Davey Boy Smith biography created by Wikipedia.

David "Davey" Boy Smith (November 27, 1962 - May 18, 2002) was a British professional wrestler, also known as The British Bulldog, who was born in Wigan in North West England, United Kingdom. Smith is known for his appearances with Stampede Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Smith found success as both a singles and tag competitor, holding every major title in the WWF except the WWF Championship; he won titles within the promotion in three decades, from the 1980s to the 2000s. Never a world champion, Smith nonetheless headlined multiple pay-per-view events in the WWF and WCW, in which he challenged for the WWF and WCW World Heavyweight championships. He defeated Bret Hart for the WWF Intercontinental Championship in the main event of SummerSlam 1992 at London's original Wembley Stadium, and has the distinction of competing as WWF European Champion on the sole occasion where a match for that title headlined a pay-per-view event, at One Night Only in 1997. Prior to finding singles success, Smith achieved stardom as one half of The British Bulldogs tag team, alongside the Dynamite Kid. Kevin Powers of WWE (previously the WWF) wrote: "Davey Boy Smith is a certifiable legend in sports-entertainment... The fact is [he] should have been a world champion." Smith was trained by Ted Betley in Winwick, England before relocating to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to further his training under Stu Hart. While training with Hart, Smith met Stu and Helen Hart's youngest daughter Diana, whom he married in 1984. They had two children, Harry (born on 2 August 1985) and Georgia (born on 26 September 1987). He and Diana were divorced in 2000. Davey Boy Smith started competing on ITV's World of Sport when he was only 15, wrestling under the name Young David with his slightly older cousin Tom Billington (Dynamite Kid). His first televised match, broadcast 2 September 1978, saw him draw with one pin each between himself and Bernie Wright. He would wrestle there for four and a half years until February 1983 with his final match again being against Wright, this time winning two pinfalls to one. In World of Sport he wrestled, among others, Dave Finlay, Black Jack Mulligan and Marty Jones as well as teaming with Big Daddy. He also had a series of matches with Jim Breaks, from whom he won the British Welterweight Championship in 1979 by two falls to one submission. The belt was held up due to the match's disputed finish. He was then spotted by Bruce Hart scouting talent in the UK and travelled to Canada to wrestle for Stu Hart with his cousin. Stu Hart and Roy Wood trained Smith further in his "Dungeon" and Smith became a key wrestler in Hart's promotion, Stampede Wrestling. During his time in Stampede, Smith began a feud with the Dynamite Kid, and on 9th July 1982, he [Smith] won his first title when he defeated the Dynamite Kid for the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight title.In 1983, Smith debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling where he became involved in a three-way feud with Dynamite Kid and The Cobra (George Takano) over the NWA Junior Heavyweight Title. On 7 February 1984, a three-way, one-night tournament was held, and Dynamite Kid won the tournament by defeating Smith via count-out, and the Cobra by pinfall. After the tournament, Smith and Dynamite Kid formed a tag team in both New Japan and in Stampede Wrestling known as the British Bulldogs. In 1984, the Bulldogs made a shocking move by jumping to New Japan's rival, All Japan Pro Wrestling just before the start of All Japan's annual Tag Team tournament. The Bulldogs made a nice showing in the tournament, which drew the interest of the World Wrestling Federation. The Bulldogs, along with Smith's brothers-in-law Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart were brought into World Wrestling Federation (WWF) after Vince McMahon bought out Stampede Wrestling. At first, the Bulldogs were able to tour both WWF and All Japan, but eventually McMahon gained exclusive rights to the Bulldogs. While in the WWF, the Bulldogs began a long running feud with Hart and Neidhart, who were now known as The Hart Foundation. The Bulldogs also feuded with the Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake). At WrestleMania 2, with "Captain" Lou Albano and Ozzy Osbourne in their corner, the Bulldogs defeated the Dream Team for the Tag Team Championship. The Bulldogs held the titles for nearly nine months, feuding with the Dream Team and Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik. In January 1987, the Bulldogs lost the titles to the Hart Foundation, in kayfabe due to biased referee Dangerous Danny Davis (and in reality due to a severe back injury suffered by the Dynamite Kid only a month earlier. He literally had to be helped to the ring by Davey as he could hardly walk and took no part in the match due to being knocked out by the Foundations manager Jimmy Hart who hit him with his megaphone). Shortly before losing the titles, the Bulldogs gained a mascot, an actual bulldog who went by the name Matilda, and feuded with the likes of The Islanders (who, kayfabe, dog-napped Matilda), Demolition, and The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers. Both the British Bulldogs left the WWF. After leaving the World Wrestling Federation, the Bulldogs returned to Stampede Wrestling, and also to All Japan Pro Wrestling. Stampede officials were hopeful that the return of the Bulldogs would revive a struggling promotion, but they were unsuccessful. Eventually, the decision was made to split up the Bulldogs, which caused some problems with All Japan owner Giant Baba, who was still promoting the Bulldogs as a tag team. On 4 July 1989, Smith, along with fellow wrestlers Chris Benoit, Ross Hart, and Jason the Terrible, was involved in a serious automobile accident. Smith, who was not wearing a seatbelt at the time, needed 135 stitches after slamming his head through the windshield and being thrown 25 feet onto the pavement.He recovered, and the Bulldogs continued teaming in All-Japan against teams such as Joe and Dean Malenko, Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, and The Nasty Boys. Personal problems began to surface between Smith and Billington, and Smith later left All Japan to return to the WWF. Smith was pushed as the same character from the British Bulldogs' original WWF run, but this time as a singles star under the name The British Bulldog, and was much bigger in terms of muscle mass than he was in his first WWF run. He was a fairly popular wrestler in the United States, but was a huge attraction to fans in the United Kingdom, due in part to the WWF becoming a ratings hit on Sky Sports,[16] as well as the promotion touring the country holding supercards, and United Kingdom-only pay-per-views such as UK Rampage which saw Smith defeat The Berzerker at the London Arena on April 24, 1991 and at the Battle Royal at Royal Albert Hall in which Smith won a 20-man battle royal by eliminating Typhoon on 13 October 1991.[18] After entering as the first man in the 1992 Royal Rumble, he eliminated "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, Jerry Sags, and Haku before being eliminated by eventual winner Ric Flair. Smith again headlined the WWF's European tours at European Rampage, winning a 15-man battle royal by eliminating The Mountie in M?nchen, Germany on 14 April 1992and defeated Irwin R. Schyster in Sheffield, England on 19 April, 1992 at United Kingdom exclusive pay-per-view UK Rampage. In 1992, due to this newfound popularity, the WWF decided to hold its annual SummerSlam pay-per-view in Wembley Stadium. The show was main-evented by Smith (led to the ring by the British Heavyweight Boxing champion Lennox Lewis) and Bret Hart in a match for Hart's Intercontinental Championship. Initially, Hart was to lose the title to Shawn Michaels, but Hart suggested that Smith get the win at Summerslam as it would mean big business in England. The match was almost in jeopardy, as years later, it was revealed by his wife Diana on the Hart & Soul documentary, that Smith had suffered a staph infection in his knee on July 20 in Worcester, Massachusetts, during a match with Iron Mike Sharpe, which kept him out of action until SummerSlam. On 29 August, at SummerSlam, in front of 80,355 of his countrymen, Smith won the Intercontinental Title in a match which is regarded by many wrestling experts as the finest in his career. Smith lost the title to Michaels on the November 14 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event. Smith had a stint with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1993, immediately targeting the main event scene. He engaged in feuds with Sid Vicious and Big Van Vader, whom he challenged for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Slamboree, and formed a mildly successful alliance with Sting. He was officially billed as Davey Boy Smith but was referred to as The British Bulldog frequently and interchangeably with Davey Boy Smith. He and Diana had trademarked the British Bulldog name early in his WWF career, which meant he owned the name and gimmick and was free to use it anywhere he went. This was the source of animosity between the Dynamite Kid and Smith. Davey worked for WCW but was release from his contract. His final pay-per-view appearance for WCW came at the Battlebowl pay-per-view. He was teamed with Kole in the first round of the Lethal Lottery; they lost to Road Warrior Hawk and Rip Rogers. Before his firing in November, he was scheduled to feud with Rick Rude over the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship; he was subsequently replaced in the feud by The Boss. In 1994, he returned to the British Wrestling circuit, mainly for Joint Promotions in the headline blue-eye role as a replacement for the recently retired Big Daddy. This ended when he was lured back to the WWF that summer. With no headline star, Joint Promotions subsequently dwindled down before closing in February 1995 after nearly 43 years. Smith returned to the WWF at SummerSlam, as a spectator with the rest of the Hart family. Smith immediately became involved in an ongoing family feud between Bret Hart and his brother, Owen Hart. Smith teamed up with Bret against Owen and Jim Neidhart in a series of tag team matches. Smith entering the ring at a WWF event in 1995 Smith appeared at the 1994 Survivor Series in a 10-man elimination match. His partners were WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon, 1-2-3 Kid, and The Headshrinkers. They faced Tag Team Champions Shawn Michaels and Diesel, Owen Hart, Jeff Jarrett, and Jim Neidhart. Smith was eventually counted out, but his team won the match after the entire other side was counted out while trying to stop Diesel and Michaels from fighting in the back. After entering the Royal Rumble as the second entrant, Smith and Shawn Michaels were the final two at the end. Smith tossed Michaels over the ropes and celebrated on the second turnbuckle. However, only one of Michaels feet hit the floor and he was able to reenter the ring, and eliminate Smith from behind, whilst Smith's music was playing and he was celebrating on the turnbuckles. Soon after, Smith began teaming with Lex Luger as the Allied Powers. The team wasn't much of a success and only wrestled on two pay-per-views as a tag team. The first came at WrestleMania XI were they defeated The Blu Brothers. The second came at In Your House 2 were they lost to Tag Team Champions Owen Hart and Yokozuna in July. Afterward the team briefly began feuding with Men on a Mission. During this time, Smith began teasing a heel turn at several live shows where he walked out on Luger during several of their matches together. Another incident saw him antagonize fans for chanting "USA" during their matches together, as they often had done. The normally affable, happy-go-lucky Smith became bitter and spiteful, and would get easily annoyed with the fans and his partner. On the 21 August episode of Monday Night Raw, the Allied Powers were supposed to face Men on a Mission but Luger (kayfabe) no-showed the match; Smith found a replacement in then-WWF Champion Diesel. During the match, Smith completed his heel turn and attacked Diesel, assisting Men on a Mission in beating down the champion. He left the ring with manager Jim Cornette and joined former adversaries Owen Hart and Yokozuna in Cornette's stable. With the heel turn came a new look and attitude. He changed his look by cutting his long, flowing hair into a crew cut and developed a much more aggressive personality and mean streak. Smith defeated Bam Bam Bigelow at In Your House 3. Later that night, he took Owen Hart's place in the main event, teaming up with Yokozuna to wrestle Shawn Michaels and Diesel in the Triple Header match, where all three championships were on the line, but lost when Diesel pinned Owen Hart who interfered. Weeks later, Smith redeemed himself by pinning Diesel in a six-man tag team match on RAW to earn a WWF title shot. Smith received a WWF Championship shot against Diesel in the main event of In Your House 4 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Smith won by disqualification after Bret Hart interfered. At the Survivor Series in Landover, Maryland, Smith participated in the Wild Card eight-man elimination match. He teamed with Shawn Michaels, Ahmed Johnson, and Sycho Sid. They faced WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon, Dean Douglas, Owen Hart, and Yokozuna. Smith, Michaels, and Johnson were the survivors. In the main event of December's In Your House 5 from Hershey, Pennsylvania, Smith was granted a title shot against new WWF Champion Bret Hart in a rematch from their SummerSlam match back in 1992. They had another well-received match, yet Hart won this time. A notable incident from this match was that Hart bled during the match, which was controversial because WWF outlawed bleeding at the time. Smith entered the 1996 Royal Rumble, where he made it to the final four before being eliminated by Shawn Michaels. At In Your House 6, he lost to Yokozuna by disqualification after Vader interfered. At WrestleMania XII, he teamed with Vader and Owen Hart to defeat Yokozuna, Ahmed Johnson, and Jake "The Snake" Roberts. At In Your House 7 in April 28, Smith and Owen Hart defeated Johnson and Roberts after Smith forced Roberts to submit. In 1996, after Shawn Michaels became WWF Champion, Smith was put in a feud with the new champion. The feud was supposedly based on Smith's wife, Diana, accusing Michaels of hitting on her, which made Smith mad and determined to take the title from Michaels. The two main-evented the In Your House 8 pay-per-view, and their match ended in a double pin when Michaels German suplexed Smith and both their shoulders were counted down by separate referees. A rematch between the two headlined the 1996 King of the Ring pay-per-view. Michaels ended up successfully defending the title. During this time Smith agreed to join WCW where he was to be the fourth member of the nWo. However, the day he was meant to join he instead re-signed for the WWF with a five-year contract. Afterwards, Smith formed a tag team with his brother-in-law, Owen Hart, and the two soon won the Tag Team Titles from The Smoking Gunns. The team defended their titles against teams such as Doug Furnas and Phil LaFon, Vader and Mankind, and The Legion of Doom. In 1997, the WWF created the European Championship and Smith became the first ever holder of the title, winning a tournament in Berlin, Germany, which culminated in him defeating his own tag team partner, Owen Hart in the finals, which made Smith a double champion. A match considered one of the best that year. According to Bret Hart's autobiography, the title was awarded to Smith to appease him for unfulfilled promises Vince McMahon had made. Just when it seemed like Smith would eventually turn face again on March 31, 1997 due to Owen wanting a shot at his brother-in-law's European Championship, Hart & Smith later joined forces with Bret Hart, Jim Neidhart, and Brian Pillman to re-form the Hart Foundation as a villainous faction which feuded with Stone Cold Steve Austin and other American wrestlers. This created a rift between American fans, who despised the Hart Foundation, and Canadian fans, who revered the Hart Foundation. Smith and Owen dropped the Tag Team Titles to Austin and Michaels, and lost the final match in a tournament for the vacant Tag Team Titles[citation needed] to Austin and Dude Love. Smith then started a feud with Ken Shamrock for the European Title, and eventually lost the European Title to Shawn Michaels in the main event of One Night Only. Smith was booked to successfully defend the belt against Michaels. However, Michaels convinced Vince McMahon that he should win, as it would create build-up not only for his impending rematch with Bret Hart, but also for a rematch against Smith at the next British pay-per-view. Smith reluctantly agreed, and fans at the event, who gave Smith an ovation, voiced their displeasure by booing Michaels and littering the ring with garbage. This marks the only time Smith lost on a WWF card in the United Kingdom, and the third championship in a five-year period Smith has lost to Shawn Michaels. After the events at Survivor Series 1997, Smith, along with Bret Hart and Neidhart, left the WWF for WCW. Smith re-joined WCW as the British Bulldog and immediately began a feud with Steve "Mongo" McMichael, who was complaining about all the wrestlers coming from "up north". Smith and Neidhart later formed a tag team. They challenged for the World Tag Team Championship on several occasions, but failed to win the titles. Smith suffered a knee injury in April 1998 that sidelined him for a month. He suffered another injury on 13 September 1998 at Fall Brawl during his match with Neidhart against the Dancing Fools (Disco Inferno and Alex Wright). While taking a back body drop from Alex Wright, Smith landed awkwardly on a trapdoor that had been set in the ring to enable The Warrior to make a dramatic entrance in the night's main event. The result was a spinal staph infection that nearly paralyzed Smith, hospitalizing him for six months. While recuperating, Smith received a FedEx informing him that his WCW contract had been terminated. In 1999, Smith formed a short-lived tag team on the Canadian independent circuit with the German wrestler Achim Albrecht called "The European Alliance". Smith returned to the WWF in September 1999 following the death of Owen Hart in an in-ring accident. In keeping with the company's new "Attitude era", Smith began wrestling in jeans instead of his usual Union Flag-adorned tights and his theme music was changed from "Rule, Britannia!" to a remix of that particular theme, and later to rock music (complete with the sounds of a dog barking as the song began) that the WWF used for most of its talent at the time. On the 9 September episode of SmackDown! in Albany, New York, Smith defeated The Big Boss Man for the Hardcore Championship after Bossman stated he would like to beat any dog lovers in the back. Smith forfeited the title giving the belt back to Al Snow because Boss Man had previously (kayfabe) dog-napped Snow's dog Pepper to win the title from him, driving him insane in the process. Smith then began pursuing the WWF Championship, eventually turning heel and beginning a feud with The Rock. Smith headlined Unforgiven as part of a six-man WWF Championship Match that was won by Triple H. On 2 October, Smith returned to England as a heel at Rebellion, where he defeated X-Pac. He lost to The Rock at No Mercy later that month. Smith defeated D'Lo Brown for the European Championship on SmackDown! on 26 October. It was also around this time he formed an alliance with the Mean Street Posse. He lost the title to Val Venis in a triple threat match at Armageddon on 12 December in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. On 6 May 2000 in London, Smith defeated Crash Holly for the Hardcore Championship. In one of Smith's last televised appearances, Holly regained the title from him in New Haven, Connecticut on the 11 May episode of SmackDown!. His last televised match with the WWF was on Sunday Night Heat some weeks later, when he burst into Eddie Guerrero and Chyna's locker room, accusing Guerrero (who was the European Champion at the time) of not treating the belt with the respect it deserved. This led to a title match on Heat, in which both men were disqualified. On 27 May, Smith defeated Steve Blackman in a house show in what would be his final match in both the WWF and his career.