WWE conducted their annual Wrestlemania weekend event this past week in Los Angeles. The wrestling itself takes up two days but there are events in and around the area that take up the entire week. It was during one such event that a WWE Hall of Famer fell ill and later died. “Bushwhacker Butch” was part of the “Bushwhackers” tag team of the late 1980s and early 90s in the wrestling organization.
EARLY WRESTLING CAREER
Along with his partner, “Bushwhacker Luke,” Miller spent the first part of their wrestling career as a legit, violent tag team “The Sheepherders.” The two wrestled all over the world for organizations in Canada, Japan, and the pacific northwest region of The United States. I remember them as a boy in Houston wrestling in the famed Mid-South Territory as “The New Zealand Sheepherders.” I remember them being just crazy dudes who seemed to live to bleed. Along their wrestling journey the two feuded with some of the biggest names in wrestling. Roddy Piper, Rick Martel, and even Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson did battle with them.
WWE AND HALL OF FAME
In 1988 Luke and Butch came to the WWE (then WWF) as “The Bushwhackers.” Whereas they were known to that point as a serious, bloodthirsty, tag team as “The Sheepherders,” the two became almost a comic relief version of themselves. They walked funny to the ring, swinging their arms wildly with each step. And in the ring, one of their gimmicks was to lick the heads of opponents. As far a “Wrestlemania” goes, their highlight in that event was a win over “The Rougeaus” tag team at Wrestlmania V. “The Bushwhackers” were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015.
It was not specified what occurred only that Butch experienced a medical incident during a Wrestlemania 39 event and was hospitalized. The WWE Hall of Famer later died. Robert “Bushwhacker Butch” Miller was 78.
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