Without any awareness of it, the fan who uttered the immortal line “The British Bulldog is gonna win, whether he wants to or not!” prior to SummerSlam ’92 became an international cult favourite meme amongst wrestling fans of a certain age. A quest to find the “British Bulldog kid”, the “boy” who had uttered the words, became wrestling’s holy grail. Last week, the GIRL in question was finally tracked down. Dante Richardson sat down with Aimee, the 38-year-old mother of five from Doncaster responsible for the line, to discuss her rollercoaster week.
How did you end up going to SummerSlam ’92 and what are your memories of the show?
My dad bought us all tickets – me, my mam and my brother – I think it was for my birthday. We had really good seats. You could see everything that was happening in the ring. The Bret Hart vs. British Bulldog main event was my favourite match, of course, but I also loved The Ultimate Warrior – he was one of my favourites.
Other than your famous line, which we will get to in a minute, what other experiences do you have of the show?
I remember there was a big fight on and I needed the toilet. My mam and dad didn’t want me to go on my own, but where we were sat wasn’t far away from where the toilets were and there was loads of security there, so it was safe. As I was going, I saw Paul Bearer making his way back through to the backstage area. There was too much security around to get an autograph from him though.
Were you really a British Bulldog fan or were you secretly a Bret Hart fan?
I was actually both. It was hard not to be, really.
So how did the piece to camera come about?
My dad was really artistic and creative and he had made all of the shirts we were wearing. He made my mam an Ultimate Warrior shirt, my brother had a Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart shirt and he made me the British Bulldog shirt that I was wearing. That’s why the WWF people pulled us over – it was because of those.
I don’t have those shirts anymore, sadly. My mam has been in the attic looking for them, but they are not there – we have moved a few times since then. As kids, we always made scrapbooks of all the things we did, and we made one for SummerSlam, but we can’t find those either. Maybe they will turn up – like I did! Stranger things have happened.
Do you remember what the crew asked you? Were you prompted to say the line?
They spoke to a lot of us, asking if we were excited. Because of the shirts, they asked us to speak with them direct to camera. They told me to say something specific – I can’t remember what it was, I just remember saying the line that I said. They thought it was ace. I didn’t know I had said it wrong until my dad give me a clip and said, ‘I can’t believe you said it wrong!’
Next thing I know, we were all sat in our seats waiting for the show to start and my mam tapped me on the shoulder and told me to look at the big screen, where they were playing the clip! I didn’t think much more of it until the SummerSlam videotape came out and it was on there too. I still have that now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ylIv0MSOY&ab_channel=WRESTLEWITHANDY
I am guessing you didn’t think much more of it after that.
No. I totally forgot all about it while growing up. Then years later, I think it was my nephew who found the clip on YouTube and shared it on Facebook. For years it has been shared around my friends and family, every time it comes up on my Facebook memories. To this day they all take the mickey out of me for it. It’s haunted me! Usually, it goes away again after a few days – I guess it will be a bit different this time.
So, being from Doncaster, what made you go with the American accent?
Surely to God, every small child acquires an American accent at some point? I know my kids do. All of my family and friends take the mickey out of me for it – starting so Yorkshire and turning American. I don’t know why it happened, it just fell out of my mouth!
Talk to me about that haircut . . .
Ah, the famous bowl haircut. It was my granny who gave it to us. At some point or another, all of my family – my cousins, my brother, everyone, has had my granny’s bowl haircut. But the more I talk to people in my village about it, the more they say, ‘I dunno what everyone is talking about – everyone had a haircut like that in the 90s at some point!’. I’m not going back to that hairstyle anytime soon though. I might get my daughter to do it, she would do it hands down. And she is the spit double of me – plus she’s already got an undercut.
Are you shocked that people thought you were a boy for 28 years?
No. That doesn’t shock me at all. Everyone thought I was a boy back then, wherever I went. It didn’t bother me – I’ve got a very thick skin, being from Donny. I am far more shocked that people have been looking for me for all this time.
When did you first realise that you were a cult phenomenon with wrestling fans?
Me and my husband were having some drinks at a friend’s house last week and we got talking about all of the things we had done, and one of the topics was has anyone ever been on TV. That was when my husband said, ‘I’ll show you a class video of our lass when she was younger!’ and he found the clip on YouTube.
Well, underneath that there was a ‘Where Are They Now?’ video and it had a picture of my face on it! My husband was watching it and I didn’t pay much notice, but then he burst out laughing and said, ‘Aimee, people in real life are looking for you!’ And he was taking the piss out of me, saying, ‘Oh, they think you’re a boy!’
He just wrote underneath the video, ‘I can tell you where she is – she’s my wife, she’s sat here drinking her vodka and coke in the living room with me.’
The next thing, I came home – my phone had died – and I plugged my phone in and it was absolutely ridiculous! The video had been shared, people were on about it, it was on Twitter, it was absolutely everywhere. We had to turn our phones off just to go to sleep.
How did you feel about that? Were you happy about it or were you a little bit freaked out by all of the sudden attention?
Half and half. I laughed a lot about it. I was like, ‘Is this a wind-up? Surely it is. Nobody can really be that bothered about one person saying one wrong line!’ That’s all I kept thinking. Then on Sunday, I had loads of messages from loads of different people. I’ve had people from America in my inbox telling me they are wrestling fans. They’ve all been lovely though.
What does your family make of it all?
My mam thinks it’s the best thing since sliced bread. She cried all day Sunday – because my dad passed away 21 years ago and he was mad about wrestling, he would have been loving this. Looking for all of the stuff in the attic took us back to those days. My daughter is loving it, too. She couldn’t wait to go to school and tell all her friends that her mam is real life “celeb”.
Have you followed the online response to the news?
I’ve just been on YouTube, really. I don’t really do Twitter. You would think I am down with social media with having five kids, but I am really not. I tried to give it a go – it is not for me. I’ve got an Instagram account, but I don’t really know how to work it!
I was talking to someone about it who was like, ‘You wouldn’t believe how many people are talking about this! It’s brought something good out of a very shite year.’ I was laughing for hours thinking about how people really are this excited. I genuinely don’t get it. I mean I’ll take it, but I don’t get it. I laugh more thinking they were looking for a boy. If they had been looking for a girl they might have found me a lot sooner!
Does it freak you out that people are fascinated by what you look like today and want to see if you still have that famous haircut?
Nah, I just think it is funny! I still can’t believe people are that intrigued about me. It was just something I did as a kid, I never thought anything of it. Obviously, it’s always been around for me, but if it wasn’t for my husband showing our friends, I would still be “missing” now!
When did you find out that someone had made an action figure of you?
The same day I found out everyone was looking for me! I was laughing my head off. I love it – I think it is ace. I have only seen it online but it looks very accurate! My partner has actually been in contact with the person that made them . . . He only made five, I think, and he only made them to order. But he has kindly offered to do one for us as he said he has enough parts left to make one. I definitely want that! I don’t care how much it costs, I want one.
So there are no plans to release your own action figure?
Haha, no. I do have a t-shirt out though! You can get it from the Hooked On Wrestling store at this link.
Do you have anything you would like to add?