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Dynamite Kid

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Tom Billington
File:Dyn.jpg
BornDecember 5, 1958
Golborne, Lancashire
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)The Dynamite Kid
Billed height173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Billed weight102 kg (225 lb)
Trained byTed Betley
Jack Fallon
Billy Riley
John Foley
Debut1975
Retired1993

Thomas Wilton Billington (born December 5, 1958) in Golborne, Lancashire is an English retired professional wrestler. He is considered one of the greatest pure wrestlers in the history of the industry and, along with his partner and cousin, Davey Boy Smith, comprised one of the most popular and highly-regarded wrestling tag teams during the mid-1980s when tag-team wrestling reached its zenith. His English training combined with an aerial arsenal honed during numerous tours in Japan influenced a generation of current wrestling stars, especially those normally associated with Stu Hart's "Dungeon." In later years he has written an autobiography, titled Pure Dynamite.

Career

Academics were not a priority to Tom, but he was drawn to the sport program 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. His father was a miner and itinerant labourer who often took young Thomas to see wrestling matches in Wigan, then as now well-known for its wrestling tradition. It was during a home visit that the younger Billington met and caught the attention of Ted Betley, who had been running a pro-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. 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 April 23, 1977 and the Welterweight title on January 25, 1978. He was also instrumental in starting the career of then-Judo star Chris Adams while still competing in Britain. He was scouted by Stu Hart, and moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada in 1978.

Dynamite made a big impact in his matches for Stampede Wrestling with the growingly popular Bret Hart, and has claimed to have helped train Hart. Despite differences between them due to comments Dynamite Kid made about Stu Hart in his autobiography, Bret has repeatedly called him "pound-for-pound, the greatest wrestler who ever lived". Dynamite Kid began taking steroids during a tour through Germany when Sylvester Ritter (a.k.a. Junkyard Dog) introduced Billington to (the muscle producing drug) Dianabol. Billington was also introduced to speed during his stay in Canada by Jake Roberts.

After doing big business in Canada, Dynamite was booked on his first tour of Japan, working for International Pro Wrestling from July 19-25, 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 January 4, 1980 to August 2, 1984. Perhaps the most notable things that came out of Dynamite's run in New Japan was his legendary feud against Tiger Mask; in fact, 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 times in a feud that is often credited as putting Junior Heavyweight wrestling on the map, as well as being ahead of its time.

Both the NWA and WWF Junior Heavyweight titles were vacated after Tiger Mask was injured by Dynamite Kid in a tag match on April 1, 1983. Dynamite and Kuniaki Kobayashi competed for the vacant titles, but no winner was decided. On February 21, 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; this match ended up being considered as the 2nd greatest match of the 80s.

On February 7, 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

File:British Bulldogs.jpg
"The British Bulldogs" Dynamite Kid (left) & Davey Boy Smith

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. Billington would end up teaming with Davey Boy Smith (as the British Bulldogs), while Bret would team with Jim Neidhart (as the Hart Foundation), leading to matches between the two teams that usually ended in No-Contests.

On April 7, 1986, accompanied by Lou Albano and Ozzy Osbourne, they won the WWF Tag Team Titles from Greg Valentine and Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake at WrestleMania II. Dynamite Kid was injured in late 1986 in a tag match in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada against Don Muraco and Bob Orton, Jr. and several wrestlers including Roddy Piper would substitute for him when tag title defences were made. On a TV taping on January 26, 1987, Dynamite wrestled a match to drop the titles to The Hart Foundation. After getting into a (real) backstage fight with Jacques Rougeau, the Bulldogs wrestled their last WWF match at the 1988 Survivor Series.

Throughout his time in the WWF, Dynamite Kid made several enemies, including Brutus Beefcake and Jacques Rougeau, but was highly respected by many for his legitimate shooting ability in and out of the ring. An example of his stiffness in the ring is when he and Smith wrestled a jobber tag team with one half consisting of a young Mick Foley. By Foley's account, Billington manhandled him so badly in the ring that he couldn't eat solid food for a time. 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 [citation needed].

After WWF

After leaving the WWF, the Bulldogs returned to Stampede Wrestling to win the International Tag Team Title. The Daniels also appeared in All-Japan Pro Wrestling Johnny Smith would end up replacing Davey Boy Smith's spot in the Real World Tag League tournament, and the duo (known as the British Bruisers) continued to compete in All-Japan Pro Wrestling. The duo managed to capture the AJPW All-Asia Tag Team Championships, but the partnership was short lived; Billington suddenly announced his retirement on December 6, 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 February 28, 1993 and claimed that he was going to send his 17 year old little brother to All Japan's Dojo, but it wasn't realized.

He would wrestle one final time on October 10, 1996 at a Michinoku Pro (also known as North Eastern Wrestling) event called "These Days". The match was promoted as a "Legends of High-Flying" 6-Man Tag featuring Dynamite paired with Dos Caras and Kuniaki Kobayashi against Great Sasuke, Mil Mascaras and his greatest rival, Tiger Mask.

In 1997, after getting married to his second wife (Dot) and ignoring the great deal of complications he was experiencing with walking, he was told by a specialist in a local hospital that he could no longer walk; according to Billington (as mentioned in his autobiography), the doctors couldn't do anything for him, as a result of complications from his back surgery from 1986 in Calgary. Not long after this, he had his left leg amputated, and is permanently bound to a wheelchair.

Tom Billington is cared for by his second wife Dot, and his autobiography (Pure Dynamite) was first published on October 1, 1999 (and later reissued as a paperback on Aug 15, 2001).

Legacy

The Dynamite Kid's style can be seen in many professional wrestlers to this day, most notably current World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler Chris Benoit, who idolized Billington growing up and adopted a similar moveset. From the Dynamite Kid, Benoit has adopted the swandive headbutt as well as the Snap suplex. TNA wrestler Jay Lethal often uses Dynamite's Diving Headbutt which Mike Tenay calls the "Diving Dynamite Headbutt". This is seen as a tribute to him.

Facts

Billington has one son and two daughters from previous marriage with ex-wife Michelle, who is the sister of Bret Hart's ex-wife Julie.

Billington has gone on record as saying that he regrets nothing from his career, and has stated in his autobiography that he would do everything the same way all over again.

Billington once took horse steroids.

Billington's father was the brother of Davey Boy Smith's mother.

In wrestling

  • Finishing and signature moves
  • Managers

Championships and accomplishments

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