Luke Williams (wrestler)
| Luke Williams | |
|---|---|
Luke at the Big Apple Convention in Manhattan, 18 October 2009.
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| Birth name | Brian Wickens |
| Born |
8 January 1947 Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand |
| Residence | Clearwater Beach, Florida, United States |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Bushwhacker Luke Cousin Luke Cousin Luke Dudley Gorgeous Teddy Williams Luke Williams Pretty Boy Floyd Sweet William |
| Billed height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) |
| Billed weight | 112 kg (247 lb; 17.6 st) |
| Billed from | Wellington, New Zealand |
| Debut | 1962 |
Brian Wickens (born 8 January 1947) is a semi-retired New Zealand professional wrestler best known as Luke Williams, one half of the tag team known as "The Sheepherders" on the independent scene and in the National Wrestling Alliance and as The Bushwhackers in the WWF.
Luke Williams started wrestling for NWA New Zealand (later known as All-Star Pro Wrestling) with his friend and long term tag team partner Butch Miller in 1962 where he achieved a great deal of regional success. After working Australasia and the Eastern Circuit (Singapore, Malaysia, Japan), the duo was booked in North America in "Grand Prix" (Quebec, The Maritimes, Ontario, Vermont), a very successful promotion owned by the famous Vachon's and Edouard Carpentier, in 1972 by fellow New Zealander Steve Rickard, who was also the booker for “NWA Hawaii”. Luke and Butch worked in Canada for Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling billed as The Kiwis (Butch was known as “Nick Carter” and Luke was known as “Sweet William”). 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 6 January 1974. The Kiwis lost the titles to Tokyo Joe and the Great Saki, only to regain them a short time later. The Kiwis lost the titles for good when Stan Kowalski and Dutch Savage defeated them and kept the titles away from them in subsequent rematches. In 1973, they were on the infamous Jarry Park show in Montreal that drew a record attendance of 29,673.
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 21 July and 5 August 1980, before they left the territory. On 22 September, the Sheepherders lost the gold to Dutch Savage and Stan Stasiak, only to regain them a week later. On 11 February 1980, the Sheepherders became double champions when they downed Dutch Savage and Stan Stasiak, this time for the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship. Top faces Rick Martel and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper teamed up in May, to take the NWA Canadian tag title from the Sheepherders and, 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.
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