"The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith

BRITISH BULLDOG PASSES AWAY

Former WWF Intercontinental, Tag Team, European and Hardcore title holder the British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith was found dead yesterday in British Columbia. Smith, 39, suffered an apparent heart attack although family members didn't confirm the cause of death yet.

Smith was going through some trouble in the past couple of years, going from jail to rehab after hitting his wife Diana Hart and having problems with the Hart family. He also faced trial for allegedly threatening his brother-in-law Bruce Hart last year although he ended up winning the case.

His battle with drug addiction unfortunately took over his career as a professional wrestler and once he was released from the WWF back in October of 2000, his life went downwards. At the time of his death, he was with his girlfriend, Andrea Hart, who also happens to be Bruce Hart's wife. He and Diana have two children, Harry, 16, and Georgia, 14.

The Bulldog just wrestled with his son two weeks ago in a tag match in Winnipeg. Bulldog signed with the WWF back in August of 1999 after some controversy since his brother-in-law Owen died while performing a few months earlier.

Smith's greatest moment in the WWF was in Summer of 1992 when in front of over 80,000 screaming UK fans inside the Wembley Stadium in London, England, defeated family member Bret Hart to become the Intercontinental Champion.

Davey’s first WCW run gave him a brief run as a main eventer, teaming with Sting against Vader and Sid and having an amazing match challenging Vader for the WCW title at a Clash of the Champions that Summer. After his WCW run ended he returned to the WWF at Summerslam 1994 sitting at ringside for Bret and Owen Hart’s cage match. His first year back was up and down, as he basically played sidekick to Bret in his family feud (But started the first in a series of great matches with Owen.) He “Went the distance” in the shortest (and one of the worst) Royal Rumbles in 1995 going the full 35 minutes with HBK before being thrown out. They would later have another stellar singles match on RAW. It looked like he and partner Lex Luger in the Allied Powers were going to take the straps off of Owen Hart and Yokozuna, but they didn’t and a few weeks later Lex Luger showed up on Nitro.

In the meantime, Bulldog cut his hair and turned on Diesel, taking Jim Cornette on as his manager. Another run at the top had him battle Diesel at IYH in Winnipeg in October of 1995 in a not great match. He had an excellent bout with Bret Hart as the main event of the Stu Hart tribute show in December of 1995, (Geez I just realized how many guys on that show are dead. Spiccoli, Owen, Davey, Pillman…) days before facing Bret in a bloody and great match at IYH. The match, not as good as their IC title battle, was still a damn good match.

Davey probably had most of his success as a heel from that point on. He had a weak feud with Ahmed Johnson before his previously mentioned feud with HBK. He lost to Sid at Summerslam 1996 and then began his tag title run with Owen Hart. There run from September 1996 to May of 1997 is the last team to have a lengthy uninterrupted run with the belts. As well,
he was crowned the first European Champion, beating Owen in Germany in a five star match. He would hold that belt until September. The summer of 1997 represented probably that last great run of his career, in the Hart Foundation. The family was together, Brian Pillman and Owen Hart were still alive, and the feud was hot.

However his decision to pay a stiff fine and go with Bret Hart to WCW was the beginning of the end. He was buried in WCW, mostly teaming with Jim Niedhart. Being slammed on a trap door at Fall Brawl 1998 lead to a staph infection that nearly killed him and his being let go by WCW. He trained for a WWF comeback amid controversy and some truly cruel
comments from Bret Hart. He started strong, giving Stephanie McMahon “Amnesia” at the UK PPV (If only that had been true!) and having a decent match with the Rock at the October 1999 PPV.

Unfortunately his habits started to catch up with him. Davey’s last WWF match was in Calgary in May of 2000 against Steve Blackman and it was a horrible, horrible match in which Davey couldn’t take a bump. He no-showed the next days Edmonton show and was subsequently let go.

As has been covered here, Davey hoped to one day team with his extremely talented son Harry, but sadly they only had the Winnipeg independent shows together.

CONFLICTING REPORTS OVER BULLDOG'S DEATH
A UK newspaper reported that Andrea Hart's children gave Davey Boy Smith's father four different recollections of their mom's boyfriend's death. Three of those where that he choked on a chicken bone, drowned in the swimming pool and died in bed. Bulldog's father, Sid, managed to have his son's body flown to England for further examination after reports from Canada returned inconclusive. The father also said that Davey told Andrea Hart - the estranged wife of Bruce Hart - that their
relationship was over before he passed away and a convicted murderer friend of theirs showed up at the hotel they were staying at in British Columbia. Earlier reports from Andrea Hart said that Bulldog proposed to her and they were ready to get married.

Davey Boy Smith is one of the greatest tag team wrestlers in history.

I was inspired to make this tribute, after reading Dynamite Kid's (Tommy Billington's) autobiography.

Please notify me if you know about any other British Bulldog tribute pages.

Davey Boy Smith Vs Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

Davey's brushes with the law!

WWE wrestlers interviewed about Davey's life

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