76. DAVEY BOY SMITH
Aliases – British Bulldog
Debuted – 1978
Titles Held – WWE Intercontinental; WWE European;
WWE World Tag Team; Stampede North American Heavyweight
Other Accomplishments – in the Stampede Wrestling Hall of
Fame; headlined sold-out Wembley Stadium for match with Bret
Hart in 1992; died from a heart attack in 2002, aged 39
Probably the most well-known British wrestler to break into America, Davey Boy Smith has pretty much done it all in his 24 year career. Starting out at just 16 years of age on the renowned British wrestling TV show “World of Sport†(along with Tom Billington / Dynamite Kid) he was spotted by Bruce Hart, who offered them a chance to compete for Canadian wrestling organisation Stampede Wrestling and to be trained by Stu Hart in the famous “Dungeon”.
Not long after winning the Stampede title in a lengthy feud with the Dynamite Kid, they took their feud to Japan, debuting for New Japan Pro Wrestling in early 1983. During the time he spent over there, Kid and Smith settled their differences and formed a little tag team called “The British Bulldogsâ€Â, which some of you may have heard of.
After competing in New Japan Pro Wrestling for a few months, the Bulldogs made a shocking jump to NJPW rivals All Japan Pro Wrestling to compete in All Japans’ Tag Team Tournament, where they made an impressive showing. So impressive, that it drew the interest of the World Wrestling Federation.
The British Bulldogs began a long-running feud with The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart), after Vince McMahon brought them in after buying Stampede Wrestling back in the mid-80’s. Known for their hard-hitting, take-no-prisoners attitude, the Bulldogs were soon seen as tough opponents, and they are known to have used a very stiff style of wrestling. So stiff, that when Mick Foley had an “enhancement” match (read: jobber) with the WWF, the Bulldogs hit him so hard that he broke his jaw.
A short while after the Hard Foundation feud had run its course, the Bulldogs captured their first WWF Championship gold by defeating The Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine) at WrestleMania 2 for the WWF World Tag Team Titles. After holding the titles for nearly 9 months, they dropped them to the Hart Foundation due to a severe back injury to Dynamite Kid.
After adopting a mascot Bulldog called Matilda, and feuding with Demolition, The Islanders and the Rougeau Brothers, they left the WWF in protest of no disciplinary action being taken against Jacques Rougeau after he apparently knocked out four of Dynamites teeth with a fist loaded with a roll of coins, during a confrontation over a prank the Bulldogs had played.
Heading back to Stampede Wrestling and Japan, the British Bulldogs teamed together for a year or so before personal problems between the two got in the way, which eventually saw Davey Boy head back to and re-sign with the WWF.
During 1990 and 1992, the British Bulldog was pushed as a singles star in the mid-card feuding with the likes of The Warlord and Curt Hennig, to name a few. However, during the U.K. tours he was featured heavily and was a huge attraction in the United Kingdom, thanks to Sky TV airing the WWF which was a huge ratings hit. So much so, that the WWF decided to hold its annual SummerSlam PPV at Wembley Stadium, London in 1992, which saw Smith in the main event against Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Championship. In front of 80,000+ people, Smith won. It is regarded by many as the finest match of his career.
Smith was later released by the WWF in 1993, so he headed to rivals World Championship Wrestling, challenging Vader for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Although he didn’t win the title, his short run was successful. Unfortunately, due to an apparent bar fight (a man apparently made advances on his wife) he was released from WCW in late 1993.
After doing the rounds in the United Kingdom for various independent companies, Smith returned to the WWF at SummerSlam 1994, where he became involved in the family feud between Hart brothers Bret and Owen. He teamed up with Bret to face Owen and Jim Neidhart, and also formed a short alliance with Lex Luger (which I thought rocked at the time) called the “Allied Powersâ€Â. However, Luger returned to WCW, leaving Smith without a partner, or direction.
So he turned heel, and joined up with Jim Cornette and headlined string of “In Your Houses†against Diesel, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels respectively. After his short lived main event run, he formed a successful tag team with Owen Hart, who defeated The Smoking Gunns for the World Tag Team Titles.
Bulldog was also the first to win the newly created WWF European Championship in a tournament, by defeating his own tag team partner, Owen Hart. Smith went on to hold the title for 7 months, before dropping it to Shawn Michaels at “One Night Only,” a British Pay Per View. The fan’s promptly shat on the outcome and littered the ring with rubbish, and it marks the only time Smith has lost in a WWF ring in Britain.
Davey Boy and Owen joined forces with Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman when the formed the stable version of the Hart Foundation. This version of the Hart Foundation was “heel” as such, as they celebrated their Canadian roots and as such were seen as heels in the US, but were cheered in Canada. Remembering that right now, it felt really strange at the time, and I don’t think we saw anything like that before or haven’t seen anything like that since.
After the events on Survivor Series 1997 (you know.. the whole Bret Hart / Vince McMahon work) Smith left WWF and joined up with Bret and Jim in WCW, feuding with Steve McMichael and then forming a tag team with Jim Niedhart. The tag team wasn’t much of a success, although they challenged for the WCW World Tag Team Titles many times. During April 1998, Smith suffered a knee injury that kept him out of action for a month. Then, during Fall Brawl 1998, he landed awkwardly on a trap door in the ring (which was used for the amazingly bad Warrior Warrior’s “spooky†entrance) and the injury resulted in a Spinal Infection, which kept him out for over 6 months. During this time, he famously received his marching orders via FedEx.
Davey Boy Smith returned to the WWF for the final time in September 1999, this time wrestling in Jeans instead of his trademark union jack tights and attire. Ahh… the “Attitude Era.”
During his last run, he won the WWF Hardcore title twice (defeating the Big Bossman and Crash Holly) and the European title once (defeating D’Lo Brown). He also chased the WWE Championship, and had a notable feud with The Rock.
Smith was then taken off TV and sent to a drug rehab centre, all at the expense of Vince McMahon. He was apparently addicted to painkillers, amongst other things. He was released from the WWF sometime after.
Smith died on May 18th, 2002 while on holiday in Invermere, British Columbia of a Heart attack. Slightly freaky, when you think about it.
He is survived by his son, Harry Smith, who has recently been signed to a development deal with the WWE.
The entire Top 100 Wrestlers feature can be found here.
