5 Best WWE Matches of The British Bulldog
Rumours are abound that Davey Boy Smith AKA The British Bulldog is set to be inducted into the 2020 WWE Hall of Fame.
If the rumours are true then Bulldog would be one of the most deserving Hall of Fame candidates in years.
Bulldog debuted for WWE way back in 1984 as one half of the tag team The British Bulldogs, with his cousin, Tom "The Dynamite Kid" Billington. The tandem was an instant success, capturing the Tag Team Championship from Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake in a featured match at WrestleMania II.
Bulldog and Kid departed WWE after the 1988 Survivor Series but Bulldog returned as a singles act in October 1990. Bulldog was a big star in the United States but was a sensation in his homeland, the UK.
Such was Bulldog's popularity in the UK, that when business declined in the States, WWE promoted their 1992 edition of SummerSlam from Wembley Stadium in London, England to capitalise on Bulldog's momentum.
The plan was a success. SummerSlam 1992 attracted WWE's largest ever crowd at that point, with a legitimate crowd of over 80,000 in attendance (the WrestleMania III number of 93,000 was an exaggeration, it was closer to 78,000).
The main event saw Bulldog capture the Intercontinental Championship from his brother in law, Bret Hart, in a classic encounter. However, that joy was short lived, when Bulldog was relieved of the belt just two months later by Shawn Michaels and fired for a breach of WWE's drug policy.
Returning at SummerSlam 1994, Bulldog became a fixture in the upper mid card, becoming the first ever European Champion, multi-time Tag Team Champion and perennial contender for the WWE Championship.
Bulldog left the company following the 1997 Survivor Series. After an underwhelming run, beset by injury in WCW, Bulldog returned for a final run in WWE in late 1999. After unsuccessfully challenging for the WWE Championship on several occasions, he won the European Championship for a second time as well as the Hardcore belt before departing the promotion in 2000.
Bulldog died of a massive heart attack on May 18, 2002, while training for a comeback. He was 39 years old.
This slideshow looks back on the five best British Bulldog matches of all time.
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#5 vs Shawn Michaels - One Night Only (September 3, 1997)
One of the best matches to ever take place in the UK was one of its most controversial.
Wrestling at a WWE show in England for the first time since his glorious Intercontinental Title winning effort at SummerSlam 1992, The British Bulldog walked into Birmingham, hoping to retain his European Championship versus Shawn Michaels.
That was the original plan. Bulldog had been booked to retain the title but Michaels, in one of many backstage machinations, managed to convince WWE boss, Vince McMahon to change the result.
The idea was, that Michaels would defeat Bulldog at One Night Only, then drop the belt back to him at the next UK pay per view, Mayhem in Manchester in April 1998.
However, that re-match never occurred. Michaels wrestled his final match for four years one week prior to the scheduled Mayhem in Manchester card at WrestleMania XIV after suffering a devastating back injury at Royal Rumble 1998. Bulldog, for his part left the company in November 1997, ensuring that the result of the One Night Only clash leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of many fans over two decades on.
However, despite the controversial result, the match was a fantastic, super-heated collision. The dastardly Michaels repeatedly exploited Bulldog's knee injury and despite dramatic hope spots, eventually earned the victory via Bulldog passing out in the Figure Four leg-lock after succumbing to the boatloads of intereference from D-Generation X.
This battle remains one of the most memorable of Bulldog's career for the right and wrong reasons.