Bill Dundee

William "Bill" Cruickshanks (born 24 October 1943)[1] is a Scottish-born Australian professional wrestler and author better known by his stage name Bill Dundee.[1] Cruickshanks is the father of Jamie Dundee and the father-in-law of wrestler Bobby Eaton.[2]

Bill Dundee
Birth nameWilliam Cruickshanks
Born (1943-10-24) 24 October 1943[1]
Angus, Scotland[1]
ResidenceRossville, Tennessee, United States[1]
ChildrenDonna Dundee
Jamie Dundee
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Bill Dundee[1]
William Dundee[1]
Sir William Dundee[1]
Squire William[1]
Billed height5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1]
Billed weight214 lb (97 kg; 15.3 st)[1]
Billed fromAustralia
Debut1962

Career

Dundee was born in Angus, Scotland, and raised in Melbourne. At the age of 16, he joined the circus as a trapeze artist.[1] He started wrestling in Australia in 1962 and finally arrived in the United States as "Superstar" Bill Dundee in 1974 with his tag team partner George Barnes.

Dundee made a name for himself in the Memphis Territory where he regularly teamed and feuded with Jerry Lawler and Jimmy Valiant for years. Dundee and Lawler ventured to the American Wrestling Association together in 1987 and captured the AWA World Tag Team Championship twice.

As a singles wrestler, he held the Southern Heavyweight Championship belt several times from roughly 1975 to 1985 and also had a successful team with "Nature Boy" Buddy Landel that wreaked havoc in Tennessee.

Dundee had a brief run in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions, Central States Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling in 1986 where he teamed with Jimmy Garvin and feuded with Sam Houston for the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship. He also briefly managed The Barbarian and The MOD Squad while in those territories.

He also had a run in World Championship Wrestling in the early 1990s as Sir William, the manager for Lord Steven Regal.

Dundee worked as a booker for Memphis, Louisiana and Georgia.

Dundee is still active as of 2019 in Memphis Wrestling where he has been a heel and a baby-face. He frequently appears on Jackson, Tennessee talk radio station WNWS 101.5 with Dan Reeves and on a talk show on Public-access television cable TV channels in West Tennessee. He still promotes indy cards across Tennessee and in Southaven, Mississippi. He currently runs a podcast on Anchor, named If You Don't Want the Answer, Don't Ask the Question.

On July 20, 2019, Dundee at 75 years old defeated Tony Deppen to win the WOMBAT Television Championship for Game Changer Wrestling in Tullahoma, Tennessee.

Books
  • If You Don't Want The Answer, Don't Ask The Question: Bill Dundee's Life Story

Personal life

Dundee's son Jamie Dundee, also became a wrestler, whereas his daughter Donna, married wrestler Bobby Eaton. His grandson, Dylan Eaton, wrestles as well.

In the early 1990s he partnered with Doug Hurt, brother of Jerry Lawler's manager, in the opening of a furniture store in Evansville, Indiana called "Superstar Dundee Furniture". The store collapsed about a year after opening.

In 1998, he was a sales manager for American Cable and promoted satellite sales in the West Tennessee area.

Championships and accomplishments

1Dundee's and Lawler's reigns with the AWA World Tag Team Championship began on cards hosted by the CWA through the interpromotional relationship between the AWA and CWA that also allowed the defense of the AWA Southern Heavyweight and Southern Tag Team Championships primarily within the CWA.
2The CWA Southwestern Heavyweight Championship was promoted in both the CWA and WCWA while the promotions had a working relationship in 1989 and 1990.

gollark: I can ignore the fan noise thanks to HEADFONE technology by Gtech.
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gollark: Mine actually works decently well for it apart from RAM.
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gollark: In my case, it's mostly idling.

References
  1. "Bill Dundee profile". Online World of Wrestling. Archived from the original on 29 November 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  2. "An Exclusive Interview with Bobby Eaton". DDT Digest. May 1999. Archived from the original on 7 April 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2007.
  3. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  4. NWA Central States Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  5. Mid-South Television Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  6. NWA/AWA Southern Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  7. Duncan, Royal; Will, Gary (2006) [2000.]. "(Memphis, Nashville) Tennessee: Southern Tag Team Title [Roy Welsch & Nick Gulas, Jerry Jarrett from 1977]". Wrestling title histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Waterloo, Ontario: Archeus Communications. pp. 185–189. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  8. "Southern Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  9. AWA World Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  10. CWA International Heavyweight Title (Memphis) history At wrestling-titles.com
  11. CWA International Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  12. Will, Gary; Duncan, Royal (2000). "Texas: CWA Southwestern Heavyweight title [Jarrett]". Wrestling Title Histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. p. 272. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  13. "CWA Southwestern Title". ProWrestlingHistory.com. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  14. CWA World Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  15. NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  16. NWA Mid-America Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  17. NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Title (Mid-America) history At wrestling-titles.com
  18. OVW Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  19. Hoops, Brian (17 April 2020). "Daily pro wrestling (04/17): WCW Spring Stampede 1994". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  20. Pedicino, Joe; Solie, Gordon (hosts) (27 June 1987). "Pro Wrestling This Week". Superstars of Wrestling. Atlanta, Georgia. Syndicated. WATL.
  21. NWA Southeastern Tag Team Title (Northern Division) history At wrestling-titles.com
  22. NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Title (Southeastern/Continental) history At wrestling-titles.com
  23. USWA Southern Heavyweight/Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  24. USWA Junior Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  25. Will, Gary; Duncan, Royal (2000). "Texas: NWA Texas Heavyweight Title [Von Erich]". Wrestling Title Histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. pp. 268–269. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  26. "NWA Texas Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved 30 March 2017.
  27. Texas Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  28. USWA World Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
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