by Brandon Truitt

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*EDIT*

Sorry guys, but I've deleted the forward I'd used when this article was initially posted. It had nothing to do with what I should have been writing for you guys to read and, in hindsight, I wish I'd had the restraint not to use this column as an online journal to rip people I'm upset at.

*END EDIT*

As usual, if you want to as any questions, make suggestions, or get my Amazon wishlist, I can be reached here.



Sheepherders / Bushwhackers Shoot Interview (1-30-01)

The tape opens with a 6-man barbed-wire cage match from the UWF, with Terry Taylor and the Fantastics (Tommy Rogers and Bobby Fulton) vs. the Sheepherders (Butch Miller and Luke Williams) and Jack Victory, with Lady Maxine at ringside. A decent amount of hardcore goodness here, with juice coming from everyone’s foreheads. Unfortunately, the source material here isn’t in prime condition, as there are spots of the match where the entire picture fills with static and greys out. The faces get the win when Victory tries to suplex a Fantastic but, instead, Taylor jumps over him from the top rope and does a sunset flip for the pin.


I will say going in that Butch looks to be almost 70, as he has a bunch of deep lines on his face. Luke, on the other hand, looks as if he could be Bubba Dudley’s twin brother.

How did they get started? They’re from New Zealand and were sports-crazy but their only options to be pro athletes on the island were as boxers or wrestlers. Given that they’d be lucky to get three boxing matches a year in New Zealand, they chose wrestling. Wrestling on the island was based on tours where a American or European wrestling stars would come in for three months at a time, then they’d be lucky to get matches for the next year until a new tour was booked. They were involved with the first New Zealand wrestling show, On The Mat, to make it more than a seasonal business.

Were they fans growing up? No, because there was no wrestling on TV and there were very few matches being run in the country until they were older.

Training- They’d wear you out and make you sore, but wouldn’t outright hurt you like certain trainers in the US and Japan would do. They were mainly trained in the European and English styles instead of the American style. “We never threw a punch or kick until we left the country”, as they’d used forearms and uppercuts before being taught a brawling style overseas. They bring up how The Rock’s grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia, was a European star before being brought over to the US.

What veterans helped them? Steve Rickhart and John Desorva were two promoters that helped them. Unfortunately for them, no established New Zealanders were still in the area when they started.

Coming together as a tag team- There used to be three pro matches on a card and up to six amateur matches. In order to stretch things out, they’d wrestle different guys as singles then were paired up as a tag team against their opponents to create another match, and they wrestled matches billed to be eight rounds of six or eight minutes. “People thought they were screwed unless they got about 45 minutes in the main event”, so they couldn’t end the match before the sixth round.

Where did they work first in North America? They worked for a group based in Montreal called Grand Prix and didn’t realize how big the territory was until two months in, when they were told that the group was running three towns a night. The other guys in the territory included the Vachon Brothers (Butcher Vachon and Mad Dog Vachon), the LaDuc Brothers, Gino Brito, Dino Bravo, the Hollywood Blondes (no, NOT the Pillman/Austin version), Killer Kowalski, Bruno Sammartino, Dominic Denucci, etc. The best match they remember seeing in that territory was Don Leo Jonathan vs. Andre the Giant in Montreal, back when Andre weighed only 400 pounds or so. Andre loved them ever since he’d met them working in New Zealand.

The went to Stampede next, and were there for a year or so. Neither Grand Prix nor Stampede wanted them to leave, but they felt it was time to go on. Their gimmicks around that time were Sweet William (Luke) and Crazy Nick Carter (Butch). They did the famous 2000-mile loop from Calgary to Saskatoon to Regina back to Calgary for TV every week while they were there. They drove down roads closed by snow plenty of times to get back to Calgary in time for TV and it wasn’t too pleasant.

Jonathan Boyd- Boyd replaced Butch in the early 80’s after Butch had to return to New Zealand due to a personal problem. He’d been in the Royal Kangaroos, who’d toured across the US long before he became a Sheepherder. At the time, Boyd was just filling in a hole as Luke wanted a guy with tag team experience that was from New Zealand as his partner, and Boyd met the qualifications.

Portland, Oregon- Possibly the best learning experience for them. That was their first run in the US, except for the odd run in Hawaii. Playboy Buddy Rose, Roddy Piper, Adrian Adonis, and Rick Martel were on top there around that time. The promoter, Don Owen, didn’t want them to leave but they decided to move on after fifteen months. They worked stretches of about 100 days in a row, take a day off, then ran another 100 days in a row. One of the best small territories they worked, talent-wise.

Feuding with Roddy Piper and Rick Martel- Piper was great on the mic, Martel was great in the ring, and everyone in the territory could work. The result was a feud that made them all a lot of money.

Bret Hart- They made another run back through Stampede and they ended up tagging with Dynamite Kid against Bret Hart and two of his brothers that weren’t identified. They said that Bret spent most of the time in the ring because he was FAR better than any of his brothers, despite only having six months experience. Dynamite was an excellent worker, but they were surprised to find out that a guy that small was in the main event. “He was taking all of these brilliant bumps off the cage… it’s no wonder he ended up in a wheelchair.” Great performer, though.

Stampede, take two- The first time they came through the territory, big fat guys like the Mongolian Stomper and Abdullah the Butcher were on top. The second time they came through, the buildings were packed for the high flying style that Dynamite and the other guys were using.

Japan- They worked for All Japan, New Japan, and Baba’s old Capitol promotion. Butch claims to have been “the first ever original Tiger Mask” on his second tour, predating Satoru Sayama. Butch admits he wasn’t the talent that Sayama was, so things worked out when Butch he didn’t return Inoki’s call after a tour and Sayama was given the retooled gimmick and made it his own.

Jim Crockett- They ended up going to work for Jim Crockett after that in Mid-Atlantic. They ended up getting the Mid-Atlantic tag straps their first week, but didn’t realize they were getting nationwide exposure from doing the territory’s TV because their only previous experience with the NWA in the US was in Hawaii. They gave their notice about 12-16 weeks in to their run, while still the tag champs, because they didn’t understand the territory’s style. They said it was one of the bigger mistakes in their career, as they were getting big exposure when they were there and Crockett held a grudge when they left the territory, keeping them from returning to the NWA for about six years.

Puerto Rico- They’d received offers from Puerto Rico, the AWA, and another territory, but Puerto Rico won out because someone they knew only worked three days a week down there and made as much as they did in Mid-Atlantic. Unfortunately for them, the territory started a downslide around the time they entered, so they didn’t make as much as they wanted to. Crazy territory, but they were crazy too. They were doing a trashy hardcore style, which went over well down there, and the crowds were INSANE.

Insane crowds- They talk about their first barbwire matches against the Invaders, as they laid the two of them out, put them in the center of the ring, and wrapped a spool of barbed wire around them. The crowd wasn’t amused and rioted, chasing them back to the dressing room. Once they barricaded themselves in, the fans tried to burn it down before the SWAT team arrived and used rubber bullets on the crowd. They talk about how there were several times where they were lucky to get out of the towns alive as, one night in the same town as the barbed wire riot, the crowd told the cops they’d hurt them if they even tried to save the Sheepherders, so the cops left. Luckily for the Sheepherders, some friends of them got them out of there.

When they were in Trinidad working against that country’s beloved champion at an outdoor arena, the crowd started rioting so they got themselves disqualified and ran for their lives. Thankfully for them, someone drove a pickup truck in to get them out of there but, on their way out, someone threw a brick through the window and hit Butch in the head. They didn’t go to a hospital but, instead, sat around drinking while they picked glass out of Butch’s head and laughed about what happened. They admit now that they didn’t realize how close they came to getting killed many times down there until much later. Some nights, they had to rebook the finish on the fly to get the faces to tell the crowds to leave things to them, then brawl back to the dressing room so they could get out safely. They used to sneak into the building because, if they were spotted getting out of their car, the car wouldn’t be in ANY condition to drive by the end of the night.

Brusier Brody- They loved him to death because he was a rugged guy who was married to a New Zealand woman. They talked about how he was a good businessman, but that it hurt the business sometimes when he did that.

Southwest Championship Wrestling- They talk about working with Manny Fernandez, a crazy guy who, thankfully for them, spoke the language (the area was predominately Hispanic). They signed a contract with the promoter, Joe Blanchard, and were paired up with a wide variety of tag teams ranging from the Drambuie Express to the Road Warriors to Dusty Rhodes and Blackjack Mulligan. They tell a funny story about how Great Kabuki used to run the same towns as they did when he was with World Class, and that one night Butch threw up and it looked similar to Kabuki’s green mist, which caused a kid to say “Daddy, look! He’s blowing out the green stuff except there’s chunks in this one!” They never worked for World Class because they were in Southwest, but they worked against Kevin Von Erich and David Von Erich in Japan.

Jonathan Boyd revisited- He had a bad car accident when they were working down in Texas, breaking his legs and ending up in a full body cast. The angle to cover that up was that Bobby Jaggers had run him off the road. This resulted in Butch rejoining the team.

Memphis- They had a run there against the Fantastics that was great. They also talk about Exotic Adrian Street and Bill Dundee, who were from Down Under. They were there for about 5 months. They talk about how Jim Cornette was a ringside photographer in the territory before becoming a manager, with Adrian Street as his first major client.

Jerry Lawler- They say that there’s always been tension between Lawler, Jerry Jarrett, and Bill Dundee, but don’t go into any detail. From there, they went to Texas and then back to Puerto Rico, which they joke about as “spending 15 months on The Rock” with nothing but blood and guts.

Puerto Rico take two- They were more conscious of the dangers this time, and were dodging things the fans threw every night like spark plugs. They talk about how they worked about two and a half years in Puerto Rico somewhat continuously “yet we survived”… This WOULD be funny if Brody hadn’t been killed there in 1988.

They talk about how they were a part of a lot of record-setting crowds, but I think they’re exaggerating on some of this. I don’t particularly feel like disputing this right now, though. They go back to Puerto Rican fans and say “Any Puerto Rican who makes it in baseball… I’ll tell you why… They can hit you through ANYTHING, over nets, etc. with whatever they’re carrying. If I was making a new baseball team, I’d recruit directly from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.”

Zambuie Express- Great guys, but got a big head near the end of their run with them and it hurt business.

Florida- The first time they went through, it was good. The second time they went through, after Eddie Graham’s death and Hiro Matsuda had taken over, things weren’t going so well. Matsuda had put Lex Luger and Ron Simmons on top straight away despite having all the talent in the world sitting in the middle of the card. They talk about how Ron couldn’t work at that time, let alone a gimmick match like the _____ on a Pole matches they were working with him. Luger got such a huge push at the beginning of his career, while still green, that he’d beat a guy in two minutes or so then another guy would run out for the same and Luger would pin HIM too. (Man, no WONDER Bruiser Brody wasn’t in a mood to deal with Luger near the end of Luger’s run in Florida) It wasn’t the fault of Ron or Lex, but Matsuda instead.

Austin Idol and Robert Fuller- The Fullers were good, and they’d worked for them in Southeastern (Pensacola, Florida). They’d brought Idol down to Puerto Rico and talk about how he was an incredible talker and was ripped because he’d slimmed down from about 300 pounds to 215. Bullet Bob Armstrong, Joe LaDuc, Wayne Ferris (Honkytonk Man), and Jimmy Golden (Bunkhouse Buck) were all down there. The Fullers had the strangest business practices I’ve ever heard of… They’d work Pensacola heavily for a few years then switch over to Knoxville, TN and work it heavily for a few years before refocusing on Pensacola. Given the burnout of angles and workers if you work one area long enough, that was an ingenious way to handle things as long as they didn’t accidentally kill off a territory.

Mid South- They worked there after Puerto Rico, and they’d heard horror stories about Bill Watts but they got along with him fine for the most part. They had a great series with The Fantastics, who are remembered as their best opponents by anyone who ever talks to them.


Barbed wire cage matches- They had 32 of them in a row, and “our heads and our bodies were like cabbage” and they did a lot of “New Zealand Bunkhouse” matches, which were similar to the hardcore matches of today, so they were a mess of scars by the end of it. They left after that series because Watts wasn’t paying them enough for what they went through, and they think he’d been trying to run them off for a while by moving them down the card and throwing them into hardcore matches with no storylines. It didn’t work, though, as they were still over with the fans before they finally quit. Watts offered them double their money when they quit, but they’d had enough of him by then and walked out on principle. They blame the situation on the booker that Watts imported from World Class, as he’d started bringing in his own guys like the Freebirds and put them in the choice spots in the territory.

Lady Maxine- “The only one who’s ever driven our car and read a book at the same time.” They say that Luna Vachon got a lot of her character from her.

Going back to Crockett- They went back to Florida after Mid-South and then Crockett bought up the territory with little notice. They then returned to UWF (the renamed Mid-South), then Crockett bought THAT territory out too. They went to World Class from there before being brought back to the heart of Jim Crockett Productions, Mid-Atlantic. They had a program with the Rock and Roll Express that was hot, but Ricky Morton got fired for personal reasons and then they floundered for months before “Vince made the call”.

How did they get hired by Vince McMahon? They were in the gym and Luke called home. When he did, his cleaning lady told him that there was a message and that Pat Patterson had told him to call. He jotted down the number Patterson had left, finished up his workout, and called it. He was put on speakerphone by Patterson and Vince. He came back to the gym, where Butch was still working out, and told them who he’d just talked to and then they flew up to Connecticut the next day. Butch claimed that they were about to get a push in WCW, so Vince had decided to steal them away and it just happened to fill the hole left behind when the British Bulldogs left the WWF due to the problems between Dynamite Kid and Jacques Rougeau. (The feel that Vince wanted another British team, and didn’t make comparisons between the Bulldogs’ greatness in the ring and their own ability)

Sidenote- According to most versions of the story, Dynamite punched out Jacques and Raymond Rougeau after being accused of a rib that Curt Hennig actually performed. A few weeks later at some TV tapings, the Rougeaus got a roll of quarters and smacked Dynamite around with it, messing up his teeth in the process. Restitution was made to Dynamite for the dental work he had to have, but the Bulldogs got screwed with by the office and left the federation immediately after Survivor Series 1988. In order to keep the Rougeaus from getting jumped by the Bulldogs at the Survivor Series, the 20-man elimination match was booked so that the Rougeaus were eliminated in the first few minutes of match and the Bulldogs weren’t eliminated until about 30 minutes or so later.

Their story leaves out the comments Dynamite Kid made in his book about how they'd run into him at an airport and asked him to ask Pat Patterson if he wanted to bring them into the company.


Initial impressions of Vince- They were excited to get up there, but Vince didn’t have any concrete plans for them except to use them as babyfaces. One of them told Vince “If you think you can make this face a babyface, go right ahead. Put a dress on me if you’d like.” They gave notice to Crockett straight away and, once they got their contracts from Vince, they found out they were now Luke and Butch, the Bushwhackers.

They take a break here and show UWF matches

UWF tag title match: The Sheepherders, with Johnny Ace at ringside vs. Tim Horner and Brad Armstrong. It’s heavily clipped, but Johnny Ace (current WWE road agent and talent relations employee John Laurentas) pulled Horner out of the ring and brawled with him while Armstrong was double teamed by the Sheepherders. Ref bump, the Sheepherders accidentally hit each other with their flagpole and Armstrong goes for the pin, but Johnny Ace hits Armstrong with the flagpole and Butch gets the pin while Luke keeps Tim Horner from breaking it up, winning the titles.

Sheepherders, with Johnny Ace at ringside vs. Keith Steinborn and Gary Phelps- Jobber city. Double gut-buster on one of the jobbers for the win. In a post-match interview with Missy Hyatt, they make an open challenge to “any Yankee team” who can take them on, such the Road Warriors and the Superpowers (Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff).

Footage from Florida here, as the Sheepherders come out with Sean Royal for an interview with Buddy Colt. They talk about how the Fabulous Ones (Stan Lane of the Midnight Express and Steve “Skinner” Kiern) attacked them from behind the week before and make an open challenge to them.

We go to that Sheepherders-Fabulous Ones match. Kiern has Luke about to pass out in a sleeperhold, but Butch hits him with a length of pipe and they work him over before Stan Lane gets in and the Fabulous Ones chase the Sheepherders from the ring.

The next match is from Jim Crockett Productions in 1988, as it pits the Sheepherders vs. the Fantastics. The Fantastics are the only team credited with pulling good matches out of the Sheepherders, so this will probably be good. The announcers pimp the US tag title tournament and talk about how these two teams will be contenders, which is a bit ironic because these two teams WERE scheduled to meet in the finals before Vince signed the Sheepherders. As a result the NWA reversed the decision of the Sheepherders vs. Ron Simmons and Eddie Gilbert match from the semi-finals to allow the Simmons-Gilbert team the honor of jobbing to the Fantastics. The match ends up being nice due to the Sheepherders’ garbage wrestling and the Fantastics bumping like there’s no tomorrow for it.

The Bushwhackers gimmick- They were just given a name and were allowed to be themselves in the vignettes, which ended up being funny. The office didn’t know what to do with them by the time they started wrestling, so the agents have them doing goofy shit like drinking beers on the way to the ring and shoving fans’ hotdogs in their mouthes. They came up with the Bushwhacker march to the ring and Vince let them do whatever they wanted to do, which he claims was rare in the WWF. Butch admits the first week on the road was strange because the agents, such as Nick Bockwinkle, Grizzly Smith (Jake "the Snake" Roberts’s father), and Blackjack Lanza, couldn’t agree on what they wanted them to do gimmick-wise. They put over Vince for being able to get people to forget about them ever being the Sheepherders despite being in that gimmick for years.

The were eventually paired off with the Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zuchoff), which Butch didn’t mind although Nikolai was never the greatest worker in the world. If Boris Zuchoff hadn’t been so good, they wouldn’t have made it through 9 months of being paired with them. Butch called Zuchoff one of the most underrated athletes in the business. He says the secret of the Bolsheviks was that they were jobbers, but raising the Russian flag and/or having Nikolai singing the Russian national anthem instantly gave them their heat back, which made them perfect for their role.

The Powers of Pain (Warlord and Barbarian)- “Warlord was learning” and beat the shit out them unintentionally. It didn’t help that Mr. Fuji, a master ribber, would rib one of the Powers and pit them against each other so that they were competing in the ring, which meant that both beat the shit out of the Bushwhackers each night. They claim they hadn’t had a situation like that since they were working against Matt Borne (Doink the Clown) and Buzz Sawyer, as they’d see Borne and Sawyer beating the shit out of each other on the side of the road or drag-racing against each other after the matches.

Buzz Sawyer outside the ring- Hell of a guy, but very crazy. He was “mixed-up” and just got worse and worse over the years. They said that he was so messed up on junk that he could go out in public and pass out into his food due to the drugs.

Working with the Nasty Boys- Good friends of theirs, but they were tough to work with in the ring because they were green at the time. They’ve had great matches with them over the years, though. The Nasties were one of the few teams that they had a long program with that worked out well in the ring… the other three were the Bolsheviks, the Beverly Brothers, and the Brainbusters.

The Brainbusters- Tully Blanchard was a good worker but also a tremendous prick. They loved Arn Anderson though. They put them over as two of the greatest wrestlers of all time.

Beverly Brothers- Very similar to the Nasty Boys. Green guys that were thrown together as a tag team. Wayne Bloom was a good enough wrestler in the ring while Mike Enos, at the time, was just a pudgy kid. Enos turned out to be great though.

Hulk Hogan in the locker room- He was great. They talk about how there was always a pecking order portrayed in the NWA, where Jim Crockett could walk by you one day and completely ignore you then talk to you the next day and make a big deal about it. The WWF was very different, though, as Hogan came up and introduced himself to them their first day in the company. Since the company’s top dog did that, the other guys did the same in turn and the locker room was a much friendlier place than in the NWA.

Ultimate Warrior- They were friendly with him because they knew him from the UWF, where he was in the Blade Runners with Sting. He had a good attitude with them but, when he was WWF champion, he would ignore kids who’d ask him for autographs in the gym. They claim that he did that because, as a long-time body builder, he saw his job as a way to get paid to work out. Refusal to sign autographs was against WWF rules, as Vince told everyone that they were all WWF wrestlers, regardless of face/heel alignment, and were required to sign autographs as a result. He also had a bad attitude dealing with new guys in the business. They put over Rick Rude heavily for teaching Warrior how to work properly.

Who else was a bad worker or would abuse them in the ring? They were lucky because they always get people willing to work with them instead of hardasses. They also try to help the young guys whenever they can and that it’s their duty to do so because they’re the next generation of workers.

Why did they get released? They weren’t… they were put on hold by the company for months at a time and they ended up giving notice (in 1997, I think), which wasn’t accepted by Vince for months. They said this was another of the big mistakes they’ve made in their career. Vince insisted that WCW would use them in some way to fuck him over, so he wouldn’t let them go. By the time they finally got a release, Eric Bischoff told them that it had taken a few months too long and that they were no longer needed.

Favorite matches in their career- Some of those early ones against Buddy Rose, Roddy Piper, and Rick Martel from Portland. They put over Buddy Rose for what he was back in Portland but say that he turned into a blimp in the years between Portland and his entrance into the WWF in about 1989.

Ribs- There were plenty from Stampede, with Dynamite Kid being the lead ribber there. They say that Dynamite and Mr. Fuji were the two best ribbers of all time. They talk about how there were expensive ribs that escalated, starting with someone’s pants being cut up, then someone’s shoes being nailed to the floor, then someone’s Haliburton suitcase being nailed to the floor and superglue being put in the locks. Eventually, Vince decreed that there weren’t going to be any more ribs in the WWF (I think this was around the time someone took a shit in Jerry Lawler’s crown… According to Bobby Heenan, it was three different guys and two of them were Steve “Skinner” Kiern and The Undertaker.)

Where are they headed? They’re not sure. They’re too old to do a lot of high-flying stuff although they’ll go to the top turnbuckle every once in a while. What upsets them is seeing shows where no one tells a story in the ring and spend too much time brawling outside the ring, cutting promos backstage, etc. They said that the only people who should be able to do that are guys like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock, because they can keep the fans’ attention for 10 minutes straight on the mic. They think that independent wrestling is suffering because they are doing Lucha-type matches that go spot-spot-spot-spot and they don’t do something like building a feud for the next time they’ll be back in the town so that people will have a reason to go back. They also talk about how the inability (or refusal) to build new stars is hurting the big promotions, as Goldberg was the last star that WCW built and they ended up fucking up his career by the end of it. They said that it was stupid for WCW to take guys straight out of the Power Plant and put them on TV with no reason for the fans to care about them.

(Hmmm… sounds very similar to why the careers of Randy Orton, John Cena, and other OVW guys are in the toilet right now, although Rico Constantino’s career is suffering for another reason. He was VERY over despite being the manager of Billy and Chuck because he’s a good worker and a hell of a talker. Once he revealed his part in the whole Billy and Chuck wedding incident, it SHOULD have been enough to establish him as a solid mid-card guy. Unfortunately, he was jobbed out and paired up with Three Minute Warning after that, which was bad because TMW injured Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco, among others, and have been getting depushed as a result)

They also say that the lack of a territory system is severely hurting the new guys, as they’re having about one match a month instead of a match every night. That severely retards their growth as a wrestler because they try to do everything they can in one match with no rhyme or reason. They say that the lack of new stars can be directly attributed to the territory system dying out in the late 80’s / early 90’s, as a lot of the people who’d come through there are now retiring and that the new group of wrestlers either spent a lot of time overseas or in the Big Two’s developmental territories and schools.

Did they prefer working as faces or heels? Heels, because it’s more natural for them. The people helped them considerably when they were the Bushwhackers, though, so they have them to thank for their successful run as faces.

Were there any talks of turning them heel in the WWF? Never, because Vince didn’t want to give up on the income they were making from merchandising.

Memories of working for ECW- It was fun, but there was trouble due to the booking . They always make their bookings once they’ve scheduled them, because they don’t like to screw the fans or the promoters. But when they worked for Paul Heyman, he worked on the cuff of the wrist and he tried to schedule them for TV tapings when they were supposed to be working their indy dates. They told him that they were available in a few months once they’d fulfilled all of their indy dates and they wouldn’t schedule any more, but he got offended and word trickled back to them that he was upset over it. They wanted to work with Sandman and Tommy Dreamer, but they didn’t want to screw over the people that had kept them working for years. They think Paul E wanted to turn them heel, and they say they would have loved it.

Least favorite promoters- One of their least favorites was Eldon Owen, the brother of Don Owen. He’d do stupid things like booking them against Piper and Martel then, if they got too much heat on them, he’d come out on the house mic and say that he had DQed them and fined them $10,000 each and award the match to Piper and Martel, then shake the hands of all the fans as they left (typical promoter putting himself above the talent stuff). They also had problems with some foreign promoters, such as in India and Pakistan and won’t work tours over there anymore as a result.

Name association-

Abdullah the Butcher- Great guy, and he looks the same as he did 25 years ago. He gives the fans what they want.

Stan Hansen- Great guy, awesome in Japan, they compare him to his tag partner Brusier Brody. They are informed he just retired last week and wish him luck.

Hardcore wrestling on TV- They like it, but they think it’s bad for the guys just starting out in the business. They need to learn how to wrestle before doing that stuff. They compare today’s wrestling TV to a variety show because it’s got hardcore wrestling and girls with big tits, and everything else under the sun.

Mike Graham- Great guy, one of the strongest guys they know despite being such a small guy.

Scott Casey- Gentleman and a ladies’ man, as he’s on his 6th or 7th marriage.

Heavenly Bodies- They put over “Gigilo” Jimmy Del Ray as a nice guy and say he’s helping Steve Kiern train guys down in Florida.

Any regrets besides when they left certain territories? No, and they attribute their stupid timing on leaving promotions to not growing up in the country and knowing the power of the NWA and the value of national TV exposure on TBS. They also wish they’d stayed in the WWF just doing vignettes every once in a while to keep the fans entertained.

Did the Brainbusters have problems doing business with them? Possibly at first, but they came around and had good matches with them.

Gino Hernandez- Nice guy, but they weren’t around him too much. He was mostly wrestling in Houston at the time. Great talent, but got mixed up with the wrong crowd.

Dusty Rhodes’ booking style- They found that everyone would look at the back of the arena to spot the run-ins because he depended on it too much, and he put himself over WAY too often. They talk about how Dusty was the first guy in the south to get over using a black style of speaking.

Anything they want to stay? They thank the fans heavily for helping them make a living over the years then do a big Bushwhackers “YEAHHHH!”.

We go back to matches here, starting with the Sheepherders, with Johnny Ace at ringside vs. the Rock and Roll Express. Long TV match here, complete with a commercial break halfway through. Morton and Gibson do the double dropkick on Luke, but Johnny Ace hits Morton with the flagpole and gets them DQed. After the match, they tease cutting Ricky Morton’s long blond hair, but Robert Gibson comes in with a chair for the save.

Next is the Sheepherders vs. the Batton twins. The Batton Twins look like Steve Blackman with a mullet. Eventually, a Batton gets a high cross body which bumps the ref, but Butch hits the Batton with the flagpole and Butch gets the win.

The Bushwhackers vs. the Youngbloods (Mark and Rich), with Ricky Romero at ringside. This is a match from one of Terry Funk’s Wrestlefest shows in Amarillo, and appears to be somewhat recent. Luke tries to slam Mark Youngblood, but Rich dropkicks Mark and Mark gets the three.

Next is from ECW, as Joel Gertner introduces the Bushwhackers as two of the Dudleyz from Down Under., both of them looking exactly like Bubba Dudley. The crowd chanks “Fuck ‘em up Sandman, fuck ‘em up” at them. Bubba, Devon, and Balls Mahoney come out and beat the shit out of Sandman and Dreamer, complete with Sign Guy Dudley pouring beers all over the fallen Sandman and Dreamer. Someone that appears to be Too Cold Scorpio comes out for the save, but also gets beaten up.


Next are clips from another match, where it appears to be Jerry Lynn and Chris Chetti getting the crap knocked out of them by all of the Dudley Boys (Devon, Bubba, Sign Guy, Balls Mahoney, and the Bushwhackers). New Jack and a white guy I don’t recognize come in and chase the Dudleyz from the ring.

Sheepherders vs. Bruise Brothers- Blah… this is a legalized murder, as the Sheepherders pretty much beat them like dogs and leave them laying on the mat.

Thoughts: These guys are rather open and honest about mistakes they’ve made in their careers and several other things and they don’t play the blame game while they do it. They come off as two nice, hardworking guys although there are a few times when they seem to be severely exaggerating (mainly when they talk about how well they drew, but EVERY wrestler does that). Unfortunately, most of this stuff was vanilla information, so I can’t go any higher than a rating of Recommended.


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