The Tampa Tribune featured an interview with Bushwhacker Luke Williams discussing the team's induction into the WWE Hall of Fame and more.


‘Bushwacker Luke’ climbs into ring of wrestling immortals


Most professional wrestling fans familiar with the character of “Luke Williams” – portrayed by Clearwater resident Brian Wickens - remember him only as a member of the former World Wrestling Entertainment tag team The Bushwhackers.

And for good reason: After all, it was while with the WWE from 1989 - 1996 that Wickens achieved his greatest mainstream acclaim by portraying the comedic buffoon from his native New Zealand who enjoyed licking fans’ heads and gulping down sardines along with his Bushwhackers tag team partner “Butch Miller,” real name Robert Miller.

And it is under the team name of The Bushwhackers that Wickens and Miller will be honored with an induction into the WWE Hall of Fame on March 28 at the SAP Center in San Jose, California.

Still, in the decades he worked in wrestling prior to joining the WWE, the 68-year-old Wickens, – owner of the gym Clearwater Beach Fitness, portrayed the character of Williams in a completely different manner.

He was part of “The Sheepherders,” a savage team scripted to care more about tearing the flesh than winning matches. Miller was usually the second half of that team, but over the years he was temporarily replaced by other wrestlers. Wickens, however, was the constant.

“The Bushwhackers made me more money but — I hate to say it — I loved The Sheepherders more,” said Wickens.

The reason, he said, was the evildoers could draw deeper emotions out of fans who wanted the opposing good guy team to vanquish them.

“Fans would sit down, stand up, sit back down and then stand up again when we wrestled,” he said. “We had them really rooting against us. They wanted us to lose.”

Such violent characters, however, were only known to the hardcore fans of wrestling and had little crossover appeal. The Bushwhackers, though, became part of mainstream pop culture as a family friendly WWE act that could promote its product by appearing on popular television shows such as “Family Matters” and “The Regis Philbin Show.”

The Sheepherders weren’t quite as family friendly. That past includes rings lined with barbed wire or fire and countless occasions in which they gnawed on opponents’ faces.

“I was a wrestler before the WWE and a performer with them,” said Wickens, the scars on his forehead from matches as a Sheepherder as prevalent as his native New Zealand accent, despite living in the Tampa Bay area since the mid-1980s.

Wickens and Miller were among the most amusing stars of their WWE era.

They “were consummate professionals, totally dedicated to giving the fans their money’s worth,” said Lanny Poffo, whose brother Randy Poffo — aka Macho Man Randy Savage — will also enter the WWE Hall of Fame this year.

Born in New Zealand, Wickens got his start in professional wrestling there in 1962. In 1966, his friend Miller entered the wrestling industry and soon after created The Kiwis.

Wickens colored his dark hair blonde and created an effeminate character known as Sweet William who led his uncontrollable partner Brute Miller to the ring with a dog collar and chain.

The team slowly transitioned from that gimmick with Wickens becoming just as violent as Miller, and they changed their name to The Kiwi Sheepherders.

When they premiered in the U.S. in the late-1970s following tours of New Zealand and Canada, they called themselves simply The Sheepherders - savages from an untamed area of New Zealand out to prove that U.S. wrestlers were weak.

Professional wrestling was different then. The big name today, WWE, did not dominate the landscape. Instead, each area of the country had its own local promotions and champions.

Wrestlers would jump from territory to territory, and fans kept up with what was going on around the nation through magazines that covered professional wrestling as though it was legitimate competition.

The Sheepherders were often featured in these publications standing over fallen opponents; all four lathered in blood, said Barry Rose, an archivist of Florida wrestling history.

As evildoers referred to in their industry as “heels” they were usually brought in to compete against a specific region’s top good guys, called “baby faces.”

They won their share of battles, but storylines would end with them losing the war to the fan favorites.

And while the outcome was predictable, said Rose, it made for great television at the time.

Then in 1989, Vince McMahon - owner of the WWE, then known as the World Wrestling Federation - offered them a job.

McMahon had transitioned his promotion into a family friendly style of professional wrestling, and rather than have Wickens and Miller perform as bloody thirst ruffians, he wanted them to become “baby faces.”

“My partner hopped onto Vince’s desk and went nose to nose with him and said if you can make people cheer for these ugly faces, then try,” said Wickens. “We didn’t believe it could happen.”

It did, but primarily due to the creative minds of Wickens and Miller.

While McMahon came up with the new team name, they came up with the gimmick.

As The Sheepherders they had walked to the ring grunting and flailing their arms up and down like wild men. They kept that gimmick, but rather than doing it with a scowl they did so with a smile as The Bushwhackers.

That simple change turned them from unpredictable beasts to kind, uneducated fools. The regular diet of sardines accentuated their simplicity.

To further emphasize their innocent buffoonery they licked one another’s faces as well as random fans’ heads - who clamored for it as though it was an honor.

“They became cartoon characters,” said wrestling archivist Rose.

In an era in the WWE full of cartoon characters, he added, they were among the most memorable.

The change provided longevity to Wickens’ career.

Miller is retired and again residing fulltime in New Zealand, but Wickens remains a weekend warrior, performing as “Bushwhacker Luke Williams” at least 50 times a year in smaller promotions.

That, he said, would not be possible if he never developed the “Bushwhacker” character. While he could not still have his face sliced with barbed wire, he can perform The Bushwhacker routine for years to come.

He then smiled and gave thanks to WWE CEO McMahon for his continued success.

“He turned this ugly face into one fans cheered. He is a genius.”

The induction can be watched live online via the WWE Network at 7:30 p.m. A condensed one-hour version can be seen on March 30 at 11 p.m. on the USA Network.


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