WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.620 Welcome to another deep dive. Today we are... 00:00:04.299 --> 00:00:06.099 We're stepping straight into the squared circle. 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:08.199 Oh, yeah, getting right into it. Yeah, we really 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:10.900 are. We're going to unpack the wild, chaotic, 00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:14.960 and honestly physically grueling career of Australian 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:17.079 professional wrestler Jonathan Boyd. It is a 00:00:17.079 --> 00:00:19.820 wild ride. It totally is. Our mission for you 00:00:19.820 --> 00:00:21.980 today is basically a character study, a look 00:00:21.980 --> 00:00:24.739 at a man who dedicated his entire existence to 00:00:24.739 --> 00:00:27.660 the theatrical art of making thousands of people 00:00:27.660 --> 00:00:29.780 absolutely despise him. Which is a real skill. 00:00:30.039 --> 00:00:32.340 Right. So if you've ever been curious about the 00:00:32.340 --> 00:00:36.140 psychology of wrestling villains or the brutal 00:00:36.140 --> 00:00:39.820 reality of the old NWA territories, this conversation 00:00:39.820 --> 00:00:42.609 is custom tailored for you. Yeah, we are exploring 00:00:42.609 --> 00:00:45.469 a really fascinating window of time here, specifically 00:00:45.469 --> 00:00:50.649 spanning from the 1960s through the late 1980s. 00:00:50.649 --> 00:00:53.090 The peak territorial era. Exactly. This is the 00:00:53.090 --> 00:00:55.270 peak long before the Internet and long before 00:00:55.270 --> 00:00:58.049 we had these massive, polished, global cable 00:00:58.049 --> 00:01:00.270 TV monopolies controlling everything. Right. 00:01:00.369 --> 00:01:02.320 It was all regional back then. It was carved 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:05.079 up into regional fiefdoms, so wrestlers like 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:08.120 Boyd had to travel relentlessly, just driving 00:01:08.120 --> 00:01:10.799 hundreds of miles a day from one territory to 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:13.060 another. And they relied entirely on live crowds, 00:01:13.099 --> 00:01:15.920 right? 100%. They had to generate these immediate, 00:01:16.019 --> 00:01:19.500 visceral, live audience reactions in these smoky, 00:01:19.500 --> 00:01:22.780 dimly lit arenas. And then they'd go cut intense 00:01:22.780 --> 00:01:26.140 promos on local UHF television just to survive 00:01:26.140 --> 00:01:27.939 financially. Yeah, and we are definitely not 00:01:27.939 --> 00:01:31.000 here to just read off a sterile list of... You 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:32.840 know, championship match results. Nobody wants 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:34.900 that. No, we want to take you into the actual 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:38.040 psychology of theatrical villainy. We're going 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:40.980 to look at the immense physical toll this unregulated 00:01:40.980 --> 00:01:43.959 industry took on its performers. It was brutal. 00:01:44.140 --> 00:01:46.640 It was. And we'll get into the bizarre personal 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:49.159 contradictions of a man totally consumed by his 00:01:49.159 --> 00:01:52.500 craft. born Jonathan Barry Boyle in Sydney, Australia 00:01:52.500 --> 00:01:55.260 in 1944. Who eventually morphs into the global 00:01:55.260 --> 00:01:58.299 antagonist known as Lord Jonathan Boyd. Yes. 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:00.939 But before we get there, the contrast between 00:02:00.939 --> 00:02:04.140 the scripted, choreographed violence under the 00:02:04.140 --> 00:02:08.060 arena lights and the very real physical and emotional 00:02:08.060 --> 00:02:10.879 resilience required behind the curtain is staggering. 00:02:11.060 --> 00:02:13.759 It really is. The lines between the fabricated 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:15.860 characters these men portrayed and their actual 00:02:15.860 --> 00:02:19.020 waking reality just constantly blurred. Totally. 00:02:19.150 --> 00:02:21.169 So let's start at the very beginning of that 00:02:21.169 --> 00:02:24.629 transformation. Boyd makes his pro debut in 1965. 00:02:24.930 --> 00:02:27.090 Working for World Championship Wrestling right 00:02:27.090 --> 00:02:29.250 there in his native Australia. Right, but he 00:02:29.250 --> 00:02:31.810 doesn't stay local for very long. He and his 00:02:31.810 --> 00:02:34.229 cousin, a wrestler named Norman Frederick Charles 00:02:34.229 --> 00:02:37.789 III, they decide to pack up and relocate to North 00:02:37.789 --> 00:02:40.069 America. Forming a tag team called the Royal 00:02:40.069 --> 00:02:42.849 Kangaroos. Yeah, which was a direct, calculated 00:02:42.849 --> 00:02:46.509 nod to an earlier legendary team, the Fabulous 00:02:46.509 --> 00:02:50.159 Kangaroos. Okay, let's unpack this. Because this 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:52.080 is where the deliberate character building really 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:54.539 starts to take shape. Oh, absolutely. She sheds 00:02:54.539 --> 00:02:57.219 the name Jonathan Boyle. He adopts the title 00:02:57.219 --> 00:03:00.080 Lord Jonathan Boyd. And he starts utilizing these 00:03:00.080 --> 00:03:02.199 signature moves that look incredibly painful. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:04.360 Like the neck breaker. Yeah, the neck breaker. 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:07.199 And the infamous iron claw, where he would essentially 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:09.560 just grip his opponent's temples with maximum 00:03:09.560 --> 00:03:12.080 force to simulate crushing their skull. You know, 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:14.819 adopting that aristocratic title was a brilliant 00:03:14.819 --> 00:03:18.159 strategic move for the era. By adding Lorde to 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:20.580 his ring name, he immediately signals to the 00:03:20.580 --> 00:03:23.180 American audience that he considers himself an 00:03:23.180 --> 00:03:25.740 outsider of high birth. He's projecting this 00:03:25.740 --> 00:03:29.060 aura of unearned superiority. Exactly. Walking 00:03:29.060 --> 00:03:31.300 to the ring with his nose in the air. That is 00:03:31.300 --> 00:03:34.259 a classic, time -tested trope used to agitate 00:03:34.259 --> 00:03:38.020 blue -collar crowds. But they had to grind relentlessly 00:03:38.020 --> 00:03:40.500 to make that gimmick work. Oh, they worked constantly. 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:43.340 They became massive fixtures in Pacific Northwest, 00:03:43.500 --> 00:03:46.120 wrestling up in Oregon, winning tag titles multiple 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:48.370 times. times throughout the early 70s, wrestling 00:03:48.370 --> 00:03:50.810 multiple nights a week, constantly on the road. 00:03:50.949 --> 00:03:52.750 They're popping up everywhere across the map. 00:03:52.810 --> 00:03:54.610 You look at their schedule and they're in mid 00:03:54.610 --> 00:03:56.310 -Atlantic championship wrestling on the East 00:03:56.310 --> 00:03:58.770 Coast. They're in the Atlanta -based All -South 00:03:58.770 --> 00:04:00.689 Wrestling Alliance. Right. Big time wrestling 00:04:00.689 --> 00:04:03.810 out in San Francisco. And Stu Hart's famously 00:04:03.810 --> 00:04:06.610 rugged stampede wrestling up in the freezing 00:04:06.610 --> 00:04:08.590 temperatures of Calgary. They went everywhere. 00:04:08.969 --> 00:04:11.490 So how does an act like the Royal Kangaroos translate 00:04:11.490 --> 00:04:14.050 when they decide to take this entire gimmick 00:04:14.050 --> 00:04:16.579 overseas? Well, taking the act to Japan in the 00:04:16.579 --> 00:04:19.560 mid 1970s was a completely different beast. They 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:22.860 toured with New Japan in 1974 and then jumped 00:04:22.860 --> 00:04:26.339 to All Japan Pro Wrestling in 76. And over in 00:04:26.339 --> 00:04:29.259 Japan, they were sharing the ring with massive, 00:04:29.420 --> 00:04:32.980 legitimate global icons. We are talking about 00:04:32.980 --> 00:04:36.259 Antonio Inoki, Giant Baba, The Destroyer. Even 00:04:36.259 --> 00:04:39.199 teaming up with Andre the Giant. Yeah. And to 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:42.810 succeed on that stage. A gaijin, which is the 00:04:42.810 --> 00:04:44.889 Japanese term for a foreign wrestler. You had 00:04:44.889 --> 00:04:47.709 to possess an incredible level of ring psychology. 00:04:48.230 --> 00:04:50.790 You had to know exactly how to play the arrogant, 00:04:50.870 --> 00:04:53.410 disrespectful invader in a way that perfectly 00:04:53.410 --> 00:04:56.149 elevated the local Japanese heroes. Because you're 00:04:56.149 --> 00:04:57.709 dealing with an audience that doesn't speak your 00:04:57.709 --> 00:04:59.610 language. So you can't rely on a microphone to 00:04:59.610 --> 00:05:01.310 make them mad. Right. You can't just cut a mean 00:05:01.310 --> 00:05:03.569 promo. You have to communicate pure arrogance 00:05:03.569 --> 00:05:05.990 through your body language. The way you cheat 00:05:05.990 --> 00:05:08.189 behind the referee's back and the way you bump 00:05:08.189 --> 00:05:10.189 around the ring to make the hometown hero look 00:05:10.189 --> 00:05:12.620 like a million. It takes immense psychological 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:15.100 skill to read a foreign crowd and manipulate 00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:17.519 their emotions purely through physical storytelling. 00:05:17.860 --> 00:05:20.759 The Japanese fans treated wrestling as a legitimate, 00:05:20.939 --> 00:05:23.800 highly respected combat sport. Which makes the 00:05:23.800 --> 00:05:26.459 cheating even more offensive to them. Exactly. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:29.240 So when Boyd and his cousin would come in and 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:31.600 break the rules or act cowardly, it generated 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:34.360 a profound level of disgust and anger from the 00:05:34.360 --> 00:05:37.279 crowd, which translated to massive ticket sales. 00:05:37.850 --> 00:05:40.230 But after a long, really successful run, the 00:05:40.230 --> 00:05:42.790 Royal Kangaroos eventually break up around mid 00:05:42.790 --> 00:05:45.610 -1977. Yeah, they had a disagreement over how 00:05:45.610 --> 00:05:47.790 to promote themselves moving forward. So Boyd 00:05:47.790 --> 00:05:50.110 ends up going on a singles run. He travels through 00:05:50.110 --> 00:05:52.850 NWA, Hollywood, Georgia, Mid -South, down to 00:05:52.850 --> 00:05:55.689 Louisiana, Texas. And here's where it gets really 00:05:55.689 --> 00:05:58.430 interesting. Because as we transition into the 00:05:58.430 --> 00:06:01.990 1980s, Boyd realizes the arrogant aristocrat 00:06:01.990 --> 00:06:04.529 gimmick is getting stale. It had run its course. 00:06:04.810 --> 00:06:07.740 Right. So he undergoes a completely brutal night 00:06:07.740 --> 00:06:10.500 and day reinvention. The Lord persona vanishes 00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:13.480 and the savagery begins. He essentially trades 00:06:13.480 --> 00:06:16.339 the velvet robes and aristocratic arrogance for 00:06:16.339 --> 00:06:20.899 pure, unadulterated violence. Around 1981, he 00:06:20.899 --> 00:06:23.459 teams up with a New Zealand wrestler named Luke 00:06:23.459 --> 00:06:25.319 Williams. They had crossed paths previously. 00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:28.980 Yeah, they had. But now they formally unite to 00:06:28.980 --> 00:06:31.019 create variations of a team that would become 00:06:31.019 --> 00:06:33.829 legendary in the industry. The sheep herders. 00:06:33.949 --> 00:06:35.889 Depending on the territory, they wrestled as 00:06:35.889 --> 00:06:38.189 the new sheep herders, the Kiwi sheep herders, 00:06:38.189 --> 00:06:40.350 or the New Zealand sheep herders. And these were 00:06:40.350 --> 00:06:43.230 absolutely not your typical cowardly bad guys 00:06:43.230 --> 00:06:45.029 who would run away from a fight? Not at all. 00:06:45.339 --> 00:06:48.060 They quickly gained a legitimate reputation across 00:06:48.060 --> 00:06:51.300 the country as one of the most violent, hard 00:06:51.300 --> 00:06:54.060 -hitting, unpredictable teams in the entire business. 00:06:54.339 --> 00:06:56.639 They were brawlers in the truest sense, wearing 00:06:56.639 --> 00:06:59.420 ragged combat boots, camouflage, torn shirts. 00:06:59.740 --> 00:07:01.759 They did not care about looking pretty or wrestling 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:04.500 a clean, technical, amateur -style mask. They 00:07:04.500 --> 00:07:06.620 wanted to draw blood. And they knew exactly how 00:07:06.620 --> 00:07:08.339 to generate what the wrestling business calls 00:07:08.339 --> 00:07:11.040 heat. Right, the heat. What's fascinating here 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:13.720 is the economic engine behind that concept of 00:07:13.720 --> 00:07:16.800 heat. In the territorial days, television was 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:18.939 merely a commercial for the live arena show. 00:07:19.180 --> 00:07:21.360 You didn't make money from TV ratings back then. 00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:24.040 Exactly. You made money when fans bought a ticket 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:27.660 to the local armory or coliseum. The sheepherders 00:07:27.660 --> 00:07:29.519 understood that if they could make the audience 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:33.300 legitimately, furiously angry, those fans would 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:35.339 pay their hard -earned money to come to the arena 00:07:35.339 --> 00:07:37.680 hoping to see the sheepherders get their teeth 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:40.319 knocked out. They took that concept to the extreme 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:43.500 when they joined the Alabama -based Southeastern 00:07:43.500 --> 00:07:45.720 Championship Wrestling. Oh, the Fuller family 00:07:45.720 --> 00:07:48.399 feud. Yeah. They entered into a feud with the 00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:51.180 Fuller family, who were the beloved local heroes 00:07:51.180 --> 00:07:54.750 of that territory. To make the crowd truly despise 00:07:54.750 --> 00:07:57.009 them, they didn't just win matches by cheating. 00:07:57.069 --> 00:08:00.110 They executed a storyline where they viciously 00:08:00.110 --> 00:08:02.990 attacked and injured Jimmy Golden's father, Billy 00:08:02.990 --> 00:08:05.189 Golden. Attacking the patriarch of a beloved 00:08:05.189 --> 00:08:07.709 local family crosses a massive psychological 00:08:07.709 --> 00:08:10.730 line. It moves the narrative from a competitive 00:08:10.730 --> 00:08:14.129 sporting contest to a personal, vicious criminal 00:08:14.129 --> 00:08:17.089 assault. And the live audiences in Alabama absolutely 00:08:17.089 --> 00:08:20.209 lost their minds. They despise the sheepherders 00:08:20.209 --> 00:08:23.170 with a passion that bordered on dangerous. There 00:08:23.170 --> 00:08:25.490 were nights where they needed police escorts 00:08:25.490 --> 00:08:27.209 just to get from the ring back to the rental 00:08:27.209 --> 00:08:29.810 cars because the fans genuinely wanted to attack 00:08:29.810 --> 00:08:33.090 them. Promoters across the country saw that visceral 00:08:33.090 --> 00:08:36.309 reaction and knew exactly how to monetize it. 00:08:36.450 --> 00:08:38.769 When Boyd and Williams moved up to the Memphis 00:08:38.769 --> 00:08:41.259 -based Continental Wrestling Association. The 00:08:41.259 --> 00:08:44.120 massive territory run by Jerry Jarrett and Jerry 00:08:44.120 --> 00:08:46.379 Lawler. Right. They were booked in a long -term 00:08:46.379 --> 00:08:48.879 rivalry against a team called the Fabulous Ones, 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:52.320 featuring Stan Lane and Steve Kern. Talk about 00:08:52.320 --> 00:08:55.580 brilliant, contrasting booking. The Fabulous 00:08:55.580 --> 00:08:58.220 Ones were the ultimate polished, good -looking, 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:01.480 pretty boy fan favorites. They wore sequin jackets. 00:09:01.700 --> 00:09:04.519 They starred in MTV -style music videos on the 00:09:04.519 --> 00:09:06.519 local wrestling broadcast. The teenage girls 00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:09.080 loved them. They did. And standing across the 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:12.120 ring from them are the Sheepherders, ugly, unkempt, 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:14.519 savage brawlers who look like they hadn't showered 00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:16.610 in a week. It is the perfect psychological foil. 00:09:16.769 --> 00:09:18.830 The sheepherders would utilize excessive cheating, 00:09:19.070 --> 00:09:21.429 drag the fabulous ones out onto the concrete 00:09:21.429 --> 00:09:24.149 floor, and brutalize them until they were bleeding. 00:09:24.389 --> 00:09:27.629 Because of that stark visual and stylistic contrast, 00:09:28.070 --> 00:09:31.730 they drew massive crowds week after week. But 00:09:31.730 --> 00:09:34.210 the violence kept escalating to match the hatred 00:09:34.210 --> 00:09:37.429 of the crowd. The reality and the fiction began 00:09:37.429 --> 00:09:40.549 to blur into this incredibly grueling spectacle. 00:09:40.909 --> 00:09:42.830 The standard wrestling matches weren't enough 00:09:42.830 --> 00:09:45.470 to settle these feuds anymore. No, they had to 00:09:45.470 --> 00:09:48.889 introduce specialized, dangerous match types 00:09:48.889 --> 00:09:52.139 to satisfy the audience's bloodlust. We see them 00:09:52.139 --> 00:09:54.440 engaging in some of the most punishing stipulations 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:57.039 of the era. Like down in the Mid -South Coliseum, 00:09:57.080 --> 00:09:59.019 they fought Jacques Rougeau and Terry Taylor 00:09:59.019 --> 00:10:01.679 in a coal miners' glove match. For those who 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:04.279 might not know the sheer carny brutality of that 00:10:04.279 --> 00:10:06.879 match type, paint a picture of what a coal miners' 00:10:07.039 --> 00:10:09.600 glove match actually entails. Right. So a heavy 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:12.039 canvas and leather glove, often loaded with lead 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:14.799 or a piece of steel, is placed on top of a 10 00:10:14.799 --> 00:10:16.820 -foot pole attached to one of the ring corners. 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:19.720 Sounds safe. Very. The objective isn't just to 00:10:19.720 --> 00:10:22.340 pin your opponent. It's a frantic, desperate 00:10:22.340 --> 00:10:25.120 scramble to climb that pole, retrieve the loaded 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:27.500 glove, and use it as a weapon. It basically turns 00:10:27.500 --> 00:10:30.360 a wrestling match into a chaotic, bloody brawl 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:33.929 for a weapon. Exactly. And later on, when Boyd 00:10:33.929 --> 00:10:36.250 teamed with a massive wrestler named Rip Morgan 00:10:36.250 --> 00:10:38.590 to fight the Fantastics Bobby Fulton and Tommy 00:10:38.590 --> 00:10:42.649 Rogers, their feud culminated in a no DQ loser 00:10:42.649 --> 00:10:45.529 leaves town match. That stipulation meant there 00:10:45.529 --> 00:10:48.110 were no rules, no disqualifications, and the 00:10:48.110 --> 00:10:50.809 losing team legitimately had to pack their bags 00:10:50.809 --> 00:10:52.870 and leave the territory. Which added massive 00:10:52.870 --> 00:10:55.769 real world stakes to the storyline. But they 00:10:55.769 --> 00:10:58.129 also incorporated some incredible psychological 00:10:58.129 --> 00:11:00.679 manipulation into their strategy beyond. just 00:11:00.679 --> 00:11:03.919 swinging chairs. In Southwest Championship Wrestling 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:07.440 in 1983, Boyd and Williams set their sights on 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:10.580 the tag team champions, a duo known as the Grapplers. 00:11:10.759 --> 00:11:12.919 Instead of just beating them up, they executed 00:11:12.919 --> 00:11:15.840 the ultimate villainous masterstroke. They literally 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:18.639 bribed the Grapplers' own manager, Don Carson, 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:20.740 right in the middle of the ring. They promised 00:11:20.740 --> 00:11:22.899 Carson a guaranteed title shot if he turned on 00:11:22.899 --> 00:11:25.019 his own team. And Carson takes the bribe. He 00:11:25.019 --> 00:11:27.460 turns on his guys mid -match and hands the victory 00:11:27.460 --> 00:11:29.539 and the championship belts to the sheepherders. 00:11:29.929 --> 00:11:32.289 Buying a championship through blatant corruption 00:11:32.289 --> 00:11:35.009 in front of a live audience is designed to make 00:11:35.009 --> 00:11:37.429 the fans feel a profound sense of injustice. 00:11:38.049 --> 00:11:40.730 It infuriates people because they want the sport 00:11:40.730 --> 00:11:43.450 to be fair, and the sheepherders just threw that 00:11:43.450 --> 00:11:45.990 fairness right in the garbage. While they looked 00:11:45.990 --> 00:11:49.210 completely invincible and diabolical on television, 00:11:49.590 --> 00:11:52.789 the real -world toll of this lifestyle was hovering 00:11:52.789 --> 00:11:55.149 right around the corner. It caught up with them. 00:11:55.309 --> 00:11:58.759 It did. Right in the middle of 1983, while they 00:11:58.759 --> 00:12:00.899 were holding those Southwest Tag Team Championships 00:12:00.899 --> 00:12:04.059 and running at the peak of their villainy, Jonathan 00:12:04.059 --> 00:12:06.460 Boyd was involved in a horrific car accident. 00:12:06.600 --> 00:12:09.200 He legitimately broke both of his legs. If we 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:11.840 connect this to the bigger picture, this is where 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:14.299 the harsh, unforgiving reality of the territorial 00:12:14.299 --> 00:12:16.820 wrestling machine becomes glaringly apparent. 00:12:17.220 --> 00:12:19.659 The machine does not care. The promotional machine 00:12:19.659 --> 00:12:22.659 simply does not stop for anyone. Not even for 00:12:22.659 --> 00:12:25.580 a top star with two shattered legs. The territory 00:12:25.580 --> 00:12:28.799 had television to shoot and arenas to fill. Southwest 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:31.059 Championship Wrestling immediately named another 00:12:31.059 --> 00:12:33.720 wrestler, Bobby Jaggers, as a replacement to 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:35.600 take Boyd's place in the team with Luke Williams 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:37.860 so the shows could continue. The show has to 00:12:37.860 --> 00:12:40.539 go on no matter what. But Boyd's reaction to 00:12:40.539 --> 00:12:43.539 this injury is what truly blows my mind. Most 00:12:43.539 --> 00:12:46.259 people would go home, do months of physical therapy, 00:12:46.399 --> 00:12:48.659 and collect disability. In the wrestling business 00:12:48.659 --> 00:12:52.080 in 1983, there are no guaranteed contracts. There 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:54.620 is no off -season. If you aren't on television, 00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:58.019 you do not get paid. So once Boyd was recovered 00:12:58.019 --> 00:13:01.120 just enough to stand, though still actively requiring 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:04.220 aluminum crutches to walk, he returned to television. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:07.059 He managed the sheep herders from ringside, leaning 00:13:07.059 --> 00:13:09.840 heavily on his crutches, screaming at the audience. 00:13:10.200 --> 00:13:12.200 And eventually even working behind the scenes 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:14.259 as a booker to help write the storylines for 00:13:14.259 --> 00:13:16.899 the promotion. the desperation and the sheer 00:13:16.899 --> 00:13:20.559 force of will required to do that is astounding 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:23.159 he knew that if he vanished from the television 00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:25.960 screen for six months the audience would forget 00:13:25.960 --> 00:13:28.220 him his spot on the card would be permanently 00:13:28.220 --> 00:13:30.600 given to someone else and his livelihood would 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:33.240 evaporate Yeah, Boyd's dedication to keeping 00:13:33.240 --> 00:13:35.799 his character alive, even when physically broken 00:13:35.799 --> 00:13:39.179 and in agonizing pain at ringside, speaks volumes 00:13:39.179 --> 00:13:41.139 about his commitment to the business. It's all 00:13:41.139 --> 00:13:43.379 survival instincts required in that era. And 00:13:43.379 --> 00:13:46.659 he manages to stay in the mix. Miraculously, 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:50.399 he eventually rehabilitates enough to get back 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:53.500 into the ring as an active competitor. He forms 00:13:53.500 --> 00:13:56.279 the Kiwi Sheepherders with Rip Morgan and later 00:13:56.279 --> 00:13:58.879 a giant wrestler named Bigfoot. They continue 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:02.240 to win titles, brawl with teams like the Fantastics 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:04.220 and spill blood all over the southern United 00:14:04.220 --> 00:14:07.080 States well into the late 1980s. He officially 00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:10.500 retires from full -time competition in 1989 after 00:14:10.500 --> 00:14:12.559 a match back in Pacific Northwest Wrestling, 00:14:12.700 --> 00:14:15.220 which is fittingly the same promotion that gave 00:14:15.220 --> 00:14:17.840 him his big break in the U .S. two decades earlier. 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:20.240 He does pop up for a couple of random independent 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.960 matches in 1991, but his career in the spotlight 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:25.480 is effectively over. And moving away from the 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:27.879 ring opens up an entirely different, highly revealing 00:14:27.879 --> 00:14:30.460 chapter about the man himself. It really does. 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:32.960 The man behind the monster, Jonathan Boyle, lived 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:35.039 a personal life that was just as surprising and 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:38.340 complex as his theatrical persona. In the ring, 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:41.679 he is this rugged, unpolished, savage brawler 00:14:41.679 --> 00:14:44.399 who wears torn clothes, bleeds every night, and 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:45.759 looks like he just crawled out of the wilderness 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:48.360 to fight people. And in real life? In real life, 00:14:48.440 --> 00:14:51.820 the man owned and drove a DMC DeLorean. The sleek, 00:14:51.879 --> 00:14:54.240 futuristic sports car with the stainless steel 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:57.039 body and the gulling doors? Just picture the 00:14:57.039 --> 00:14:59.440 wild, unkempt sheepherder cruising down the highway 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:02.519 in a DeLorean. It is a wonderful, almost surreal 00:15:02.519 --> 00:15:05.159 image that perfectly breaks the illusion of his 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:08.120 character. A man who pretended to be an uncivilized 00:15:08.120 --> 00:15:10.820 brute in the ring was driving the quintessential 00:15:10.820 --> 00:15:14.179 symbol of 1980s futuristic luxury on the streets. 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:17.659 The personal details also paint a picture of 00:15:17.659 --> 00:15:20.200 a very complicated, fractured domestic life. 00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:23.080 He was married and divorced three separate times 00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:26.220 over the course of his adult life. Sadly, his 00:15:26.220 --> 00:15:28.820 story comes to a tragic close relatively early. 00:15:29.710 --> 00:15:32.789 Jonathan Boyd passed away in August 1999 from 00:15:32.789 --> 00:15:35.309 a severe heart attack shortly after undergoing 00:15:35.309 --> 00:15:37.870 major back surgery, which was likely a direct 00:15:37.870 --> 00:15:39.629 result of the decades of physical punishment 00:15:39.629 --> 00:15:41.970 he took in the ring. He was only 54 years old. 00:15:42.129 --> 00:15:44.190 The detail about his passing that really stops 00:15:44.190 --> 00:15:46.169 you in your tracks though is the domestic situation 00:15:46.169 --> 00:15:48.669 at the exact time of his death. He was found 00:15:48.669 --> 00:15:51.289 in his duplex in Oregon, but he was found by 00:15:51.289 --> 00:15:53.789 his first wife. This raises an important question 00:15:53.789 --> 00:15:55.970 about the reality of his post -wrestling life. 00:15:56.740 --> 00:15:58.980 Despite having been legally divorced from this 00:15:58.980 --> 00:16:01.480 first wife for many years, and despite the fact 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:03.639 that Boyd had actually remarried and divorced 00:16:03.639 --> 00:16:06.480 two entirely different women in the intervening 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:09.220 time, he and his first wife were still sharing 00:16:09.220 --> 00:16:11.620 the exact same house when he died. To the average 00:16:11.620 --> 00:16:14.279 person working a nine to five job, that is a 00:16:14.279 --> 00:16:17.700 highly unusual, almost inexplicable living arrangement. 00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:20.519 You divorce someone, marry two other people, 00:16:20.659 --> 00:16:23.200 divorce them, and end up back living with the 00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:26.059 first ex -wife. It seems baffling on the surface, 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:28.759 but perhaps less so when you synthesize the details 00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:31.899 of the extreme life he led. The transient, all 00:16:31.899 --> 00:16:34.179 -consuming lifestyle of a territorial professional 00:16:34.179 --> 00:16:37.019 wrestler often makes maintaining a traditional 00:16:37.019 --> 00:16:39.919 personal life nearly impossible. You're constantly 00:16:39.919 --> 00:16:42.259 moving from city to city. Driving thousands of 00:16:42.259 --> 00:16:44.700 miles a month, living in motels, constantly performing, 00:16:44.860 --> 00:16:46.960 and dealing with the physical trauma of broken 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:49.559 legs and back surgeries. The standard expectations 00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:52.600 of marriage, stability, and domesticity fracture 00:16:52.600 --> 00:16:55.259 under that kind of of relentless pressure. It 00:16:55.259 --> 00:16:58.320 makes sense. It frequently leads to highly unconventional 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:01.000 living arrangements simply because the individuals 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:04.180 involved are bonded by a shared chaotic history 00:17:04.180 --> 00:17:06.720 that outlasts the traditional legal boundaries 00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:08.700 of a marriage. So what does this all mean for 00:17:08.700 --> 00:17:11.569 you listening right now? We have traced the evolution 00:17:11.569 --> 00:17:13.970 of Jonathan Barry Boyle from a young Australian 00:17:13.970 --> 00:17:17.490 rookie in Sydney to the arrogant aristocrat Lord 00:17:17.490 --> 00:17:20.549 Jonathan Boyd using the iron claw and finally 00:17:20.549 --> 00:17:23.529 to the brutal, chaotic, blood -soaked force of 00:17:23.529 --> 00:17:25.849 the sheepherders. He was a master manipulator 00:17:25.849 --> 00:17:28.089 of crowds across multiple continents. He was 00:17:28.089 --> 00:17:30.789 a man who literally broke his body and pushed 00:17:30.789 --> 00:17:33.650 through agonizing, debilitating injuries on crutches 00:17:33.650 --> 00:17:36.170 just to keep his spot on the card and feed his 00:17:36.170 --> 00:17:39.170 family. He showed an absolute uncompromising 00:17:39.170 --> 00:17:41.549 dedication. to the highly specialized theatrical 00:17:41.549 --> 00:17:44.349 art of being the heel. The next time you watch 00:17:44.349 --> 00:17:46.450 a movie or a television show or a live sporting 00:17:46.450 --> 00:17:49.049 event and you find yourself actively, passionately 00:17:49.049 --> 00:17:51.150 hating the villain. Take a second to remember 00:17:51.150 --> 00:17:54.529 Jonathan Boyd. Exactly. Take a moment to appreciate 00:17:54.529 --> 00:17:57.950 the immense hidden effort, the very real physical 00:17:57.950 --> 00:18:00.650 sacrifice and the deep calculated psychological 00:18:00.650 --> 00:18:03.369 skill it takes for an entertainer to be truly 00:18:03.369 --> 00:18:06.250 despised by thousands of people every single 00:18:06.250 --> 00:18:08.509 night. I'd like to leave you with one final thought 00:18:08.509 --> 00:18:11.349 to ponder. The history we've explored today shows 00:18:11.349 --> 00:18:13.690 us a man who was forced to live multiple lives 00:18:13.690 --> 00:18:16.150 simultaneously just to survive in a ruthless 00:18:16.150 --> 00:18:19.569 industry. He was Lord Jonathan Boyd. He was a 00:18:19.569 --> 00:18:22.410 savage, rule -breaking sheepherder, terrorizing 00:18:22.410 --> 00:18:25.609 audiences in Alabama and Memphis. And he was 00:18:25.609 --> 00:18:27.970 Jonathan Boyle, a man who drove a futuristic 00:18:27.970 --> 00:18:30.990 DeLorean and lived with his first ex -wife long 00:18:30.990 --> 00:18:33.450 after their marriage had officially ended. That's 00:18:33.450 --> 00:18:35.630 incredible. Did the constant extreme character 00:18:35.630 --> 00:18:38.230 reinvention required to survive the grueling 00:18:38.230 --> 00:18:40.869 wrestling territory ultimately blur the lines 00:18:40.869 --> 00:18:43.190 of his reality. When your entire professional 00:18:43.190 --> 00:18:45.809 existence depends on deceiving an audience, manipulating 00:18:45.809 --> 00:18:47.869 their emotions, and never breaking character, 00:18:48.190 --> 00:18:50.309 does it become impossible to live a conventional, 00:18:50.450 --> 00:18:52.670 grounded life once the stadium lights finally 00:18:52.670 --> 00:18:53.130 go out?