The Bushwhackers | |
---|---|
Tag team | |
Name(s) | The Bushwhackers The Kiwis The Kiwi Sheepherders Los Pastores (in Puerto Rico) Los Sacamantecas (in Spain) The New Zealand Sheepherders The Sheepherders |
Heights | Williams: 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) Miller: 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
Combined weight |
225 kg (496 lb; 35.4 st) |
Former member(s) |
Butch Miller Jonathan Boyd Luke Williams Rip Morgan |
Debut | 1964 |
Disbanded | 2002 |
Promotions | ACW AJPW APW APWF 2000 AWA Catch Wrestling Association Continental Wrestling Association CWF ECCW ECW ECWA EWF HOW ICW Lutte International 2000 MACW MCW MEWF MSW/UWF NAWF NJPW NSWA NWA PNW PWA USA USA Pro USWA SCW Stampede SWCW SWS Tope Rope/WSWF/WXW Vancouver All-Star Wrestling WCCW WWA WWC WWF/E WWWA |
The Bushwhackers were a professional wrestling tag team that competed first as the New Zealand Kiwis and then as The Sheepherders during their 36-year career as a tag team. They wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation, Jim Crockett Promotions, and on the independent territorial wrestling circuits. The Bushwhackers consisted of Butch Miller and Luke Williams, while the Sheepherders also included Jonathan Boyd and Rip Morgan as members at times. Williams and Miller were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2015.
Luke Williams and Butch Miller started wrestling as The Kiwis for NWA New Zealand (later known as All-Star Pro Wrestling) in 1966, where they 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 promotion owned by the Vachon family and Edouard Carpentier, in 1972 by fellow New Zealander Steve Rickard, who was also the booker for NWA Hawaii. In 1973, they were on the Jarry Park Show in Montreal.
Williams and Miller worked in Canada for various promotions, most notably Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling, billed as The Kiwis (Miller was known as "Nick Carter" and Williams was known as "Sweet William"). The Kiwis began their first recorded title reign by defeating Bob Pringle and Bill Cody for the Stampede International Tag Team Championship on 6 January 1974. The Kiwis lost the title to Tokyo Joe and the Great Saki, only to regain it a short time later. The Kiwis lost the title for good to Stan Kowalski and Duke Savage and were unsuccessful in subsequent rematches. They returned to their home country of New Zealand in late 1975 for the first wrestling television tapings On the Mat.