Jonathan Boyd
| Jonathan Boyd | |
|---|---|
"Lord" Jonathan Boyd
|
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| Birth name | Jonathan Barry Boyle |
| Born | 21 October 1944 Sydney, Australia |
| Died | 7 August 1999 (aged 54) Portland, Oregon |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Jonathan Boyd Jules Cadreau Johnny Boyd Laurie Boyd |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Billed weight | 238 lb (108 kg) |
| Billed from | Sydney Tasmania |
| Trained by | Al Morgan |
| Debut | 1966 |
| Retired | 1989 |
Jonathan Barry Boyle (21 October 1944 – 7 August 1999) was an Australian professional wrestler who is known worldwide under the name "Lord" Jonathan Boyd. Initially Boyd competed both in North American and international promotions as part of the Royal Kangaroos with his cousin Norman Frederick Charles III. Later on Boyd would team up with Luke Williams as the Sheepherders and compete in many North American federations such as Continental Wrestling Association, Southeast Championship Wrestling and Southwest Championship Wrestling. Boyd would also act as a manager for Luke and Butch Miller as they competed under the "Sheepherder" name.
Boyle made his professional wrestling debut in 1966, wrestling initially in his native Australia before he and his cousin travelled to North America to compete as The Royal Kangaroos, a name inspired by the legendary tag team the Fabulous Kangaroos. Boyle and Charles worked mainly for Pacific Northwest Wrestling in Oregon, capturing their first NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship from Kurt and Karl Von Steiger on 11 July 1971, their first reign lasted only 6 weeks but the cousins would win the tag team title a further four times between June 1971 and December 1975. Boyd would also work in the singles ranks capturing the main NWA Pacific Northwest title on 31 July 1971 when he defeated Kurt Von Steiner for the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship. Boyd lost the title to Dutch Savage only to regain it a month later on 28 November. On 28 December Savage once again beat Boyd for the title and subsequently managed to keep it away from him.
After working for Pacific Northwest, the Royal Kangaroos headed further north to join Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion. In June 1977 the duo defeated Leo Burke and Keith Hart for the Stampede International Tag Team Championship but dropped it to Leo Burke and his new tag team partner Bobby Burke only a short time later. After their run in Stampede together the Royal Kangaroos broke up after a disagreement in Calgary Canada over differences in how to promote themselves. Charles remained with Stampede for some time while Jonathan Boyd returned to the Pacific Northwest. On 22 August 1978 Boyd defeated Ed Wiskoski (the future Colonel DeBeers) to win his third NWA Pacific Northwest title. Boyd reigned for six months until he was defeated by PNW's fastest rising star "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. After his run with PNW ended Boyd began travelling the other NWA territories working under such names as "Wild Colonial Boy" Johnny Boyd and "Maniac" Jonathan Boyd. His first stop after leaving the Oregon/Washington territory was due south to the Los Angeles area, specifically the NWA Hollywood Wrestling area. In LA Boyd teamed up with Coloso Colosetti to defeat Hector Guerrero and Barry Orton to win the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship on 18 May 1979 only to turn around and lose the title to "The Twin Devils" the very next day. In September Boyd made his mark on Georgia Championship Wrestling when he beat Ray Candy for the NWA Georgia Television Championship. The mark was short lived as Candy regained the title about 2 weeks later.
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