booking of this match actually was pretty smart. Afflis certainly deserved his rightful title shot against Lou Thesz and was awarded one 6 weeks later. Future matches between Dick the Bruiser and Reggie Lisowski now had special meaning to it because Lisowski had cost Afflis a chance to become NWA champion. Thesz in the meantime looked strong because he beat Reggie Lisowski. Reggie and Dick would later become one of the greatest tag teams of all time but in late 1954 the two men were bitter adversaries. 

Before I sign off on this month's column, I must issue a huge thanks to George Lentz, the publisher of the Crusher Lisowski record book. Without the tremendous research done by George, this particular column would not be possible.

NEXT MONTH:

I'll cover the Lisowski Brothers tag team, the formation of the Crusher persona, Reggie's AWA heavyweight title reigns and the partnership of Crusher and Dick the Bruiser.