In the early 1960's, The Crusher debuted for the American Wrestling Association (AWA) as a heel. In 1965, after meeting the team of Larry Hennig and Harley Race for the first time, the fans adopted Crusher and his wrestling "cousin" Dick the Bruiser as full-fledged heroes in the AWA territory. The Crusher's gimmick was to absorb a tremendous amount of punishment and still be able to make a comeback for the win. The team of the Crusher and Dick the Bruiser won the AWA World Tag Team Championship five times.
Crusher was successful as a solo wrestler, winning the AWA World Heavyweight Championship three times.
He also had a successful run in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the early 1960's, where he was a nemesis of Johnny Valentine and a very young Bruno Sammartino. The Crusher would wrestle on a part-time basis, appearing at WWF house shows. In 1986, he occasionally teamed with The Machines as Crusher Machine.
The Crusher's last match was at a WWF house show in Omaha on February 15, 1988. He replaced Billy Jack Haynes to team with Ken Patera and face Demolition, who were disqualified when Mr. Fuji tripped Crusher with a cane about three minutes in.
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. Jerry Lawler made fun of the two men's age, and tried to steal Vachon's artificial leg, but Vachon hit him over the head with it, and Crusher punched him. As Lawler bailed, the two former enemies shook hands.
On October 22, 2005, the Crusher passed away.