Arn Anderson Reflects on Davey Boy Smith's Departure from WCW and His Potential as World Champion

In a recent episode of The ARN Show, wrestling legend Arn Anderson opened up about the career and departure of Davey Boy Smith, known to many as the British Bulldog, from WCW in the late 1993. Anderson shared his insights on various aspects of Smith's career and the impact of his departure from the wrestling world.

Discussing the circumstances around Smith's exit from WCW, Anderson said, "Not to be exact, but I do remember something about missing some dates. And without the proper doctors, a slip or excuse, whatever you want to call it. Doctor’s excuse. I could see that leading to — here’s the thing. When you get a guy that’s positioned like he is and has a career that he’s had, it’s not like you can just replace him with anybody. We’ve talked about that. When you replace a guy, you said it earlier, it better be better than what you had originally. And that’s hard to do with Davey Boy.”

Anderson also commented on how WCW utilized Smith, noting, “Gosh, I don’t know. I would have to really go back and see how he was used because I don’t remember. I know that he had some good matches with Vader. That’s really the only thing that pops to the forefront that I can remember, that he was strong enough and jacked up enough that he could bounce Vader around. And that’s impressive on anybody’s sheet.”

Reflecting on his reaction to Smith's departure, Anderson reminisced, “Well, I mean, I go back to when he was partners with the other Bulldog when they were the British Bulldogs. When we first got to WWE, we worked with them on a couple of house shows, and those guys were a damn good team. A really good team. Looked the part: big, rugged guys and great athletes. And you just hate really to see that not continue, I guess.”

Finally, Anderson speculated on the potential trajectory of Smith's career had he not struggled with drug issues, stating, “Sure could [be World Champion]. You know, the potential was certainly there. The ability was there. And again, I don’t want to talk about situations that I didn’t know about and that I was not there to see firsthand. But a lot of guys in this business have floundered because of a number of reasons that drug them down. I think that just what, you know, you hear from the outside looking in, it was just a shame he could have done so much more.”