New Details On WWE Signing Davey Boy Smith Jr.
NXT UK plans, meetings with Tony Khan and AEW, John Laurinaitis' involvement, and more!
WWE has indeed re-signed Davey Both Smith Jr., reports Dave Meltzer in this week's Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
DBS - who will seemingly be moving forward under his old WWE ring name, Harry Smith - inked a deal with Vince McMahon's promotion in April but was asked to keep it quiet. Smith himself confirmed that return talks had been held two months prior to this in February.
Meltzer reported in last week's Observer that WWE originally planned on re-debuting Smith in NXT UK. They switched him to SmackDown when COVID-19 scuppered those plans, leading to Davey Boy Jr. working a dark match at the 16 July tapings.
John Laurinaitis reportedly pushed heavily for Smith to be put on the main roster, with Vince McMahon wanting him for SmackDown. As for those original NXT UK plans? The idea was that DBS Jr. would be built up as a top babyface and feud with longstanding NXT United Kingdom Champion WALTER for the belt, though it appears this is off the table for now.
While there's no suggestion that AEW actively tried to recruit Smith, the 34-year-old apparently met with Tony Khan at a party prior to agreeing to go back to WWE.