Dynamite Kid

Thomas "Tom" Billington[1] (born 5 December 1958),[1] best known by the ring name Dynamite Kid, is a retired English professional wrestler. He competed in the World Wrestling Federation, Stampede Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling, and New Japan Pro Wrestling in the mid-to-late-1980s. With his cousin Davey Boy Smith, he is also known for being half of the tag team the British Bulldogs. He also had notable feuds with Tiger Mask in Japan and Bret Hart in Canada.

Billington is considered by many, including Bret Hart and Dave Meltzer, to be one of wrestling's most influential in-ring performers, having innovated the level of athleticism involved in the art and merging styles from Britain, Mexico, Canada and Japan.[2][3][4]

Contents

1 Early life 2 Professional wrestling career 2.1 Early years (1975–1984) 2.2 World Wrestling Federation (1984–1988) 2.3 Stampede Wrestling and Japan (1988–1996) 3 Personal life 3.1 Family 3.2 Health problems 3.3 Altercations with other wrestlers 4 Legacy 5 In wrestling 6 Championships and accomplishments 6.1 Luchas de Apuestas record 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External links

Early life
Billington was born in Golborne, Lancashire.[1] His father's name was Bill and he has two sisters[5] and a younger brother named Mark.[6] His father Bill and uncle Eric Billington were boxers in their youth and his grandfather Joe Billington was a bare-knuckle boxer.[7] He is a member of the Billington family.[8][9] One of his ancestors James Billington was also a wrestler.[10][11]

Academic work was not a priority to him, but he was drawn to sports at his comprehensive school; his adherence to it, particularly wrestling and gymnastics, helped him develop a relatively small but powerful and agile shape. In addition, he had also received training in boxing during his formative years, which helped instill toughness in him before his career.[7]

His father, the brother of Davey Boy Smith's mother, was a miner and itinerant labourer who often took the young Billington to see wrestling matches in Wigan, well known for its wrestling tradition. It was during a home visit that he caught the attention of Ted Betley, who had been running a professional wrestling school in his home; it was here that Billington began his training, as a way of avoiding the back-breaking work of the coal mines.

Professional wrestling career
Early years (1975–1984)

His first shot in the pro ranks was working for Max Crabtree, as he debuted in 1975. During his early days, he won the British Lightweight title on 23 April 1977, and the Welterweight title on 25 January 1978. He was also instrumental in starting the career of then-Judo star Chris Adams while still competing in the UK, was scouted and moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1978.

Dynamite made a big impact in his matches for Stampede Wrestling with the increasingly popular Bruce Hart, and rookie Bret Hart. Despite differences between them due to comments Dynamite Kid made about Stu Hart in his autobiography, Bret still regards him as "pound-for-pound, the greatest wrestler who ever lived". Dynamite Kid began taking steroids in 1979 when Big Daddy Ritter, aka the Junkyard Dog, introduced Billington to the anabolic steroid Dianabol.[12] Billington was also introduced to speed during his stay in Canada by Jake Roberts.[12]

After doing big business in Canada, Dynamite was booked on his first tour of Japan, working for International Pro Wrestling from 19–25 July 1979. Stu Hart and Stampede Wrestling switched their business relationship from IPW to New Japan Pro Wrestling shortly after Dynamite's first tour, and he wrestled for New Japan from 4 January 1980 to 2 August 1984. Perhaps the most memorable matches that came out of Dynamite's run in New Japan were from his now legendary feud against Tiger Mask; Tiger Mask's debut was against Dynamite, in which Tiger Mask shocked the wrestling world by gaining the victory over Dynamite. The two would compete against one another several more times in a feud that is often credited as putting Junior Heavyweight wrestling on the map, as well as setting the standard for future generations. Both the NWA and WWF Junior Heavyweight titles were vacated after Tiger Mask was injured by Dynamite Kid in a tag match on 1 April 1983. Dynamite and Kuniaki Kobayashi competed for the vacant titles, but no winner was decided. On 21 April 1983, Dynamite and Tiger Mask met for the vacant WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship, but no winner was decided after the match ended up as a draw three consecutive times.

On 7 February 1984, Billington captured the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship by winning a tournament in New Japan Pro Wrestling; although it was a WWF Title, it was primarily defended in Japan. He defeated Davey Boy Smith earlier in the tournament, and would go on to defeat The Cobra in the finals.

World Wrestling Federation (1984–1988)

Dynamite Kid made his WWF television debut on August 29, 1984, where he and Bret Hart defeated Iron Mike Sharpe and Troy Alexander in a match eventually shown on September 15, 1984, on the Maple Leaf Garden broadcast. Billington would end up teaming with Davey Boy Smith as the British Bulldogs, while Bret would turn heel and team with Jim Neidhart as The Hart Foundation, and it led to matches between the two teams that usually ended in No-Contests. On April 7, 1986, accompanied by Captain Lou Albano and Ozzy Osbourne, the British Bulldogs won the WWF World tag team title from Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake at WrestleMania II.

Dynamite Kid would suffer a serious injury in a tag team match that took place in December 1986 in a tag match in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada against Don Muraco and Bob Orton, Jr.[13] and several wrestlers including Roddy Piper, Junkyard Dog and Billy Jack Haynes would substitute for him when tag title defenses were made. While recovering in the hospital from back surgery, Billington would later recount that Bret Hart showed up and stated that Vince McMahon had sent him to get Dynamite's tag belt; Billington refused.[14] Shortly after checking himself out of the hospital (against doctors' orders), Billington met with McMahon, who requested that the Bulldogs drop the tag titles to the team of Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik; Billington refused, saying that he would only drop the belts to The Hart Foundation.[14]

McMahon acquiesced and at a TV taping on 26 January 1987, The British Bulldogs wrestled a match to drop the titles to The Hart Foundation; the match would air on the 7 February edition of WWF Superstars of Wrestling. The match itself was an odd sight, as Dynamite could barely walk due to back surgery, and thus needed to be assisted to the ring by linking arms with Davey Boy Smith. Dynamite was knocked out by Jimmy Hart's megaphone early in the match, avoiding him having to wrestle in the match for story purposes. From that point forward, the Bulldogs would not be a top-tier team anymore, and while they would not become straight jobbers, they would mostly wrestle to double disqualifications, double countouts or time-limit draws against the top teams in the WWF.

Billington was known for being a tough guy and for his stiffness as a worker. Mick Foley reported that, when he and Les Thornton (another British wrestler) wrestled the Bulldogs in a tag-team match early in Foley's career, Billington manhandled him so badly in the ring that he tore a ligament in Foley's jaw with his signature Hook Clothesline, preventing Foley from eating solid food until his recovery.[15] Outside of the ring, WWF-champion Randy Savage once specifically asked for him to watch his back when he went drinking in a hotel bar frequented by NWA wrestlers, including Ric Flair.[14] He was also involved in several very heated backstage fights with Jacques Rougeau, one of which led to Rougeau knocking several of his teeth out. Billington himself, however, has claimed that the Rougeau incident was not the final straw that drove him to leave the WWF. Rather, he has stated, it was a dispute with WWF management over issuing of complimentary plane tickets, over which he resigned from the company on principle and, to his surprise in retrospect, Smith followed suit.[14]

The Bulldogs wrestled their last WWF match at the 1988 Survivor Series.[16] Although their team would win the match after team captains the Powers of Pain (The Barbarian and The Warlord) eliminated the last remaining opponents The Conquistadores, the Bulldogs had earlier been eliminated when Billington had been pinned by Smash of the tag team champions Demolition.

Stampede Wrestling and Japan (1988–1996)

After leaving the WWF, the Bulldogs returned to Stampede Wrestling to win the International Tag Team Titles. The Bulldogs also competed frequently in All-Japan Pro Wrestling where they were paid $20,000 each by Giant Baba, along with the liberty of choosing which tours they wanted to participate in. In 1990, Davey Boy Smith abruptly withdrew the Bulldogs from AJPW's annual World's Strongest Tag Determination League by returning to the WWF, and fabricating a story to the All-Japan office that Billington was in a serious car accident and was unable to compete. Since Davey Boy Smith had trademarked the term "The British Bulldog" during the Bulldogs' previous run in WWF, he decided to return to the WWF as The British Bulldog, and would send people to the United Kingdom to warn the promoter every time a flyer was distributed promoting Dynamite Kid as a "British Bulldog".[14]

Johnny Smith would end up taking Davey Boy Smith's spot in the World's Strongest Tag Determination League, and the duo (known as the British Bruisers) continued to compete in All Japan Pro Wrestling. The duo managed to capture the All Asia Tag Team Championship, but the partnership was short lived; the years of steroid abuse (including an incident in which he used horse steroids), working a high impact style, and cocaine usage caught up with Billington as he suddenly announced his retirement on 6 December 1991, immediately after the Bruisers defeated Johnny Ace and Sunny Beach at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. He returned to Japan as a special guest with Lord James Blears on 28 February 1993, and claimed that he was going to send his 17-year-old brother to All Japan's Dojo, but it wasn't realized. He returned again for a tag team match with Johnny Smith on 28 July 1993, and was planning to promote an All-Japan show in his country in 1994, but it wasn't realised either.

Also around his later period with All-Japan, he was divorced from his first wife Michelle Smadu (the sister of Bret Hart's then-wife Julie),[17] with whom Billington had one son and two daughters (Marek, Bronwyne and Amaris). As a result, he moved from Canada back home to Wigan with his parents. Before embarking on another All-Japan tour, he visited Dan Spivey and stayed in his home in Florida for a week, while Spivey went on holiday. When Spivey came back, he and Billington took hits of LSD, which resulted in Billington coming close to death twice in one day, but he was revived with adrenaline shots by paramedics both times.[14]

His final match took place on 10 October 1996, at a Michinoku Pro event called These Days. The match was promoted as a "Legends of High-Flying" six-man tag featuring Dynamite paired with Dos Caras and Kuniaki Kobayashi against The Great Sasuke, Mil Máscaras, and Tiger Mask. Dynamite's body had degenerated to the point where he was "practically skin and bones", as the bottom portion of his tights were very loose. In the end, Dynamite delivered his trademark tombstone piledriver on Great Sasuke, leading Dos Caras to powerbomb Sasuke for the pin. While at the airport to return home on the next day, Dynamite had a second seizure (the first one was in 1987) and was sent to the hospital immediately.[14]

Personal life
Billington is a close friend of Wayne Hart, when Billington was living in Calgary they co-owned an apartment together where they lived with their respective girlfriends.[18]

Billington's autobiography, Pure Dynamite, written with Alison Coleman, was published in October 1999, and reissued as a paperback in August 2001. Billington would remain reclusive until a three-minute appearance eight years later in the 2007 CNN documentary, Death Grip: Inside Pro Wrestling, in which he discussed the effects professional wrestling had on his life.

Family

He was previously married to Michelle Smadu, the sister of Bret Hart's ex-wife Julie, with whom Billington has one son and two daughters, Marek, Bronwyne Jewel and Amaris Jayne. As a result, he moved from Canada back home to Golborne with his parents.

Michelle has accused Billington of being abusive and has stated that their life together got so bad that she contemplated suicide while pregnant as well as killing their two children to make sure that Billington couldn't get his hands on them. She instead got help from a neighbor to flee from Billington.[19]

After years of being estranged with his children his oldest daughter, Bronwyne took contact with him in 2013. Her then fiancé Dan Vander Griendt also asked Billington for his blessing in marrying her.[20] The couple also has a daughter named Miami Jayne, making Billington a grandfather.[21]

Health problems

In 1997, after having a great deal of complications he was experiencing with walking due to the large number of back and leg injuries he suffered during his career, Billington lost the use of his left leg.[14] He now has a paralysed left leg and uses a wheelchair; he is cared for by his second wife, Dot.[22] Billington has been told he would never be able to walk again.[22] Harley Race, the inventor of the diving headbutt, has stated that he regrets ever inventing the move, because it appears to cause spinal problems as well as concussions, and may have contributed to Billington's disability. In addition to his paralysis, Billington also has suffered from heart problems.[22][23] In November 2013, Billington reportedly suffered a stroke.[24] In 2015, he was named in a lawsuit filed by WWE after they received a letter from him indicating that he intended to sue them for concussion-based injuries sustained during his tenure with them. He is represented by attorney Konstantine Kyros, who is involved in several other lawsuits involving former WWE wrestlers.[25]

Altercations with other wrestlers

Billington has had several violent interactions with fellow wrestlers. One such event was with Bruce Hart in which Billington broke Hart's jaw.[26] Another was while in WWF where wrestler Jacques Rougeau Jr felt that Billington had bullied him and punched Billington in the face.[27]

Legacy
Billington's British training, combined with an aerial arsenal honed during numerous tours in Japan, influenced a generation of later wrestling stars, especially those normally associated with Stu Hart's "Dungeon". A follower was the late WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, who idolized Billington while growing up and adopted a similar moveset that included the swandive headbutt and the Snap suplex.[28] Former TNA wrestler Jay Lethal often used Dynamite's swandive headbutt, which Mike Tenay referred to as the "Diving Dynamite Headbutt", in tribute to him.

The playable character in the Mat Mania/Mania Challenge/Exciting Hour arcade games of the mid-1980s is named Dynamite Tommy, frequently presumed to be modeled after Billington.[29][30]

In February 2013, Highspots.com released a documentary on the Dynamite Kid. In October 2014, Billington was presented with a lifetime achievement award at Gloucester Leisure Centre by Superstars of Wrestling UK.

His eldest daughter, Bronwyne is a pro wrestling valet who manages her husband, Dan Vander Griendt who is a pro wrestler. They perform together as the Dynamite Duo under the ring names The Dynamite Doll and Dynamite Dan Myers.[20][31]

Billington is featured in the 2016 documentary Nine Legends.

In wrestling
Finishing moves Diving headbutt[1][32][33] Kneeling reverse piledriver,[1] sometimes while hooking the opponent's leg[33] Superplex[1] – Innovated

Signature moves European uppercut[34] Front dropkick,[35] sometimes from the top rope, sometimes with kip-up[1] Headbutt[34] Indian deathlock[34] Knee drop,[36] sometimes from the top rope[34] Lariat[15] Pendulum backbreaker Multiple suplex variations Belly to back[34] German[34] Gutwrench Snap[1][33] Vertical[33] - sometimes from inside the ring to ringside

Side headlock Three-quarter facelock

Managers Lou Albano[37] J.R. Foley[38] Abu Wizal[39][40]

Nicknames Bakudan Kozou[41]

Entrance themes "Car Wars" by Tom Scott (AJPW; 1984–1985, 1989–1991, 1993) "Overture" by Bill Conti (NJPW; 1980) "Magic" by Billy Cobham (NJPW; 1980–1984) "Rule, Britannia!" by Thomas Arne (WWF; 1985–1988)

Championships and accomplishments
All Japan Pro Wrestling All Asia Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Johnny Smith NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling AGPW International Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[42]

Joint Promotions British Welterweight Championship (1 time) British Lightweight Championship (1 time) European Welterweight Championship (1 time)

New Japan Pro Wrestling WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[37] Greatest Gaijin Junior Section (2002)[43]

Pacific Northwest Wrestling NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (1 time) NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with The Assassin

Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI ranked him # 5 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" with Davey Boy Smith in 2003. PWI ranked him #41 of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003[44]

Stampede Wrestling Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship (5 times, inaugural) Stampede International Tag Team Championship (6 times) – with Sekigawa (1), Loch Ness Monster (1), Kasavudo (1), Duke Myers (1), Davey Boy Smith (2) Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time) Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Championship (4 times)[45] Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame[46]

Tokyo Sports Lifetime Achievement Award (1991)[47]

World Wrestling Federation WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Davey Boy Smith[48]

Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards 5 Star Match (1983) vs. Tiger Mask on 23 April Best Flying Wrestler (1984) Best Technical Wrestler (1984) - tied with Masa Saito Best Wrestling Maneuver (1984) Power clean dropkick Match of the Year (1982) vs. Tiger Mask on 5 August, Tokyo, Japan Most Underrated (1983) Tag Team of The Year (1985) - with Davey Boy Smith Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

Luchas de Apuestas record

See also: Luchas de Apuestas

Winner (wager)

Loser (wager)

Location

Event

Date

Notes

Bruce Hart (hair) Dynamite Kid (hair) Calgary, Alberta Stampede 1988 [a]