In his obituary, The Washington Post described him as "a professional wrestler whose blue-collar bona fides made him beloved among working class fans for 40 years".

[4] To elevate his career further, he bleached his dark hair blonde and started to get over as a strongman heel, famous for his bolo punch finisher as well as a devastating full nelson.

After meeting the team of Larry Hennig & Harley Race for the first time, the fans adopted Crusher and his wrestling "cousin" Dick the Bruiser as full-fledged heroes in AWA territory.

[4] His bluster was legendary, as he would threaten to maul opponents in the ring and afterward "have a party, take all the dollies down Wisconsin Avenue, drink beer and dance the polka."

[2] Over the next 15 to 20 years, Crusher and Bruiser were tag partners off and on, and a natural combination due to their common background and brawling wrestling style.

[2][4] Introduced at the beginning of wrestling matches as "The Wrestler That Made Milwaukee Famous" (a play on the slogan for Schlitz, "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous"),[1] Crusher was successful as a solo wrestler, winning the AWA World Heavyweight Championship three times, the first time unifying it with the Omaha version of the World Heavyweight Championship on July 9, 1963, in a match where he defeated Verne Gagne.

[2][4] He was skillful at cutting promos, as he would brag about his "100 megaton biceps" and offer to pummel "da bum" he was facing in the ring with ease, and he often delighted in calling opponents "turkeynecks".

[7][5] Lisowski also had a successful run in the WWF in the early 1960s, where he was the nemesis of Johnny Valentine and a young Bruno Sammartino, primarily in the Pittsburgh promotion.

[9] The Crusher's last television appearance was at WWF's 1998 pay-per-view Over the Edge: In Your House where was shown sitting alongside Mad Dog Vachon in the front row.

[1] He spent the final months of his life in a nursing home and had to be fed through a tube, but his son David stated that he would never stop working out until his death.

was popular in the upper Midwest and made it to #88 on the national Billboard chart[10][5] and #40 in Canada[11] It was later covered by The Cramps on their album Psychedelic Jungle, and has long been a staple on the Dr. Demento Radio Show.

[12] The Ramones released a song entitled "The Crusher", paying tribute to Lisowski on their last studio recorded album, Adios Amigos.

[13] A few weeks later on August 24, 2019, surveillance video captured two men striking the statue with a concrete block, damaging the nose, cheek and chest.