WWE Hall of Famer Bushwhacker Luke has given a detailed and heartbreaking account of the final days of his long-time tag team partner and best friend, Butch Miller, who passed away in April 2023. Speaking on Wrestling Life with Ben Veal, Luke recounted the tragic events that unfolded during WrestleMania 39 weekend in Los Angeles.
Butch had just arrived in the U.S. from his home in New Zealand. “He came up two days early,” Luke began. “The next morning, I went to wake him up, there was no noise. Kept banging on the door. In the end, we got security, and they opened the door up. He’s lying there for breath.”
Butch was rushed to the hospital, where his condition worsened. “I didn’t know till later that he’d stopped breathing on the way to the hospital for a minute or so, but they brought him to,” Luke continued. “They put him to sleep, you know, tranquilized him so to keep all of his organs in good shape… And then they told me that if he lives, he’d be on machines for the rest of his life. Well, that hit me hard… because he always said to me, ‘I never want to be on a machine.'”
Luke then had to make the difficult call to Butch’s wife and daughters in New Zealand to let them know what was happening so they could say their goodbyes over a Zoom call.
“They all spoke to him… his wife and his two daughters,” he recalled. “And then eight o’clock, the Zoom went dead, and he lived for an hour and 10 minutes. I sat there for an hour and 10 minutes, took his last breath. Boy that, that was the hardest part of my life, seeing him take his last breath.” Luke, who had been partners with Butch since 1966, added, “All of his marriages gathered together, I was still with him longer than all that.”
Luke continues to keep the memory of his partner alive by appearing at wrestling conventions around the world, where he shares stories of their legendary, multi-decade career with fans.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Wrestling Life with Ben Veal with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
