Dangerous Danny Davis On Becoming A Corrupt Referee, Claims WWE Is Cheap With Their Hall Of Fame
Dangerous Danny Davis worked for WWE for 15 years as both a wrestler and a referee. He was one of the first to portray the crooked ref who would favor the heels in matches such as quick counts when the face was being pinned.
That gimmick was in the 1980s and was seemingly ahead of its time. Davis reflected on that angle when he was interview by VOC Nation Radio.
"Nobody ever approached me about doing that [angle]," revealed Davis. "One night they did that thing with me in Florida with the Bulldogs, and the next thing I knew I was Dangerous Danny Davis. I don't know who or how it happened, but that's how they decided they were going to change the belts?It was such a natural thing and it got over so big; I don't think they thought the reaction would be that big."
Davis was the ref when the British Bulldogs defended their tag titles against the Hart Foundation. Davis allowed the Hart Foundation, who were heels, to use illegal double teams which helped them defeat the Bulldogs for the titles.
Davis paints a much different picture of the planning that went into things back in the 80s as compared to now.
"All of our interviews were off the cuff?you just did them off the top of your head. It was different than it is now. Back then, everybody got a break. They would put you in a position to do well and Vince and the agents would be back watching. They would give them an opportunity, and if it got over then they went with it. If it didn't, they would kill it," said Davis. "You didn't go into an arena and practice your match?it was all off the cuff and you [had to] know how to work."
The feud between the Harts and Bulldogs eventually led to Davis stepping into the ring at WrestleMania 3 in a six-man tag match. He and the Hart Foundation took on the Bulldogs and Tito Santana and Davis talked about coming to the ring in front of 90,000 people.
"I had a dream to become a professional wrestler. I would have been satisfied to become Dangerous Danny Davis and do jobs," stated Davis. "When you stepped through that curtain and got on that cart?there is no words to tell anybody how it feels unless they had a dream and that dream came true."
WWE hasn't inducted any referees into their Hall of Fame but Davis believes as though he's deserving of that honor. However, he also doesn't think it will happen while he's still alive.
"They wait until you're deceased so they don't have to pay for your flight, hotel, and things like that," said Davis. "They do it posthumously, and that's more and more the trend. There's a lot of guys that should be in there that aren't. I don't want to wait until I'm gone to be put in the Hall of Fame; I'd like to enjoy it while I'm still here on the planet."