Reed and Slick signed with the WWF and were brought in as a package. Reed dyed his hair blond and became "The Natural" Butch Reed, an updated version of Sweet Daddy Siki. He feuded initially with Tito Santana, a target of Slick's verbal jabs, and made his pay-per-view debut at WrestleMania III, where he defeated Koko B. Ware.
In the weeks after WrestleMania, Reed targeted new Intercontinental champion Ricky Steamboat and faced him at house shows and on an episode of Wrestling Challenge. According to a persistent myth, Reed no-showed a set of TV tapings where he was booked to win the title, resulting in the championship instead being put on The Honky Tonk Man. However, in a shoot interview, Reed has said this is untrue. In fact, when the Honky Tonk Man won the title from Steamboat in June 1987, Reed was shown celebrating with Honky and other heel wrestlers in the locker room.
In the fall, the WWF was heavily hyping a feud between Reed and "Superstar" Billy Graham, a former WWF champion who was staging a comeback after hip-replacement surgery. However, Graham's condition was such that he could no longer handle the physical demands of being a wrestler, so Reed and Slick's newest acquisition, the One Man Gang, "injured" Graham in a sneak attack that was used to explain his permanent retirement. Graham began managing the man who came to his aid, Don Muraco, with Muraco immediately entering into a rivalry with Reed. The enemies were on opposing teams in the main event of the first Survivor Series (Muraco took Graham's place on Hulk Hogan's team); Reed (a member of André the Giant's team), was the first elimination of the match, by Hogan.
Reed competed in (and was the first wrestler eliminated from) the first Royal Rumble match in January 1988. Two months later, he was eliminated in the first round of the WrestleMania IV championship tournament by eventual tournament winner "Macho Man" Randy Savage.
Shortly after WrestleMania IV, Butch Reed and the WWF parted ways,[2] Reed’s manager stayed with the federation while Reed struck out on his own once more. Butch Reed resurfaced in the NWA's Jim Crockett Promotions as "Hacksaw" Butch Reed. He more or less immediately resumed his Mid-South feud with The Junkyard Dog.[6] He was briefly managed by James J. Dillon before his contract was "sold" to Hiro Matsuda's "Yamasaki Corporation". Reed did not see much success in the early parts of his run with JCP; his biggest match was a loss to Sting at the Chi-Town Rumble on February 20, 1989.[7] During the summer of 1989, Reed would flounder in the mid card as Jim Crockett Promotions grew to become a national wrestling organization.The Steiner Brothers were involved in an angle with Woman whom promised "Doom" for the two brothers but never specified exactly what this meant. Woman unveiled her threat at Halloween Havoc 1989, a couple of brawny, hard hitting masked African Americans.[8] It was obvious to most wrestling fans that Ron Simmons and Butch Reed were under the masks — they had both been on WCW television shortly before Doom debuted, and they were the only two African American wrestlers in the federation with the same massive physical appearance — but the announcers kept up the storyline. Doom won their debut match against the Steiners when one of the members of Doom pinned Rick Steiner after a headbutt with an illegal object in his mask. Doom followed up on this success by defeating Eddie Gilbert and Tommy Rich at Clash of the Champions IX, looking very strong in the process.[9]Unfortunately, Doom’s next PPV outing did not come with the same success. Along with the Steiner Brothers, the Road Warriors, and the Samoan Swat Team they were entered in a one night, tag team round robin tournament. They did not score a single point, ending dead last in the tournament.[10] Doom’s misfortune continued as Woman soon dropped the team and left the federation. Then on February 6, 1990, Doom were defeated by the Steiner Brothers and as a result of the stipulation were forced to unmask.[11] When Doom unmasked, it was hardly surprising to see Ron Simmons and Butch Reed underneath the black hoods. Freed of the masks and now under management of former referee Teddy Long, Doom began to prosper. Free to use their full movesets and not trying to hide who they were, Doom earned another shot at the Steiner Brothers.Doom beat the Steiner Brothers[1] at Capital Combat[12]; at that point in time, the Steiners didn't lose very often. Doom won the tag team titles and quickly set about defending them against the former champions the Steiners as well the rest of WCW’s very talented tag team division. In the fall of 1990, Doom soon feuded with The Four Horsemen and defended against them in two inconclusive tag team title matches at Halloween Havoc 1990[13] and Starrcade 1990.[14] At Clash of the Champions XIV, Doom lost a non-title match to Sting and Lex Luger[15] in a match that foreshadowed the trouble that lay ahead.On February 24, 1991 at WCW’s WrestleWar PPV, Doom took on former tag team champions The Fabulous Freebirds[16] and lost due to miscommunication between Reed and Simmons.[1] After the Freebirds left the ring, Reed turned on Simmons and beat him up; this turned Simmons face and ended the team of Doom forever. Teddy Long sided with Butch Reed as the former Doom partners engaged in a short but intense feud. The feud culminated at SuperBrawl I where Ron Simmons pinned Butch Reed in a Steel cage match (referred to as a "Thunder-Doom" cage match).[17] After the PPV, Reed left the company for a short while only to return in 1992 siding with The Barbarian and Cactus Jack. Reed and the Barbarian teamed up to defeat Dustin Rhodes and Barry Windham at Clash of the Champions XX[18] but left WCW for good shortly afterwards.