Max Thrasher

Philip Andrew "Phil" Livelsberger (born February 7, 1962), better known by the ring name Max Thrasher, is an American retired professional wrestler, promoter and trainer. He is best known for his tenure in Eastern Championship Wrestling, as one-half of The Night Breed with Glen Osbourne, and the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation, where he won the MEWF Heavyweight Championship three times, the MEWF Mid-Atlantic Championship two times and the MEWF Tag Team Championship two times (once each with Dino Casanova and Lucifer). Livelsberger also trained a number of independent stars including, most notably, Morgus the Maniac, Adam Flash and Kevin Featherstone.

Livelsberger started his career in the Atlantic Wrestling Federation and had a brief stint in Jim Crockett Promotions as a preliminary wrestler. He emerged as a top heel performer in the Mid-Atlantic U.S. during the 1990s and wrestled for several prominent independent promotions: the National Wrestling Federation, National Wrestling League, Trans World Wrestling Federation, Tri-State Wrestling Alliance and Maryland Championship Wrestling. He has also wrestled overseas in Greece, Guam, the Philippines and Japan.

Early life and education Livelsberger was born February 7, 1962, to Leo P. Livelsberger and his wife and raised in Hanover, Pennsylvania. He is one of seven children. His father was a hospital worker, while his mother was a homemaker. Livelsberger became a fan of professional wrestling after seeing an episode of WWWF All-Star Wrestling when he was six years old. Livelsberger attended Delone Catholic High School

Livelsberger made his pro debut on August 22, 1987, After a handful of shows, Miller closed down the gym and Livelsberger took over the AWF in early 1988. Ed Zohn was brought on as a partner and later served as the on-screen AWF President. Livelsberger also opened his own wrestling school, initially out of a garage in his hometown of Hanover and later in York, Pennsylvania. He subsequently wrestled Blackjack Mulligan, Jimmy Valiant and The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson) at house shows in North Carolina. His appearances for the promotion stopped after then booker Dusty Rhodes was fired by Turner Broadcasting in November 1988. For their first match in York, AWF President Ed Zohn brought in Don Muraco as a special referee. Wrestling journalist Bill Apter, who was travelling with Bigelow at the time, was present for their match in Elkins, West Virginia. This resulted in coverage from major pro wrestling magazines and was a nominee for PWI Match of the Year. as well as ex-World Wide Wrestling Federation veterans Afa the Wild Samoan and Chief Jules Strongbow. Their match was featured on the front page of the Pacific Daily News. Their rematch the following night was seen by 4,500 people. After being pinned by Rambo once again, Thrasher attacked referee Dave "The Wave" McCallister and was fined $1,000. Thrasher has attributed the show's popularity due to foreign wrestling fans believing Sylvester Stallone was actually portraying Rambo. and held onto the championship for another year and a half. and on WGAL-TV. Around this time, Thrasher ran his own boxing-wrestling ring rental service.

Thrasher's work with other local groups at this time, as well as his own promotion-wrestling school, initially limited his TWA bookings. He made several appearances on TWA's "Original Sports Bar" shows facing J.T. Smith (January 28), Michael Bruno (February 24) and Ghetto Blaster (August 19). On August 20, 1991, Thrasher entered an 8-man tournament to crown the inaugural TWA Bar Wars Champion but was eliminated in the opening round by D.C. Drake. He came back several months later winning victories over Harley Watkins (November 19) and The Rockin' Rebel (December 7, 1991).

That spring, Thrasher became involved with Ed Zohn in Universal Independent Wrestling. The organization was formed partly as a way to encourage collaboration between all the independent promotions based in Maryland. A weekly television series was co-produced with the Gambo family at WJZ-TV as a way to showcase the best talent in the Mid-Atlantic region which aired in Baltimore and syndicated to York, Pennsylvania, and Keyser, West Virginia. Thrasher became one of the company's early stars.

In late-1991, Thrasher began working for Dennis Wippercht and Tim Burke in the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation. On October 11, 1991, Thrasher and Kirk Dredd unsuccessfully challenged MEWF Tag Team Champions The Lords of Darkness (Agony and Pain) in a Falls Count Anywhere match in Pasadena, Maryland. He briefly formed The Hellhounds, a masked tag team, with Ricky Blues. Thrasher briefly left the UIW that same month, forcing the promotion to vacate the tag team belts. A month later, Thrasher was back in UIW where he and Brick Bronsky battled to a double countout in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania. On June 14, 1992, Thrasher defeated Tommy Rose at WIN's Star Mangled Banner I to advance in the tournament for the WIN Heavyweight Championship.

On July 11, Thrasher defeated Hollywood Bob Starr and A.C. Golden in the finals of an 8-man tournament to win the then vacant MEWF Heavyweight Championship. He held the title for over six months before dropping the belt to Lucifer.

On July 19, Thrasher defeated AJ Fritzoid (substituting for Neil Superior) in the semi-finals of the WIN Heavyweight Championship Tournament.

In August 1992, Thrasher's "Circus Asylum" wrestling school was profiled in the York Daily Record. The Canadian Wolfman, Kirk Dredd and Adam Flash were among the students to come out of the training facility.

In the fall, Thrasher returned Baltimore working for the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation and the Wrestling Independent Network. On September 13, 1992, Thrasher lost to A.C. Golden in a tournament final to crown the first WIN Heavyweight Champion.

On October 29, 1992, the Atlantic Wrestling Federation took part in an interpromotional show also involving the MEWF, WIN and World Wrestling Association in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Thrasher appeared in the semi-main event wrestling AWF Heavyweight Champion Kirk Dredd in a "champion vs. champion" match which ended in a double-disqualification. On November 14, he faced Ivan Koloff at a MEWF show in Gaithersburg, Maryland. On November 21, 1992, Thrasher headlined a joint-AWF/MEWF show with The Honky Tonk Man at North Carroll High School in Hampstead, Maryland.

In the summer of 1993, Thrasher joined the American Commonwealth Wrestling established by Mark Bodey, Ed Zohn and Jeff Capo. On June 17, Thrasher was crowned the promotion's inaugural heavyweight champion. On July 22, he defended the title in a Lumberjack match against Lucifer in York, Pennsylvania. Thrasher held the ACW title for nearly five months before losing the belt to Rip Sawyer in Steelton, Pennsylvania, on November 6, 1993.

Eastern Championship Wrestling (1992-1993) Thrasher opted to become part of Tod Gordon's Eastern Championship Wrestling after Goodheart abruptly closed the TWA. He appeared at ECW's first ever event "Market Street Mayhem" on February 5, 1992. Thrasher was pinned by "Gentleman" Jeff Royal, who used the ropes for leverage. Thrasher also supplied the ring for ECW's inaugural show. After a brief losing streak, with losses to King Kaluha and Larry Winters, he formed a partnership with Glen Osbourne. As The Night Breed, Thrasher and Osbourne proved successful in the tag team division. In June 1992, they participated in an 4-team tournament to crown the first ECW Tag Team Champions. Night Breed defeated The Flames (Mr. Anthony and Mr. Perez) in the opening round but lost to The Super Destroyers (Super Destroyer I and Super Destroyer II) in the finals, with Thrasher being pinned.

The Night Breed continued to struggle over the summer of 1992. The team lost a rematch to The Super Destroyers for ECW Tag Team Championship on July 14. The team fell victim to a month long losing streak, including defeats by The Super Ninja and Scott Summers and The Hellriders (E.Z. Ryder & H.D. Ryder), eventually resulting in their breakup and subsequent feud by the end of the summer. Backed by The Super Destroyers, Thrasher was disqualified in most of his encounters with Osbourne. He eventually lost to Osborne in a 6-man tag team match with The Super Destroyers against Osbourne and The Cream Team (Rip Sawyer and Dave Casanova) on October 3 and, in a singles match, failed to win the ECW Television Championship from Osbourne on October 24, 1992. due to outside interference from The Metal Maniac. A few months later, Thrasher formed a tag team with Smith. They made their debut on the May 11th edition of ECW Hardcore TV against Hot Stuff International (Eddie Gilbert and Jimmy Snuka) with Thrasher being pinned by Snuka. In a rematch the following week, Thrasher attacked his partner starting a feud between the two men. Thrasher and The Canadian Wolfman faced Smith and Tommy Cairo on the May 25 episode of ECW Hardcore TV, with Smith pinning Wolfman. Their first one-on-one match took place on June 1, in which Thrasher donned a hockey mask, and saw Smith get a pinfall victory. On the June 8th edition of ECW Hardcore TV, Thrasher took part in a 16-man Battle Royal for the inaugural ECW Pennsylvania Heavyweight Championship which was won by Tommy Cairo. His last ECW television appearance was on June 29 when he and Rockin' Rebel helped Tony Stetson attack Larry Winters until the rest of the locker room came out to break it up.

Thrasher was one of many former Tri-State wrestlers on the ECW roster who were phased out after Paul Heyman replaced Gilbert as the promotion's booker. Heyman wanted to focus on his own handpicked group of wrestlers more willing to take part in hardcore wrestling. ECW also stopped renting from Thrasher when the promotion bought their own rings. Thrasher's team lost and Khoury, the sole survivor, was awarded the MEWF Mid-Atlantic Championship according to a pre-match stipulation.

Independent circuit (1994–1995) Thrasher had a limited ring schedule in the mid-1990s sticking close to York, Pennsylvania. Over the next year in ACW, he wrestled Virgil Morgus the Maniac and Johnny Gunn.

During a July 29 appearance at Sauconfest '94 ("Saucon Slam '94") in Lower Saucon Township, Pennsylvania, beating Mad Mack Diesel, Thrasher attacked a referee with the timekeeper's bell in front of 1,000 fans. On September 24, 1994, Thrasher was part of a benefit show at Steel Valley High School for the victims of an arson attack in Homestead, Pennsylvania. At ACW's "Fall Wrestlefest '94", Thrasher faced Glen Osbourne.

He was originally scheduled to join Gunn and 2 Cold Scorpio in a six-man tag team elimination match against Ramblin' Rich and The Goodfellas (Dino Casanova and Romeo Valentino). On June 11, 1995, Thrasher was in attendance for the disastrous debut of Bill Rose's Urban Wrestling Federation in Downtown Baltimore. He was originally scheduled to team with Hack Myers against The Goodfellas but was among a number of cancelled matches due to the poor turnout. He retired form wrestling.

Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation (1998–1999) In 1998, Thrasher defeated Adam Flash for the MEWF Mid-Atlantic Championship. He later lost the belt to Steve Corino. but was unable to win the title.

Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation (1999–2002) In October 1999, Thrasher and Dino Casanova defeated The Bad Crew to win the MEWF Tag Team Championship. Along with their manager Wolfman Baker, the trio were collectively known as The Good, Bad and Ugly. During the team's reign as champions, they feuded with Black & Blue (Flexx Wheeler and Ricky Blues), under the tutelage of manager Jim Cornette. They eventually lost the belts to Blues and The New Patriot on November 13, 1999, at North Carroll High School's "Pro Wrestling Spectacular VIII" in Hampstead, Maryland. While they managed to regain the belts in Dundalk on January 7, 2000, beating the team of Black & Blue, the group broke up after their victory. The titles were then awarded to Joe Thunder and Mad Dog O'Malley. On July 13, Thrasher was defeated by George "The Animal" Steele at Harry Grove Stadium in Frederick, Maryland. The next night, at MEWF Summer Sizzler 2, he was scheduled to team with Dino Casanova against MEWF Tag Team Champions The Tokyo Terrors (Red & Blue). When Thrasher could not be found in the building, however, Casanova picked Romeo Valentino as a last-minute substitute. Thrasher later interfered in the match on their behalf causing The Goodfellas to be disqualified, and an argument ensued between Thrasher and Casanova. Valentino later caused Thrasher to be disqualified in his match with Morgus the Maniac. The Goodfellas handcuffed Thrasher to the top rope and continued attacking him until they were run off by Lucifer and others from the locker room helped Thrasher to the back.

On September 22, 2000, Thrasher defeated MEWF Heavyweight and Mid-Atlantic Champion Buzz Stryker during a Four-Way Dance against Morgus the Maniac and Dino Casanova regaining the title after seven years. During the next three months, he and Dino Casanova would fight over both titles. Thrasher briefly lost the heavyweight title to Casanova in the fall but won it back on November 11, 2000, at North Carroll High School's "Pro Wrestling Spectacular IX". He eventually lost the Mid-Atlantic Championship to Casanova on January 27, 2001. He did, however, make occasional in-ring appearances in York, Pennsylvania over the next decade. On March 22, 2002, he wrestled former student Morgus the Maniac for the Susquehanna Wrestling Organization. He also faced ex-ECW tag team partner Glen Osbourne in a joint SWO show with the World Wide Wrestling Alliance on June 14, 2003. The Night Breed reunited in the SWO on August 14, 2005, against ECW rivals The Super Destroyers with the match ending in a double disqualification.

On October 30, 2010, Thrasher came out of retirement to wrestle on Maryland Championship Wrestling's "Legends of Maryland Wrestling" show at The New Green Room in Dundalk, Maryland. He joined Mike Khoury in defeating Brent Young and Jimmy Jannetty. In November 2011, Thrasher was inducted into the MCW Hall of Fame.

Personal life In 1990, Livelsberger received a degree in teaching from Gettysburg College. Three years later, he began working as a part-time substitute teacher and wrestling coach for the York City School District. Specializing in alternative education, he also worked with the VisionQuest juvenile offenders program

In Fall 2015, Livelsberger became the principal of Jackson Elementary School. In June 2016, a 16-year-old William Penn Senior High School student's "thumb wrestling ring project", designed as part of Martin Library's summer reading program, was modeled after "Max Thrasher" and featured in The York Dispatch.

Championships and accomplishments American Commonwealth Wrestling ACW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Atlantic Wrestling Federation AWF Heavyweight Championship (2 times) Maryland Championship Wrestling MCW Hall of Fame (Class of 2011) Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation MEWF Heavyweight Championship (3 times) MEWF Mid-Atlantic Championship (2 times) MEWF Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Dino Casanova and Lucifer Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI ranked him # 372 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1995 PWI ranked him # 379 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1994 PWI ranked him # 220 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1993 PWI ranked him # 260 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1992 PWI ranked him # 444 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 1991 Universal Independent Wrestling UIW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with A.J. Fritzoid