Rip Morgan
| Rip Morgan | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Mike Morgan |
| Born | 1957 Wellington, New Zealand |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | The Crusher Mike Morgan The Thing Bigfoot The Real Thing Rip Morgan Ripper Morgan |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Billed weight | 275 lb (125 kg) |
| Billed from | Wellington, New Zealand |
| Debut | 1983 |
Mike Morgan is a former professional wrestler from New Zealand who competed in the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling and World Class Championship Wrestling best known as Rip Morgan. Best known as one half of the New Zealand Militia in WCW with Jack Victory. Morgan also wrestled in the NAWA/SAPW with Jack Victory as "The Royal Family". He was the last flag bearer for the original New Zealand Sheepherders He is now the CEO of Wellington-based professional wrestling promotion Kiwi Pro Wrestling.
Mike Morgan made his professional wrestling debut in 1983 under the Ring name Rip Morgan working in his native New Zealand. On 8 September 1983 he won the NWA New Zealand Heavyweight Championship but records are not clear on who he defeated to win the championship, nor who he later on lost the championship to. In 1984 he travelled to the United States of America where he was paired up with The Sheepherders (Luke Williams and Butch Miller), working as their "Flag Bearer", someone who would wave the New Zealand flag during their introductions and help them cheat during their matches. Morgan worked with the two to continue his wrestling training as Williams and Miller taught him aspects of professional wrestling outside of the actual wrestling moves. In 1985 he had a brief run in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as a masked wrestler known as "Bigfoot".
After his brief WWF run Morgan teamed up with Jonathan Boyd to form a new version of the Sheepherders, using the name "The Kiwi Sheepherders". Boyd and Morgan quickly made their name known in the Continental Wrestling Association, based out of Memphis, Tennessee by defeating CWA's most popular team The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn and Stan Lane) for AWA Southern Tag Team Championship on 17 June 1985. The team was soon stripped of the titles due to excessive cheating but had the titles returned to them when Boyd and Morgan threatened to sue CWA management. Instead of taking the titles from the Sheepherders by stripping them the Fabulous Ones took the Southern tag team titles from them the old fashioned way – 4 times in a row between 5 September and 12 October. After the series of violent matches with the Fabulous Ones came to an end the Sheepherders came face to face with another team that would turn out to be a constant thorn in their side The Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers). Jonathan Boyd reunited with the Sheepherders in the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico. In the winter of 1985 the Kiwi Sheepherders and the Fantastics traded wins back and forth with no side gaining a clear advantage in their feud. In January 1986 the Kiwi Sheepherders defeated the teams of Koko Ware and Rick Casey and also the team of Tojo Yamamoto and Dirty Rhodes to reach the finals of a tournament to crown new Southern Tag Team Champions, but in the finals they fell to the Fantastics. The loss to the Fantastics only intensified the Sheepherders' anger bringing the feud to its high point as the two teams clashed in a "No DQ Loser Leaves Town" match on 20 January 1986. The Kiwi Sheepherders lost and left Memphis while the Fantastics rode a wave of popularity thanks to the feud. In late November the Kiwi Sheepherders returned to the CWA for a brief run. Boyd and Morgan (now billed as "Bigfoot") cut through the competition and won a 4th Southern Tag Team championship when they beat Jeff Jarrett and Billy Joe Travis in a tournament to crown new tag team champions. Their run with the titles was brief as Jarrett and Travis won the titles a week later and then ran the Kiwi Sheepherders out of the area in a "Loser Leaves Town" match a week after beating them for the title.
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