WWE today announced that the late British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith will be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame class of 2020. There have been petitions and several calls for the company to induct the former Intercontinental champion for the past several years. The announcement came on the After The Bell podcast.
Making his debut in 1978, Smith wrestled first for ITV’s World of Sport when he was just 15 years old and was then recruited by Bruce Hart who took him to Canada to train at his father’s Dungeon, joining the Stampede Wrestling promotion in the process.
In 1984, Smith joined the WWE with his cousin The Dynamite Kid, and now brothers-in-law Bret Hart and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. Smith and Kid wrestled as The British Bulldogs and won their first titles at WrestleMania 2 before losing them to the Hart Foundation nine months later.
After walking out from WWE, the British Bulldogs worked for Stampede Wrestling and All Japan For Wrestling before Smith returned to the WWE in 1990 on his own. In 1992, Smith’s biggest wrestling moment came at SummerSlam from London, England where he defeated his brother-in-law Bret “Hit Man” Hart in the main event of the show. But things didn’t last long and he was released along with the Ultimate Warrior for allegedly using HGH.
The following year, Smith joined WCW and formed an alliance with Sting. Again, problems followed Smith and he was released that same year after he was involved in a fight in a bar.
In 1994, WWE hired Smith back and had a three-year run, forming the Allied Powers with Lex Luger, Camp Cornette with Owen Hart, and reuniting the Hart Foundation in 1997. After the Montreal Screwjob happened, Smith quit WWE along with Bret and Jim Neidhart.
He followed Bret to WCW in 1997 and Neidhart joined as well but injuries dented his career there. A bump on a trap door in the ring was the cause of a major spinal infection, an injury which left him nearly paralyzed and required him to be hospitalized for six months. WCW released him and Smith became addicted to morphine and painkilling drugs.
In 1999 he made his third and final return to WWE following the death of his brother-in-law Owen Hart. His run was short again and he left WWE eight months after his return.
Smith died on May 18, 2002 after suffering a heart attack while on holiday in Invermere, British Columbia. At the time he was dating Bruce Hart’s estranged wife Andrea Redding. He had two children with his ex-wife Diana, Harry, and Georgia. Harry later went on to become Davey Boy Smith Jr.
In his WWE run, he won the Intercontinental title once, the European title twice, the Hardcore title twice, and the Tag Team titles twice.
