The Royal Kangaroos
Encyclopedia
The Royal Kangaroos was a professional wrestling
tag team
consisting of cousins “Lord” Jonathan Boyd
and Norman Frederick Charles III. The duo played off their Australia
n heritage which included using a boomerang
as their weapon of choice. Boyd and Charles were known for their brutal, brawling style.
. The two became known as The Royal Kangaroos, a name inspired by the legendary tag team the “Fabulous Kangaroos”, but where the Fabulous Kangaroos were loved faces Boyd and Charles were vicious rulebreakers. Boyle and Charles worked mainly for Pacific Northwest Wrestling
in Oregon, capturing their first NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship
from Kurt and Karl Von Steiger on July 11, 1971, their first reign lasted only 6 weeks before losing the titles to Frankie Laine and Big Snuka. The Kangaroos regained the titles and held on to them by hook or by crook until Dutch Savage
and Beauregarde
defeated them on 26 November 1971.
The Royal Kangaroos regained the titles only a few short weeks later and would hold them until 17 April where they fell to the PNW Tag Team powerhouse of Tony Borne
and Moondog Mayne
(it was their 11th reign together as PNW Tag Team champions). Like before the Kangaroos were not without the title for long as they cheated their way to a victory on 9 May. After losing the title to Dutch Savage and Moondog Mayne on 17 June the Royal Kangaroos ventured outside of the Portland Territory. The team would win the South Pacific World Tag Team Championship in 1974, a championship that represented Australia, New Zealand
, New Guinea
, French Numea, Western Samoa and parts of Africa.
After travelling around the world the Kangaroos returned to the territory that brought them the most fame and won their 5th PNW Tag Team Championship on 27 February 1975 when they defeated Dutch Savage and Jimmy Snuka
. The Australians would go on to dominate the Portland tag team division as they held on to the titles for 10 months before finally being unseated by Savage and Snuka on 25 December. Their sixth and last run with the PNW tag team title only lasted 3 days as they won the gold from and then lost it back to the combination of Jesse Ventura
and Apache Bull Ramos
between 5 June and 8 June.
After working for Pacific Northwest for a number of years, the Royal Kangaroos headed south a bit to work for the San Francisco based World Wrestling Alliance. In San Francisco the duo won the S.F. version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship
from Pat Patterson and Tony Garea on 18 September 1976. Their run with the gold ended on 4 December when they lost to Jimmy
and Johnny Valiant
. After losing the gold the Royal Kangaroos moved on from the San Francisco territory and headed further north to join Stu Hart
’s Stampede Wrestling
promotion in Calgary
. In June 1977 the duo defeated Leo Burke
and Keith Hart for the Stampede International Tag Team Championship but dropped it to Leo Burke and his new tag team partner Bobby Burke only a short time later. After their run in Stampede the duo briefly worked for the NWA Mid-Atlantic
where they held the Mid-Atlantic Brass Knucks Championship. After teaming for over 7 years together the Royal Kangaroos broke up, Charles returned to Stampede for some time while Jonathan Boyd returned to the Pacific Northwest. Jonathan Boyd would later find fame as one half of the Sheepherders
alongside Luke Williams
while Norman Frederick Charles III remained a singles competitor.
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
tag team
Tag team
Tag team professional wrestling is a variation in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. A tag team may comprise two wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of established teams who wrestle regularly as a unit and have a team name...
consisting of cousins “Lord” Jonathan Boyd
Jonathan Boyd
Jonathan Barry Boyle was an Australian professional wrestler who is known worldwide under the name "Lord" Jonathan Boyd. Initially Boyd competed both in North American and international promotions as part of the Royal Kangaroos with his cousin Norman Frederick Charles III...
and Norman Frederick Charles III. The duo played off their Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n heritage which included using a boomerang
Boomerang
A boomerang is a flying tool with a curved shape used as a weapon or for sport.-Description:A boomerang is usually thought of as a wooden device, although historically boomerang-like devices have also been made from bones. Modern boomerangs used for sport are often made from carbon fibre-reinforced...
as their weapon of choice. Boyd and Charles were known for their brutal, brawling style.
History
Cousins Jonathan Boyd and Normal Frederick Charles III both came into the pro wrestling world with a solid amateur background behind them. Initially they wrestled in singles competition but a few years after their debut they decided to team up and head to North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. The two became known as The Royal Kangaroos, a name inspired by the legendary tag team the “Fabulous Kangaroos”, but where the Fabulous Kangaroos were loved faces Boyd and Charles were vicious rulebreakers. Boyle and Charles worked mainly for Pacific Northwest Wrestling
Pacific Northwest Wrestling
Pacific Northwest Wrestling is the common name used to refer to several different professional wrestling companies, both past and present, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The first such company was founded by Herb Owen in 1925...
in Oregon, capturing their first NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship
NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship
The NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance and defended in its member promotion Pacific Northwest Wrestling, which promoted shows in the U.S...
from Kurt and Karl Von Steiger on July 11, 1971, their first reign lasted only 6 weeks before losing the titles to Frankie Laine and Big Snuka. The Kangaroos regained the titles and held on to them by hook or by crook until Dutch Savage
Dutch Savage
Frank Stewart is a former professional wrestler and wrestling promoter, best known for his time spent competing in Pacific Northwest Wrestling under the ring name Dutch Savage.-Career:...
and Beauregarde
Beauregarde
Beauregarde, is a former pro wrestler and musician from Portland, Oregon in the United States.-Career:...
defeated them on 26 November 1971.
The Royal Kangaroos regained the titles only a few short weeks later and would hold them until 17 April where they fell to the PNW Tag Team powerhouse of Tony Borne
Tony Osborne
Anthony "Tony" Osborne was an American professional wrestler who wrestled under the name "Tough" Tony Borne.-Professional wrestling career:...
and Moondog Mayne
Lonnie Mayne
Ronald Doyle "Lonnie" Mayne was an American professional wrestler in the 1960s and 1970s who frequently went by the name Moondog Mayne. Mayne wrestled in various NWA territories as well as the WWWF...
(it was their 11th reign together as PNW Tag Team champions). Like before the Kangaroos were not without the title for long as they cheated their way to a victory on 9 May. After losing the title to Dutch Savage and Moondog Mayne on 17 June the Royal Kangaroos ventured outside of the Portland Territory. The team would win the South Pacific World Tag Team Championship in 1974, a championship that represented Australia, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, New Guinea
New Guinea
New Guinea is the world's second largest island, after Greenland, covering a land area of 786,000 km2. Located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, it lies geographically to the east of the Malay Archipelago, with which it is sometimes included as part of a greater Indo-Australian Archipelago...
, French Numea, Western Samoa and parts of Africa.
After travelling around the world the Kangaroos returned to the territory that brought them the most fame and won their 5th PNW Tag Team Championship on 27 February 1975 when they defeated Dutch Savage and Jimmy Snuka
Jimmy Snuka
James William "Jimmy" Reiher is a semi-retired Fijian professional wrestler and actor, better known by his ring name Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Originally from the Fiji Islands, Snuka wrestled for several promotions in the 1970s and 1980s. Snuka is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having been a...
. The Australians would go on to dominate the Portland tag team division as they held on to the titles for 10 months before finally being unseated by Savage and Snuka on 25 December. Their sixth and last run with the PNW tag team title only lasted 3 days as they won the gold from and then lost it back to the combination of Jesse Ventura
Jesse Ventura
James George Janos , better known as Jesse Ventura, is an American politician, the 38th Governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2003, Navy UDT veteran, former SEAL reservist, actor, and former radio and television talk show host...
and Apache Bull Ramos
Apache Bull Ramos
Manuel Ramos , better known as Apache Bull Ramos, was an American professional wrestler from his debut in 1956 until the 1970s who primarily worked as a heel. He had notable feuds with Bruno Sammartino, Dutch Savage, Jimmy Snuka, Terry Funk and Mil Máscaras...
between 5 June and 8 June.
After working for Pacific Northwest for a number of years, the Royal Kangaroos headed south a bit to work for the San Francisco based World Wrestling Alliance. In San Francisco the duo won the S.F. version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship
NWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version)
The San Francisco, California version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship existed from 1950 until 1961, and then from 1968 until 1979.-Title history:...
from Pat Patterson and Tony Garea on 18 September 1976. Their run with the gold ended on 4 December when they lost to Jimmy
Jimmy Valiant
James Harold Fanning is a former professional wrestler and author better known as Jimmy Valiant.-Personal life:...
and Johnny Valiant
John L. Sullivan (wrestler)
John L. Sullivan is a retired professional wrestler better known as Johnny Valiant. He competed in the World Wide Wrestling Federation , which became the World Wrestling Federation during his time with the promotion. He won the World Tag Team Championship two times...
. After losing the gold the Royal Kangaroos moved on from the San Francisco territory and headed further north to join Stu Hart
Stu Hart
Stewart Edward "Stu" Hart, CM was a Canadian amateur wrestler, professional wrestler, promoter and trainer. Hart founded Stampede Wrestling, a promotion based in Calgary, Alberta, and was the father of famous wrestlers Bret and Owen Hart...
’s Stampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling
Stampede Wrestling is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta and was for nearly 50 years one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies...
promotion in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
. In June 1977 the duo defeated Leo Burke
Leo Burke
Leonce Cormier is a retired Canadian professional wrestler. He was born in Dorchester, New Brunswick. He competed across Canada, in several American promotions, and wrestled internationally for both Puerto Rico's World Wrestling Council and the National Wrestling Alliance in New Zealand...
and Keith Hart for the Stampede International Tag Team Championship but dropped it to Leo Burke and his new tag team partner Bobby Burke only a short time later. After their run in Stampede the duo briefly worked for the NWA Mid-Atlantic
Jim Crockett Promotions
Jim Crockett Promotions was a professional wrestling promotion owned by Jim Crockett, Jr. until the late 1980s. It was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance and was the forerunner to World Championship Wrestling .-Early history:...
where they held the Mid-Atlantic Brass Knucks Championship. After teaming for over 7 years together the Royal Kangaroos broke up, Charles returned to Stampede for some time while Jonathan Boyd returned to the Pacific Northwest. Jonathan Boyd would later find fame as one half of the Sheepherders
The Bushwhackers
The Bushwhackers were a professional wrestling tag team that also competed as The Sheepherders during their long career. They wrestled in the World Wrestling Federation and Jim Crockett Promotions as well as a nearly 40 year run on the independent wrestling circuit...
alongside Luke Williams
Brian Wickens
Brian Wickens is a professional wrestler best known as Luke Williams, one half of the tag team known as "The Sheepherders" on the independent scene and in the National Wrestling Alliance and as The Bushwhackers in the WWF.-Career:Luke Williams started wrestling for NWA New Zealand in 1964...
while Norman Frederick Charles III remained a singles competitor.
Championships and accomplishments
- National Wrestling AllianceNational Wrestling AllianceThe National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...
- Regional
- NWA World Tag Team ChampionshipNWA World Tag Team Championship (San Francisco version)The San Francisco, California version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship existed from 1950 until 1961, and then from 1968 until 1979.-Title history:...
(San Francisco version) (1 time) - Pacific Northwest WrestlingPacific Northwest WrestlingPacific Northwest Wrestling is the common name used to refer to several different professional wrestling companies, both past and present, based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The first such company was founded by Herb Owen in 1925...
- NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team ChampionshipNWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling championship sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance and defended in its member promotion Pacific Northwest Wrestling, which promoted shows in the U.S...
(6 times) - Stampede WrestlingStampede WrestlingStampede Wrestling is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta and was for nearly 50 years one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies...
- Stampede International Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- Other titles
- Mid-Atlantic Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- South Pacific World Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- NWA World Tag Team Championship