Kory Davis, a veteran of the Western Canadian mat wars, who wrestled as Crusher Carlsen until 2002, has died. He was 48.
Back in late March, Davis was was admitted to a hospital in Regina, Saskatchewan, and a lung infection led to sepsis. He the suffered a heart attack and organ failure. Multiple surgeries followed.
On June 19, his wife, Brenda Milligan-Davis posted the news that he had died:
Unfortunately this is not the message I ever wanted to send out but Kory passed away about half hour ago he went peacefully with me, his brother Gregg Davis and my sister Lisa Dennis by his side. Much love to all for your support and love through this whole ordeal.
Davis was born in Merritt, British Columbia. He wrestled Greco-Roman in high school, and feel into pro wrestling through his cousin, who wrestled as Myles “The Flash” Davis. He trained as a pro wrestler under “Good Time” Charlie Hayes (Charles Pichette) and Massive Damage (Shawn Dunster) in Regina in 1996.
On his defunct website, Davis explained his start and his skillset:
Crusher began his pro wrestling career is a somewhat reluctant manner. He was approached by the promoters of the fledgling Hardcore Wrestling and was asked if he was interested in becoming a professional wrestler. Crusher, who was a successful amateur in Western Canada, was unsure if he wanted to be a professional and it took the convincing of his cousin Miles Davis and future friend “Goodtime” Charley Hayes to finally get him in the ring. As soon as he got in the ring, Crusher took to the sport and quickly adopted the rough and tumble style that would become his trademark. Standing at 6’5″ and weighing in at nearly 500lbs., Crusher strikes a menacing pose in the ring and coupled with his surprising speed and agility he quickly became the dominant force in the Hardcore Promotion. He was the number one ranked wrestler for an astonishing 42 straight weeks. He battled with the likes of Massive Damage, Dream Warrior, Chi Chi Cruz and Buster Brody.
His titles included the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Title, NWA Canadian Tag Team Titles, CWF Heavyweight Title and CWF Tag Team Titles, and he worked in Hardcore Wrestling, CWF, NWA Canada, CCW, IWA, NWA, SCW, and he wrestled throughout Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.
In July 2002, Davis announced his retirement from in-ring action, with this message:
Well it sure has been fun. That is what I wanted everyone to know now that I have decided to hang up the boots for good. It has been a struggle the last year or so with my back, my gall bladder and my ear and it has all taken quite a toll on me and I think that now is as good a time as ever to take a step back and retire from the wrestling business.
I don’t have a big ego where I think this is going to affect the planet on a global scale. At best I was a decent independent wrestler who happened to get a couple of decent breaks in this business. I have seen more than most but maybe not as much as others but I can say that I am satisfied with what I accomplished in my years in this business. I never made it to the BIG show but I wrestler all over Canada and even into the United States. I met many wonderful people and got to perform infront of some of the best fans in the world. I thanks them all for making me feel special. I would also like to thank every promoter I ever worked for and everyone who was apart of any promotion that I happened to wrestle for. The people in this business are what makes beating yourself up worth it.
I hope that everyone who saw me wrestle was entertained in some way. I hope that I made you think that your money was well spent. I hope that everyone that I was in the ring with knows that I enjoyed my time there and that I enjoyed being in there with them. Guys like Charley Hayes, Rex Roberts, Todd Myers, Massive Damage, EZ Ryder, Ernie Todd and the rest of them all made it more easy to be in the ring. Thanks to all of you.
This thirty year old man is going to do what all good retiriees do……go golfing!!!
Remember……BEWARE THERE WILL BE NO MERCY!!!
Davis was inducted into Saskatchewan’s High Impact Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2013.
Some of his wrestling colleagues mourned Davis’s death.
“RIP my once great tag team partner,” wrote Chad Blind. “The colossal towers will remain in our memories forever. The days of hardcore wrestling and the memories you left will be cherished forever brother.”
On June 10, a GoFundMe page was set up to help with Davis’ medical bills.
