Butch Miller (wrestler)

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Butch Miller
An image of Butch Miller.
Statistics
Ring name(s) Butch Miller
Cousin Butch
Nick Cater
Bushwhacker Butch
Cousin Butch Dudley
Detroit Assassin
Billed height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Billed weight 113 kg (250 lb/17.8 st)
Born October 21, 1944 (1944-10-21) (age 63)
Auckland, New Zealand
Billed from Auckland, New Zealand
Debut 1964

Butch Miller (born October 21, 1944) is a retired professional wrestler best known as one half of the tag team known as "The Sheepherders" on the independent scene and in the National Wrestling Alliance and as one half of The Bushwhackers in the WWF.

Contents

[edit] Career

Butch Miller started wrestling for NWA New Zealand (later known as All-Star Pro Wrestling) in 1964 where he achieved a great deal of regional success.[1] Miller, along with his friend Luke Williams, was brought to America in 1965 by fellow New Zealander Steve Rickard, who was also the booker for “NWA Hawaii”.[2] Luke and Butch initially worked in Canada among others for Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling billed as The Kiwis (Butch was known as “Nick Carter” and Luke was known as “Sweet Williams”). The first recorded title that the Kiwis won was in 1974 when the duo beat Bob Pringle and Bill Cody for the Stampede International Tag Team Championship on January 6, 1974.[3] The Kiwis lost the titles to Tokyo Joe and the Great Saki only to regain them a short time later.[3] The Kiwis lost the titles for good when Stan Kowalski and Duke Savage defeated them and kept the titles away from them in subsequent rematches.[3]

[edit] The Sheepherders

Main article: The Sheepherders

After leaving Stampede Wrestling, the Kiwis began doing double duty in NWA Pacific Northwest as well as the Canadian based International All-Star Wrestling around 1979-1980 as the Kiwi Sheepherders. In 1979, the team won the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship on three occasions between July 21 and August 5, 1980 before the left the territory.[3] On September 22, the Sheepherders lost the gold to Dutch Savage and Stan Stasiak only to regain them a week later.[3] On February 11, 1980, the Sheepherders became double champions when they downed Dutch Savage and Stan Stasiak once again, this time for the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship. Top faces Rick Martel and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper teamed up in May 1980 to take the NWA Canadian tag title from the Sheepherders and,[3] in effect, run the duo out of the Northwest region by August, gaining the NWA Pacific Northwest tag titles when the Sheepherders left the promotion.[3]

The next stop for the Sheepherders was a brief stay in the Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling territory run by Jim Crockett. In MACW, the two won the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship by beating Matt Borne and Buzz Sawyer for the gold. The Sheepherders held onto the gold for close to three months before dropping it to Dewey Robertson and George Wells on December 12.[3] After losing the titles, Luke and Butch headed for warmer weather as they traveled to Puerto Rico and began working for the World Wrestling Council as Los Pastores. While in Puerto Rico, the team would win the WWC North American Tag Team Championship twice while touring the island.[3]

After the team left WWC, Butch decided that he wanted to return closer to home and went to Australia to wrestle. Luke remained in the United States determined to keep the “Sheepherders” name on everyone’s lips by teaming up with “Lord” Jonathan Boyd (Formerly of the Royal Kangaroos). In 1983, Boyd and Williams were working for Southwest Championship Wrestling when June Jonathan Boyd legitimately broke his leg in a car accident. While Boyd was out with the broken leg Butch returned from Australia to reunite with his old tag-team partner.[1]

[edit] Butch returns

Luke and Butch stayed with the SWCW through the rest of 1983 and into 1984, when the two came head to head with the Fabulous Ones, a team Williams and Boyd had feuded with extensively while Miller was away. This time the prize was the SWCW World Tag Team Championship. The Fabulous Ones had supposedly won the titles in Australia, which is generally believed to be a fictitious tournament invented by the SWCW.[3] The Sheepherders defeated the Fabs on March 4 and held the titles until the SWCW abandoned the tag team titles in September 1984.[3] The next major stop for the Sheepherders was a return to Puerto Rico and the WWC, this time competing as “The Sheepherders” instead of “Los Pastores”. On January 6, 1985 the team defeated Invader I and Invader III for the WWC North American Tag Team Championship in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.[3] Butch and Luke lost and then regained the titles from Invaders I & III in March and then held on to the gold until August, when the Invaders won the tag team title back for good.[3]

When Luke and Butch returned to main land USA and signed on with Bill Watts’ UWF, they quickly cemented their status by beating Ted DiBiase and Steve Williams for the UWF Tag Team Championship on March 16, 1986.[3] The Sheepherders worked for Bill Watts on and off over the next couple of years, taking time out to participate in the first ever Jim Crockett Memorial Tag Team Cup where they made it to the third round. In the third round the Sheepherders clashed with the Fantastics in an out of control brawl that ended in a double DQ. The winners of this match would have gone on to face eventual tournament winners the Road Warriors in the next round.[4] Back in the UWF for their big “Mid South Superdome Show”, the Sheepherders clashed with the Fantastics once more, this time Luke and Butch lost in a “New Zealand Boot camp” match to the UWF Tag champs.[5]

After being unable to beat the Fantastics on several occasions, the Sheepherders traveled back to Puerto Rico during the summer for a six week run with the WWC World Tag Team Championship on August 3.[3] When their short run with WWC ended, Luke and Butch sought new challenges and traveled to Florida where they worked for Championship Wrestling from Florida. In Florida, the Sheepherders came across their old arch enemies the Fabulous Ones, instantly rekindling their violent feud. This feud saw Luke and Butch end the Fabulous Ones’ first reign with the NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship and would keep them away from the Fabs until Lane and Keirn finally got the better of them on November 30, when they regained the belts.[3]

In 1987, the Sheepherders returned to the CWA once more. On January 10, the New Zealanders beat the up and coming team of Badd Company (Pat Tanaka and Paul Diamond for the CWA/AWA International Tag Team Championship but lost them back to Badd Company as fast as they had won them.[3] After the quick run with Badd Company, the Sheepherders once again became entangled in a feud with the Fabulous Ones in a rivalry that seemingly would never end. In what turned out to the last series of matches between the Sheepherders and the Fabulous Ones, the Fabs dominated the matches and once again “Ran off” the Sheepherders.[6][7]

After leaving Memphis the Sheepherders returned to Puerto Rico and the WWC. Here the Sheepherders started a bloody feud with Chris and Mark Youngblood that drew big crowds in Puerto Rico.[1] The feud saw Luke and Butch win the WWC World Tag Team titles on April 4 and then defend them tooth and nail until the Youngbloods regained the gold on May 10 in a cage match.[3] After their spring run with WWC the Sheepherders returned to Florida and instantly became challengers for Mike Graham and Steve Keirn’s NWA Florida Tag Team Championship. On June 26, Luke and Butch added that title to their collection by brawling and cheating.[3] Their run with the Florida titles came to an end on August 29 when Keirn and Graham regained the titles.[3]

After losing the Florida titles, Luke and Butch returned to the UWF and started a second run with the UWF World Tag Team Championship after beating Brad Armstrong and Tim Horner on October 16. The Sheepherders held the UWF tag team titles until the UWF was bought out by Jim Crockett and merged into Jim Crockett Promotions to form the forerunner of WCW. When the UWF merged Luke and Butch began working for JCP, participating in the third Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial, Tag Team Tournament Cup losing to The Midnight Express (Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane) in the second round.[8] At Clash of the Champions II the Sheepherders faced off against the NWA United States Tag Team Champions Fantastics, but did not win the gold. At Clash of the Champions III the Sheepherders lost to Steve Williams and Nikita Koloff despite the interference of Rip Morgan. Just as it looked like the Sheepherders were going to face the Fantastics in the finals of a tournament to crown new United States tag team champions, Luke and Butch signed with Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation.[1]

[edit] The Bushwhackers

Main article: The Bushwhackers

Luke and Butch signed on with the WWF in the midst of its aggressive national expansion, giving them a national and international exposure unlike anything they had ever had before. The team changed their name to The Bushwhackers and changed their violent style to a comedic style which was an instant hits with the fans. The comedy act involved licking, arm motions and more.[1] The Bushwhackers made their debut on January 3, 1989 on a WWF Superstars of Wrestling taping.[9]

In February, the Bushwhackers began a feud with The Fabulous Rougeaus, the first feud to really feature the Bushwhackers on WWF television.[10] The two teams took their conflict to WrestleMania V, where the Bushwhackers were victorious in their WWF Pay Per View debut as a team.[11] The WrestleMania match was not the end of the Bushwhackers/Rougeau feud, as the teams clashed again at Saturday Night's Main Event on October 14 (taped September 21); once again the Bushwhackers were victorious.[12] The Bushwhackers and the Rougeaus clashed twice more, first at the 1989 Survivor Series and again at the 1990 Royal Rumble both times with the Bushwhackers getting the best of the Rougeau brothers.[13][14]

During this time, the Bushwhackers began to feature in a long series of comedic vignettes, usually subjecting ”Mean” Gene to their wild and wacky ways (and Sardine eating antics). These vignettes were often featured on Coliseum Home Video releases where they served as the “link” between matches.

By 1990, the Bushwhackers were established as a solid mid-card comedy act feuding with the newly establish heel team known as Rhythm and Blues (The Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine. The Bushwhackers’ WrestleMania VI appearance came at the expense of Rhythm and Blues as they showed up during a segment, attacked Honky Tonk Man and Valentine and then broke R & B’s guitars to the delight of the crowd.[15] At Survivor Series 1990, Luke and Butch teamed up with Nikolai Volkoff and Tito Santana to form “The Alliance” and take on Sgt. Slaughter, Boris Zhukov and the Orient Express team dubbed “The Mercenaries”. The Bushwhackers eliminated the Orient Express but were eliminated themselves as well.[16]

At the 1991 Royal Rumble, Luke set a rather unfortunate record as he lasted a total of 4 seconds. Using the trademark arm-swing entrance, he climbed into the ring, walked across in a straight path, and was thrown over the top rope by Earthquake.[17] In a televised 6 man tag-team match, the Bushwhackers teamed with Tugboat against The Earthquake and the Nasty Boys, Tugboat turned on his partners after a few minutes of action and joined the Earthquake in laying the two New Zealanders out cold.[18] After the heel turn, Tugboat changed his name to Typhoon, and together they became known as “The Natural Disasters”.[19] The Bushwhackers demanded a chance to get even with the big team but were easily defeated at the 1991 SummerSlam PPV.[20] After destroying the Bushwhackers, the Disasters targeted André the Giant who was at ringside on crutches due to an injury. The assault was stopped by the Legion of Doom who ran off the Natural Disasters

After the Natural Disasters began feuding with the Legion of Doom, the Bushwhackers came across a team that was the total opposite of what they were. Luke and Butch, the fun loving, “working class” guys, started a feud with the rich, snobby, and bratty Beverly Brothers (Blake and Beau. The two teams first clashed at the 1991 Survivor Series where they were on opposite sides in a 4 on 4 elimination match. On the night, the Beverly Brothers got the upper hand and eliminated both Luke and Butch.[21] The Beverly Brothers’ manager The Genius kept interfering in the matches so the Bushwhackers brought in a manager of their own, the nerdy Jamison. Unfortunately even the addition of Jamison was not enough to prevent the Beverly Brothers from winning at Royal Rumble 1992.[22] In 1993, the Bushwhackers were used to “put over” the newly signed team the Headshrinkers (Fatu and Samu) and made a few appearances in comedy matches alongside midget “Tiger” Jackson (later Dink “The Clown”) against the Beverly Brothers and “Little” Louie.[23][24]

In November, Luke and Butch helped Doink the Clown in the clown’s feud with Bam Bam Bigelow. Luke and Butch, as well as Mo and Mabel, all appeared at Survivor Series 1993 wearing the trademark green wig and facepaint associated with Doink the Clown. The Bushwhackers and Men on a Mission defeated Bigelow, Bastion Booger and the Headshrinkers in a match that played more for laughs than serious wrestling.[25] The team also faced another recently signed team: Stephen Dunn and Timothy Well also known as Well Dunn.[26] By 1995, the Bushwhackers are used almost exclusively to put over teams such as The Blu Twins.[27]

In March 1996, the Bushwhackers return was beaten in the first round by eventual winners The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip.[28] When the Bushwhackers returned in 1996, it was a slightly revamped version that ignored the fact that both members were from New Zealand, as they displayed traditional Australian Stereotypes, including being accompanied to the ring by a giant kangaroo mascot.[29] On September 14, the Bushwhackers made their last appearance while under contract with the WWF.[30]

After leaving the WWF, the team made special appearances in the independent circuit, including a return to WWC for its 24th Anniversary show where they were billed as the Sheepherders and took on old rivals Invaders I & II.[31] They also appeared at a special event in Amarillo to celebrate “50 years of Funk” where they lost to old rivals Mark and Chris Youngblood.[32]

In 1999, the Bushwhackers participated in a “wrestling nostalgia” PPV called Heroes of Wrestling. Luke and Butch took on and defeated former WWF Tag Team Champions the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff.[33] Luke and Butch made one of their last appearances as active wrestlers on April 1, 2001 when they participated in the ”Gimmick Battle Royal”.[34] On June 15, the team returned to Memphis one last time, fighting The Moondogs to a double Disqualification on a special ”Mid-South Clash of the Legends” show.[35]

In September 2001, Miller was rushed to the hospital after suffering a neck injury. While in the hospital, he also had a brush with septicemia, but he survived. Miller retired after the incident and moved back to New Zealand where he began working as the commissioner for NZWPW and also writes a column for nzpwi.co.nz. Now however he is the Commisioner for Kiwi Pro Wrestling.[36]

[edit] In wrestling

  • Managers
  • Flagbeares

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • WWA Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Luke Williams
  • PWI ranked him # 493 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003.
  • PWI ranked him # 71 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Luke Williams in 2003.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Greg Oliver and Steve Johnson (2005). The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-5502-2683-6. 
  2. ^ Online World of Wrestling: The Sheepherders. Retrieved on April 22, 2007.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Royal Duncan & Gary Will (4th Edition 2006). Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4. 
  4. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com (April 19). 1st Annual Jim Crockett,Sr. Memorial Tag Team Tournament Cup.
  5. ^ Mid South Superdome Shows (1986) (June 14). “UWF Tag Champs The Fantastics beat The Sheepherders in a "New Zealand boot camp" match”
  6. ^ Mid South Coliseum Shows (1987) (February 9). “The Fabulous Ones beat The Sheepherders in a "massacre" match.”
  7. ^ Mid South Coliseum Shows (1987) (February 16). “The Fabulous Ones & Paul Diamond beat The Sheepherders & Jonathon Boyd in a "barbed wire cage" match”
  8. ^ 3rd Annual Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Tag Team Tournament Cup (April 22-23).
  9. ^ WWF Show Results (January 3). “The Bushwhackers defeated Tom Stone & Jerry Price at 3:07 when Luke pinned Price following the double gutbuster (the Bushwhackers' debut on Superstars)”
  10. ^ WWF Show Results (February 11). “(shown February 20) Jacques & Raymond Rougeau defeated the Bushwhackers via disqualification at 14:04 after Luke shoved the referee to the mat”
  11. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. WWF WrestleMania Results (V).
  12. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event Results (23).
  13. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. WWF Survivor Series Results (1989).
  14. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. WWF Royal Rumble Results (1990).
  15. ^ WWF Show Results (April 1). “featured a performance by the Honkytonk Man & Greg Valentine of their new single ‘Hunka, Hunka, Hunka, Honky Love’; after the performance, they were attacked by the Bushwhackers inside the ring, who then destroyed their equipment”
  16. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. WWF Survivor Series Results (1990).
  17. ^ Royal Rumble Elimination Info (1991) (January 19).
  18. ^ Graham Cawthon (May 28). WWF Show Results 1991. “(Shown: June 15, 1991)Earthquake & WWF Tag Team Champions the Nasty Boys (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Tugboat & the Bushwhackers at 4:05 when Earthquake pinned Luke with a sit-down splash after Tugboat attacked both of his teammates; after the match, Tugboat embraced with his new friends”
  19. ^ Graham Cawthon. WWF Show Results 1991. Retrieved on April 21, 2007. “(Date: May 28, 1991 Shown: June 26, 1991) The Natural Disasters (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Bob Abbott & Bill Sampson at 2:30 when Earthquake pinned Sampson with the sit-down splash following a regular splash from Typhoon (the debut of the Natural Disasters as a tag team)”
  20. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. WWF Summer Slam Results (1991). Retrieved on April 21, 2007.
  21. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. WWF Survivor Series Results (1991).
  22. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com (January 19). WWF Royal Rumble Results (1992).
  23. ^ WWF Show Results 1993 (February 7). “The Headshrinkers defeated the Bushwhackers”
  24. ^ WWF Show Results 1993 (March 7). “The Bushwhackers & Tiger Jackson defeated the Beverly Brothers & Little Louie at 9:57 when Tiger pinned Louie with a crossbody off the top”
  25. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. WWF Survivor Series Results (1993).
  26. ^ WWF Show Results 1994 (August 17). “The Bushwhackers defeated Well Dunn (w/ Harvey Wippleman)”
  27. ^ WWF Show Results 1995 (August 17). “The Blu Twins defeated the Bushwhackers”
  28. ^ WWF Show Results 1996 (March 10). “(Shown March 16) WWF Tag Team Title Tournament Quarter-Finals: Skip & Zip (w/ Sunny) defeated the Bushwhackers when Zip pinned Butch after coming off the top behind the referee's back, moments after Skip sustained the battering ram and was covered”
  29. ^ WWF Show Results 1996 (April 30). “(Shown May 4) Mankind defeated Scott Taylor via submission with the Mandible Claw The Bushwhackers (w/ someone in a kangaroo costume) defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Skip & Zip (w/ Sunny) in a non-title match at around 5:16”
  30. ^ WWF Show Results 1996 (September 14). “The Bushwhackers defeated Justin Bradshaw & Uncle Zebakiah”
  31. ^ WWC Anniversay Show Results (24) (August 15).
  32. ^ WWF Show Results 1997 (September 11). “Mark & Chris Youngblood (w/ Rick Romero) defeated the Bushwhackers at 10:20 when Mark pinned Williams”
  33. ^ Heroes of Wrestling PPV Report (October 10).
  34. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. WWF WrestleMania Results (X7).
  35. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. Mid-South Coliseum Results (2001-2002).
  36. ^ Online World of Wrestling Profile: Butch Miller.

[edit] External links

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