Lots of kids in the late 80s never knew that their lovable Kiwi goofballs, The Bushwhackers, were once considered one of the most violent and ruthless tag teams in wrestling..
Shows to go you just how stupid WWF can get. I don’t think people understand what this transformation is like. This is like taking cactus Jack the king of the death match who’s bled all over the world through barbed wire and dynamite, through tables and chairs, off ladders and through guardrails and then putting him in brightly colored tye dye and making him dance with a sock puppet on his han….oh, wait…
All the comments saying "The sheepherders became jokes in the WWF" really don't get it, it's sad! After 20 years of bloody fights and tough matches all over the globe, these guys deserved to work less violent matches for more money and that's why they accepted Vince's offer in a heartbeat. They were older, beat up, and wanted stability...the Bushwhackers gimmick added 10 years to their careers. So clowns? Nope, smart businessmen.
It didn't add 10 years to their career, they were only in WWF for three and a half years and they retired 6 months after they left only doing sporadic indy appearances here and there ever since
@@jamaicanraisinsack6240 No, they signed with WWF in late 88 and worked full time there until 1993 (they wrestled on RAW a few times). They then continued to wrestle for the company on and off until 1996. In 1994 they had a program with Well Dunn, they were in the Rumble 1995, were in a tag tournament in 1996, and so on. Then they wrestled in the indies for years all the way to the 2000's. The Bushwhackers gimmick truly added a decade to their careers, without it these guys would have most probably called it quit in the early 90's.
@@jonathanturbide2232 I don't remember seeing much of them after 1995 to be honest, they only wrestled sporadically in the Indy circuit after the mid-90s, Hulk Hogan rallied to get them in WCW, but they declined
@@jamaicanraisinsack6240 Yeah they were brought up here and there in 95-96. Here's the link to a match Butch had against Triple H, in 1996. It was during the Kuwait tour, very random booking but it shows that the Bushwhackers were still relatively important on the roster: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Q_B05qpfk7k.html
I loved how they said these bouts got so bloody and so out of hand that they weren't allowed to wrestle each other on television. In fact, this feud added a new dimension to the Fantastics by showing that they were willing to get into bloody brawls with a team as wild as the Sheepherders.
All these territory matches from across the country are what i used to only read about in pwi magazines so glad im able to actually see them this is so awesome
The New Zealand sheepherders were brutal before wwe/f....but it is awesome seeing these matches i used to read in PWI....Southwest,Southeast,Memphis,Florida,Pacific Northwest,Central States,Continental,Hawaii.....and seeing the old Japanese wrestling is great as well
I know, its sure beats some of the arena footage from 70s and 80s Florida Wrestling and AWA with their "scratched up" Super 8 films! Bill Watts may not have spent a lot of money on decent wrestling rings and ring bells (there's went "kank" instead of "clang"), but at least he made sure he had high quality cameras for even the dark matches!
Most people remember the Midnight Express and Rock n Roll Express feud that lasted for years,but the Fantastics had a great feud also with the Midnights.
This is, by far, one of the best hardcore match i've seen !! Storytelling, chairshots, stiff punches, color, rope strangling, a proactive ref that is not the center of attention, heel heat, face struggle and a crescendo return to win the match, just wow! There was no commentary but we didnt need one. 4.5* !! :D
I was just realizing there was no commentators. lolol.... I was about to switch it UNTIL the math got hella good. lolol... Then I said, forget the commentators. lololol...
Sheepherders and Fantastics had a number of bloody matches. They even did a few six-man barbed wire cage matches (Terry Taylor teaming with the Fantastics, Jack Victory with the Sheepherders).
@@JamesJohnson-yq6bi It was probably a match that wasn't going to be shown on TV (usually the last match of the night to entice the fans to stay through a TV taping), but recorded for highlights for Watts' UWF shows.
This was 86 and the herders were thought of as grizzled vets even back then. Tough for guys who started watching the WWF in the late 80s to comprehend that the bushwackers/sheepherders werent just a comedic crowd pumping up type team. They were legit heel bloodletters. Masters of brutality
Reminds me of what happened to Tank Abbott in WCW when they couldn’t figure out what to do with him and put him with 3 count. Utterly ridiculous and mind numbing to watch.
Back in the 80s met the fantastics at a town in Oklahoma while they were promoting a wrestling event coming I asked if they would sign something they waited I got a card they signed were very nice made my day.
This was the first time I saw the Fantastics in a Match. The used to wrestle on the UWF. Long live the Fantastics, great tag team, old friends of the Rock and Roll express and the Midnight Rockers.
..... WHAT THE **** WAS THAT?! How exactly was that a win?! What the hell are the rules for a New Zealand Bootcamp Match?!!? As a Kiwi that was 8 years old when Bushwhackers hit WWF it's amazing to see what they did as the Sheepherders. Thanks a lot for this upload. RIP Cousin Butch. Whooaaaaaaaahhh yeaaaaaaahhh!!!
I wonder if the wwf/e gets tired of saddling bad gimmicks on established wrestlers and in the process ruining perfectly good gimmicks on amazingly gifted talent? You think they do? I know I for one am sick to death of it. The Viking Raiders, the bushwackers, cactus Jack, Vader, Steven Regal, TL Hopper, Skinner, stalker, Rocky Maivia, the ringmaster, flash funk, Leif Cassidy, Isaac yankem, skull and eight ball, beaver cleavage, three minute warning, Justin hawk Bradshaw, faarooq, Kama mustafa, Fatu jr., the new midnight express, Cedric Alexander, Shelton Benjamin and his “mama”, 3MB, husky Harris, skip Sheffield, kerwin white…I mean, the list just does not end! The sad thing is that all these guys except for a scant few are Phenomenal performers in the ring and on the microphone! They pick these outlandish gimmicks and then they wonder why they have problems getting them over in the mid card. If they had left many of these guys the same and just changed their names, they’d have been a lot more successful than they were when saddled with those abysmal gimmicks! The bushwhackers to me were the number one biggest tragedy in signing with them. If they had just kept a tough, hardcore personality they’d have had some Historic matches with the brain busters, colossal connection, rockers, demolition, the powers of pain, strike force, the bulldogs and the hart foundation just to name a few. Instead they made them dance and shout like morons for 12 years and they had nothing to show for it. Not a tag team champion run, a heel turn or a memorable match at mania, just a ton of silliness and nothing else.
The only way to watch independent wrestling in the UK back in the 80's and 90's was by VHS tapes and those were few and far between so the only time I got to watch Luke and Butch was when they were in the WWF now with RU-vid I can see what PWI and Inside Wrestling magazines were writing about . This is great . I still would've liked to see them with the WWF Tag Team titles even a short run say a month or so could you imagine The Bushwhacker walk while wearing the belts that would've been cool .
Three things I learned from watching this. The sheepherders have some serious scar tissue, the fantastics pretty much got molested coming to the ring and that everyone needs to clear the aisles & return to their seats!
Credit goes more to Jerry Jarrett. He pretty much got them set up as tag teams. Robert first got big in Memphis teaming with brother Ricky Gibson while Rick Morton (Punky) started working there in the late 70s while his dad Paul was a referee.
The referee raised the Fantastics' hands at the end because if they tried to give the Sheepherders the win, that place would still be rioting today. Can't believe we had this AND Buddy Rose/Doug Somers vs Marty Janetty and Sean Micheals in the same year. Btw, it's funny they couldn't show this on tv, but the AWA showed the latter match on ESPN!
Robert Fuller Jr After 20 years of brawling and bleeding all over the globe they deserved to get paid a lot by working shorter, less violent matches. It was the perfect deal for them as they were older and sick of working rough matches, Vince made them a big favor by giving them this spot on the roster and they did great at it.
I lived in Louisiana for a few years when UWF was at its peak...I can't tell you how bummed I was as I saw these guys trickle into WWF to be misused. The Sheepherders, One Man Gang, Big Bubba. Even Ted DiBiase and Hacksaw, who had "success" up north were still cartoonified. I miss the hell outta the good old UWF.
Yup , if you think about the Heenan Family, that was actually the best wrestling faction but since they're feuds was mostly silly, and the matches lackluster they fall short compared to the 4 horsemen. Heenan Family consist of Rick Rude, Mr. Perfect, Haku, , The Islanders, Andre the Giant, Ric Flair.
The WWF was different. Territories like UWF, AWA, NWA, and WCCW were all about the wrestling. The WWF tried to make their wrestlers larger than life with distinct gimmicks and personalities. In the territories they focused more on the actual matches. You would rarely see a match in the WWF go on for longer than 15 minutes. In the territories matches regularly went over half an hour.
They were put together in Memphis to try and fill the void after Punky and Hoot (Rock and Roll Express) went to Mid-South. Then they went to Dallas, then back to Mid-South/UWF.
The way Luke and Butch moved in the match and their muscularity vs. when the came into the WWF, ...I mean I know they were older, but those type of matches had to really take a toll on their bodies.
Nowadays---chairs and tables just HAPPEN to magically appear under the ring (gee, I wonder how they got there?) The mystery and spontaneity has been taken out of the game!
If people look at the sheepherders only for the WWF career as The bushwackers, then you really don't know your wrestling because these guys were basically ECW before ECW was hardcore or extreme. In fact if you look at their matches they actually make ECW look like nursery School. And The Dudley Boyz and new Jack owe their camouflage look to the sheep herders because they've been wearing this since the 1970s.
These 4 always tore the house down. Some of the bloodiest matches they would have. I still can't believe how Vince turned The Sheepherders into to a joke.
God, how many times are people going to write the same comment down. Yeah yeah yeah, Vince turned them into a joke, they sold out, blah blah blah, you would've done it too if you were working for less money and someone wanted to hire you for more pay without you tearing up your body night in and out.
He paid the a ton more than they were getting in the territories. I am sure the Sheepherders didn't mind. Less work and more money. They went from wrestling 30 minute blood baths to doing under 10 minute comic relief matches.
The sheepherders were an amazing brutal and a kick ass tag team... top of there game ...........,, such a crying shame the powers that be turned them into the joke that was the bushwackers...,
The big lady in the pink shirt? I noticed that a long time ago. If you get what I'm saying, it's one of those instant cameras they used to sell that was more vertical. I think they were made by Kodak. I remember seeing them in the early 80s at the matches in New Orleans. You'd bring the whole camera in to get the film developed. They were like $10 and had like 30 pictures that you could take.
I remember hearing about the brutality of the matches between the Sheepherders and the Fantastics. I was surprised that when both teams were in WCW that their intense feud did not continue. I remember these two teams met at Clash of Champions II and that was it. I wish they could have had another brutal match on TBS.
Before the awful Bushwhackers gimmick, they, along with Johnathan Boyd, were great as the Sheepherds. Great matches with the Fantastics & The Fabulous Ones.
