Butch Reed

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

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1978–1983) 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. 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. Reed dyed his hair blond and became "The Natural" Butch Reed, an updated version of Sweet Daddy Siki. He feuded initially with Tito Santana, a target of Slick's verbal jabs, and made his pay-per-view debut at WrestleMania III, where he defeated Koko B. Ware.

In the weeks after WrestleMania, Reed targeted new Intercontinental champion Ricky Steamboat and faced him at house shows and on an episode of Wrestling Challenge. Reed was a no show in Buffalo, NY where Steamboat lost the belt to Honky Tonk Man.

In the fall, the WWF was heavily hyping a feud between Reed and Superstar Billy Graham, a former WWF champion who was staging a comeback after hip-replacement surgery. Graham's condition was such that he could no longer handle the physical demands of being a wrestler, so Reed and Slick's newest acquisition, the One Man Gang, "injured" Graham in a sneak attack that was used to explain his permanent retirement. Graham began managing the man who came to his aid, Don Muraco, with Muraco immediately entering into a rivalry with Reed. The enemies were on opposing teams in the main event of the first Survivor Series (Muraco took Graham's place on Hulk Hogan's team); Reed (a member of André the Giant's team), was the first elimination of the match, by Hogan.

Reed competed in (and was the first wrestler eliminated from) the first Royal Rumble match in January 1988. Two months later, he was eliminated in the first round of the WrestleMania IV championship tournament by eventual winner Randy Savage. Reed dominated most of the match against Savage, but spent too much time mouthing off to Savage's manager (and real-life wife) Miss Elizabeth while climbing to the top turnbuckle. Savage caught Reed, threw him off for a slam and immediately hit his diving elbow drop off the top turnbuckle for the win. This first round loss at WrestleMania IV was Reed's final match for the WWF.

On September 9, 2007, Reed made a cameo appearance backstage at the September 14 edition of WWE SmackDown!, during a segment involving his former manager and SmackDown! General manager Theodore Long.

Jim Crockett Promotions / NWA World Championship Wrestling (1989–1992)

Shortly after WrestleMania IV, Reed and the WWF parted ways, He was briefly managed by J. J. Dillon before his contract was "sold" to Hiro Matsuda's "Yamasaki Corporation". Reed did not see much success in the early parts of his run with JCP; his biggest match was a loss to Sting at the Chi-Town Rumble on February 20, 1989. During the summer of 1989, he floundered in the mid-card as Jim Crockett Promotions grew to become a national wrestling organization.

The Steiner Brothers were involved in an angle with Woman who promised "Doom" for the two brothers but never specified exactly what this meant. She unveiled her promise at Halloween Havoc 1989, a couple of brawny, hard hitting masked African-Americans. It was obvious to most wrestling fans that Ron Simmons and Butch Reed were under the masks — they had both been on WCW television shortly before Doom debuted, and they were the only two African-American wrestlers in the company with the same massive physical appearance — but the announcers were made to keep up the storyline (although Jim Ross accidentally exposed Reed's identity on commentary during Starrcade 89: Future Shock). Doom won their debut match against the Steiners when one of the members of Doom pinned Rick Steiner after a headbutt with an illegal object in his mask. Doom followed up on this success by defeating Eddie Gilbert and Tommy Rich at Clash of the Champions IX, looking very strong in the process.

Doom's next PPV outing did not come with the same success. Along with the Steiner Brothers, the Road Warriors, and the Samoan Swat Team they were entered in a one night, tag team round robin tournament. They did not score a single point, ending dead last in the tournament. Doom's misfortune continued as Woman soon dropped the team and left the federation. Then on February 6, 1990, at Clash of the Champions X, Doom were defeated by the Steiner Brothers and as a result of the stipulation were forced to unmask.

Doom beat the Steiner Brothers at that point in time, the Steiners didn't lose very often. Doom won the tag team titles and quickly set about defending them against the former champions the Steiners as well the rest of WCW's very talented tag team division. In the fall of 1990, Doom soon feuded with The Four Horsemen (becoming tweeners in the process) and defended against them in two inconclusive tag team title matches at Halloween Havoc 1990 and Starrcade 1990. At Clash of the Champions XIV, Doom lost a non-title match to Sting and Lex Luger in a match that foreshadowed the trouble that lay ahead.

On February 24, 1991, at WCW's WrestleWar PPV, Doom took on former tag team champions The Fabulous Freebirds and lost due to miscommunication between Reed and Simmons. After the PPV, Reed left the company for a short while only to return in 1992 siding with The Barbarian and Cactus Jack. Reed and the Barbarian teamed up to defeat Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham at Clash of the Champions XX Reed also issued a challenge toformer partner Simmons, by then WCW World Champion and faced him in tag team matches, but left WCW for good shortly afterwards after being fired for no-showing a TV taping in Macon, Georgia, on September 15.

Late career (1992–2002, 2005–2013) After leaving WCW, Reed went to the United States Wrestling Association where he resumed feuding with Junkyard Dog. Reed beat him for the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Championship on October 12, 1992. and held the title until Dennis McHawes beat him for it on January 25, 2002.

Personal life and death In July 2016, Reed was named part of a class action lawsuit filed against WWE which alleged that wrestlers incurred traumatic brain injuries during their tenure and that the company concealed the risks of injury. The suit was litigated by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who has been involved in a number of other lawsuits against WWE. In September 2018, the lawsuit was dismissed by US District Judge Vanessa Lynne Bryant.

On February 5, 2021, an Instagram post from Reed's official account announced his death from complications of two heart attacks that occurred in January. His relatives attributed his death to COVID-19, and said he tested positive around January 12. He was 66 years old.

Championships and accomplishments Central States Wrestling NWA Central States Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Jerry Roberts Global Wrestling Federation GWF North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Insane Championship Wrestling MWCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Mid-South Wrestling Mid-South North American Heavyweight Championship (3 times)