What’s the story?
Davey Boy Smith Jr., who was known as David Hart Smith in the WWE, recently had an interview with Hannibal TV and spoke about CM Punk’s foray into the UFC. Smith supported Punk’s decision to go to the UFC but said that he never believed that Punk was going to win.
The Hannibal TV video of Smith’s interview can be seen below:
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In case you didn’t know...
Davey Boy Smith Jr. is the son of the late Davey Boy Smith. He is a former WWE Superstar who was signed on to the company in 2006 and performed in the developmental territory as well as the main brands until 2011 when he was released.
Smith won the WWE Tag Team Championship as well as the World Tag Team Championships one time each with his tag team partner Tyson Kidd; their team was known as the “Hart Dynasty”.
Smith has also wrestled in New Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah as well as the TNA-affiliated Ring Ka King, besides the WWE.
The heart of the matter
During the interview, Smith discussed several professional wrestling related topics. Most notably, however, he spoke about CM Punk’s fight against Mickey Gall in the UFC.
Smith said that he gave Punk a lot of credit for going out there and fighting inside the UFC Octagon. He said that the appearance made a lot of sense for Punk considering the monetary incentive involved. Smith added that Dana White and the Fertitta brothers were the ones to blame for Punk being there, not Punk himself.
Smith then recalled speaking to former UFC fighter Josh Barnett about CM Punk; Smith said that Barnett thought that Punk needed a lot of work before his fight and that neither he nor Smith himself was confident about Punk’s chances in the match.
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Smith emphasised that the level of competition in the UFC was very high and that it would probably have been a much better idea for Punk to have gone to Bellator or another smaller promotion first, to build up his MMA record.
Smith then spoke about whether Punk’s ordeal had hurt the professional wrestling business. He was quoted as saying:
“So was it a bad thing? Well, I mean I don't think it hurt pro wrestling cause everybody seems to think that it's fake and this and that, and that's because of the way things have happened and the way things have been exploited.
But also, people know that if it's pre-determined they still want to be entertained, but they still almost want to believe 'Oh is that really real?'”
What’s next?
Davey Boy Smith Jr. has recently announced his return to New Japan Pro Wrestling, where he will be competing on the Kizuna Road special in a 6-man tag team match featuring himself, Minoru Suzuki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru going up against the team of Yoshi Hashi, Gedo and Kazuchika Okada on 18th June 2017.
Author’s take
Smith’s opinion about CM Punk going to the UFC is about as objective as it can get. No one should be blaming Punk for taking up the opportunity to make a decent chunk of money by doing something that he always wanted to do in the first place.
Punk put a lot of work in to prepare himself for his match. However, he came up short against the much more experienced fighter in Mickey Gall. However, he did make a lot of money and inspired countless people in the process. Win-win!
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