In the fall of 1992, two WWE top stars suddenly and mysteriously disappeared from the TV shows – for explosive reasons, as it turned out later.
Two future Hall of Fame members were fired from the league from one day to the next – just weeks after playing leading roles in one of the greatest shows in history.
It was one of the most spectacular personnel earthquakes in WWE history, which took place in the fall of 1992 at the wrestling league, in the middle of the first big popularity boom of the then WWF in Europe and especially in Germany.
Nevertheless, few people at the time realized why both the Ultimate Warrior and the “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith had their last big matches for WWE 32 years ago today and suddenly disappeared from the TV shows soon after.
WWE fired the Ultimate Warrior and the British Bulldog
At the time, both the Warrior (real name: Jim Hellwig) and Smith were among the league’s biggest stars: the Warrior, once chosen as the successor to Hulk Hogan, had celebrated a major comeback in spring 1992 after his first break with WWF boss Vince McMahon. The Bulldog was a figurehead in the expansion into Europe that McMahon was pushing at the time – also due to a spectator crisis in the American home market.
At the end of August 1992, McMahon put on his biggest show on European soil to date: the 1992 SummerSlam at London’s Wembley Stadium. The Warrior challenged WWF Champion “Macho Man” Randy Savage there. The Bulldog won the Intercontinental Title from his brother-in-law Bret “The Hitman” Hart in an outstanding and legendary main event – despite a drug-related crash the night before, as it turned out later.
On October 27, 1992, Warrior and Bulldog were also in action at a major event: at the TV show Saturday Night’s Main Event, Warrior fought alongside Savage for the tag team titles of Money Inc. Smith lost his Intercontinental Title to the young, up-and-coming talent “Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels.
Soon after, many fans wondered: Where are the Bulldog and the Warrior?
McMahon had fired both a few weeks after the event, as it turned out – for reasons that were actually logical and yet a remarkable process, which Smith’s brother-in-law Hart later reported in his autobiography.
“On November 18, Vince called me to say that he had just fired the Warrior and that unfortunately Davey would be next,” Hart wrote. The two had ”received packages of growth hormones from a dealer in the UK who had just been arrested. And Vince was under so much pressure that he immediately threw them both out.”
What exactly happened behind the scenes at the time was not communicated by the WWF to the outside world and only gradually leaked out. Contradictory media reports and statements by those involved caused confusion even years later.
The Warrior – although he did not deny having used steroids on a massive scale – claimed in an interview that he had never been told the reason for his sacking. Smith, on the other hand, confirmed that the doping delivery was the reason. According to him, however, he had only established contact for the Warrior and had to bear the consequences for doing so.
WWE Legends involved in scandal
One thing is certain: McMahon took action with unusual severity for him because the affair came at a precarious time for him: the WWF was at the center of a steroid scandal at the time – and McMahon was accused of actively promoting systematic doping with muscle growth agents in his company.
In light of this, McMahon could not afford any more negative headlines at the time and punished his two stars with rare severity. He also accepted that a top match for the big Survivor Series event that had already been scheduled was rewritten at short notice – instead of The Warrior, “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig teamed up with Savage to face Ric Flair and Razor Ramon in a famous plot twist.
The Warrior and the Bulldog were by no means the only WWE legends to become entangled in a steroid or HGH scandal. In most other cases, the internal consequence is at most a short-term suspension, often none at all because (often dubious) medical prescriptions are presented.
Under pressure from the government investigation, long unthinkable things happened in the McMahon Empire: doping tests were introduced, top stars like Hulk Hogan lost muscle mass, and others like the Warlord or the Barbarian disappeared from the scene altogether. Physically less imposing wrestlers like Hart and Michaels climbed the career ladder.
The trial ended with an acquittal
The formally shaky trial against McMahon ultimately ended in an acquittal. Coincidentally or not, the cultural change he initiated was not consistently maintained: WWE abolished steroid tests in 1996, the same year the Warrior was rehired, and Smith was rehired two years earlier. It was only the tragedy of Eddie Guerrero in 2005 (and again government pressure) led to the permanent return of an anti-doping policy.
That there were and are good reasons for this, not least show the fates of Smith and the Warrior: Smith died in 2002 at 39 years of a heart attack, the muscle-building drugs are – as well as prolonged problems with painkiller addiction – thought to be a factor.
