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 explain why Vince McMahon lost faith in him and stopped pushing him as a main event star.
The British Bulldog started his professional wrestling career back in 1978 the age of 15 only. In 1984 he came to work in WWE for the first time in his career. At the early days of his career he was treated as a tag team wrestler. He teamed up with the Dynamite Kid and together they were famously known as the British Bulldogs. Together they won the WWE Tag Team Championship one time.
Jim Ross Explains Why Vince McMahon Lost Faith In British Bulldog
In 1988 he was released from WWE only to be brought back in 1990. This time only he was given a main event push by Vince McMahon. He even starred the main event of SummerSlam 1992 along with “The Hitman” Bret Hart. They fought for the WWE Intercontinental championship where Smith defeated heart to win the title. But unfortunately he was released from WWE on the same year.
In 1994 he was brought back to WWE once again, and this time he was nothing but a mid card wrestler. He never stopped winning championships in WWE. In 1997 he left WWE again just to come back again for the fourth time in 1998. In 2000 he left WWE forever, and in 2002 he passed away at the age of 39 only.
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 explain why Vince McMahon lost faith in him and stopped pushing him as a main event star. He said;
“I think we’re all just waiting for Davey to kick out of this matter, and address his issues head on. But you gotta set your ego at the door and fess up that you got an issue, but we’re here to help you. Some guys accept the help, and some guys just look at it as a sign of weakness. The one thing that wrestlers don’t want, especially a promoter or booker, to perceive them as week.
“I think that would have been the case in this situation. Davey was battling two opponents, one in the ring, and one outside the ring. I can’t get mad at him for that. He had an issue. What he needed was to step away from wrestling, go in-patient, and get help. And all those things did not fall into place. A lot of that was somewhat ego-driven. “Well, he’s got a chink in the armor, he likes the pills too much” or something along those lines.
“It’s hard to embrace Davey when you knew how great he could be, and he was enjoyable as hell to be around, all those ribs and jokes. He was always such a good conversation. It was a hard time for Davey, it was a hard time for Vince, but the bottom line was that Davey needed strong care to help him. And I’m not so sure he ever got that.”
Quotes via 411 Mania