Bruiser and Crusher also beat Arakawa and Moto for the WWA tag team titles in December of 1968 but it's unclear whether the WWA tag title switch happened on December 28th in Chicago or on a WWA card held in Indiana around that same time. It is clear though Bruiser and Crusher held both the AWA and WWA tag team titles as 1968 came to a close. 

1969 signaled a change in the tag team ranks in both the AWA and the WWA. Mitsu Arakawa and Dr Moto who had held the AWA and WWA tag team titles at the same time departed the midwest in January of 1969. Harley Race also left the AWA leaving Larry Hennig without a permanent tag tem partner. With those teams no longer around, it opened the door for a few new tag teams to feud with Crusher and Bruiser in the AWA and the WWA. 

The first team to step forward was Frank (Lawrence K McMullen) and Jack Dillinger (Don Kalt) who were known as the Chain Gang. The Dillingers were billed as members of the Hell's Angels biker gang. Frank and Jack reportedly did not take baths in order to bolster their biker gimmick. 

The Chain Gang wore the colors of the Hell's Angels and pinned medals on their foreheads. The Dillingers were pushed heavily from the start and immediately began feuding with Crusher and Bruiser in Indianapolis and Chicago. After battling Crusher and Bruiser several times during the first half of 1969, the Chain Gang finally gained the upper hand in the feud when they defeated Crusher and Bruiser on June 20th, 1969 in Indianapolis, Indiana to capture the WWA tag team titles.

Crusher Lisowski had a long standing feud with Maurice Mad Dog Vachon dating back to their wars over the AWA heavyweight championship in 1965. Mad Dog brought his brother Paul the Butcher Vachon to the AWA in 1969 with hopes of defeating Crusher and Bruiser for the AWA tag team titles. 

The matches between the Vachons and the tandem of Bruiser and Crusher were some of the most violent and bloody bouts ever seen in the AWA. The Crusher along with his partner Dick the Bruiser ventured back to Japan in August of 1969. Crusher and Bruiser defeated Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba on August 11th, 1969 in Sapporo to win the JWA International tag team titles. Inoki and Baba regained the tag belts from Bruiser and Crusher on August 13th, 1969 in Sapporo. When Bruiser was busy in other matches on the Japanese tour, Crusher teamed once with Mario Milano against Inoki and Kim ILL and battled Kim ILL in a singles match. Both of those bouts ended in a no contest.

After completing their Japanese tour, Crusher and Bruiser returned to the United States for an AWA world tag team title defense against the Vachon brothers in Chicago, Illinois. Mad Dog and Butcher Vachon defeated Crusher and Bruiser to win the AWA tag team titles on August 30th, 1969 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois. During the course of this match, Crusher was injured and would be out of action for several months. Whether Crusher was legitimately injured in the match against the Vachons on August 30th, 1969 is a matter of some debate. One school of thought is Crusher was injured on the tour of Japan and the injury that happened in the match against the Vachons was just a storyline to explain Crusher's absence. Another line of thinking is Crusher wasn't injured at all, he just needed some personal time away from the ring. Whatever the case, the Vachon brothers were credited with injuring the Crusher and Crusher would not return to the ring until January of 1970.

Crusher Lisowski made a triumphant return to the ring on January 3rd, 1970 at the Auditorium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin defeating Crazy Luke Graham. During his first televised interview upon his return on edition of All Star Wrestling, Crusher stated "I'm gonna get the Vachons, if I get 'em in the ring, in the alley, anywhere I find these bums, one thing's for sure; I'm getting them Vachons and anybody else who steps in The Crusher's way, including Rosemary's Baby- Doctor X, Lanza and that turkey necked stooge of his (Bobby Heenan); Hennig, Anderson (Lars), anybody that steps in The Crusher's way is gonna be sent out of Crusher Country and I'll guarantee you we'll never see them bums again. And it's great to be back with my fans."

The fans didn't have to wait long for the Crusher to strike back at the Vachons. The very next week on the January 17th episode of All Star Wrestling the Vachons were battling The Flying Frenchman Edouard Carpentier and preliminary wrestler Bruce Kirk in a two out of three fall match. Carpentier had won the first fall by pinning Butcher Vachon.

During the second fall, Bruce Kirk clamped Mad Dog Vachon in a side headlock. Mad Dog pushed Bruce Kirk into the referee who flew out of the ring. While Carpentier went to the referee's aid, the Vachons double teamed Bruce Kirk, piledrove and pounded him into unconsciousness. Carpentier noticed what happened and came to his partner's aid by knocking Butcher Vachon over the top rope. Edouard started kicking Mad Dog Vachon but Butcher quickly recovered and soon both Vachons were pounding on Carpentier unmercilessly. Another referee tried to intervene as did preliminary wrestler Buddy Smith (Freebird Buddy Roberts) but the Vachons disposed of each man quickly. Finally The Crusher, smoking a cigar and wearing a suit and pants, came out to get involved in the proceedings. Crusher climbed in the ring attacking Mad Dog Vachon. Soon the Vachons were getting the best of the Crusher kicking him and ripping apart his suit. By this time Carpentier was ready for more and rejoined the melee. Edouard chopped Butcher Vachon over the top rope which gave Crusher time to recover. Crusher drove Mad Dog Vachon's head into the ringpost and then stomped on Vachon's head as Mad Dog was sprawled on the floor. Butcher had climbed back inside the ring where he was being pummeled by Carpentier. The Crusher then bashed Mad Dog's head into ring announcer Rodger Kent's table and blood was flowing freely out of Mad Dog's head. Once a bit of order was restored, Rodger Kent exclaimed "Mad Dog Vachon is undoubtedly gravely wounded ladies and gentlemen. There's about a seven inch cut on his head and the blood was just spurting right out."

The Crusher and Edouard Carpentier were granted several AWA tag title shots against the Vachon Brothers but did not capture the AWA tag team titles. Crusher also teamed up with his friend Bad Boy Bull Bullinski (Frank Shields) in addition to other AWA fan favorites including Mighty Igor Vodik, Verne Gagne and Pepper Gomez versus the Vachons but always came up a little bit short in AWA tag team title matches. Crusher did extract some revenge by defeating Mad Dog Vachon in a series of singles bouts. A cage match between Crusher and Mad Dog held at the Arena in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on June 13th, 1970 set an indoor attendance record in Milwaukee of 12,076 fans. 

Even though he had beaten Mad Dog Vachon in all their singles encounters, the Crusher really wanted to defeat the Vachons for the AWA tag team titles. Once again, Crusher recruited Dick the Bruiser to be his partner. Crusher and Bruiser did manage to defeat the Vachons a few times by disqualification. The disqualification victories did not satisfy Crusher and Bruiser. They demanded a cage match with the Vachon Brothers. Crusher and Bruiser received their wish and signed to wrestle Mad Dog and Butcher Vachon in a cage match to be held at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois on August 13th, 1970. To the dismay of their fans, Crusher and Bruiser lost the cage match to the Vachon brothers. 

Although gaining revenge on the Vachons was their main objective during this time period, the Crusher and Bruiser did find time to resume their feud with the Chain Gang. However this was a different version of the Chain Gang than before Crusher's injury. The original Chain Gang, Frank and Jack Dillinger, defeated Man Mountain Mike and Yukon Moose Cholak on September 13th, 1969 at the Milwaukee Arena and were set to receive an AWA tag title shot against the Vachon brothers on the next Milwaukee card. After the matches on September 13th, 1969 at the Milwaukee Arena, the Chain Gang were invited out for some drinks by some of their fans.

Upon entering the tavern, Frank and Jack Dillinger were jumped by a bunch of bikers. They had been set up. The Chain Gang fought their way out of the bar and each man took off in a different direction. Jack Dillinger (Don Kalt) jumped in the nearby Milwaukee River to escape the wrath of the bikers. Frank Dillinger (Lawrence K McMullen) wasn't as fortunate. Frank was found the next day in Burlington, Wisconsin, a south suburb of Milwaukee, shot in both legs. One of the bullets pierced an artery in one of Frank's legs. Frank eventually had the leg amputated and his career was over. The bikers reportedly were real members of the Hell's Angels and were upset at the Chain Gang for wearing their gang colors without permission. Frank Dillinger's wrestling career was over. 

He was replaced in the Chain Gang shortly thereafter by Jim Dillinger (Chris Colt). The Chain Gang then altered their gimmick to become California style hippies instead of bikers so not to incur the wrath of the Hell's Angels again. Crusher and Bruiser met the new version of the Chain Gang twice at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois during the spring of 1970 losing the first match on May 18th and winning the second one on June 2nd.

Once again, special thanks to George Lentz, publisher of the Crusher Lisowski record book. Without the hard work of historians like George, columns such as this one would not be possible.

NEXT MONTH:  

I'll continue the saga of the Reggie "the Crusher" Lisowski.