- John Hitchcock

Way back in the early seventies there was a lot of great tag teams but the one that always made me laugh when ever I think about them were The Royal Kangaroos. This tag team was two guys name Lord Jonathan Boyd and his cousin, Norman Fredrick Charles the Third. These two guys were from overseas; I would venture to guess Australia but I was about fifteen when they showed up so I just thought they sounded serious at times and deadly funny. For some reason the Kangaroos did not like Thunderbolt Patterson. At that time I didn’t know who Thunderbolt Patterson was but they really were setting up a big feud with him. And as I said, they really didn’t like him. These guys were about five foot nothing and had very cool side burns. They also had very cool hats that made them stand out for the crowd.

On their first interview, they said that they were looking for Thunderbolt Patterson. They were on a mission to rid the Mid-Atlantic from this evil guy. The only problem was he was not there in the first place. So I guess they did a really good job. Jonathan Boyd was the leader of the team and did most of the talking. But at the end of the interview, Norman Fredrick Charles The Third would add a something. It was always worth waiting for. One time he just out of the blue said and I quote,

“ You know cousin, that Thunderbolt Patterson is so dumb, that he thinks a pig pen is something you write with!”

And then they would both start laughing at each other and walk away from the interview.

My little brother Bob had just gotten a small reel-to-reel tape recorder for Christmas and I taped this interview and we played it over and over laughing like crazy every time it was played. He got mad at me one day and erased it out of spite but that is another story about another beating.

Every week for a month the Royal Kangaroos would have a match, crush some jobbers and then demand Thunderbolt Patterson.

Then one week they both walked out with a beaten old white hat and said that was all that was left of Thunderbolt Patterson.

This struck me as really funny and I would venture to guess that Patterson decided not to wrestle for the Crockett’s so they all put the boots to him with this old hat.

The next big feud was against Johnny Weaver and Art Nelson for the brass Knuckles Trophy. This was a really big deal for that time and the Kangaroos really had a lot of heat on them at that time. The big match was held in Greensboro and the crowd was wild wanting to see the fan favorites kill the Royal Kangaroos. This match was a real juice fest with everyone getting color. The Royal Kangaroos really bled all over the place. Johnny Weaver was taking the beating for most of the match and finally made the hot tag. Then Art Nelson for some reason, turned away and left Weaver. The Royal Kangaroos trashed him in short order and won the Brass Knuckles Title. Greensboro became a mad house with fan screaming and throwing drinks into the ring.

And the Royal Kangaroos celebrated their big victory.

For then next few weeks the Kangaroos talked constant trash on television.

And I loved then even more. 

Next Time, The Big Cat Ernie Ladd.