Professional wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross who is currently working as a colour commentator in the All Elite Wrestling recently remembered the late great British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith and looked back at his main event push in WWE.
The British Bulldog was one of the biggest names of WWE during the 90s. In the early stage of his WWE career he was treated as a tag team wrestler along with the Dynamite kid. Together they won the WWE Tag Team Championship one time. In 1988 he left WWE and joined Stampede Wrestling. He also worked in Japan during this time.
Jim Ross Recalls The Main Event Push Of The British Bulldog
In 1990 he returned to WWE and this time WWE treated him as a main event star. In 1992, he main evented The Summerslam pay per view event along with “The Hitman” Bret Hart, and the match was for the WWE Intercontinental Championship. SummerSlam was one of the major events of WWE, and the Intercontinental title match being the main event of the show in spite of the fact WWE World title was also defended on the same night was actually a big deal.
Smith warm that match and everybody expected him to be the next name two challenge for the World championship in the near future. WWE had same plans as well but for some reasons he was released later on the same year. In 1994 he made his return to WWE for the third time, but this time he was not treated as a main event star and he remained a mid card. Moreover, his main event push did not last long.
Jim Ross who is currently working as a colour commentator in the All Elite Wrestling recently spoke on his Grilling JR Podcast where he remembered the late great British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith and looked back at his main event push in WWE. He said;
“I know [Vince] was pissed off, but I learned from working with him, that when you knew he was in a pissed off mood, you just avoid him. I’d get it from the horse’s head, not the horse’s ass. When Vince was ready to talk about it, he did and he would. I remember him being unhappy. I don’t know if it was because the finish didn’t click, or the match was kind of clumsy. I don’t know. But I do know that he had an issue with the presentation.”
“I’ve mentioned here that when I was hiring talent, the number one box that had to be checked was realiability. There’s a point in time during Davey’s journey that reliability became an issue. I attribute that not to Davey’s lack of love for the business, or the fact that he’d gotten lazy all of a sudden; I think the substance abuse was really a hindrance.
“Sometimes talents pick the substances over their career. Davey was spectacular. It’s sad that there wasn’t enough help, there wasn’t enough knowledge of drugs, and how to get clean, things to that nature. There’s so much more information out there on drugs now. It was just a different world back then. He needed in-patient care, in my opinion, earlier than he got it.”
Quotes via 411 Mania