Legendary Wrestler Butch Reed Dies Aged 66

In some tragic news, the legendary Butch Reed has passed away at the age of 66.

Feb 5, 2021 February 5th, 2021

In some tragic news, the legendary Butch Reed has passed away at the age of 66.

This awful news was announced on Reed’s Instagram account earlier today, with Butch passing away due to heart complications.

Having played in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs, Bruce ‘Butch’ Reed embarked on a pro wrestling career in 1978. As ‘Hacksaw’ Butch Reed, the charismatic star made a solid impression in Florida Championship Wrestling and Georgia Championship, before taking his career to a whole other level in Bill Watts’ Mid-South Wrestling.

By 1986, Reed signed with the then-WWF and began using the moniker of ‘The Natural’ Butch Reed, usually with Slick at his side. Having entered into a rivalry with Ricky Steamboat, Reed was rumoured to have been in line to take Steamboat’s Intercontinental Championship before the Honky Tonk Man was instead given the nod to dethrone the Dragon.

From 1988 – 1992, Butch returned into the NWA fold with Jim Crockett Promotions, with him famously becoming a member of the Doom tag team with Ron Simmons. That tandem would go on to take the WCW Tag Team Championships from the Steiner Brothers at 1990’s Capital Combat PPV.

The sad news of Butch Reed’s passing comes only a matter of days after his Instagram account detailed how Butch had suffered two major heart attacks in recent weeks.

The thoughts of all of us here at WhatCulture go out to the family, friends and fans of Butch.

Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

See more from Andrew