When I was 5 years old the Crusher came to our local Target store on South 27th Street and Layton Ave. Long since gone now. But back then Target was on the Southern side of Layton and K-Mart was on the North side of Layton. You could pop out the side of one and go to the other quick and easy. This "event" was in 1973-74. It was a photograph opportunity for kids to get a photo with the Crusher. Now I'm now 55. I have a terminal illness so if my recollection(dates, etc) are off I apologize. The Crusher was a awesome guy, and EXTREMELY GENTLE WITH KIDS. I was told I was terrified of him at first. He was a big loud guy to a 5 year old. But he took me aside and apparently quietly and gently talked to me about me getting a picture.📸 Before long we were buddies and up on his shoulder I went! 📸Snap📸photo📸done. He was not only my favorite wrestler but he showed me that big and loud wasn't scary and mean. He was my hero!
@oldguy753022 күн бұрын
Two of the best, ever! Great memories!
@grandpadutch94534 жыл бұрын
Da Crusher was my all time favorite wrestler as a kid. Thanks for sharing this video.
@johnlambert89624 жыл бұрын
I love these old clips. And I love how the huge sold out crowds bought in to the matches so enthusiastically back then.
@JS19663 жыл бұрын
Agree all the way,John! That place in particular, was awesome. I was there a couple times in the early 80's and it was just incredible. The crowd was just so loud and into it. Miss those days so much. Great times.
@josephnewburgh8531 Жыл бұрын
I went to the civic center several times for matches! Was always filled up, good old days indeed!
@josephnewburgh8531 Жыл бұрын
Used to take MTC University Ave bus from my place in midway St Paul, walked 1/4 mile to great times.
@kindredspiritzz664 жыл бұрын
40 yrs ago this was my childhood hero. God where has the time gone? Im an old man now
@southloopsoxfan3 жыл бұрын
Absolutely what I just thought
@jaybird12293 жыл бұрын
Unfortunately, true here, too. 🤔😳😖
@josephnewburgh8531 Жыл бұрын
Me too my friend, we ALL get old, sad have fun now!!!!
@billysikes1374 Жыл бұрын
We all get old sir, I remember watching this wrestling when I was crawling, Wrestling started sucking in 98, Wouldn't watch it today for anything
@princeofcupspoc90737 жыл бұрын
Heel and babyface. Simple believable bumps. Clean finish. I miss "real" wrestling.
@kennethjohnson63195 жыл бұрын
Awa has been the best territory of all wrestling the best wrestlers and the best cage matches of all
@chrisjerome41833 жыл бұрын
I loved the old AWA cage matches. From La Crosse Wisconsin
@dapvettes6 жыл бұрын
The Crusher used to live six blocks from our house, and I'd see him at the gas station, Andrea's Restaurant, and Pick n Save grocery store. Today he is buried in the cemetery at the corner. Sure miss that guy.
@RJ1999x6 жыл бұрын
David Pittman you must be from Milwaukee
@tubefluid4 жыл бұрын
Cool!
@jaybird12293 жыл бұрын
Agreed. A very good performer and good on the mic, too. This is a match with two ✌️ of the best of that or any era. When wrestling USED to be enteredtaining and somewhat believable. Not like today's 30 minutes of build-up for a 6 minute match.
@BlackJack4968 Жыл бұрын
How could you? Didn’t he spend all his time in the saloons training? Crush was the man to a whole generation of youngsters. Great story!
@williamkensy49029 ай бұрын
So does kavy
@anthonyzuk42236 жыл бұрын
Great Matches at the Civic Center, That was fun to watch matches in that building. The old auditorium also was great.
@Barnabas455 жыл бұрын
What was the name of the old auditorium?
@MisterBeauJanGels4 ай бұрын
@@Barnabas45They ran the Minneapolis Auditorium semi-regularly until about 1980 or so. From that point on, it was always at the St. Paul Civic Center with occasional shows at the Met Center in Bloomington.
@77loneranger5 жыл бұрын
Da Crusher is the ultimate blue-collar guy.
@winnipeggentleman56413 жыл бұрын
40 years ago, a cage match was considered the most brutal kind of match. Today, 40 years later, there are matches with baseball bats, barbed wire, broken glass, and fire...40 years from now, what're they going to do, have wrestlers walk into the ring carrying knives and guns? Dismemberment matches? Cannibal matches? Hard to see how things can get much more extreme in the future..real violence and killing like Ancient Rome?
@craigstrachan Жыл бұрын
Well these days when it comes to wrestling anything pretty much goes . If the promoters think that they can get way with it and it draws money they will do it . Fan of the death matches myself but when it's blood for the sake of blood it takes away from the match . By today's standard a cage match looks tame .
@fredericbarclay746824 күн бұрын
Nicholas electing not to cushion the G force of Crusher's humanoid tactics with his digits. 2 Legends.
@Earpaniac3 жыл бұрын
I lived in SE WI as a kid, and the Crusher was my hero. I thought it was amazing a guy on TV talked about places I had been too! Lol It was an unofficial “rule”, that if Crusher was on TV when someone was switching channels, they had to yell for me so I could watch until his part was over.
@EdsterIII Жыл бұрын
Same here. I was born in Cudahy. Grew up in Franklin and Greenfield. Spent my teens on Hwy.100 in West Allis, and Root River Parkway in Greendale. It was a GREAT PLACE in the 70's and 80's. It's lost so much of it's homey luster to "advancements" or something call cultural improvements. No more 41-Twin Drive-in. Willows Mini-Golf and driving range, Wilson Park pool, and ice rink. It's been a while since I've been back there. 10+ years but I miss the years 1973-1990. They were the best for me.
@bemore1134Ай бұрын
@@EdsterIII Same era for me!!! But NW side of Milwaukee. Capitol Dr, Villard, Northridge, Capitol Court, Dineen Park. We loved Da Crusher too!!!!
@basukitriarso99248 жыл бұрын
Yes, I saw Nick Bockwinkel doing the dirty trick of biting The Crusher's forehead. Well, it doesn't stop me from liking him still, though. Thanks for sharing the video.
@MrKastaway664 жыл бұрын
basuki triarso Probably tasted like chicken. Or polish sausage.
@SuperMarioJamesSMJ5 жыл бұрын
Blood is the greatest gimmick....after ECW the blood became too common and became a staple instead of a primary reason to put on a show
@craigstrachan Жыл бұрын
Well ECW was a promotion known for blood n guts wrestling while it did have other styles of wrestling the blood n guts hardcore style is what got them noticed .
@anonymousbo031811 ай бұрын
@@craigstrachanIt eventually died because it was a one truck pony promotion. Considering most of that roster is constantly in pain or dead. It wasn't worth it.
@craigstrachan11 ай бұрын
@anonymousbo0318 Don't disagree with that . Even Heyman said that if they had stayed in business they would have evolved from that style and gone the way of what ROH had done . Then people woll clamor for the Hardcore style and I'm 1 of them but can appreciate the other types of wrestling from strong style , technical , Lucha Libre . But the blood will always be there for better or worse.
@dapvettes6 жыл бұрын
At 4:16 in the front row, you can see the guy in the red jacket wiping the sweat and/or blood off his coat, right after Crusher threw Bockwinkel into the cage. Classic!
@peterodriguez3283 жыл бұрын
That's Al DeRusha lol
@JCsunfire2 жыл бұрын
Al derusha wiping his jacket, George gadaski was the one that got up pretending bockwinkel was going through the cage, and the other red jacket looking over wally karbo who was co owner and "awa president".
@jamesfuchs2233 жыл бұрын
The Crusher knew how to work up a match in an interview. I hope there are a few hidden matches out there that come about.
@VolumedMusicMan Жыл бұрын
This match took place on February 3, 1980. Lord Alfred Hayes sent Bobbie Heenan airborne into the cage prior to the match. In 1979 Heenan was in Atlanta…
@Agent77X Жыл бұрын
The Crusher did not even need his bollo punch!
@jerradriggs2884 Жыл бұрын
I'd have loved to have a pitcher with Da Crusher. Both men are tremendous rasslers but IMHO Da Crusher was on whole other level.
@soxyankees Жыл бұрын
Da Crusher is grating Bockwinkle’s head into the mesh like a nutmeg. 😂
@greyhulk33794 жыл бұрын
AWA GREAT WRESTLING Which doesn’t exist anymore
@cedricliggins75288 ай бұрын
Bockwinkel favorite wrestler
@SteveOMaddog Жыл бұрын
The good ole days before wrestling was turned into a cartoon performance.
@josephnewburgh8531 Жыл бұрын
Grating like a nutmeg, lol
@RH-sb5co2 ай бұрын
Is that Roger Kent?
@thomasjohnson31798 ай бұрын
Love The Crusher!
@moonytheloony65164 ай бұрын
Da Crusher!
@GorillaMansoon Жыл бұрын
I was at this match. There's nothing like being there in person.
@alanrosewicz647910 ай бұрын
I went to high school with his nephew
@crusherbmx Жыл бұрын
Good stuff
@lannygr92933 жыл бұрын
For a second I thought Bockwinkel picked up Crusher's blade
@jeffrobodeenyehcmon59252 жыл бұрын
Good old school cage matches. WWE could bring this type of cage match back. They should. Over the top both feet hit the floor to win. No pinfall no submission no cage door. Lights down and only over the cage. These could be epic pay per view matches. They don't need to blade to make it work. No more blood in the WWE..I guess....but this would be a nice match to bring back for the older fans and show the younger generation what we use to have.
@EdsterIII Жыл бұрын
The wwe WON'T allow that type of match anymore. They are now and have been a G-PG rated show. No blood, no old-school cages, no extreme brutality. Basically the wwe is now a slap fight league with a bunch of masked 🤡Clowns🤡 LMAO!
@anonymousbo031811 ай бұрын
@@EdsterIIIYou're a bozo
@JackJones-ke8mo2 жыл бұрын
Yeah dude 😎 good match 👍 What is up? Man on man action 🔥 R U man enough?
@richardbain87468 жыл бұрын
Was this a non title match ?
@DotDotkins7 жыл бұрын
All the cage matches in the AWA were non title matches. That's why Nick Bockwinkel always lost a cage match, of course at the next card Bockwinkel would defend his belt against the person that had defeated him in the cage on the previous card. It was a way to sell more tickets.
@collinwilson42235 жыл бұрын
Da crusher good old days
@thundercatsito3 жыл бұрын
Not tittle matches... People love to see how wrestlers hurt their Rivals... People love to see brutal, blood match... Lets the macho-alpha wins...
@michaelpalermo35411 ай бұрын
What an era!!!! So sad to see our once great country become what it is. When men were men!
@KKC706 ай бұрын
Quit whining, the country is better than it's ever been
@ziskokid1 Жыл бұрын
When people believed.
@stevejohnson15775 ай бұрын
I like AWA but they had the worst announcer… i have to put on mute
@@kurtsnyder4752 l do believe you, my way of saying l like the connection.
@scottnewman20823 жыл бұрын
He thinks Bockwinkle is cut also, you think, LOL
@schindorelli41807 жыл бұрын
Regretfully, Bockwinkel didn't lose this one. Crusher was disqualified for jumping off the top rope. The news came in the morning edition of the paper formerly known as the Minneapolis Tribune.
@jonathanturbide22326 жыл бұрын
Schindo Relli Getting DQed in a cage match...only Verne could come up with that type of stupid finish lol
@dhart84514 жыл бұрын
What?? All these years I thought the Crusher won. SMH
@MrLee2044 жыл бұрын
The AWA was big on reversing decisions due to technicalities.