Davey Boy Smith vs Police Officer

Date: 1983 (exact date unknown)
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

Very few details exist of an out of the ring incident between Davey Boy Smith and a local police officer. All that was reported is that Smith assaulted a Calgary police officer, and nearly got deported for it (police departments always aggressively seek the maximum punishment when it involves one of their own).

Sydney Sutherland was a Calgary police officer who was there to witness it, and testified years later against Smith in a case involving a local patron at a bar who assaulted Smith. In that incident, Smith was accused (and later acquitted of) of powerbombing the patron into a wall, and Smith claimed there was no way that could’ve happened in a real life situation because it would require the cooperation of the recipient, as it does in a worked pro wrestling environment. Prosecutors against Smith then brought in Sutherland, who described the 1983 incident, saying he witnessed Smith pick up another police officer by the gun belt and collar, pick him up, and throw him two yards across the lane of a street. He was referring to the assault that nearly got him deported.

Smith was working for Stampede Wrestling at the time, and promoter Stu Hart had to use every contact and connection he had at the Calgary Police Department to prevent Smith from being deported. Stu was extremely well known and respected in the community, and was able to keep Smith in the country thanks to the pull he had with the police.

Not long after, Smith and Dynamite Kid were hired by the WWF (as the British Bulldogs) as part of Vince McMahon’s purchase of Stampede Wrestling. As part of the purchase, the British Bulldogs were promised a top position in the company, which they maintained until Kid quit the company in light of yet another out of the ring incident, this time with Jacques Rougeau.