Last davey boy interview (may 17th)

[Guest]

Davey Boy Smith exposes troubled career

by Heath Santo | Fri., May 24, 2002

 

The life and career of "British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith were cut tragically short just hours after this phone interview was taped (Fri., May 17 around 8 p.m. ET), as he passed away from apparent heart failure early Saturday morning while on a weekend getaway.

 

In 1979, Smith's pro wrestling career launched with a match against Bernie Wright for England's Joint Promotions. He began tagging with cousin Tom "Dynamite Kid" Billington in Japan, and in 1985, they became the British Bulldogs after "Vince McMahon saw a tape of me and Dynamite wrestling," Smith told me.

 

Johnny, Smith's real-life male bulldog, was penciled into WWF storylines as Matilda, and was even dognapped on TV by heel tag team the Islanders. "Bobby Heenan played it off pretty well," Smith noted.

 

Smith agreed to a shoot interview with me, talking about bumps in the road of his career, from a recurring painkiller addiction to his tenure with two different wrestling companies coming to an end connected with the same wrestler. It's the most revealing interview yet you'll find on these pages.

 

And on the pages of wrestling history, Davey Boy Smith left his mark. He'll be remembered and missed.

 

Heath Santo: Did Vince really fire you in 1992 during the steroid scandal?

Davey Boy Smith: Yes, he did.

 

Santo: Why?

Smith: The Ultimate Warrior was getting reprimanded for something that had happened overseas. The Ultimate Warrior jumped the gun and said to Vince -- at that time, I was in Boston getting ready for a match -- and he said to Vince, "I know what it's about" and Vince said, "Well, what is it about, Jim?" He said, "About Davey Boy getting me the growth hormone in England, getting me the steroids," which I never personally did. All I did was give him a phone number, contact number in England. I was just basically doing it as a friend for Jim Hellwig... So basically, it was a favor to him. So Vince's lawyers took that upon... "Well, Davey is implicated in this, he's a part of this. He gave Jim Hellwig the number so you should let them both go," which I felt very bad about, because all I was doing was doing one guy a favor, and basically, he said I got him the stuff, which I never did. He got (it) shipped in the mail in Phoenix, Arizona, and he got stopped in customs, and that's what the whole thing was all about... And Vince asked me, and I could've lied and said, "No, I didn't give him the number," but yeah, I gave him the number, because he asked me for it. And he said, "Well, I have to let you go, Davey, because you're implicated in this, so I've got to..." I said, "Well, you know, whatever..." I wasn't too concerned at that time.

 

Santo: Did you struggle emotionally with Brian Pillman's death?

Smith: I took it pretty hard, yeah. Brian was a good, close, personal friend of mine. The last few weeks I was with him... I used to party with him, too, and he was running too hard. I was rooming with him at that time, and then I told him, I said, "Brian, you're running way too hard. You're taking the... Your rpm's in the red zone here, something's going to happen, and you're going to blow something..." He's like, "No, Davey, I'll be fine" and I said, "Brian, I can't room with you no more, I can't party with you no more. It's affecting my job, it's affecting my family life, it's affecting my workouts in the gym. I can't do this anymore where I'm up all night." So I totally backed off the partying with Brian, and then I got to St. Louis that day, and he was supposed to be at my hotel, and he didn't. Then I got to the show and he wasn't there, and then at four o'clock in the afternoon, I saw somebody saying something to Pat Patterson. I said, "Is something wrong with Brian?" He said, "Yeah, he's dead" and I was like, "Wow."

 

Santo: Bret Hart's Montreal screwjob has been covered so much, but I do want to get your side of the story because not only were you there, you were also involved. Word has it that you were at the Gorilla position backstage ready to run down for the finish. What were you told was planned?

Smith: I was told what's planned basically was going to be a disqualification, and I had to do a run-in with Owen. So I was waiting at the Gorilla position because I had just wrestled, and I was waiting with Owen to do the run-in, and all of a sudden Shawn Michaels' music started playing, and I looked at Bruce Prichard. I said, "What's going on?" and he threw his headset and said, "I have no idea." He just took off running. So I went to the ring anyway, being the person who I am, and I said to Bret, "What the hell's going on?" and he said, "I just got screwed."

 

Santo: What was your reaction when you learned that Bret was screwed out there?

Smith: There were two reactions. My first reaction was that it was a shitty thing to do to Bret, but my second reaction -- my most gut reaction -- was he should've done what he was told in the first place because Vince McMahon created Bret Hart, gave him the belt, and let him run with it. When your time is up, it doesn't matter if you're in your hometown or if you're in Bangkok. If you're told to drop the belt, you drop the belt and hopefully you'll get another run at it again. Just because you don't like a guy doesn't mean you don't have to do a job for him. I've worked with Shawn many times, and Shawn's an incredible wrestler. He's one of the best in the business today still, and Bret would have had no shame, I don't think, in dropping the belt in Montreal. Just because it was Canada, Bret thought he was in his hometown. Well, he wasn't in his hometown, he was in Montreal. His hometown is in Calgary, and it doesn't matter if he was in Calgary, when the promoter's paying you that much money and you're working for somebody, and they tell you to do something, you've got to do it, or you're in breach of contract.

 

Santo: And you became injured during a pull-apart backstage between Bret and Shane McMahon?

Smith: Well, actually, it was between Bret and Vince. I grabbed Bret around the waist and I tried to pull Bret off. He thought I was Shane, he spun around, and when he did, he blew my knee out. I was trying to pull Bret off Vince because Bret punched him about three or four times in the face and I thought, "Enough is enough." Vince is there, he's got his son there, he's got the agents there, and it's kind of humiliating for Vince. And he gave Bret every scenario to drop the belt and Bret would not do it just because it was Shawn Michaels. And to me, that is... Personally, that's... Some other people might have a different perspective on the whole issue, but to me, that's not business.

 

Santo: At that point, you no longer wanted to work for the WWF, so you bought your contract from Vince. What did you pay to get out of your deal?

Smith: I paid $100,000 U.S.

 

Santo: You and Jim Neidhart headed for WCW. Had they already made you an offer, or did you call them?

Smith: No, I already had an offer on the table before Bret even went to WCW. See, my contract expired July, before all the shit happened to Bret, and I was negotiating with Bischoff and negotiating with Vince to see who would give me the best price. That's when Bret said to me... He came to me, and he said, "You can't go to WCW. Vince is like a father to us." This is Bret telling me this. He said, "Vince McMahon is like a father to us. He's taken care of me, he's taken care of Jim, he's taken care of Owen." He goes, "You can't do this to Vince." I'm saying, "Well, Bret, I'm also like $200,000 a year more. That's for the first year, then it goes up after that." And when the time came to negotiate with Eric, I was just moved from Florida back at Stu's house. Living at Stu's house, I was trying to find a new house to move into in Calgary. That's when Bischoff was calling Stu's house and no one was giving me the phone calls. It was Helen Hart, actually, who wasn't giving me the phone calls. And finally when I called Eric, I said, "What's the deal? How come you haven't called me?" He said, "Davey, I've called you like five times a day everyday..." I said, "Well, no one's given me the message." I was furious, and I went out and bought a house right away, away from Stu's because I was being basically kayfabed on the whole Bischoff deal.

 

Santo: So let me get this straight. Between July... Between the time that your contract expired with the WWF and the negotiating started with both sides and the Survivor Series, you ended up re-signing, though, with WWF, correct?

Smith: Yes, I re-signed with Vince. Vince counteroffered the WCW offer, and I told Vince, "Vince, I don't want to go anywhere else. I want to stay here in the World Wrestling Federation, but you've got to understand where I'm coming from. The guy's offering me like $250,000 more than you're offering me, and it's less days. I don't have to be on the road seven days a week. I just do, like, (TV), whatever, and maybe a couple of house shows, and it's less stress on my body." I said, "But if you can come up with a decent offer, then I'll stay," and Vince did, and I still signed for less than what I would've made for WCW.

 

Santo: Not only did bringing back the Ultimate Warrior not draw for WCW, but you were also one of the wrestlers injured from landing on the trap door in the ring for his entrances and exits. Tell us about that.

Smith: I got either suplexed or backdropped in the ring by Disco Inferno, and I got this really weird sensation in my back. I thought I was going to mess myself, and I crawled over to Jim, tagged Jim, and I said, "Jim, I can't move my legs. I've hurt my back." When I got backstage, I just told a couple of wrestlers, "You've got to watch that ring. There's something really wrong with the ring. It's really stiff towards one of the corners." Terry Taylor said, "Oh, there's a trap door there." I said, "Well why didn't you tell me there was a trap door there?" He goes, "Well, it's a secret because one of the guys is going to come out during the cage match and make a grand appearance," and I had no idea it was the Ultimate Warrior at that time. I know that Hogan got injured in the ring. Hogan hurt his knee. I know a couple of guys hurt their necks in the ring.

 

Santo: Did that injury provoke your addiction to painkillers?

Smith: Yes, it did.

 

Santo: How did WCW react to you needing rehab?

Smith: I didn't really talk to Eric about it. I had Bret talk about it because I just wanted to enter a rehabilitation center to get myself back on track. I was on painkillers for my knee from the blow out with Vince, and then I broke my back working for WCW... Right in between my shoulder blades. I lost my ninth, tenth, eleventh... My T8, T9, T10 discs in my upper back to an infection because I didn't realize that I broke my back, and I was taking more and more painkillers to keep working so I wouldn't need to take any time off. The more I took, the more I'd take, and it went from like two a day to 15 a day to 20 a day and then finally got to a point where the painkillers weren't working anymore and I said, "Well, now I've got an addiction so I better get myself straightened out." So I checked myself into Grand Prairie, and I was in there for like seven, eight weeks. I was in three weeks detox, which is normally like five days in detox. I was in like 21 days, which I still hold the record for, for cleaning my system out. As I was going through the program on the eighth week when I was getting ready to finish, my back was really starting to hurt now. Now I couldn't barely walk. I'd have to go in my bedroom and lie down all day long. I had these people who worked for the rehabilitation center who ran the classes, and they were saying, "If you miss another class, we're not going to pass you." And I'm like, "Fuck off." I can't really basically handle the pain, and then they finally rushed me to the hospital because they thought my kidneys were failing. I said, "Well, if my kidneys are failing, then I'm going home." So then I flew home in the middle of February to check my kidneys. My kidneys were fine, and they couldn't find anything wrong with me. Then a month later, after being home everyday and crying... I was crying everyday like a little baby, I was in so much pain. I finally went for a white blood cell test and the doctor said, "What are you here for?" I said, "I'm here for a white blood cell test." He said, "Well, why are you crying?" I said, "I'm in so much pain, I don't know what's wrong with me." He said, "Well, let's stick you in an MRI machine. We've got to figure out what's wrong with you if you're in that much pain." And within 15 minutes, boom, they found it. I had a huge infection in between my shoulder blades the size of a baseball and it ate my discs away. That was from taking the painkillers and not going to the doctor and getting my back checked. I just said, "Oh, I just hurt my back and I'll take some painkillers and it will go away." Actually, I thought I just winded myself. That's what it felt like, it just took all the wind out of me. But it just got so bad. I didn't get into the hospital until March, so I went all that time. I broke it in September, and I didn't get into the hospital until March.

 

Santo: Why did WCW choose to release you? Was it more or less the lack of activity?

Smith: You know what? I don't know, and I've seen Bischoff since then and we've talked, and he's been so nice to me. I just think that I was taking too much time off and I was really injured. When they found out what had happened to me with the trap door, that's when Bischoff tried to call me in my hospital bedroom and I said, "I don't even want to talk to you right now. You've sent me my papers, you've let me go." That's a shitty thing to do when you're lying in a hospital in bed with a broken back, you're wearing a body cast, and all of a sudden you get a Federal Express envelope shipped to your bedroom, you open it up, and it's your notice. You've been given your notice, you've been fired. It's like, "What the hell?" Then he tried to backpedal, and I didn't accept that at all.

 

Santo: After you were released from WCW in your hospital bed, why did you go back to the WWF and Vince McMahon?

Smith: Vince called me in the hospital room. I was laying there, the phone rang, I picked it up, and Vince is like, "What's going on?" I said, "Who is this?" He said, "It's Vince." I said, "Hey, Vince, how's it goin'?" He said, "Good. How you feeling?" I said, "I'm feeling pretty good." I was feeling pretty shitty at the time actually, I'd just been released. He said, "Well, when you get better, do you think you'd be able to come back to WWF?" That just turned me right around. I went from the lowest point in my life to like the highest point. Vince wants me back. Then he brought me back. I got out of the hospital, I flew to New York, had lunch with Vince, we talked about a deal, I signed my deal, I flew home, and that was that.

 

Santo: For how long was the new WWF deal?

Smith: It was for four years.

 

Santo: Did your relationship with Vince McMahon and the WWF end up taking another hit? What happened?

Smith: I entered rehab again for the second time. Between my shoulder blades, my spine was starting to ache again and I was starting back on the painkillers. Then I told Vince about it, I was up-front about it, and he put me in a clinic in Atlanta. I stayed there for three months, and then when I got out, I was staying pretty clean, and that's when all the shit with my wife exploded. She said I threatened to kill her, her sister, her daughter, and Bruce Hart. Actually, I had seven death threat charges against me, and I beat every single one of them. They were total bullshit, 100% pure bullshit. I beat all of them, but since I was on the front page of the Calgary Sun... Vince said that until I've reconciled this matter... I'm suspended. That's what was put in the letter, and that was that.

 

Santo: The suspension ultimately led to the termination.

Smith: Yeah.

 

Santo: Have you had anymore talks with Vince about maybe giving it another try?

Smith: No, I have not, no.

 

Santo: Do you have any interest to go back?

Smith: Yeah, I would like to go back, but I'd like to do some shows first and get my timing back and my wind back in the ring. I just did a couple of shows in Winnipeg, and I felt really good about myself. My body's in a hundred percent peak condition, so it's just a matter of time, I guess.

 

Santo: How much longer do you see yourself in the ring?

Smith: I would like to go for another five years and then finish.

 

Santo: Do you still talk to Tom Billington?

Smith: No, I've not talked to him for about twelve years. When I went to WWF in 1990, he took great offense to that. He didn't want to go back because of his thing with the Rougeau brothers. I took most of the heat for that. "Oh, you didn't back me up..." I backed him up a hundred percent, but initially, when the whole thing started to blow up, I told him not to hit the Rougeau brother. I said, "Don't hit him because you didn't steal anything out of his bag. It was someone else who did it." (Rougeau) had to catch a flight from like Syracuse, New York to Montreal, and he was on first, so he had his bags packed, and I guess Curt Hennig went into the bag and took his weightlifting gloves, weightlifting belt, and all of his weightlifting gear and just threw it in the garbage. When he got home, he figured Dynamite had done it because Dynamite was a practical joker. Curt Hennig said to Dynamite in Miami, Florida, "He's going to go to Vince and tell Vince that you stole his weightlifting gloves," and he's going off in his English tantrum, and I said, "Tom, don't fly off the handle because you know you didn't take it, I know you didn't take it, and if Vince asks you to your face, if you say no, he will believe you because we're known for being practical jokers." And then he went right up when (Rougeau) was playing cards and he slapped him across the back of the head as hard as he possibly could from behind when he wasn't looking. Then the other Rougeau got involved, but the other Rougeau at that time had a bad knee, and then Dynamite punched him in the face. I said, "Oh, this is going to get ugly, I know it is." And then it all did in Fort Wayne, Indiana, when they both jumped him in the hallway at one of the TV tapings.

 

Santo: How did that lead to your falling out with him?

Smith: I quit with him from the WWF and went back to Japan with him, but I had a big house at that time and I wasn't making enough money, basically, to make my payments. My lifestyle was a high lifestyle because I was working for the WWF. Vince McMahon had come to All Japan Wrestling to talk to Baba, he came in the dressing room, and said to Dynamite, "Dynamite, you're looking good. When do you want to come back?" Dynamite muttered something in the terms of, "In about ten years," and all the boys started laughing and kind of wanted to embarrass Vince. I didn't think that was cool at all, and then he turned around and said to me, "You're looking as big as ever, Davey. When would you like to come back?" I said, "Well, whenever the door's open," because I wasn't making enough money in Japan, plus I wanted to go back to WWF. That's where I was originally from. And then he took offense to that, but he never said anything to my face. To my face, he said, "If you go back to WWF, you won't make it as a single," blah, blah, blah, "but I'm going back to Japan with Johnny Smith," some guy who works as my brother. He's not really my brother, but he works as my brother. He said, "Good luck to you," and I said, "Thanks," and then that's the last time I ever saw him.

 

 

 

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[Guest dreamer420]

I read that interview this morning and it was a pretty interesting article.  Davey sounded like he was pretty bitter towards Bret, with the way he was describing Montreal and saying that Vince had to do what he had to do.  Davey comes off in this interview as a really good story teller, and he doesn't sound like he is full of bullshit either.

[Guest]

Every single story I've ever ready about the backstage altercation after the screwjob, was that Bret hit Vince once and Vince collapsed... it's kind of strange hearing a different story

[Guest]

::wonders how many painkillers he was on doing this interview?::

[Guest dreamer420]

::wonders how many painkillers he was on doing this interview?::

not funny d-bag.

[Guest]

::wonders how many painkillers he was on doing this interview?::

not funny d-bag.

Wasn't really trying to be funny. More like a "shoot" comment. It's obvious he was going through the motions and just kissing up to Vince.

 

I knew, I would get flamed for that.

[Guest dreamer420]

Sorry then.  I just don't think stuff like that is very funny.

[Guest easye46]

I still get irate everytime I hear about that trap door incident..