The British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith

[Boxer 0]

So here is a thread on a guy who I must say looking back was a really under appreciated mid-carder to upper mid-carder.

 

So we all know him as a multiple tag team champion, euro, and IC champion.

 

He started off with Dynamite then branched off into singles with his greatest moment being the IC title match at Summerslam 92.

 

But there are also a lot of question marks with his career. The short and brief IC title run, going to WCW twice, aborted storylines, and sometimes being blown up too soon.

 

I have to say my favorite period was during the time he and Owen literally carried the tag division for a good 8-9 months and had some good matches. When needed, he was there for a title match against the world champion, hence his 4 within about 10 months from late 95 to mid 96. We all know he left for WCW the first time because of the steroids and the 2nd time because of Montreal.

 

Also, I have to ask, what's up with the Bulldog-Austin storyline then were building in late 96 early 97? That got killed off fast.

 

The biggest question mark, was his return from that brutal back injury. They had that interview to hype his return, comes back and turns heel, which I did not like.

 

With that being said, here are a few things to discuss:

 

What was your favorite period during Bulldog's run?

 

Was he under-appreciated? Should he have gotten a world title run?

 

Did you like how they booked him in 1999?

[bob_barron 0]

The British Bulldog is my favourite wrestler of all time.

 

I love watching heel Bulldog in his WWF run from 95-97. He just seemed to be having so much fun out there. I wish he had never left the WWF post-Montreal

 

I didn't like him turning heel in 1999, but I think they realised he just could not sustain a main event push in his condition.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

What was your favorite period during Bulldog's run?

Hard to say, but I was really high on him when he returned in 1994. He should have been pushed much, much harder than he was.

 

Was he under-appreciated? Should he have gotten a world title run?

As stated before, Smith was way underbooked during the, ahem, "Diesel Era." Really, he absolutely should have had a larger role in the company during that period, and it shouldn't have taken a year for it to happen. I've never told this to anybody before, but, while I was a young smart mark in training, and I knew that Michaels versus Diesel was very much in the books at the time, the few seconds where the Bulldog had "won" the Rumble was actually something I bought into (mostly because I was not aware of the two feet touching the floor rule, which was not made clear until that year).

 

Did you like how they booked him in 1999?

To be honest, I'm still astounded that he would come crawling back to the WWF shortly after the death of Owen Hart. But, he also had a family to support, so, based on his options, I choose not to judge him on the matter. Absolutely not the highlight of his career, but, then again, more noteworthy than his time with WCW (the second time around).

 

Also, regarding the feud with Steve Austin, I do really wish that they explored that more than they did. If anything, it was a backdrop for the tension between Owen and Davey at the time, as Davey was focused on Austin instead of their tag team championship endeavors.

[Papacita 0]

Also, I have to ask, what's up with the Bulldog-Austin storyline then were building in late 96 early 97? That got killed off fast.

I always kinda saw this as bleeding into the Hart Foundation angle, just furthering the rift between Owen and Bulldog to lead to the eventual match. I remember a particular moment when Owen and Austin were trying to Pillmanize Bret, but Davey came out to attack Austin, pissing Owen off.

 

The biggest question mark, was his return from that brutal back injury. They had that interview to hype his return, comes back and turns heel, which I did not like.

I didn't mind it, since I thought it would get him closer to a title reign, which I always wanted to see.

With that being said, here are a few things to discuss:

 

What was your favorite period during Bulldog's run?

Honestly, the heel run from 95-97. His turn on Diesel was the fucking truth, even though a lot of folks don't seem to like it for some reason. Also, when I was little I *ALWAYS* wanted to see a title change in person, and nothing ever seemed to happen when they'd come to Philly. That all changed when he and Owen won the titles at Mind Games, which was a big ass moment for me.

 

Was he under-appreciated? Should he have gotten a world title run?

One reason I marked so hard for the heel turn because I always wanted to see him as champion.

 

Did you like how they booked him in 1999?

Yeah, he seemed to be a real bad ass for a while, especially with the whole angle where he KO'd Steph. Unfortunately, he just couldn't go at that level anymore.

[cabbageboy 0]

My Favorite Bulldog run: It has to be 1991-92. That era is what made Davey Boy the biggest star in Europe and climaxed with his awesome IC title win over Bret at SS 92 (one of my favorite shows ever). To be honest I always thought his heel stuff from 1995-97 sucked, since he never really did anything all that evil and just seemed to nice to be a heel. Or to clarify his heel character sucked and didn't draw much heat, but his wrestling was excellent.

 

Underappreciated? I think so and he should have gotten a world title run at some point. There were plenty of places to do that. Why didn't WCW give him a win over Vader in 1993? Was Vader drawing such insane business that he couldn't job and regain in time to lose it for good at Starrcade? As in why not give Bulldog the belt at Slamboree 93, then have him job it back at that Clash in August where they did the rematch, etc. I think he also could have gotten it from HBK in 1996 if they had done the bogus double pin finish and given him the belt, but he would have been a lame duck waiting to job it back at KOTR 96.

 

His 1999 run was so uninspired that I can't say they booked him especially good or bad. He was in the top mix for a while but the whole "heel in bluejeans" act was a bit bizarre. He did however slam the garbage can into Stephanie's head though, giving her the blackouts or whatever and this led to her marrying HHH in storyline.

[JN News 0]

Davey Boy Smith is without a doubt the greatest European wrestler of all time, in my humble opinion. I don't think anyone that ever came out of the European continent has ever or could ever achieve what the British Bulldog had achieved in his legendary career, and if I was Vince McMahon, I'd take putting Davey Boy into the class of 2009 Hall Of Fame into serious consideration.

 

 

Davey Boy Smith really meant alot to professional wrestling, IMO.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I remember going to No Mercy 1999. And while I was excited to see the whole card, I had a little extra anticipation for the Rock/Bulldog match since DBS was one of the last links between 1980s-early 1990s and Attitude era. I didn't think the match was too bad but I'm probably looking at it through rose colored shades. It was nice to see his last hoorah as a low level-main eventer.

 

His SurSer99 match was fun w/ the Posse all getting eliminated leaving the Bulldog to go through two members of the opposing team before getting beat.

[cabbageboy 0]

Am I the only one who is also baffled by Bulldog's heel run starting in 1995? It actually made perfect sense I suppose, given how he was screwed out of the Rumble win in Jan. and also how he and Luger never totally gelled as a team and didn't win the belts. So once Luger bolted for WCW it was like he said "Fuck this I gotta DO something with my career!" and attacked Diesel during a random tag match.

 

Thing is, it was such an arbitrary turn at the time. It didn't help that Nash wasn't exactly that over so when Bulldog turned on him it didn't really draw a big heel reaction.

 

Other odd angles with Bulldog were things like the Michaels feud. I couldn't figure out why he was supposed to be a bad guy in it when he seemed to legit think HBK was after his wife. Even though it turned out she was lying about it, I don't recall it being said that Davey Boy knew this all along. Or the whole teaming with Owen....good stuff and seemed to be leading to a Bulldog face turn until the Hart Foundation angle kept him heel.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Smith turned heel before Luger jumped. I think the plan was for them to feud en route to Davey Boy becoming the challenger to Diesel's championship.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

I was actually pretty shocked as a young mark that the Allied Powers didn't beat Owen and Yokozuna for the belts @ IYH 2. I thought for sure they would be the team to get the belts away from them as I felt the Owen/Yoko team was unstoppable. I was just VERY puzzled when I tuned in the next night on RAW and found out that they didn't win the titles.