Was Davey Boy really all that good?

[Frosty 0]

I'm not sure if this has been posted here in the past or not, but I've seen MANY michaels matches where he'd mouth off to his opponents after he had won. One example of this is when he beat Nash at Good Friends, Better Enemies in the Mad Dog Vachon Leg match. So even if Micheals did say it, it's possible that it was something that his character did all the time that Bret just took to heart.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Shawn's super excited "BRING IT ON MOTHER F*CKER!" celebration after the Diesel match, complete with mocking Hulk Hogan's poses, was more of a "I just had a great match. F-You WCW. Try to top that. This is my generation and I am the best of it." then Michaels showing up Nash, his best friend, of all people.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Keep in mind who was slated for the big solo push, before someone screwed up his back forever.

 

What are you talking about?

[cabbageboy 0]

I'm assuming Dynamite Kid, since he was considered the more talented Bulldog. I actually don't know if this was the case. With Vince's penchant for big men who is to say he wouldn't have pushed Davey Boy over Dynamite anyway once Davey got roided up?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Re: Bret, Shawn and post-WM 12.

 

Bret was never going to hand the belt over to Shawn. Bret's walking out of the ring like he did after losing was all storyline, and it was meant to play into their eventual rematch that was, at that point, set for the following Wrestlemania.

 

Re: WM III's 78,000.

 

That figure comes from WWE's own internal records, and the actual promoter of the event, the late Zane Bresloff.

[ryankeast 0]

I was more of a fan of his tag team work - (The British Bulldogs) obviously. But also his pairing with Owen Hart was great too.

 

However watching him LIVE at Wembley Stadium winning the INtercontinental Championship was awesome.

 

I totally agree you could never build a promotion around him and his last run in the WWF was awful - just awful. They tried to push him as a major heel and then aborted it and paired him with the Mean Street Posse of all people??

Why the fuck was he wearing jeans as well - that always annoyed me.

 

Wasn't Bulldog pushed as a main event player in his first WCW run against Vader and Sid? How over was he back then in the federation.

[Guest wildpegasus]

Why the fuck was he wearing jeans as well - that always annoyed me.

 

 

Attitude era.

 

 

Wasn't Bulldog pushed as a main event player in his first WCW run against Vader and Sid? How over was he back then in the federation.

 

Yes, and it wasn't as if it was much of a reach from his WWF days either. Before that Davey had always been a pretty much unbeatable face who was obviously gifted in the ring.

 

I'm not sure how over he was in the WCW at the time as I can't remember the crowd reactions to him. I do know that I completely bought his super push as a superface with Sting.

[The Mountie 0]

Davey Boy was half of two of the greatest matches in WWF history. The match with Bret at SummerSlam is well documented, but the match with Owen Hart to determine the first European Champion is right up there with it. An absolute masterclass.

[Guest Overworked]

In the end there are just some people whom are better tag teamers than single wrestlers, Bulldog is one. he brings the power to the situation, he is the one whom the heels want to keep out of the ring and beat down the more energetic face for most of the match. And really there isn't anything wrong with that.

[Guest jm29195]

Why the fuck was he wearing jeans as well - that always annoyed me.

 

 

Weren't his knees all shot to hell, and he couldn't wrestle with the tights anymore?

[Guest Overworked]

Why the fuck was he wearing jeans as well - that always annoyed me.

 

 

Weren't his knees all shot to hell, and he couldn't wrestle with the tights anymore?

 

During the Six pack challenge match he was wearing Revamp version of his Bulldog tights.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

I _hated_ when Bulldog made that return to the WWF. He didn't seem like Davey Boy Smith at all anymore...just some generic British power guy. The jeans look wasn't for him, and they gave him that awful generic music, instead of just having him use "Hail Brittania." Just a really badly booked character that didn't do anything memorable.

[AboveAverage484 0]

Bulldog was very carryable in the ring, but he couldn't carry others. He could have great matches when in there with capable workers (Bret, Owen, HBK, etc.), but put him in there with slugs like Luger, Mabel, Sid, or Nash and its a guaranteed DUD.

 

This is pretty much the definition of "average." Good matches with good workers, terrible ones with terrible workers.

[Coffin Surfer 0]

Davey Boy was half of two of the greatest matches in WWF history. The match with Bret at SummerSlam is well documented, but the match with Owen Hart to determine the first European Champion is right up there with it. An absolute masterclass.

 

As I said the last time this topic came up, the Summerslam match is one of the last performances I would use to pimp Smith and one of the first to pimp Bret, whom I'm not even a fan of.

 

Accounts vary but Smith was either incredibly nervous, doped out of his mind or both during the match while Bret has to continously regroup and call spots one at a time on camera to drag Smith through it. Smith's performance is more of an embaressment than anything. Watch out for the dangerous botches like Smith being out of place for the Pescado and nearly killing Bret by fucking up their signature Press Slam into the Top Rope Crouching spot .

 

And while it's a fantastic performance from Bret in that he prevented the match from becoming a train wreck, I wouldn't call it a great match let alone one of the greatest in WWF history.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

According to Bret, as soon as they locked up, the first thing DB told Bret was that he had gone blank and couldn't remember anything they had talked about for the match. Bret said that he was proud for having that good of a match that he had to call as it went on, but he also said he regrets that he was caught on camera so often calling spots because wrestlers aren't meant to let that happen.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Please tell me this "great" match Bulldog had with Shawn Michaels.

[CanadianChick 0]

One Night Only in England was a fun match. Not sure if that's the one people are referring to though...

[Guest DRH 502]

His early shit is off the charts different than his later stuff, his knowledge of tricky chain wrestling spots is really underrated. I have a match vs. Finlay that is amazing...