Davey Boy positive about his future December 20, 2000
By RICK BELL -- Calgary Sun
Davey Boy Smith, the man better known as the British Bulldog, is now weighing whether to return to the rough-and-tumble of professional wrestling.
And Davey says he is definitely off the painkillers he'd been on after slamming his back into the trap door of a wrestling ring, a battering blow landing him in the hospital, dissolving discs in his back and leading to his dependence on the drugs.
"For now, I have no intention to go back into the ring," says Davey, who is no longer under contract with Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation.
"I feel pretty good. Every day I just keep getting better and better and better. With my time off, my injuries have started to heal up now. I've still got back pain, quite a bit. But not as much as I use to have."
"My weight is up. I'm 260 pounds now. My strength is up. Both my kids live with me. I'm not on any drugs. None. The last time I took any drug was in July and that was a painkiller given to me by a doctor in the Rockyview Hospital. I was getting surgery done on my shoulder. "
"My head is really clear. I haven't been clear for a long time. My everyday life has changed. I'm like a totally different person. I'm not even taking aspirins. I was messed up for a couple of years but I don't have to worry about drugs messing up my head now."
Davey recently booked into drug rehab as part of a deal to get out of jail on bail. The grappler recently faced four counts of uttering threats but, earlier this month, the prosecution did not go forward with the charges.
In exchange, Davey must keep the peace, report to a probation officer, have no contact with his estranged wife, Diana Hart-Smith, and use no illicit drugs.
On the issue of drugs, Davey says he did stay a week in a month-long drug program in Grande Prairie but was released early.
"I'm not the first athlete or the first entertainer who's been in rehab. I'm not embarrassed. I wasn't taking drugs to feel good. I had a broken back. I was medicating myself and did what I felt I had to do to keep wrestling and put food on the table."
"After a week in Grande Prairie they kicked me out and said the program was not for me."
While Davey decides whether or not to return once again to the ring, he definitely plans to take a course in personal training and hopes to open a wrestling school in the new year.
"I'm looking forward to this school and being my own boss in Calgary," says the wrestler, who once wrestled in front of a capacity crowd at London's Wembley Stadium but has not performed on TV for almost a year.
"I don't want to get the average Joe off the street and just take his money. I want to train people who have the real potential to be a pro wrestler. I want to give my experience to other people."
"If you want to learn to wrestle, I've done that. If you want me to teach you how to get in shape, I can help people get in shape in a couple months. That's all I've ever really done is train."
Davey is heartened to hear that despite his difficulties there are still many fans throughout the world who are in his corner and recall his many triumphs.
"I'm really glad the wrestling fans are still behind me," says Davey.
"I'm glad they still look at me as a human being.
"If they spent a couple hours with me they'd know I'm a true and good-hearted man. I'm just David Smith, the delivery boy from England. I may have been a name but I'm really just a regular guy."
And as for drugs?
"We all can make mistakes. But I'm not getting back on that track. It's the loser's track."
credit: http://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingBritishBulldog/future_00dec20-sun.html
