Dangerous Danny Davis

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the former owner of Ohio Valley Wrestling, see Nightmare Danny Davis. For the curler, see Dan Marsh (curler).
Dangerous Danny Davis
Birth nameDaniel Davis
Born (1956-03-28) March 28, 1956 (age 68)
Massachusetts[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Danny Davis[2]
Galaxian 1
The Nightmare
Danny Littlewolf
Mr. X[2]
Billed height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Billed weight230 lb (100 kg)[2]
Billed fromDover, New Hampshire[3]
Debut1981
Retired1995

Daniel Davis (born March 28, 1956) is an American former professional wrestling referee and wrestler best known under the ring name "Dangerous" Danny Davis when he worked for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). For years, he competed as Mr. X, a masked wrestler while also working as a referee.

As a referee, Davis played the role of a crooked referee who showed blatant favoritism toward certain wrestlers, with the storyline that this eventually led to his removal as a referee. He then helped

The Hart Foundation and began wrestling as "Dangerous" Danny Davis. He competed at several major WWF events, during which his team won a six-man match at WrestleMania III and advanced to the semi-final round at King of the Ring 1987
. He was later reinstated as a referee and remained with the company until the mid-1990s.

Career

WWF referee (1981–1987)

Danny Davis started out in 1981 in the

World Wrestling Federation as a referee under his birthname ring name Danny Davis.[2] He also wrestled from 1984 to 1986 as the masked Mr. X, working masked so that the fans did not realize it was a referee in the ring.[4] The Mr. X character was a jobber who won very few matches. He wrestled some of the WWF's top stars, including former WWF Champions Pedro Morales and Bruno Sammartino. He also participated in the 1986 King of the Ring tournament. He was given a bye to the second round but lost his match to Billy Jack Haynes.[5] His biggest win as Mr. X came on the October 28, 1986 episode of WWF Prime Time Wrestling
when he defeated fellow jobber Rudy Diamond.

Starting in 1986, Davis was involved in a storyline that saw him act biased in some matches and had him involved in several controversial matches in which he was thought to favor the

B. Brian Blair
) for a while, due to Davis disqualifying Brunzell and Blair in the matches that he refereed.

"Dangerous" Danny Davis (1987–1989)

On the January 26, 1987 edition of

The Hart Foundation defeated The British Bulldogs to win the WWF Tag Team Championship. Danny Davis was the referee for the match and as part of the storyline, he allowed the Hart Foundation to use illegal double-team maneuvers in the match.[7] As a result of the match, WWF president Jack Tunney stripped Davis of his referee duties.[3] That same night, Davis was approached by manager Jimmy Hart about joining his stable of wrestlers. Davis joined up with Jimmy Hart and the Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) and became known as "Dangerous" Danny Davis.[8] He accompanied the Hart Foundation to the ring for their matches and often became involved by attacking the Hart Foundation's opponents from outside the ring or entering the ring to reverse pinfalls by placing Hart or Neidhart on top of their opponents.[9] At the beginning of his suspension as a referee, Davis was involved in a scripted storyline in which he occasionally came to the ring and insisted that he would referee a match. This led to officials from the state athletic commission removing Davis from ringside.[9]

Davis appeared on

Piper's Pit, an interview segment hosted by Roddy Piper to discuss his decisions as a referee. Davis refused to admit to any wrongdoing and was confronted by Marella, who criticized him. The segment ended with Piper attacking Davis. At WrestleMania III, Davis made his in-ring debut when he teamed up with the Hart Foundation to defeat the British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) and Tito Santana (Santana's inclusion was explained that Davis had been the referee when Tito had lost the Intercontinental Championship to "Macho Man" Randy Savage who had used a foreign object to get the win even though the heel gimmick had not actually started at that time). Davis got the pin on Smith after he hit him in the head with Jimmy Hart's megaphone.[10] His next major appearance was in the 1987 King of the Ring tournament. Davis defeated Tito Santana and Junkyard Dog before being eliminated in the third round by Randy Savage, who went on to win the tournament.[11] During 1987, Davis was booked in several series of matches: against Koko B. Ware, George Steele, and Jake Roberts. The feud with Ware included a match televised on the April 13, 1987 episode of Prime Time Wrestling, which ended in a draw.[9][12] Ware won most of the matches, but Davis won several matches after using foreign objects to attack Ware.[9]

Davis initiated a feud with Steele when Steele was facing

Saturday Night's Main Event XIII, in which Steele defeated Davis by disqualification after Davis kicked referee Joey Marella.[14] Davis' feud with Roberts began when Davis showed up unexpectedly on the Snake Pit, Roberts' interview segment, while Roberts was interviewing Mr. T. Davis ran away after Roberts brought out Damien, his pet python. On the September 19, 1987 episode of WWF Superstars of Wrestling, Davis attempted to steal Damien during one of Roberts' matches, but Roberts chased him away again. Davis also had a rivalry with Mr. T, who was booked to enforce the rules during matches and thwarted Davis' attempts to interfere.[9] At the inaugural Survivor Series, Davis participated in the opening contest, joining The Honky Tonk Man, Hercules, Ron Bass and Harley Race, facing Randy Savage, Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat, Brutus Beefcake and Jim Duggan. Davis was the third man eliminated on his team, after Roberts performed a DDT on him.[15][16]
Roberts and Davis had a singles match the following month on Prime Time Wrestling. Roberts beat Davis quickly, placed Damien on Davis, and left the ring.

As Davis' feuds were winding down, he entered into a new feud with

promotional interviews and fights, as well as a series of matches that lasted several months and saw the two trade victories.[6][9] The following year, he competed in the battle royal main event at Royal Rumble 1988. He was in the ring for the fourth-longest time but was eliminated by eventual winner Jim Duggan when Davis was thrown over the top ring rope to the floor.[17] He also competed in the 20-man battle royal at WrestleMania IV. He was thrown over the top rope by Paul Roma to be eliminated from the match.[18][19]

WWF referee (1989–1995)

Shortly after 1989 began Davis became a jobber and in November 1989, Davis was reinstated as a referee. From this point on, his officiating style became objective, and the crooked referee gimmick was dropped completely.

foreign object to attack his opponents in a tag team contest. Davis came to the ring from backstage and disqualified Hogan overturning the victory for Hulk Hogan.[20] He worked for the WWF until October 1995.[21]

World Wrestling Alliance (2002–2010)

Following eleven years of inactivity as a wrestler, Danny Davis made a return to the ring for Jersey All Pro Wrestling on October 26, 2001. On the "JAPW Class of 2001" event, he was defeated by Mafia (Dan Maff).[22] Davis then joined the World Wrestling Alliance in November 2002. On January 10, 2003, at a WWA card in Norwood, MA Davis defeated Fred Curry Jr. to win the WWA Heavyweight Championship.[23] After successfully defending the title against Curry, Josh Daniels, and Kurt Adonis, Davis finally lost the title to Aaron Stevens on May 23, 2003. Danny Davis would continue to appear in the promotion for the remainder of the decade and won their championship on two other occasions.[24] Following the cessation of World Wrestling Stars (the final name for the WWA),[25] Davis wrestled a handful of times for other promotions. His final match came on September 28, 2013, at the NECW Throwback Throwdown event held by New England Championship Wrestling. There, Danny Davis wrestled Johnny Idol to a time-limit draw.[26]

Legacy

Although Davis was not the first person to portray the crooked wrestling referee character, he is often mentioned as a prototype of a corrupt official, which is a storyline that has been used by several wrestling promotions. One year after Davis was banned from referee duties, the twin Hebner brothers (Dave and Earl) were involved in a controversy when Earl took Dave's place and showed favoritism to André the Giant, helping him to win the WWF Championship. WCW would later use Nick Patrick as a heel referee, who sided with the NWO faction and eventually joined the NWO himself. TNA would use the gimmick with Earl Hebner, who would show favoritism towards Madison Rayne, with whom he was having an implied relationship. In a similar manner, Eric Bischoff and Vince McMahon, the heads of World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment, respectively, have used the gimmick of evil owners in storylines.

Davis's time as a wrestler and referee led to him appearing in the 1989 line of Classic WWF trading cards. Davis has continued to wrestle occasionally and currently wrestles on the Massachusetts independent wrestling scene. He competed for the World Wrestling Alliance, where he was the WWA Champion. He also occasionally performs as a referee for wrestling matches in Massachusetts.[27] At WWE's WrestleMania XXX event, Davis made his first appearance in the company since 1995, appearing in a backstage segment with WWE legends Sgt. Slaughter, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, and Ron Simmons. Davis was wearing a referee shirt in the cameo.[28]

Championships and accomplishments

Published works

  • Davis, Danny; Casanova, Kenny (March 22, 2018). Mr. X – The Life Story of Dangerous Danny Davis.
    ISBN 9781941356067
    .

References

  1. ^ Kapur, Bob (2009-11-09). ""Dangerous" Danny Davis: A profile in black and white". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved 2009-11-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e "Danny Davis' OWW Profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0
    .
  4. ^ "WrestleMania III review". Figure Four Online. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  5. ^ "King of the Ring 1986". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  6. ^ a b c d e "WWWF/WWF #34 Page #2". Kayfabe Memories.com. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  7. ^ "Hart Foundation's first reign". WWE. Archived from the original on 2005-11-29. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  8. ^ "Bret Hart". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved 2009-01-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. ^ a b c d e f Cawthon, Graham. "Ring Results: 1987". The History of WWE. Retrieved 2015-05-25.
  10. ISBN 0-8239-3494-2
    .
  11. ^ "King of the Ring 1987". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
  12. ^ "Prime Time Wrestling". WWF Television. London, Ontario. April 13, 1987. USA Network.
  13. Saturday Night's Main Event". WWF Television. South Bend, Indiana. May 2, 1987. NBC
    .
  14. Saturday Night's Main Event". WWF Television. Seattle, Washington. November 28, 1987. NBC
    .
  15. ^ "Survivor Series 1987 review". Complete WWE. Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  16. ^ "Survivor Series 1987 official results". WWE. Archived from the original on 2008-03-29. Retrieved 2008-05-27.
  17. ^ "Royal Rumble 1988". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
  18. ^ Hoops, Brian (2008-03-03). "Nostalgia Review: Wrestlemania 4; Savage vs. DiBiase, Savage vs. Steamboat, Hogan vs. Andre". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
  19. ^ "WrestleMania IV Results". WWE. Archived from the original on 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  20. ^ Gutschmidt, Adam (2004-06-17). "WrestleMania 9 Re-Revued". Online Onslaught. Archived from the original on 2009-03-25. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
  21. ^ "Danny Davis' TV.com Profile". tv.com. Archived from the original on 2008-11-08. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
  22. ^ "JAPW Class Of 2001 Student Show". CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
  23. ^ "WWA « Events Database «". CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
  24. ^ "Matches.Danny Davis". CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
  25. ^ "Archived copy". CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database. Archived from the original on 2009-07-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  26. ^ "NECW Throwback Throwdown". CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 2023-02-15.
  27. ^ Administrator (January 2, 2009). "Rec. Dept. features Disney, WWE". Pembroke Express. Archived from the original on 2011-07-15. Retrieved 2009-01-03.
  28. ^ Scott Fishman (April 7, 2014). "WWE WrestleMania 30 sets Superdome record as streak ends, 'Yes' title reign begins". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dangerous_Danny_Davis&oldid=1219966819"