Report: “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith to Be Inducted in 2020 WWE Hall of Fame
There’s some good news to report today for fans of arguably the greatest British wrestler in WWE history. The Wrestling Observer is reporting that the “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith is going to be inducted into WWE’s Hall of Fame this year. The WWE Hall of Fame ceremony takes place on Thursday, April 2 at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. The report of Davey Boy in WWE’s Hall of Fame was also confirmed by PWInsider, who notes that most of the Hart family will likely be there.
The British Bulldog was very successful in his WWE career that began in the late 1980s, through most of the 1990s (he was in WCW for a few years too) and ended in May 2000. Sadly, Smith passed away in May 2002 at the age of 39.
Smith was a former Intercontinental Champion, a two time WWE Tag Team Champion (with Dynamite Kid and Owen Hart), a two time European Champion and a two-time Hardcore Champion. He was also part of the very successful heel Hart Foundation group in 1997 with Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart and Brian Pillman.
The greatest match of Smith’s career was at SummerSlam 1992 at Wembley Stadium in London, England when he defeated brother-in-law Bret Hart to win the Intercontinental Title. I think it’s one of the best WWE matches ever and I rated it five stars out of five when I reviewed it. The crowd reaction when Smith won was incredible. I’ll never forget it.
Davey’s son Harry, who wrestles as Davey Boy Smith Jr., was on WWE’s The Bump show last week. Harry used to wrestle for WWE as David Hart Smith as part of the Hart Dynasty tag team with Tyson Kidd and his cousin Natalya. Harry wrestles elsewhere now, but he may return to WWE one day. Harry’s mother Diana and sister Georgia have also pushed very hard for Davey to get honored in the WWE Hall of Fame for years and now it’s finally going to happen.
If you’re wondering, it is just going to be Davey Boy Smith in the Hall of Fame, not his former tag team partner Dynamite Kid as well. I know the family of Davey Boy has really wanted to get him in the WWE Hall of Fame while Dynamite Kid had spoken out about not wanting to be in WWE’s Hall of Fame when he was alive. Dynamite Kid passed away in December 2018.
Here’s an audio clip of Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer talking about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIwLnCkaFXM
That means the WWE Hall of Fame class as of right now looks like:
Batista (Confirmed)
New World Order’s Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and X-Pac (Confirmed)
The Bella Twins (Reported)
Jushin “Thunder” Liger (Reported)
“British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith (Reported)
It’s not official until WWE says it, but we are close enough to the Hall of Fame now that all of these names are likely in and it’s just a matter of when WWE chooses to announce them.
TJR Thoughts: I’m very happy about this because I know how much it means to Davey’s immediate family and I’m sure his extended family as well. It will be a big deal for British wrestling fans as well because I said, Davey is likely considered the best British wrestler in WWE history with good reason. I’ve also got the chance to talk to Harry, Georgia and Diana a few times. I’m sure they are all very happy about this opportunity to honor Davey. It is very well deserved.