Butch Reed

Bruce Franklin Reed (July 11, 1954 – February 5, 2021) was an American professional wrestler and football player, better known by the ring name Butch Reed.

He played college football at the University of Central Missouri, was a star in Mid-South Wrestling and had high-profile tag team matches in the World Wrestling Federation (such as the first Survivor Series main event) and World Championship Wrestling (where he held the championship with Ron Simmons, as Doom).

Reed attended the University of Central Missouri, where he played college football.

In 1976, he signed as a rookie free agent with the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League, but the linebacker was cut before the season.

Butch Reed was trained to wrestle by Ronnie Etchison debuting in 1978.

Early on he wrestled as Bruce Reed adopting the "Hacksaw" nickname over time.

Reed and Jerry Roberts beat Mike George and Bob Sweetan for the NWA Central States Tag Team Championship in 1980 and lost it to The Kelly Twins in January 1981.

Reed wrestled mainly for the NWA in the early 1980s and made a name for himself in their St. Louis, Florida Championship Wrestling and Georgia Championship Wrestling territories.

His next title also came as one half of a tag team when he and Sweet Brown Sugar won the Florida version of the NWA North American Tag Team Championship when they beat Dory Funk, Jr. and David Von Erich in 1982.

On April 7, 1982, Reed had what is now recognized as the first 5-star rated match by Dave Meltzer in which he challenged Ric Flair for the NWA title in Miami, Florida.

Reed established himself as a force to be reckoned with while competing in Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling from 1983 through early 1986.

In Mid-South, he was known as "Hacksaw" Butch Reed and came into the territory as a tag team partner for the main face in the territory the Junkyard Dog.

Reed immediately came face to face with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan over the "Hacksaw" nickname.

Back in 1983, Duggan was part of the heel group, The Rat Pack, along with Ted DiBiase and Matt Borne and used every dirty move he could think of to beat Reed.

He and Duggan feuded over the "Hacksaw" name until Duggan turned face.

This resulted in Reed's heel turn when Duggan was picked to be the Junkyard Dog's tag team partner over Reed.

Reed appeared on TV stating that "Butch Reed is going to start looking out for Butch Reed", which prompted the Junkyard Dog (JYD) to join him in the ring.

After arguing back and forth, Reed attacked JYD and was soon joined in the attack by DiBiase.

On July 16, 1983, Reed won the Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship and turned back JYD's challenges in subsequent months.

In October 1983, Reed's arrogance made him agree to let the Mid-South fans pick a challenger for the North American title; he let them pick from the JYD, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, newcomer Krusher Khruschev, and Magnum T. A. The fans picked JYD but Reed dismissed the choice; he also said Duggan and Khruschev did not deserve a shot and instead gave the title shot to T.A., who won the title, then lost it twelve days later to Nikolai Volkoff.

On the same night that Reed lost the North American title, he and partner Jim Neidhart beat Magnum T. A. and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan to win the Mid-South Tag Team Championship.

After a few weeks, the North American title was returned to Reed, claiming that the title match with T.A. was not legal since the fans chose JYD.

Reed's run as a double champion did not last long as JYD got his title shot with Dusty Rhodes as the special guest referee.

After losing the North American title, Reed and Neidhart focused on the tag team titles and defended them against all comers.

When Magnum and Mr. Wrestling II challenged for the titles, they felt that the challengers had to put up something of their own: Mr. Wrestling II's mask.

Mr. Wrestling did not unmask that night as they took the gold from Reed and Neidhart in a Steel cage match on Christmas of 1983.

Neidhart and Reed started to blame each other and had a short, brutal feud.

The Neidhart feud was soon replaced with one with Terry Taylor who came out to save Neidhart from being beaten down with a football helmet after a match.

The Reed/Taylor feud raged all through the spring of 1984 and was instrumental in establishing Terry Taylor as a star in Mid-South.

The feud soon expanded to include "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel as Reed's tag team partner and saw Reed attack Taylor with a "Coalminer's Glove" on several occasions.

After fighting with Terry Taylor for months on end, Reed's attention turned from Taylor back to his old enemy the Junkyard Dog.

During a match, Reed and Landel attacked JYD as he performed under a mask as "Stagger Lee" and painted him yellow.

The war between the two brought in Sonny King and later Ernie Ladd to team with Junkyard Dog.

After the tag matches, came brutal singles matches such as Dog Collar Matches.

Just as the feud was about to reach its heated highlight, the Junkyard Dog left Mid-South and signed with the World Wrestling Federation without informing booker Bill Watts of his decision.

This meant that the federation was without their biggest face and the shows had to be hastily rebooked.

Watts brought in "Master G" (journeyman wrestler George Wells) to take JYD's place but the feud between Reed and "Master G" never took off forcing Watts to rethink his options.

When "General" Skandor Akbar entered the Mid-South and started to build a stable of heels, he presented Buddy Landel with a golden Rolex watch with the understanding that it wasn't actually for Landel but for someone else Akbar was trying to recruit.

When Landel tried to give the watch to Reed, he became incensed, in the storyline, stomped on the watch, and started to brawl with his former partner.

Akbar and his cronies came to ringside, which prompted Reed to rant on them getting the crowd behind him as he told them he didn't need back-up.