The angle that introduced Crusher Broomfield was taken straight from the pages of Southeastern.  Many of you will remember Crusher Jerry Blackwell being brought to Knoxville by Professor Boris Malenko.  He was able to get Blackwell to do his bidding because he held the deed to the Blackwell family farm.  A turn was teased for what seemed like forever until Crusher, with a little help from his friends, gets his revenge as well as the farm.  Almost the same script was followed in ICW with Broomfield.  Randy Savage introduced Crusher as a 7 foot, 500 pounder from Chicago.  The idea of this guy with a southern accent being from Chicago struck us as strange, although it didn’t stop him from being billed as being from Chicago for his entire career.  I suppose he could have lived there at one time; I lived in Brooklyn for five years and I talk like a hillbilly from eastern Tennessee (think Ron Wright, but a little less nasal).  Anyway, he was sent after ICW’s faces, especially Leaping Lanny and Ronnie Garvin.  Every week Savage would ask Crusher “what are ya gonna do to Lanny, Crusher?  Tell ‘em, Crusher!”  “Cripple ‘im,” was Crusher’s reply.  There was also a bodyslam challenge, which I don’t remember anyone collecting on.  Lanny got him up one time, but he wasn’t able to complete the slam.  Garvin met him in the ring several times, but admitted that he kind of liked the guy.  He once told Crusher, who was deathly afraid of snakes (I don’t like snakes, Randy), that he’d get him a steak and show him how to kill a snake.  They left together, which enraged Savage.  Randy wasn’t appearing in the studio at this point, having been embarrassed by the “sting” that Garvin and Bob Roop had  pulled earlier.  Garvin was naturally curious as to why Crusher, who was obviously not aggressive by nature, was breaking bodies for Savage.  The first time Garvin asked him what was going on Crusher mumbled something about his mother’s farm.  Someone must have decided that this was too close to the Blackwell angle in Southeastern, because later it came out that Savage’s hold over Crusher was because Crusher needed money to pay for his sister’s medical bills.  His sister, it seems, had leukemia.  Of course fans kept saying “he’s gonna turn on ‘em.”  Savage eventually decided he couldn’t control Crusher well enough from his house, so he returned to the studio.  When Savage blew up at manager Steve Cooper and went after him, Crusher said “you’re hurtin’ him” and proceeded to pin Savage to the ground.  Later Savage made Crusher say that this never happened, and that Crusher could never hold him down.  Anytime Crusher would start to come clean in an interview Savage would make him say “I lied!” later.  Garvin got him to admit that he wasn’t from Chicago (he was from Spartanburg, SC) and that he wasn’t 7ft. tall , 500 pounds (he said he was 6’10”, 450 pounds). Garvin finally got Savage to agree to put up Crusher’s contract in a match.  Like most matches between Garvin and Savage where the title wasn’t at stake, Garvin came out on top.  Crusher spent a few months as a full-fledged face before venturing into Mid-South to break Ernie Ladd’s leg.