Bruce Reed, mostly known as “Hacksaw” Butch Reed, who in the early-to-mid 80s was an incredible blend of power and agility and became one of the best wrestlers in the world in a short period of time, passed away on 2/5 at the age of 66.
Reed tested positive for COVID-19 on 1/12, and then suffered two major heart attacks later in the month, which he never recovered from.
Reed, born July 11, 1954, excelled in a wide variety of sports, notably football, basketball, track (where he both ran the 100 meters and threw the shot put), and powerlifting, before pro wrestling. The peak of his career was when he was for a time the top babyface in Championship Wrestling from Florida, and later, one of the key players, as both a babyface and a heel in the glory days of Mid South Wrestling.
He also had an incredible series of matches battling for the NWA championship against Ric Flair in Florida, Mid South Wrestling, Central States and St. Louis during his in-ring peak from 1982 to 1985, when he was top ten in the world.
He also had a run in the WWF under the name “The Natural” Butch Reed, where at some point he was slated to win the Intercontinental title in the 80s, and his last major promotion run was with World Championship Wrestling as part of the tag team of Doom with Ron Simmons.
Our lead story in this week’s Observer covers WWE finances. We look at the direct numbers of WWE, revenue, profits, value of the company on Wall Street, what was up and why, what was down and why, exactly how much WWE took in on TV rights, network and merchandise. We look at what the company’s top priorities are for 2021, why the stock price is down, plus Vince McMahon, WWE President Nick Khan, CBO Stephanie McMahon and CFO Kristina Salen comment on the company.
They talk the Peacock deal, the Indian and Latin American markets, new television products, how much COVID cost the company in revenue and costs of the Thunderdome set-up as compared to the old way of doing things.
The issue also covers:
Ratings, as well as what USA would be doing without WWE, and WWE’s declines as compared to cable and network TV as a whole, how much money WWE has taken in and profited, or lost, every year since 1994.
Update the New Japan/AEW relationship, the different steps over the past few years from New Japan blowing off AEW to them doing business with the KENTA vs. Jon Moxley program, why it happened and where things stand now.
Royal Rumble, including how everyone did, stories behind the matches, age of men’s talent in WWE vs AEW and the message loud and clear, two of the main events scheduled for WrestleMania, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
New Japan deal with Roku and what this means both short and long-term, as well as other people who had interest. We look at the keys to the deal decision going the way it did.
Viewing experience for fans from Peacock, John Cena WrestleMania notes, NXT Takeover card, update on the Dusty Classic shows, two top WWE stars talk their recent positive tests for COVID, details behind the firings of Lars Sullivan and Steve Cutler, update on Vince McMahon/Oliver Luck lawsuit, Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley talk Undertaker remarks, International TV ratings, how wrestling does in comparison to other sports in the ratings, Bill Goldberg talks MMA, background of Reginald, Cesar update, new WWE signing and most watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.
NJPW New Beginning in Nagoya, with match-by-match coverage, poll results, and where things are going next.
Giant Baba Memorial show.
Television ratings of the past week, including segment-by-segment numbers for the past two weeks on Wednesday, who was watching in different age groups, how different segments did on Raw & Smackdown and more.
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In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
In regards to when he might return to the ring following his appearance at the Royal Rumble, Christian said on The Bump that there was no timetable for a WWE return. “No decisions have been made,” he said. “I’m not sure at this point. We’ll just take it day-by-day at this point.”
Carlito will be a guest on After the Bell with Corey Graves.
In an interview with Forbes, John Cena named three people he considers the top stars in WWE, going back against comments he said last year about WWE never having another marquee star. “Now you have Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns, Sasha Banks can be in that conversation, but it’s not what I said it was in 2020,” he said. “It’s not a scattered fragment of Super Friends. WWE has just refocused, re-shifted and now is consolidating on marquee stars. They have their marquee stars, and going forward they will have their big names. As far as those names being larger than life, the enormity of their impact is up to the individuals themselves.”
A new SEC filing shows that Vince McMahon purchased 19,875 shares of Class A Common Stock on February 4. Other executives who bought stock on February 4 include Stephanie McMahon (5,644), WWE President Nick Khan (15,310), Triple H (5,644), WWE Executive Vice President of Operations Bradley Blum (4,770), and Kevin Dunn (7,552).
Raw averaged 228,200 viewers on Sportsnet 360 in Canada.
McKenzie Mitchell spoke to Drake Maverick on their history together, as well as Maverick teaming up with Killian Dain.
The Stamford Advocate has a story on WWE moving forward with their new headquarters in Stamford.
WWE Battleground will start rolling out a roster update today. Mr. McMahon will be added, with Gran Metalik and Mojo Rawley being unlocked. Being added through March 24 is Mr. Perfect, Doink the Clown, Vader, Paige, Cactus Jack, Ricky Steamboat, British Bulldog, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, Earthquake, Typhoon, The Brian Kendrick, Curtis Axel, and Alundra Blayze.
The state of New York announced that large stadiums and arenas, such as Madison Square Garden, will be able to reopen starting on February 23. Venues will be able to open at 10% capacity as long as the state’s Department of Health signs off on safety plans.
FOX 4 in Kansas City has a story on Butch Reed’s passing. His family cites COVID-19 for his death, which he tested positive for around January 12.
Our lead story in this week’s Observer covers WWE finances. We look at the direct numbers of WWE, revenue, profits, value of the company on Wall Street, what was up and why, what was down and why, exactly how much WWE took in on TV rights, network and merchandise. We look at what the company’s top priorities are for 2021, why the stock price is down, plus Vince McMahon, WWE President Nick Khan, CBO Stephanie McMahon and CFO Kristina Salen comment on the company.
They talk the Peacock deal, the Indian and Latin American markets, new television products, how much COVID cost the company in revenue and costs of the Thunderdome set-up as compared to the old way of doing things.
The issue also covers:
Ratings, as well as what USA would be doing without WWE, and WWE’s declines as compared to cable and network TV as a whole, how much money WWE has taken in and profited, or lost, every year since 1994.
Update the New Japan/AEW relationship, the different steps over the past few years from New Japan blowing off AEW to them doing business with the KENTA vs. Jon Moxley program, why it happened and where things stand now.
Royal Rumble, including how everyone did, stories behind the matches, age of men’s talent in WWE vs AEW and the message loud and clear, two of the main events scheduled for WrestleMania, match-by-match coverage with star ratings and poll results.
New Japan deal with Roku and what this means both short and long-term, as well as other people who had interest. We look at the keys to the deal decision going the way it did.
Viewing experience for fans from Peacock, John Cena WrestleMania notes, NXT Takeover card, update on the Dusty Classic shows, two top WWE stars talk their recent positive tests for COVID, details behind the firings of Lars Sullivan and Steve Cutler, update on Vince McMahon/Oliver Luck lawsuit, Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley talk Undertaker remarks, International TV ratings, how wrestling does in comparison to other sports in the ratings, Bill Goldberg talks MMA, background of Reginald, Cesar update, new WWE signing and most watched shows of the past week on the WWE Network.
NJPW New Beginning in Nagoya, with match-by-match coverage, poll results, and where things are going next.
Giant Baba Memorial show.
Television ratings of the past week, including segment-by-segment numbers for the past two weeks on Wednesday, who was watching in different age groups, how different segments did on Raw & Smackdown and more.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
A few notes on the death of Butch Reed earlier today. Reed was a rare combination of power and agility in his prime years like few in wrestling. His peak was 1982 to 1985 when he was one of the best guys in the business, both as a face and a heel. I don’t have a lot of personal notes on him, but I was at a party in Japan in 1993 or 1994 when somehow Reed challenged Scott Norton to an arm wrestling match. If you don’t know about Scott Norton and arm wrestling, that’s like trying to pick a fight with Francis Ngannou. But Reed did challenge him even if we all knew how it was going to end up. He was very vociferous about it. Jim Hard I think was on the trip and kept telling me how excited he was about the idea of the match with Bam Bam Bigelow & Big Van Vader vs. Doom (Reed & Ron Simmons).
The April 7, 1982, match with Ric Flair vs. Butch Reed for the NWA title at the Miami Beach Convention Center (there were no cameras) that Flair won in 42 minutes was the best match I had ever seen live, and for that matter ever seen period, up to that point in time. Maybe the best live match I saw until Flair-Steamboat in Chicago in 1989.
So this is the Will Hobbs/Butch Reed story. Reed’s family reached out to Hobbs this week and said that Bruce loved Will Hobbs. He’d watch him and say “There’s the new Hacksaw.” He and his family identified him as Hacksaw, never The Natural. They told him Bruce wanted to reach out to him and tell him how much he liked watching him but he was too sick to do so. The other part of the story is that Tony Khan was a huge fan of Reed and not knowing any of this would talk to Hobbs about Butch Reed and tell him about his favorite segments on Mid South before either of them knew Reed was a fan of Hobbs.
Today is the 37th anniversary of the death of El Santo, who is likely the most beloved pro wrestler who ever lived.
33 years ago today was the night that 33 million fans on NBC watched the Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant rematch from Indianapolis. It is likely the single most-watched wrestling match ever in the U.S. because even though ratings in the 1950s were higher, less people had television sets then.
Smackdown tonight has Big E vs. Sami Zayn vs. Apollo Crews for the IC title, Dominik Mysterio vs King Corbin, plus interviews with Edge and Bianca Belair. Jake Atlas vs. August Gray will be on 205 Live.
WWE stock took a tumble today after yesterday’s earnings call. The stock fell from $56.00 a share yesterday to $49.23. The decline was due to both revenues and profits being lower than expected, and analysts finding out that the cost of taping television now is much higher than before due to the Thunderdome setting, and them not realizing it and thus it means profit expectations for next year are lower than they believed. Some also didn’t see it as a good idea to give up the WWE Network in the manner they did. Still, given the guaranteed profits over the next four years with the current deals in place, the stock is underpriced now, not overpriced. A lot of analysts following the stock are saying the same thing.
Devon Hughes (D-Von Dudley) on his podcast talked about how he is recovering from a stroke.
Tomorrow’s UFC from the Apex Arena in Las Vegas is an ESPN+ exclusive starting at 5 p.m. Eastern:
Ode Osbourne (143.5) vs. Jerome Rivera (145)
Martin Day (146) vs. Timur Valiev (145.5)
Seung Woo Choi (145.5) vs.; Youseff Zalal (146)
Molly McCann (126) vs. Lara Procopio (125.5)
Karol Rosa (135) vs. Joselyn Edwards (135)
Devonte Smith (159.5) vs. Justin Jayens (159) – this was contracted at 160
Mike Rodriguez (205) vs. Danilo Marques (205)
Diego Ferreria (155) vs. Beneil Dariush (156)
Cody Stamann (144.5) vs Askar Askar (145)
Alexandre Pantoja (125.5) vs. Manel Kape (125.5)
Michael Johnson (154.5) vs. Clay Guida (155)
Cory Sandhagen (135.5) vs. Frankie Edgar (135.5)
Alistair Overeem(255.5) vs. Alexander Volkov (264)
Paige VanZant vs. Britain Hart headline tonight’s Bare Knuckle boxing PPV show on FITE V at 9 p.m. Eastern. Johnny Bedford vs. Dat Nguyen and Chris Leben vs. Quentin Henry are also on the show.
WWE
Drew McIntyre and The Miz will be part of The Shaq Bowl on Sunday from 3-6 p.m. Eastern time. They will be on opposite teams in a series of competitions including an obstacle course, hot wings eating contest, tug of war, dance contest, a sit up contest and a dodgeball game.
The St. Louis FOX station has a story on Carmella’s second Reginald. (thanks to Mike Kuzmuk)
UFC
Seasons one, two, and 22 of the Ultimate Fighter are now up on ESPN+
OTHER NEWS
Bellator is making an announcement on Tuesday afternoon.
The Chicago Tribune had a story on the best matches in the history of Chicago Heights at
Butch Reed, who was one of the top pro wrestlers in the world in the early-to-mid 80s and had a number of memorable World title matches with Ric Flair, passed away today at the age of 66.
Reed had suffered two massive heart attacks in recent weeks and had been battling for his life ever since.
Reed’s career peak would have been as a headliner with Mid South Wrestling, where at times he was both a top babyface and a top heel in the promotion, and headlined the Superdome before huge crowds in battles with Flair and Junkyard Dog.
Reed had been a career babyface, starting out as a shy but super athlete with a great physique in Kansas City. He was a star at Central Missouri State in football and had a combination of speed, power, and agility that few men in the history of the business possessed. He was both a sprinter and a powerlifter, to go along with his football prowess.
In Florida, Reed got a big break under booker Dory Funk Jr. during a period when Dusty Rhodes was out of the state and Reed and Sweet Brown Sugar (Skip Young) were built around as the top babyfaces.
Reed was exceptionally over, and had classic matches with Flair in 1982 going under his real name Bruce Reed. He also had success in Georgia, including winning the 1983 Thanksgiving night tag team tournament at the Omni with Pez Whatley as his partner, before coming to Mid South as the babyface Hacksaw Butch Reed.
It was there that he and Buddy Landel turned on JYD for a hot program. Reed was the top heel in the promotion and one of the most exciting wrestlers in the business. He had a great ability to carry opponents as his “Ghetto street fight” matches with JYD are generally considered the best matches of JYD’s career.
When JYD left the promotion for the WWF, after a failure of trying to use former Canadian football star George Welles in the JYD spot as Master Gee, Watts turned Reed babyface with the idea of making him the biggest star in the company.
Reed did well in the spot, drawing big crowds with Flair in New Orleans, but in the long run couldn’t follow JYD as a draw. Eventually he and Watts butted heads and he left, and never really achieved the level of success elsewhere.
After a forgettable period in the AWA, he went to WWF as “The Natural Butch Reed,” with bleached blond hair. The idea was taken from Sweet Daddy Siki, a star from the prior generation. Vince McMahon was behind the idea big, and even bragged to people that he would be the next Gorgeous George.
Like with Mid South, Reed grew to hate the travel. He was being considered for the Intercontinental title at one point, and while the story that he didn’t show up and Honky Tonk Man instead got the title from Ricky Steamboat isn’t true, he was under consideration for that title win.
Later, Reed and Ron Simmons became the masked tag team called Doom, managed by Nancy Toffoloni as Woman. They held the WCW Tag Team titles and later unmasked. While a good tag team, by this point Reed was nowhere close to the level of performer he had been in the Florida and Mid South era.
Reed’s career as a full-time wrestler ended in 1992, and he did indie shows as late as 2011. After wrestling, he spent years working as a rodeo cowboy.
