10 great deceased wrestlers not in the WWE Hall Of Fame (videos)

3. Davey Boy Smith

"The British Bulldog"

A rare combination of power, agility, technique, and verbal skills, The British Bulldog really had the total package. Equally decorated as a singles wrestler and as a tag team performer, he could easily be inducted to the HOF as both, making him a 2-times Hall of Famer.

With very fruitful years on Stampede Wrestling and WWF (his WCW run was not so special), he received the Match of the Year award from Pro Wrestling Illustrated along with Bret Hart for their Intercontinental Championship match at SummerSlam 1992, which he won. He is also the inaugural European Champion, as he pinned Owen Hart in February 26, 1997 at the European Championship Tournament final.

As for his tag team career, The British Bulldogs (him and The Dynamite Kid) were named the Tag Team of the Year by Wrestling Observer in 1985. Also, as a member of the New Hart Foundation, he had a great partnership with Owen Hart. In fact, Davey Boy Smith won the WWF Tag Team Championship with both partners, in 1986 and 1996 respectively.

As it was a common practice before the Chris Benoit tragedy and the completely different wellness policy the WWE adopted right afterwards, muscular wrestlers like Smith often used anabolic steroids to built and maintain their physique. Although substances like these were not found in his body after the fatal hart attack he suffered on May 18, 2002, doctors believe that steroids had progressively damaged his cardiovascular system through the years. Smith was 39 years old.

WWE certainly prefers to avoid mentioning cases like that, but as we noted before on the Bam Bam Bigelow section, they can easily evade the drugs and just refer to his death as a mere fact. Thus, it shouldn't be much trouble for them to make him a HOFer when they decide to.

Information sources: Ten Bell Salute, Wikipedia