“The day I woke up in the hospital with a doctor sitting at the foot of the bed telling me I had a heart attack, the first question I had was am I going to die, and the second was, can I wrestle again?”
In the social media age, it’s commonplace for so many to share memes with supposedly “inspirational” quotes or something to express their passion about their chosen path in life. The truth is, more often than not, those sentiments are as superficial as the minimal about of time that it took someone to click the “share button” online.
Passion is only established through dedication over the course of time, there’s no substitute for it, you either invest the hours and log the miles, or the declaration of passion for a project is completely hallow.
Of course, the independent wrestling circuit, almost by nature, requires that passion for any type of long-term success, as the metrics are specifically based on the potential of accomplishment with nothing guaranteed. There aren’t corporate sponsors so it’s not for the money, and much of the prospect for success at the next level could be simply a matter of timing. Being at the right place at the right time, or just not being in the right era, could determine if the indy scene is a respectable side gig or the potential to become a full-time career. Reckless Youth was an unsung hero of the indys, and for whatever reason, just didn’t get the big break that it seemed so obvious that he would before he hung up his boots.
When it comes to passion, the Pittsburgh scene, a region known almost as much for its wrestling as the steel that it once produced, there are select individuals that are known for their passion for the sport, and that passion had a domino effect that shaped the landscape of the area today.
Much like Reckless Youth, who was known for his aerial bouts in the Steel City Wrestling organization in the late-98, Jeff Davenport, the villainous Crusher Hansen for most of his in-ring tenure that spanned nearly three decades, is one of those unsung heroes of the sport in Pittsburgh.
When Davenport was hospitalized with a heart attack more than a decade ago, he asked if he was going to die, with the thought that he wanted to be there for his family, and if he could wrestle again because of how much he loves to perform for an audience. The volumes that those questions speak certainly echo loudly as an example of his passion for the squared circle.
The hope of the ring didn’t just inspire Davenport to recover from the cardiac scare in 2013, the ring ropes have provided him a level of solace for the vast majority of his life.
Very similar to how Davenport’s dedication can’t be summarized with a social media meme, his discovery and love affair with the over-the-top world of pro wrestling wasn’t fancy either. Raised in poverty by a single mom, the 12-year-old youngster stumbled upon a wrestling show on the small TV screen that only had access to a few channels, setting off a series of events that would shape the direction of the rest of his life.
“My earliest memory was watching, I think, WCW on their TBS studio show and being intrigued by it. I became a fan, but not obsessed with it. I can remember watching Wrestlemania pay-per-views at a relative’s house and later my own house, but still was just a casual fan. Fast forward to high school, when I started getting into to really follow and often wondered how one gets it the business,” Davenport explained.
Just a few years later, Jeff got his answer. He was home after unexpectedly being laid off due to budget cuts at the job he was working after he finished high school. Normally, he wouldn’t get a chance to hear the entire show, but as he scanned the classified ads, listening to the B94 morning show, a staple of the airwaves in the 90s, he heard one of the hosts, Bubba Snider, who was quite literally a radio hosts by day and a pro wrestler at night, discuss an upcoming bout he had a McKeesport High School. Intrigued, Jeff called the station to find out about the show and eventually asked how someone could get involved in the sport on the local level.
He landed under the now-defunct Pro Wrestling Express banner by February 1996, and through a variety of trainers, had the chance to work out in the ring at least five days a week, sometimes for 3-5 hours during each session. Between the established veterans and aspiring rookies that would go on to make names for themselves alongside Crusher Hansen in the years that followed, Jeff got a solid old school foundation of a pro wrestling education, lessons that he would share with the next generation when he became a trainer for the same organization years later.
“I had my first match in May of that year, but wasn’t done. BA Briggs was my original trainer, but when Paul Atlas and Brian Anthony took over, I continued to learn from them. Training was tough, all of my trainers where very old school. Guys like myself, Quinn Magnum, Mad Mike, Dennis Gregory, and others would show up to work out with some of the more experienced guys like Shocker Evans, Vince Kaplack, and others,” he recalled.
It wasn’t glamours, but the lessons that Jeff learned in the back of a warehouse throughout the rest of 1996 would leave an impression on him that he carries with him to this day.
“I learned a lot from both sets of trainers, skills that I used when training guys myself. For instance, the BA Briggs side of me will help with gimmick development, facial expressions, old school spots, and storytelling. The Paul and Brian part of me helped me weed out the guys that just don’t have it. Plus, a lot of the psychology that they taught me,” Davenport remarked.
“He’s very knowledgeable and we always worked well together in the ring. He taught me how to be a heel. Grab the hair because it’s there. Use the ring as a weapon. I always love working a match in training with Crusher,” added Chris Helmsly, a 10-year veteran that cut his teeth in the sport learning under Davenport.
Jeff’s rookie year in the sport was somewhat like the wild west, as pro wrestling was just beginning to bubble up for what would become the boom period of the late-90s, and as society became edgier so did its wrestling with ECW’s rise in popularity, as well as its influence on the industry becoming more of a factor. Jeff cites his earliest ventures in the business as some of the most fun that he had in his career, as he had the chance to experience the business under the learning tree of two Pittsburgh legends, while working on cards with national stars.
“I was lucky enough back in the mid-90s and early-2000s to be friends with Lord Zoltan and T-Rantula so Zoltan got me booked, and T always drove. The shows were always hardcore heavy, sprinkled in with old WWF talent like King Kong Bundy, Greg Valentine, the bush Whackers, and Jake Roberts. The crowds were almost always big. Being with those two legends, I was always treated in higher regards than I really deserved. I was still green, there were shows ever weekend, kinda like it is right now. With so many promotions now, it reminds me of my early years,” Jeff explained.
For the nearly two decades that followed, the grappler that started as Bone Crusher and then eventually became known as Crusher Hansen, was a stalwart of the steel city independent scene. He was a classic worker, with the bump and feed for the baby face as his specialty. Make no mistake about it, not only could Crusher get the audience invested in the outcome of his match, he had such a solid set of fundamental skills that his ability inside the ring ropes personified the true objective of a heel in wrestling, to make the baby face. Hansen could take the fans on the ride of peaks and valleys before he either counted the lights or broke the rules to get the win.
“Winning the NWA National title from Pepper Parks and losing it to Gunner from would be one. Being the first guy to wrestle Samu when PWX brought him is also a highlight. I wrestled Dirk Ciglar on a show at The Pepsi Road House ran by ECW guys, we were the first match and really didn’t disappoint, getting an ECW chant was cool,” Crusher recalled.
Throughout the past 17 years that I’ve been involved in the pro wrestling scene as an announcer in Pittsburgh, I’ve seen a lot of really talented performers that could’ve and probably should’ve had an opportunity to make it to a national level, but for whatever reason, they didn’t get the chance. As mentioned earlier, it’s the nature of the beast of the entertainment industry. That said, if Crusher Hansen had the chance to start wrestling a decade earlier, he was tailor-made to be a star in the territories. He’s an old school guy that checks all the boxes of the classic era.
That being said, after almost 20 years from the first time he stepped into the ring, he suffered the previously mentioned heart attack, causing his entire life, not just his wrestling career, to come to a screeching halt. Around the time that he hit the seven-year mark as a pro, he started a family so he decided to keep his grappling to a local level. He had such a love for the game that just the chance to perform for a paying audience on the weekends was enough to keep him dedicated to the sport. Jeff Davenport worked the typical 9-to-5 on the weekends, took his kids to their sports practices on Saturday mornings and then caused in-ring mayhem as a villain that night.
But, all of that was thrown into jeopardy when the doctor mentioned earlier sat at the foot of his hospital bed and told him that he’d have to prioritize his health to be able to continue to see his children grow up.
“I worked hard to get back and when I did, I was very rewarding to see the hard work pay off,” Jeff said.
Despite the life-threatening scenario, Crusher Hansen kicked out at 2.9 and eventually got back in the ring for another six years before the decades of wrestling required him to get rotator cuff surgery. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down not long after that, Jeff wasn’t sure if or when his career would continue.
However, similar to how professional wrestling provided him with solace at 12 years old when grew up in a single parent home in poverty, sports entertainment gave him a sense of peace decades later, which unknowingly opened the door for yet another new chapter for him earlier this year. He reached out to an old in-ring rival, fellow Pittsburgh legend, Brandon K, who made a habit of putting Hansen in pain with the ankle lock during the course of their memorable matches. Brandon found Ryse Wrestling in 2016, with The Stronghold training center as one of the cornerstones of the project. Hansen asked if he could see the school, and knowing Crusher’s accomplishments, Brandon jumped at the chance to host Hansen for a guest spot for the students.
“My comeback to wrestling, I am going through a difficult time in my personal life and needed something to take my mind off of things. I showed up on a Wednesday night for the students and he allowed me to help him work with some of the new guys. That just grew the little flame in me, and as I started to run some spots and take some bumps, I felt alive again. I really didn’t know how much I missed wrestling, the in-ring stuff and the behind the scenes stuff.” Davenport said.
So, nearly thirty years after he first stepped into a professional wrestling ring, Jeff Davenport finds himself back in the business, this time as an agent to help the core group of young talent at Ryse Wrestling. At live events, Davenport has proven to be a valuable asset to the organization, as he helps management run the event in any aspect needed. His decades of experience and knowledge allow him to be a versatile member of the management team.
This is where we get back to that word passion. Hansen invested the three decades into the pro wrestling industry, and investment that not only would he considered something that paid off, but also an investment that he would make all over again if he found himself back in front of the radio listening to B-94 as that 22-year-old youngster that decided to call the station about the wrestling show. National contracts and merchandise didn’t define the career of Crusher Hansen, but the success of his passion for the sport certainly did.
For more information about Jeff, you can go to https://www.facebook.com/jeffrey.davenport.12
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
