The Dynamite Kid

The Dynamite Kid was one of the greatest professional wrestlers in history.

I was inspired to make this tribute, after reading Dynamite Kid's (Tommy Billington's) autobiography.

It's doubtful that any wrestler had more influence on wrestling today than The Dynamite Kid. And, while he is from England, he developed into the world's greatest wrestler while living and competing in Calgary for Stampede Wrestling.

It was Bruce Hart who met a young Tom Billington in England while on tour there. He sent Billington to Calgary to train with his father, Stu Hart. A few months later, Bruce also sent along Davey Boy Smith, friend of Billington.

The two friends, sometimes billed as cousins, grew into The British Bulldogs. But while they succeeded as a tag team, Dynamite's legacy was as a singles wrestler.

In Japan, he had an incredible feud with the original Tiger Mask. Calling their series of matches classics does not do justice to the term. He proved that North American-trained wrestlers could match the Japanese and Mexicans in aerial battle.

The late Owen Hart, in one of his interviews with SLAM! Wrestling, said that growing up, he placed Dynamite Kid "on a pedestal."

"I'd go 'Wow, that guy's awesome.' ... Dynamite, just because he was the original, was the best."

For Bad News Allen, "the two best wrestlers that I ever worked with, bar none, were Dynamite Kid and Ricky Steamboat. They were the best at that time, pound for pound, without a doubt."

When Stu Hart folded the Stampede Wrestling promotion for the first time, he sold the rights to his area to the WWF. At the time, Stu arranged for Dynamite, Davey Boy Smith, Bret Hart and Bad News Allen to go to the WWF. While Allen didn't go until 1988, the other three were on their way to superstardom.

Very quickly in the WWF, The British Bulldogs captured the imagination of wrestling fans. Their innovative power moves, mixed in with an arsenal of flying tactics brought tag team action to a new level. And, getting to work with familiar adversaries like Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart sure didn't hurt.

"Dynamite did everything and everything pretty well," Stu Hart once told SLAM! Wrestling. "He used to be one of the top flyers in the industry. There wasn't anything Dynamite couldn't do or wouldn't do. He was a gutsy little fellow."

The Bulldogs won the WWF Tag Team titles for the first time April 7, 1986, beating The Dream Team of Greg 'The Hammer' Valentine and Brutus Beefcake at WrestleMania II in Chicago. They didn't hold the belts long, and lost them to the Hart Foundation -- Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart on January 26, 1987 in Tampa, FL.

In late 1986, Dynamite was injured in a tag match in Hamilton, Ontario against Don Muraco and Cowboy Bob Orton when Muraco kneed Dynamite in the back and struck him four times with a chair. The severe disc and nerve damage in his back was the beginning of the end for Dynamite, and even after surgery he was never the same.

Over the next couple of years, The British Bulldogs continued to excel on the WWF tag team scene, but it was a different team and lacked the fire that had gotten them to the top.

These days, he has a regular job in England, and his back isn't much better. He had a one-match return for Michinoku Pro in Japan a few years back, but that too didn't work out.

The Dynamite Kid's influence can be seen more obviously in Chris Benoit, Brian Pillman and other Stampede grads. But just about any young North American high flyer, from Billy Kidman to Rey Mysterio Jr. to Jushin Liger owes a debt of gratitude for The Kid.

Please notify me if you know about any other Dynamite Kid or British Bulldog tribute pages.

New: Fan letters and stories about The Dynamite Kid

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