Now as I promised last month we will take a look at a tag team that truly changed SWCW and left a bloody mark on the tag team division that will never be forgotten. The wild and crazy New Zealand Sheepherders, Luke Williams and Jonathan Boyd came on the scene in the early 1980's. They hit the big time in mid 1983 with a huge win, or some may call a huge con job over the Grapplers. For those who don't remember, the Grapplers were one of the best tag teams in the area. The masked duo scored many impressive wins with the famous switch out in the middle of the match. Always at ringside was the manager Don Carson. Carson led his team to many victories, however Carson was also known to have a weakness, and that my friends was greed, and along with that greed came dreams of power and tag team gold. Enter the famous pay off, the Sheepherders.

They approached Carson and made him an offer that would include making money and still keeping him a part of a championship team. Looking back, the funny thing is that the original team of the Masked Grapplers was a really great team that could probably beat the Sheepherders, so with a 500-dollar deposit he quickly turned on his team and the Sheepherders won the belts. Carson also felt he was a winner. You know the thing about greed is that at some point it always blows up in your face, and of course in this case it didn't take long. Carson lost the belts, the money and most important the Grapplers. It seemed the Sheepherders reign of terror was about to begin. Shortly after the Carson con, things got worse very quickly. Jonathan Boyd was in an auto accident and broke his leg. Then SWCW bad boy Bobby Jaggers stepped in and joined up with Williams to be tag champions, however that didn't last long either, when Williams turned on Jaggers after a non-title lose. Later Boyd blamed Jaggers for his accident and of course this just added fuel to the flame which quickly tuned Jaggers into a fan favorite and started a US vs. New Zealand theme.

Then in comes Butch Miller. Cousin Butch fit the mold of Sheepherder perfectly. He was mean and nasty and of course had very few teeth. Although a great Sheepherder image the team of Williams and Miller was not an instant click, but after a few matches it did click and click perfectly and the madness began and in 1984 they won SWCW World Tag team champions. In most regions it was the single champions people most recognized but it was the tag team champions the Sheepherders that had SWCW fans talking. The ultra violent style of Luke and Butch took the wrestling world by storm. Everybody wanted a crack at the Sheepherders. The list is long and full of great names. Stars like The Fabulous Ones and Manny Fernandez and Al Perez, The Zambuie Express, Manny Fernandez and Ivan Putski and perhaps the best tag team of the decade , The Road Warriors.

As you can see this wasn't the fun loving, happy go lucky team they would eventually become as the Bushwackers. This was a very dangerous team that struck fear as they drew the blood of their challengers night after night.

We will look more into the careers of the Sheepherders and "Mr Piledriver" Bob Sweetan.