William Cruickshanks (born October 24, 1943) is a professional wrestler better known as "Superstar" Bill Dundee. He is also the father-in-law of wrestler Bobby Eaton & father of Jamie Dundee.
Career
Born in Scotland, William Cruickshanks grew up in the circus as a trapeze artist before moving to Australia at the age of 16. 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, Tennessee area where he regularly teamed & fueded with Jerry Lawler and Jimmy Valiant for years. Dundee & Lawler ventured to the American Wrestling Association together in 1987 and captured the AWA World Tag Team Titles twice.
As a singles wrestler, he held the Southern Heavyweight Championship belt several times from roughly 1975-1985 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 a "Booker" for Memphis & Georgia.
Dundee is still active as of 2005 in Lawler's Memphis Wrestling where he has been a heel and a baby-face. He was the proprietor of "Bill Dundee's Club" a topless entertainment club located at Exit 126 on Interstate 40, near the Tennessee River in West Tennessee. The club has not been in operation under Dundee's ownership (or under the name Dundee's) since early 2001. He frequently appears on Jackson, TN talk radio station WNWS 101.5 with Dan Reeves and on a talk show on the community-access cable channels in West Tennessee. He owns a car dealership in McKenzie, Tn. & trains wrestlers at his school. He promotes indy cards in Henderson, Tn.
As of the summer of 2007 Bill Dundee has been providing added entertainment to a local dodgeball tournament brought to fruition by a local radio personality George Bfor the benefit of charities around the Jackson, TN area. The dodgeball games can be viewed at j razz creations
Dundee has a son who wrestles as "JC Ice" & Jamie Dundee, Jamie Cruickshanks.
In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- Bombs Away
- Managers
- Jimmy Hart
- Ronald Gosset
- Tessa
- Samantha Pain
- Wrestlers managed
Championships and accomplishments
- *AWA Southern Tag Team Championship (14 times) - with Norvell Austin (1), Robert Gibson (1), Jerry Lawler (4), Robert Fuller (1), Tommy Rich (2), Dream Machine (2), Steve Keirn (2) and Dutch Mantel (1)
- *AWA World Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Jerry Lawler1
- *CWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Rocky Johnson (Last)
- *CWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Tommy Rich
- *NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Ricky Gibson
- *NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version) (3 times) - with Big Bad John (2) and Tommy Rich (1)
- *NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- Power Pro Wrestling
- *PPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Jerry Lawler
- *NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Tommy Rich
- *USWA Texas Heavyweight Championship (3 times) (First)
- *USWA World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Jerry Lawler (2) and Jamie Crookshanks (1)
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.
References
External links
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Last updated on Saturday October 04, 2008 at 11:31:45 PDT (GMT -0700)
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