Bushwhacker Butch

Robert Miller (21 October 1944 – 2 April 2023) was a New Zealand professional wrestler.

He was best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Bushwhacker Butch, where he teamed with Bushwhacker Luke as The Bushwhackers.

He was also known for his appearances under the ring name Butch Miller for promotions such as NWA New Zealand, Stampede Wrestling, Pacific Northwest Wrestling, Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling, Southwest Championship Wrestling, and the Universal Wrestling Federation, where he teamed with Luke as The Kiwis and The Sheepherders.

Along with Luke, Butch held championships including the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship, NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship, NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship, and UWF World Tag Team Championship.

Butch Miller started wrestling for NWA New Zealand (later known as All-Star Pro Wrestling) in 1964 where he achieved a great deal of regional success.

Miller, along with his friend Luke Williams, was brought to America in 1965 by fellow New Zealander Steve Rickard, who was also the booker for NWA Hawaii.

Luke and Butch initially worked in Canada among others for Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling billed as "The Kiwis" (Butch was known as "Nick Carter" and Luke was known as "Sweet William").

The first recorded title that the Kiwis won was in 1974 when the duo beat Bob Pringle and Bill Cody for the Stampede International Tag Team Championship on 6 January 1974.

The Kiwis lost the titles to Tokyo Joe and the Great Saki only to regain them a short time later.

The Kiwis lost the titles for good when Stan Kowalski and Duke Savage defeated them and kept the titles away from them in subsequent rematches.

After leaving Stampede Wrestling, the Kiwis began doing double duty in Japan for International Wrestling Enterprise.

In 1975, they returned to New Zealand for the first wrestling television tapings On the Mat.

Both men were inactive from wrestling for a few years.

In 1979, both men reunited working for NWA Pacific Northwest as well as the Canadian-based International All-Star Wrestling around 1979–1980 as "the Kiwi Sheepherders".

In 1979, the team won the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship on three occasions between 21 July and 5 August 1980 before they left the territory.

On 22 September, the Sheepherders lost the gold to Dutch Savage and Stan Stasiak only to regain them a week later.

On 11 February 1980, the Sheepherders became double champions when they downed Dutch Savage and Stasiak once again, this time for the NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship.

Top faces Rick Martel and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper teamed up in May 1980 to take the NWA Canadian tag titles from the Sheepherders and, in effect, run the duo out of the Northwest region by August, gaining the NWA Pacific Northwest tag titles when the Sheepherders left the promotion.

The next stop for the Sheepherders was a brief stay in the Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling territory run by Jim Crockett.

In MACW, the two won the NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship by beating Matt Borne and Buzz Sawyer for the gold.

The Sheepherders held onto the gold for close to three months before dropping it to Dewey Robertson and George Wells on 12 December.

After losing the titles, Luke and Butch headed for warmer weather as they traveled to Puerto Rico and began working for the World Wrestling Council as "Los Pastores".

While in Puerto Rico, the team would win the WWC North American Tag Team Championship twice while touring the island.

After the team left WWC, Butch decided that he wanted to return closer to home and went to Australia to wrestle.

Luke remained in the United States determined to keep the "Sheepherders" name on everyone's lips by teaming up with "Lord" Jonathan Boyd (formerly of the Royal Kangaroos).

In 1983, Boyd and Williams were working for Southwest Championship Wrestling when in June, Jonathan Boyd legitimately broke his leg in a car accident.

While Boyd was out with the broken leg Butch returned from Australia to reunite with his old tag-team partner.

Luke and Butch stayed with the SWCW through the rest of 1983 and into 1984, when the two came head-to-head with the Fabulous Ones, a team Williams and Boyd had feuded with extensively while Miller was away.

This time the prize was the SWCW World Tag Team Championship.

The Fabulous Ones had supposedly won the titles in Australia, which is generally believed to be a fictitious tournament invented by the SWCW.

The Sheepherders defeated the Fabs on 4 March and held the titles until the SWCW abandoned the tag team titles in September 1984.

The next major stop for the Sheepherders was a return to Puerto Rico and the WWC, this time competing as "The Sheepherders" instead of "Los Pastores".

On 6 January 1985 the team defeated The Invaders (Invader I and Invader III) for the WWC North American Tag Team Championship in Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

Butch and Luke lost and then regained the titles from Invaders I and III in March and then held on to the gold until August, when the Invaders won the tag team title back for good.

When Luke and Butch returned to mainland USA and signed on with Bill Watts’ UWF, they quickly cemented their status by beating Ted DiBiase and Steve Williams for the UWF Tag Team Championship on 16 March 1986.

The Sheepherders worked for Bill Watts on and off over the next couple of years, taking time out to participate in the first ever Jim Crockett Memorial Tag Team Cup where they made it to the third round.

In the third round the Sheepherders clashed with the Fantastics in an out-of-control brawl that ended in a double disqualification.

The winners of this match would have gone on to face eventual tournament winners The Road Warriors in the next round.

Back in the UWF for their "Mid South Superdome Show", the Sheepherders clashed with the Fantastics once more, this time Luke and Butch lost in a "New Zealand Boot camp" match to the UWF Tag champs.

The duo were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2015 and the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 2020.