In a new interview with The Hannibal TV, Davey Boy Smith Jr. discussed why he is no longer with New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He also discussed the end of the Killer Elite Squad tag team with Lance Archer.
Check out highlights below:
Why he left NJPW:
Unfortunately I was pretty much in a situation where I couldn’t win. New Japan towards the end were only giving me four tours a year. What they expressed to me was that there was no way for them to increase the work load of KES, Lance Archer and myself as a tag team. I had my back against the wall and it was a business decision that I had to make for my future. I felt like the tag team with Lance Archer with myself had expired and we did all that we could in Japan and in the USA. We’re just not very well known over here as a tag team.
NJPW having communication issues:
This all dates back to when Lance Archer hurt his back on a NJPW tour in March 2017. Believe me, when Archer and myself returned to New Japan after a two-year stint in Noah, I was very fired up and pumped up to take New Japan by storm. I had done a really crazy diet at that time. i didn’t even have a diet coke for about a month. No crap, I was lean and down to 248. Really happy to be back in New Japan, but unfortunately Archer got injured … he had to get emergency back surgery.
I was told I was on the rest of the tour and that I’d be on the next tour. It was a little over four weeks, he gave me a schedule, I wasn’t on the Super Juniors tour, I was on something in June. When I went home, I was owed merchandise money and they said [they’d pay me when I was back next month]. I was waiting for my flight information [and was told I wasn’t on the tour]. I was told I was on the full tour that was over a month long. I tried to send Gedo a Facebook message since that’s how him and Lance Hoyt communicate … he never even read it or responded. I spoke to Hattori, who had the balls to call me back, and he said, ‘We’re sorry,’ and that it was an office person’s fault. I would’ve appreciated them being honest with me and saying that [they had nothing for me since Archer was injured] and book yourself … With that lack of communication, what am I supposed to do?
On Gedo lying to him after he returned:
[I confronted Gedo and told him] that I sent you a Facebook message since that’s how you communicate with Lance. He lied to me, he’s a liar. He said, ‘Facebook? What’s Facebook?’ He talks like Cartman from ‘South Park.’ … They were pretending they didn’t speak English for 30 seconds, and I said, ‘What’s this then?’ and showed him the message. ‘How do you communicate with Lance then?’ I looked him in the eye and he goes, ‘I don’t know.’ ‘Well, you talk to him on Facebook, right? Do you want me back in New Japan or not? What’s the story here?’ He said when Lance gets better in September, we’ll come back and feud with War Machine and G.O.D. [I talked about the lack of communication] and he apologized … but ever since that day, Gedo was scared of me and didn’t want to communicate with me. Japanese don’t like confrontations, they’re very passive-aggressive.
NJPW blocking him coming to IMPACT:
I had been contacted by IMPACT Wrestling to do TV and I asked [NJPW] very nicely [if I could do it] and all of a sudden their eyes got wide and they were like, ‘You don’t want to leave us to go with them.’ I said no, but if you’re only booking me on four tours a year then I need to do things to further my career and get back on TV. … I asked Gedo and Jado, and I like Jado a lot, he has a better business mind for wrestling than Gedo does, but it was like, ‘F—ing Jeff Jarrett. They f—ed Okada over.’ I was like, ‘Guys, Jeff Jarrett is gone. I was just asking. You said no, that’s fine.’ So, I went home and Lance Archer had emailed the new president Harold Meij and he said to Lance, “We figured Davey Boy was going to IMPACT and that you guys were done.” Lance asks me about this and … Gedo had told Meij that I was quitting. There was miscommunication and words were putting into my mouth. … I was never threatening to quit.
Watch the full clip for even more:
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