Davey Boy Smith was fired by WCW in 1993, after a series of events soured the relationship between the British Bulldog and Bill Watts.
After WWE fired the British Bulldog in 1992, he was brought in as a main event star by WCW booker Bill Watts.
He became an ally of Sting, battling Vader and Sid Vicious in some huge main event clashes. Davey Boy Smith even wrestled Vader for the WCW title, coming as close as he ever did to becoming a World Heavyweight Champion.
Sadly, his run lasted less than a year. British Bulldog clashed with Bill Watts and WCW, eventually ending in his contract being terminated.
British Bulldog & Bill Watts Clashed Over Pay
The main issue between WCW and The British Bulldog was payment.
When he joined the company in 1993, Davey Boy Smith signed on for a pay-per-match deal. This, as Davey Boy thought, would have allowed him to work indie dates when not wrestling for WCW.
However, he also negotiated a pay bump for WCW’s European shows. The Englishman was immensely popular in the UK and Europe, and helped draw huge crowds whenever WWE or WCW toured there. (He even replaced Big Daddy as the name in British indie wrestling a year later).
Finally, British Bulldog negotiated to be able to work shows in Japan, albeit with two-months notice given to WCW booker Bill Watts.
Slowly but surely, all those promises were whittled away. After returning to the US, Smith noticed he had been paid the flat fee of $1000 per show for his European dates.
He complained to Watts, even refusing to work house shows until the situation was fixed. This is where the issues began, and never ended.
He No-Showed A TV Taping Due To Pay Issues
After the money issues did not get resolved, Davey Boy Smith took matters into his own hands.
On 11/30, he beat Rick Rude at a TV taping to set up a match fro Starrcade 1993. However, he missed the next show, which WCW put down to communication issues with the Englishman.
This was because the British Bulldog was oestenisbly on strike for the money he was owed for the European tour. He refused to return to work unless he was paid the money he was owed.
He also worked a show booked by his brother-in-law, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. It seems like an issue of communication, as WCW believed their deal included Davey Boy paying them 60% of his fee off any indie show. He disagreed, and the fight went on.
In response, WCW retaped the angle with Rick Rude. Instead of him defeating the legend, he was instead “fired” by the company, and came across like a coward who was ducking his opponent.
As you can imagine, this did little to calm the WWE Hall of Famer. He had been portrayed as a star up until then, teaming with Sting and even “winning” the WCW Championship from Vader, only for it to be overturned thanks to a Dusty Finish.
WCW Wouldn’t Let Davey Boy Smith Work NJPW Shows
To make matters even worse, WCW refused to allow NJPW to bring Davey Boy Smith in for a tour.
This wasn’t totally a spiteful move. The British Bulldog was booked to appear in the one-time-only Battlebowl pay per view.
The company argued that they needed him for the show, and could not release him for the events due to his commitments.
While this does seem justitifed, they let the Nasty Boys work that same tour, despite also being booked for Battlebowl.
This, as well as the AJPW tour they also refused to let Davey Boy Smith wrestle on, understandably made the relationship between WCW and the British Bulldog even more strained.
A Bar Fight Caused Immense Legal Issues
The last straw for WCW (although most of the issues were entirely of their own making) was when Davey Boy Smith was involved in a horrific bar fight.
His wife, Diana (Bret Hart’s sister), was being hit on by a man in a bar. Hopped up on alcohol and the cocktail of drugs he was known for, Davey Boy Smith was not in the right frame of mind, shall we say.
Details of exactly what happened are scarce. However, we do know that the Briton put the other man in the hospital, and the matter went to court.
While a bigger star may have gotten away with it, WCW didn’t let Bulldog off lightly. He had been too much of a headache (however justified) to keep on, and his main event run had diminishing returns.
WCW fired British Bulldog in late-1993, ending his run in the company with a whimper.
While the impending court case ended his time in WCW, he never went down for the alleged crime. The court aquitted the British Bulldog of all charges, and he returned to the ring later that very week.
Strangely, this run didn’t sour Davey Boy Smith on WCW. He bounced between the WWE and WCW for the next few years, basically wrestling for whoever would deal with him and let him take as many drugs as he liked (which was a lot).
