The British Bulldog: The Final Chapter
Ditching the Union Jack trunks and the Rule Britannia entrance music for jeans and rock music accompanied by a dog’s bark, The British Bulldog's last major run with the WWE in 1999 began with Bulldog competing against the top stars of WWE’s most popular period before dropping down to the lower end of the card.
Upset with how the Screw Job had transpired at Survivor Series 1997, Davey Boy Smith requested and was successfully granted his release by the WWE and re-joined WCW.
During Fall Brawl 1998, The British Bulldog was not informed by WCW management about the location of a trap door in the ring that was set up for The Warrior's entrance later in the evening. Unfortunately, Bulldog took two painful bumps on the trap door, which led him to suffer a severe spine injury that nearly ended his career.
While recovering, Bulldog was mailed his release from WCW.
Following an agonizing year of recovery, Bulldog returned to 270 pounds and was re-signed to WWF in the latter half of 1999.
The British Bulldog returned to WWE television on the September 9, 1999, edition of SmackDown, pinning The Big Bossman and capturing the WWE Hardcore Championship. After winning the Championship, Bulldog handed the title over to Al Snow, who had been feuding with the veteran after Bossman had fed Snow his dog ‘Pepper.’
The British Bulldog returns and captures the Hardcore Championship. [WWE Network]
The Unforgiven 1999 main event was set as a six-pack challenge for the vacant WWE Championship. With The Undertaker pulling out, Mr. McMahon allowed The British Bulldog to be the replacement. To show his appreciation, Bulldog offered his services to McMahon as the guest referee in a Barama Bull Rope match between The Rock and Triple H in the main event of the SmackDown go-home show. Triple H needed to win the match to ensure his place in the Unforgiven main event, and in a shocking twist, Bulldog turned heel and hit a running Powerslam on The Rock, which allowed Triple H to pick up the win.
At Unforgiven, Triple H successfully captured the WWE Championship. The next night on RAW, with Triple H celebrating his new championship reign, Davey Boy Smith made his way down to the ring. It was revealed that a deal had been agreed upon which allowed Bulldog to receive the first championship shot if either of them were successful at Unforgiven. Triple H informed Bulldog that he lied and proceeded to attack him.
The conclusion of RAW saw The British Bulldog return and stand tall to close out the show after assaulting The Rock. On the next episode of SmackDown, Mr. McMahon ordered Triple H to face The British Bulldog for the WWE Championship, with The Rock serving as guest referee.
This match stood out for two particular moments.
The Rock counting one, two before delivering his catchphrase, ‘It doesn’t matter if The Rock counts to three.’
The second notable moment was the memorable visual of The Rock executing a sliding People’s Elbow on The Bulldog.
The weekend afterwards, WWE headed to the United Kingdom for their special UK pay-per-view Rebellion. With the WWE in The Bulldog's hometown, Smith confronted Vince and Shane McMahon about the fact he wasn’t receiving a WWE Championship match in his home country. Temperamental, Davey Boy picked up a trash can and threw it off camera. Viewers heard that the trash can had accidentally struck Stephanie McMahon in the head.
On Raw, we learned that Stephanie had suffered from amnesia and forgot about her then fiancée Test. Vince McMahon demanded an apology from the Manchester native, but Bulldog refused. After attempting to attack The Rock at the end of Raw, Bulldog tried to flee the ring, but Vince McMahon came to ringside and threw Bulldog back in the ring, continuing to brawl with The Rock.
The October 11, 1999 episode of Monday Night Raw saw The Rock and Sock Connection take on the team of The British Bulldog and Val Venis. After winning, The Rock delivered a famous Rock Bottom on The Bulldog into dog excrement.
JR spoke about his dislike for the angle of The Rock, British Bulldog and dog poop.
“I didn’t get that. That was insulting, and it wasn’t even funny. It’s course it’s crass, just go have that great match that you know you can have. But the dog sh*t thing didn’t fit for me. It’s like can we go lower? Maybe we should take a picture of the dog actually taking the sh*t and then doing it, I don’t know. I’m being facetious obviously, that didn’t belong there.”
The British Bulldog daughter, Georgia Smith, has spoken about angle and her conversation with The Rock:
“Because my dad would come pick me up or whatever and people would be like, “The Rock Rock-Bottomed him in dog poop…” whispering to each other and I was like, ‘Oh God.’ And it was real dog feces. I didn’t know that. And The Rock actually told me that a couple of years ago. I was like, ‘That was fake!’ and he said, “No. That was real. We could smell it from so far away. And your dad was getting all ready for the match; baby oil, pumping up and stretching and he’s like, that’s dog s—t! I’m going to have to be Rock-bottomed in THAT? And your dad’s face just dropped…” He was like, ‘Oh my God’… but you know, he did it. But I thought it was fake feces or whatever… Nope! It was real! [laughing] and I guess he was told last minute and he was like, ‘What?!!?’”
The Rock pinned The British Bulldog in their big match at No Mercy.
Bulldog quickly moved on to Test, who was looking to exact revenge on Davey Boy following the incident with Stephanie and the trash can.
A match was made for Monday Night Raw between the two, as The Mean Street Posse came down to the ring and interfered, attacking Test. This was the start of a collation between Bulldog and the Posse as Rodney, Pete Gass, and Joey Abs began to hang around with Bulldog, learning from the now Hall of Famer.
The following week, The British Bulldog defeated Test in a steel cage match after The Mean Street Posse and Shane McMahon got involved. With The Posse in tow, WWE tried to help Davey Boy Smith capture some of the magic of old and decided to have him win the WWE European Championship defeating D’Lo Brown on SmackDown. The Bulldog was the first-ever WWE European Champion, and WWE was seeking to re-create a formula that had worked in the past.
At Survivor Series 1999, The British Bulldog teamed with The Mean Street Posse against the team of Val Venis, Steve Blackman, Gangrel and Mark Henry in a 4-on-4 Survivor Series elimination match. Henry and Val Venis were the sole survivors for the winning team, with Bulldog having to go solo for a portion of the match after his teammates were eliminated easily.
Coming out of Survivor Series, Bulldog had a problem with the man who pinned him at Survivor Series, Val Venis. As WWE European Champion, Bulldog was forced to defend the title against The Big Valbowski. Venis defeated Smith by disqualification but was unhappy; Bulldog attacked Venis on RAW while Venis faced newcomer Kurt Angle.
In a championship defence against D’Lo Brown, Bulldog was attacked by Val Venis, costing Brown the match. An annoying D’Lo started to brawl with Venis, who just ruined his chances at championship gold.
A number one contender’s match was announced for Monday Night Raw between Val Venis and D’Lo Brown, with the winner facing the champion at Armageddon. In their bout, Bulldog interfered, attacking both men, thus leaving no option but to make it Triple-Threat at the pay-per-view.
At Armageddon on December 12, 1999, Val Venis performed the ‘Money Shot’ on Bulldog and pinned him to become the new WWE European Champion.
During his run, Davey Boy Smith looked like a shell of his former self and began to look out of place as the WWE landscape noticeably changed since his previous tenure with the company.
Cursed with personal demons, Bulldog’s appearances became relatively sparse. He appeared in the 2000 Royal Rumble. After being kept off television for a couple of months, he made a surprise appearance at the UK-only pay-per-view Insurrection, where he pinned Crash Holly to become the new WWE Hardcore Champion. Expectedly, Bulldog’s victory elicited a loud response from the UK faithful.
A week later, on SmackDown, Bulldog lost the championship back to Crash Holly. This was Davey Boy Smith's last appearance on WWE television, besides two more appearances on Sunday Night Heat. A sad end for the WWE superstar, who was a significant attraction earlier in the decade.
Two years removed from his WWE tenure, Smith wrestled Top Rope Championship Wrestling twice, where he teamed with his son Harry Smith in a tag team match and a 6-man tag match.
Davey, Harry and Zack Merc VS Robby Royce, Axe and TJ Bratt [Robby Royce]
Based on the wear and tear on his body and battling ongoing demons, The British Bulldog’s run in the WWE in 1999 was a somber final chapter for one of the United Kingdom’s most famous wrestling exports.
If you don’t leave the past behind you, you can never make room for the present and the future.
