Butch Miller (b. Robert Miller in 1944, died April 2nd, 2023) and Luke Williams (b. Brian Pickens in 1947) were a Professional Wrestling Tag Team best known as The Bushwhackers and The Sheepherders. They started in their native New Zealand in 1964, and Steve Rickard, who was also the booker for NWA Hawaii, brought them to America. They competed for Stampede Wrestling in Calgary as The Kiwis, "Crazy" Nick Carter and Sweet William. Starting in 1979, they worked for both the NWA Pacific Northwest Wrestling promotion in Portland and in Canada as The Kiwi Sheepherders. Following runs in NWA Mid-Atlantic and the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico, Miller returned home and Williams replaced him with Lord Jonathan Boyd. This ended when Boyd suffered a broken leg while he and Williams were working for Southwest Championship Wrestling in San Antonio, leading to Miller's return. They also worked in Florida, Mid-South/UWF and for the National Wrestling Alliance before surprising many people by jumping to WWE in late 1988 where they became the Bushwhackers, Luke and Butch. They were midcard Faces for their entire run, but never got to hold the WWE World Tag Team Titles. They also made a few appearances in ECW in 1998, where they were billed as "the Dudleys from Down Under," "Cousin Luke Dudley" and "Cousin Butch Dudley." Their last major WWE appearance was in the Gimmick Battle Royal at WrestleMania X-7.
Butch retired following a neck injury in September 2001. Williams has continued to make the occasional indie appearance even to this day; now in his late 70's, he holds the rare honor of being an active wrestler for seven straight decades. Among their in-ring achievements, they were 2x Stampede International Tag Team Champions, 1x NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champions and 1x UWF World Tag Team Champions.
"AYYY, CHECK OUT THE BUSHWHACKERS' TROPES, MATE!"
- Arch-Enemy: Their feud with the Fantastics (Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers) in Mid-South was likely their biggest one.
- Ascended Extra: Johnny Ace (John Laurinaitis) started as their flagbearer.
- Bald of Evil: Lord Jonathan Boyd
- Bash Brothers
- British Teeth: Luke.
- Covered with Scars: Their foreheads are covered with scars from excessive blading.
- Foreign Wrestling Heel: As the Sheepherders.
- Funny Foreigner: As the Bushwhackers
- Garbage Wrestler: While both guys did get proper training, as the Sheepherders, they could brawl with the best of them, and they bled for decades.
- Gimmick Matches: Their barbed-wire cage matches against the Fantastics in Mid-South are very well-regarded.
- Heel–Face Turn: What the change from the Sheepherders to the Bushwhackers essentially was, as this was the first time they'd ever been babyfaces.
- Face–Heel Turn: On the receiving end when Tugboat turned on them during the six-man tag that led to the formation of The Natural Disasters.
- Only One Name: As the Bushwhackers, they were "Luke" and "Butch," the names "Williams" and "Miller" were never mentioned.
- Power Stable:
- (in Stampede): Foley'snote Army
- (in Southwest Championship Wrestling): The Commonwealth Army (led by Lord Jonathan Boyd and also including "Exotic" Adrian Street and Eric Embry).
- (in Portland): "Playboy" Buddy Rose's Army
- Ring Oldies: Both of them.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Butch has worked as a booker for Kiwi Pro Wrestling in New Zealand, and Luke has done the same for the World Wrestling Council in Puerto Rico.
- Silly Walk
- Spell My Name With An S: It's Bushwhackers, not Bushwackers.
- Start My Own: For a time, they had a restaurant called "Bushwhackers DownUnder"
- Unrelated Brothers: In this case unrelated cousins.
- Use Your Head: This was their Finishing Move, Luke holding Butch in a headlock and running to hit their opponents in the gut or kidneys.
- Wrestling Family