One of the most popular competitors to never win a world title, Davey Boy Smith first drew attention in the wrestling world by teaming with his cousin Tom Billington, otherwise known as the Dynamite Kid. Bruce Hart saw the duo wrestling in the United Kingdom and convinced his father to bring them over to Stampede Wrestling, turning both into big Canadian stars. Soon enough, Vince McMahon came calling and the team that would be known as the British Bulldogs moved on to New York. After debuting in the WWF, the Bulldogs engaged in some classic matches with the Hart Foundation (naturally) and won the tag titles at Wrestlemania II from the Dream Team. However, Dynamite had the reputation of being somewhat of a locker room bully and some people were getting sick of it. At a TV taping, Jacques Rougeau blasted Dynamite in the face while holding a roll of quarters, knocking out several teeth and giving Dynamite what he had coming. Due to Rougeau not being disciplined by WWF officials, the Bulldogs departed the WWF for Japan. After kicking around the Far East, Davey Boy decided he wanted to return to the WWF and this time without his trouble-making tag partner. It was during this time that Davey Boy gained huge amount of muscle mass (allegedly due to his usage of anabolic steroids). Smith was not even six feet tall but grew to 260 lbs. of solid muscle, completely unnatural for someone his size. However, the WWF was big into bodybuilding supermen, so he received a WWF contract and a push towards the Intercontinental title. Except for a brief stint in WCW, Bulldog remained with the World Wrestling Federation until the Montreal Screwjob when he departed the company once more. Bulldog followed Bret to WCW and suffered a serious injury when he landed on a trapdoor set up in the ring to allow the Ultimate Warrior to make a dramatic entrance at Fall Brawl 1998. The injury nearly paralyzed the Bulldog and caused him to start taking an astronomical amount of pain killers. WCW fired Smith through FedEx just to show what nice people ran that company. Bulldog returned to the WWF but injuries had taken their toll and he was a shell of his former self. Diana Hart divorced him and Vince McMahon forced Smith to enter a drug rehabilitation facility for his addictions to painkillers and morphine. Unfortunately, it was not enough to save his life as the Bulldog passed away on May 18, 2002 at the age of 39. Brother-in-law Bruce claimed that "steroid cocktails" had caused Davey's death and it wasn't very hard to believe. A massive man in an age of massive men, the British Bulldog grew to huge proportions to make up for his lack of height. He achieved great stardom and had a very successful career but the wrestling business chewed him up and spit him out. The British Bulldog was yet another victim of the Hart Dungeon curse and probably the one that was easiest to see coming.
