by Stephen Von Slagle
When it comes to gargantuan athletes, no other sport has featured more monolithic competitors than professional wrestling. In fact, with so many “big men” swelling the ranks of wrestling, it occasionally seems that despite their larger-than-life appearance, the giants of the squared circle (often limited inside the ring by the one characteristic that sets them apart from others, that being their extraordinary size) are so prevalent that they become, as the cliché goes, “a dime a dozen.” Yet, with each generation, a few select, talented and innovative goliaths prove themselves to be genuine trendsetters by expanding the parameters of what can be done inside the ring by larger performers. “Crusher” Jerry Blackwell was undoubtedly one of those few, special giants of the ring and during his time in the wrestling business, the incredibly agile 5’9″ 450 lb. super-heavyweight performed maneuvers that had never before been seen from one so large. At the same time, he helped pave the way for similar future superstars such as King Kong Bundy, Bam Bam Bigelow, Yokozuna, Vader and many other huge yet very mobile pro wrestlers.

Blackwell Dropkicks Bruno Sammartino
His first major run as a main-event level performer came shortly after he broke into the business, while he was wrestling in the Central States territory. As a key member of Col. Buck Robely’s ‘”army” along with other top Central States heels such as Bobby Jaggers and “Bruiser” Bob Sweetan, the young Blackwell had the opportunity to wrestle at the top of the card against longtime promotion favorites such as Rufus R. Jones and “Bulldog” Bob Brown. On October 21, 1977, Crusher Blackwell teamed with his manager Robely to win the Central States Tag Team championship. Although they eventually lost their belts to the team of Mike George & Scott Casey on December 1, 1977 in Kansas City, Kansas, Blackwell learned a great deal as a champion and continued to improve with each match. Over the course of the next few years, Blackwell embarked on a nomadic journey that resulted in the super-heavyweight making successful tours of several regional territories. The impressive big man made his presence known in Jerry Jarrett’s CWA, the Tulsa-based Tri-State promotion, and, of course, a brief high-profile run in the World Wide Wrestling Federation, where he was guided by the legendary “manager of champions” The Grand Wizard of Wrestling. By 1979, Blackwell had made his way to Ron Fuller’s Southeastern promotion, which was based in Knoxville, Tennessee and success once again soon came his way. In January of 1979, he teamed with The Masked Invader (Bob Orton, Jr.) to win the National Wrestling Alliance’s Southeastern Tag Team title by defeating the popular team of Ken Lucas & Kevin Sullivan. Then, after losing the belts to the duo of Ken Lucas & Bob Armstrong five weeks later, Blackwell recaptured the NWA Southeastern Tag Team championship on May 24, 1979 when he teamed with Dick Slater. 1979 was also the year that Blackwell competed in CBS’ The World’s Strongest Man Competition. While he was clearly a very powerful man, Blackwell was going up against experienced, world-class athletes and, after incurring an injury early in the competition, he was forced to drop out before scoring any points.
It was also during this time that Blackwell was part of another highly successful tag team in Japan. Through the AWA’s close working relationship with All Japan Pro Wrestling, Blackwell (sans his Arab gimmick) was able to travel to the island nation several times and while there he formed a devastating team with the legendary Bruiser Brody. The two agile big men complimented each other well, and during the tournament to decide the prestigious NWA International Tag Team championship, Brody & Blackwell went all the way to the finals before being defeated on September 3, 1984 by the formidable combo of Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu. Back home, Blackwell continued to enjoy his position as one of the top men in the business and a major drawing card for promoters, particularly in the southern and midwestern portions of the country.
In the “new” Jerry Blackwell, the fans were able to see a man very much unlike the one they’d known since he made his debut some ten years earlier and they immediately rallied behind the likeable, yet tougher-than-nails super-heavyweight. With the overwhelmingly positive response that his face-turn received from their fanbase, the American Wrestling Association (which consistently had a great deal of success pushing “common man” heroes that appealed to their largely blue-collar audience) placed Blackwell into top feuds against the promotion’s main heels such as The Fabulous Freebirds, and particularly against Freebird leader Michael “P.S.” Hayes. In fact, it was against the flamboyant Freebird that Blackwell had his last major AWA storyline. The two diametrically opposed individuals formed natural rivals and their upper mid-card feud drew large crowds to major AWA cities such as Chicago, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Denver & Milwaukee. While they did not have traditional four-star scientific marathons, the Blackwell vs. Hayes feud (which concluded with a series of bloody Steel Cages matches throughout the large AWA territory) was a very emotionally intense and exciting program that was also an unquestioned financial success.
“Crusher” Jerry Blackwell died on January 22, 1995, following complications stemming from a serious automobile accident that he was involved in the previous month. Jerry Blackwell was just 45 years old when he passed away.