Davey Boy Smith Jr., who is one-half of The MLW Tag Team Champions with teammate, Teddy Hart, was a guest on this week’s WINCLY Podcast. Davey told Wrestling Inc.’s Nick Hausman his opinion on NJPW making the decision to put The IWGP Heavyweight Title on Jay White earlier this week. Davey also addressed if he has been approached for a deal with the developing promotion, All Elite Wrestling.
Davey & Hart won The MLW Tag Team Championships when they defeated The Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Jr. & Fenix) at The 2300 Arena on February 2nd, 2019. The 2300 Arena has had many names including it once being established as The Legendary ECW Arena. Davey explained how winning The MLW Tag Team Titles in that specific venue enhanced the moment for him because he has been an ECW fanboy since the original product was at its peak. Not only that, but his father was a part of The Eastern Championship Wrestling version of ECW and may have faced Sandman in that very same venue decades ago.
“Growing up, I was admittedly a huge fan, I guess you could say mark – we’re all marks in a way – of the old ECW, and I guess that they renovated the [2300 Arena] over the years but it’s still up,” Davey said. “You can feel the ambiance and the atmosphere inside of there, and I remember being a teenager here in Calgary and waiting and waiting because we always used to do the tape trading stuff. We’d get tapes from our video [store], or a friend, or from some random guy on the internet of all the old ECW stuff. Really huge fan, and what a great moment it was to win the tag team championships there as well. And then later in the night, me and Brian Pillman Jr., we faced Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman, too. Because, like I said, I grew up watching those guys on TV as well, and my dad had wrestled the Sandman in the old ECW: Eastern Championship Wrestling. Maybe in that same arena, too.”
Davey took a moment to reflect on his prior Championship match against The Lucha Brothers. Although he is pleased with the result, Davey believes that another match pitting himself & Hart against The Lucha Brothers would result in something even more spectacular.
“[The Lucha Bros] are very talented,” Davey admitted. “We had an interesting match. They like to hit hard, so I like to hit hard back, which you probably saw that in the match a couple of times. But they’re talented and I would like to get the chance to wrestle them again, because sometimes, the first time you wrestle somebody – then again, sometimes when you wrestle with somebody the first time, it clicks. But there’s other people you wrestle the first time and it’s alright. You build off of that and they learn what your style is, and you learn what they do inside the ring and you go off of that. The matches become better and better, so I hope we get the chance to do another tag team match. I thought it was better than good, I just thought that it could even be better. So, hopefully we get that chance to do that again soon.”
AEW continues gaining momentum as they approach their sold out show, AEW Double Or Nothing, taking place on May 25th at The MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. AEW has also turned a lot of heads with their various talent signings, some being stars featured in MLW. Although his peers may be in transition, Davey explained that he has yet to be approached by anyone from AEW and even if he was, it would be a tricky situation considering his relationship with NJPW.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone [from AEW] yet,” Davey explained. “I think that it’s awesome that they’ve created something new and different, and I hope it’s a fresh breath of air for the wrestling world. Something that’s just a different alternative, and hey, competition is always a good thing, right? For WWE and for everybody else, it keeps things interesting and it keeps things more exciting. It sounds like they have a lot of money because they can sign guys to, apparently, pretty good contracts. I haven’t been contacted by them, but if I were to be, I don’t know what the situation is with New Japan. It seems that they’re not really working with AEW, which is too bad, because guys like The Young Bucks & Kenny were featured stars in New Japan. And then when they started their own company, it seems that things have kind of split. I’d have to look in to what would be the best situation for myself.
“You know what? I wish them all the best. I would like to be a part of it if there’s interest, if there’s a situation that I can be in there but I don’t know if it would work with New Japan. I’m not sure.”
Davey mentioned how he also hasn’t been approached about working The ROH & NJPW combined G1 Supercard Show, taking place on Saturday, April 6th from Madison Square Garden in New York City. Nevertheless, Davey revealed that he will be present at Josh Barnett’s upcoming Bloodsport Event against a to-be-determined opponent.
“I haven’t been asked about it, so I’m going to say: no. I will be in the Josh Barnett Bloodsport show on the 4 as well,” Davey said. “He hasn’t announced it yet or announced my opponent, but we talk and it looks like I’m a go for it. But we haven’t decided who the right opponent would be. I’m looking forward to that.”
As previously reported, Jay White defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to become The New IWGP Heavyweight Champion during the main event of NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka earlier this week. Davey believes that the result of the match may partially be due to the fact that Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks & others have departed from the company to sign with AEW. Davey is happy for White that this is the outcome of a possible “scramble mode,” however, Davey’s sole concern now is for White’s health.
“It makes sense because they’ve had a lot of talent that’s left to AEW, so, I think that in their mind they’re trying to build new stars,” Davey said. “It may also be kind of in a scramble mode where they’re like, ‘Okay, we need to make somebody right now because we’ve lost Kenny, The Young Bucks, Cody, Trent Beretta, whoever else.’ So it makes sense. I think Jay’s a pretty solid wrestler. He’s very smooth in the ring. I mean, that’s a big decision to do – to put the title on him that soon. But, I guess that they’re in that situation where they want to make somebody. I think the main thing for Jay is, he’s just got to watch out right now and not get hurt. Always that seems to be what happens is, guys, they get the big push and they’re going pedal to the metal. They’re going hard and then they get some kind of injury that sidetracks them. So, hopefully he stays healthy and I wish him all the best with it. Hopefully New Japan made the right decision and time will tell.”
MLW Fusion airs every Saturday at 9PM EST on beIN Sports. MLW will return to Chicago on March 2nd for Intimidation Games at Cicero Stadium. MLW’s last Chicago Show sold out and fans had to be turned away at the door.
You can listen to Davey’s full WINCLY Interview in the embedded audio player below: