Davey Boy Smith Jr. is thankful for sitting under the learning tree of Dusty Rhodes.
Speaking with Dominic DeAngelo for AdFreeShows, Davey Boy Smith Jr. was asked about finding his voice with cutting promos. Smith credited the late Dusty Rhodes for guiding him, noting that every promo needs to end on a high note.
“People, just because what they’d seen on WWE TV, I just never got a chance to talk about anything that I was really passionate about,” Smith said. “[WWE] never really gave me an opportunity. But Dusty Rhodes was the guy that taught me the art of the promo. I may not be able to able to cut a promo like CM Punk or John Cena, but that’s not exactly my character either. Dusty, the main thing that he taught me was that every promo has to have a good ending. He told me — I don’t know if you’ve seen my promos, but I use my eyes very well, like a psychopathic, kind of very serious, stone-cold stare. I’m a little bit of psycho, but who isn’t?
“Dusty taught me that silence is golden so sometimes, and sometimes it’s not exactly what you say, it’s how you say it. To be able to deliver stuff and use that intensity with eyes, or even if it’s with your fists and clenching it. You can be conversational about it. There’s different tempos to the promos, kind of like a match.”
Smith went on to share that he did cut his own promos in FCW under Dusty’s guidance, but never got that chance on the WWE main roster. He mentioned going back to WWE in 2021 and said things were looking up, but new variables put a stop to things before he got a chance to do something meaningful.
“Dusty helped me a lot. I’m very thankful for that. He used to tell me that I was one of his prodigies. We started a promo from scratch to where we went. I wasn’t able to do much with WWE. That’s not my fault,” Smith noted, “that was due to creative. But I’m glad to be able to have a voice in MLW.
“I thought that my promos that I cut two, three years ago, leading up to that match with Jacob Fatu, were really awesome. The one I cut outside the ring in Tijuana, Mexico, where Rey Mysterio used to train and do little shows, some of those promos were really good,” Smith said. “I was flying back from San Diego, and that’s when I was told that the world was shutting down. We were just getting the ball rolling, and then that happened. But that was what it was.”
Davey Boy Smith Jr. wrestled a dark match before SmackDown on July 16, 2021. It was later announced that he had signed a contract with WWE, but he was ultimately released on November 4 without making a televised appearance during that run.
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