"Dynamite Kid" Tom Billington
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World Mid-Heavyweight Champion - July 8, 1982 - Calgary Herald
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Dynamite Kid was born Tom Billington in Golbourne, England on December 5, 1958. Growing up in England during the 1960's was any wrestling fans dream. Dynamite still had a wealth of traditional Catch-as-Catch-Can wrestlers around, and a hot television product viewed by the whole of the United Kingdom. Tom would be a fair boxer in his youth as a pre-teen following in the footsteps of his father and grandmother in contact sports, along with other sports in school.
At the age of 12 it was Ted Betley who saw the potential catch wrestler in Billington. Tom spent much of his time training, being sent between various shooters in England, even having a brief stay with Billy Riley in the infamous Snake Pit, before settling with Billy Chambers (Jack Fallon). He had his first professional match in 1975 at the age of sixteen.
By the age of 18 he had won his first singles championship on April 23, 1977, his second on January 25, 1978, and his third on March 22, 1978, whilst working for Max Crabtree's Joint Promotions. Other than winning some of the junior championships Dynamite was a regular partner to arguably the biggest British wrestler of all time, Shirley Crabtree who was better known as Big Daddy.
Young wrestlers often spent time teaming with Big Daddy so they could act as the work horse due to Daddy's limited in ring abilities. During his time travelling on the British circuit Tom was spotted performing by Bruce Hart, part of the famous Hart Family of Calgary, Alberta and Stampede Wrestling, which was ran by the patriarch, Stu.
The last match for Dynamite Kid in England I can find recorded took place on March 15, 1978 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He teamed with Big Daddy to defeat Giant Haystacks and Kojak Kirk. The first match in the new chapter of his life in Canada I can find was a winning effort against the Cuban Assassin, from Calgary, Alberta on April 28, 1978.
It did not take the young Dynamite Kid long to make a name for himself inside of Stampede Wrestling, nor did it take him long to get introduced to the ways of gaining muscle mass in an attempt to increase his value. He was still just a skinny kid at this point in his career. Not only that, but he found himself riding with Jack Foley a veteran who had a great mind for the business, as well as a twisted personal side. Foley took a liking to Dynamite and began to tutor him.
He etched himself out a niche in the Canadian promotion that no other wrestler was really doing there at the time. That gained a tremendous amount of respect from his peers for his relentless work rate. Through this he earned opportunities to face all of the top names in the promotion, guys like Leo Burke, Dan Kroffat, Nelson Royal, and the Hart's; Bruce, Keith, and Bret.
On January 6, 1979 Dynamite captured the British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship for the second time. He defended the championship against opponents such as Louis Laurence and Bruce Hart. He also continued his feud with Bret, who he had won the title from, into the summer before dropping the title on June 1 in Calgary, Alberta. Just over a month later Dynamite challenged Nelson Royal for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship, but was disqualified.
The following day on July 7 Dynamite defeated Bret Hart once again to recapture the British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship in Edmonton, Alberta. From here he continued to feud with the Hart', as well as mixing it up with the likes of Tatsumi Fujinami, Terry Sawyer and Jake Roberts. Dynamite then embarked on a tour of Germany during the months of September and October in 1979 using the name, Tommy Billington.
Shortly after his return to Canada Dynamite dropped the championship to Terry Sawyer and set his sights on winning tag team gold. He accomplished this on December 21 with his partner Mr. Sekigawa when they defeated Leo Burke and Hubert Gallant for the Stampede International Tag-Team Championship in Calgary, Alberta. The belts were dropped to Keith and Bret Hart before Dynamite's next international trip, the exact date is not currently recorded.
Dynamite had been on a short tour of Japan in the summer of 1979 for International Pro Wrestling, but it was in January of 1980 when he really started to make a name for himself in the land of the rising Sun. Stu Hart worked out a deal for him to do a tour for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). During the tour that lasted from January 4 to February 8, Dynamite had matches with such stars as Tatsumi Fujinami, Kuniaki Kobayashi, George Takano, Kantaro Hoshino, and Riki Choshu.
There were a lot of six-man and normal tag team matches taking place too, he partnered with the likes of Rocky Johnson, Stan Hansen, Bad News Allen, and Steve Keirn against top Japanese stars such as Antonio Inoki, Seiji Sakaguchi, Osamu Kido, and Strong Kobayashi. Upon his return from Japan Dynamite recaptured the British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship by defeating Keith Hart on March 24 in Red Deer, Alberta.
Just five days later in a two out of three falls match Dynamite and his partner, his former foe from his days with Joint Promotions back in England, the Loch Ness Monster, also known as Giant Haystacks, won the Stampede International Tag-Team Championship from Bret and Keith Hart. Dynamite carried on defending both titles over the course of the next few months. He also received another title opportunity against the Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Champion, Dick Steinborn.
And so the cycle continued for Dynamite during his time in Stampede, being involved in some of the most fast paced, hard hitting encounters ever to be seen in Canada. He faced anyone new coming into the territory including guys like David Schultz and Gama Singh among others. On March 7 Dynamite and Bret Hart competed in a match that was considered very rare at the time, the ladder match.
Tom's career was about to take a turn in a new direction in 1981. When Bruce Hart spotted Dynamite's cousin, Davey Boy Smith over in England, he was brought over to Stampede Wrestling like Dynamite had a few years prior. The two started to team together on-and-off almost straight away, but they both continued to work solo too. Also in the spring of 1981 Dynamite traveled to NJPW again and had the debut match of a brand new character in the company, Tiger Mask, whose real name was Satoru Sayama.
On January 1, 1982 the two picked that feud right back up in NJPW when Tiger Mask defeated Dynamite for the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship. Those two went on to have some of the most influential and ground breaking matches possible. Over three decades after their first encounter people still talk about those matches and quote them as inspirations for either getting into the wrestling business, or effecting the style of how they work.
The two cousins, Davey Boy and Tom, eventually in 1982 went on to have a very heated feud taking them across the Stampede territory, swapping the Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Championship between themselves. It was in that feud which helped Dynamite gather respect for his cousin. Initially Dynamite had not been fond of Davey Boy. Then he picked his feud back up with Gama Singh while continuing to feud on-and-off with Davey Boy Smith.
In the new year Dynamite had a short stint in the Pacific Northwest territory. He picked up more gold there defeating Curt Hennig on September 7, 1983 to win their version of the Heavyweight Championship. He also held the tag team championship their with his partner, The Assassin, when they defeated Curt Hennig and Buddy Rose on November 12, 1983.
Other than tours of Japan, Dynamite spent the rest of his time in Canada for Stu Hart picking up the North American Heavyweight Championship and feuding some more with his cousin, the Hart family, and other regulars from the Stampede promotion. In the summer of 1984 everything once again changed for Dynamite. He'd made a good career working in between Stampede and New Japan, he'd married into the Hart family, and had children. But, it was time to move on.
Stu Hart sold his promotion to Vince McMahon Jr. who was in the middle of trying to monopolize the wrestling industry into one big national promotion. Stu had arranged it so his four most promising talent, all of which happened to be related to him, would get contracts with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). They were Bret "Hitman" Hart, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Davey Boy Smith, and Dynamite Kid.
By this time Davey Boy and Dynamite were back teaming together, and they decided to put off going to the WWF. They took a trip to Japan and competed against each other, before finally agreeing to go to the WWF in late August. Dynamite has said on many occasions they never had a set contract whilst working there and were one of, if not the only two wrestlers not to have one during that period.
Dynamite's last recorded match for Stampede took place on September 20, 1984. He and Bruce Hart defeated Bad News Allen and Randy Webber in LeDuc, Alberta. His first WWF appearance was on August 29, Dynamite and Bret Hart defeated Mike Sharpe and Troy Alexander at a WWF TV taping in Brantford. On that same night Dynamite also defeated Nick DeCarlo in a singles match.
It only took until October of that year for the WWF to put the two British stars together as they teamed up to defeat Bobby Bass and Goldie Rogers on the 21st in the Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario. Taking full advantage of their lack of written contract with the WWF, the British Bulldogs headed over to All Japan Pro-Wrestling (AJPW) for the Real World Tag League in November which went on until December.
On their return in early 1985 to WWF the Bulldogs started to get some serious screen time from the WWF, as they made quick work of jobbers and make-shift teams. Through-out the summer of 1985 they had a series of matches taking them around the whole house show circuit with The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, who had just lost the tag-team titles. The Hart Foundation, Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart, were regular opponents too.
During the fall the WWF World Tag-Team Champions the Dream Team, Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine, were added to the mix on the house show circuit, and the Bulldogs had several close encounters for the championships. At TV tapings the Bulldogs continued to mainly squash minor teams in matches that lasted just a couple of minutes.
The WWF held their second pay-per-view on November 7, 1985. It was called The Wrestling Classic and the main attraction was a tournament. Dynamite Kid defeated Nikolai Volkoff in the opening round of the tournament, and Adrian Adonis in the quarter final. In the semi final Dynamite was beaten by the "Macho Man" Randy Savage. 1986 was the year of the Bulldogs though in terms of reaching their peak as a tag-team.
In a non-title televised match the British Bulldogs defeated the tag-team champions, the Dream Team, on January 7, 1986. On February 15 the Dream Team defeated the British Bulldogs for a taping of Saturday Night's Main Event that was aired on March 1. The two teams repeated this on house shows leading up to Wrestlemania II.
That event took place on April 7, 1986, and it saw the British Bulldogs be accompanied by Ozzy Osbourne and their manager, Captain Lou Albano. They defeated the Dream Team to capture the WWF World Tag Team Championship. Straight away they set to work on defending their newly won gold, taking on all comers. Within a month of Wrestlemania they defended them against the Dream Team, Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik, and the Hart Foundation all on television, as well as others.
Tragedy struck Tom Billington in December of that year. On the 13th during a match against Don Muraco and Bob Orton Jr. he injured his back putting him out of action. Dynamite has recalled since that Bret Hart was sent to collect his tag team belt whilst in the hospital so that they could be vacated. He has said he refused and when he got out of hospital he went to see Vince McMahon, who suggested they drop the titles to Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik, Dynamite again refused. Dynamite said he would not drop the gold to anyone other than the Hart Foundation.
So, that's the way it went down. Before the match Jimmy Hart attacked Dynamite with his megaphone to provide a reason for Dynamite not to be involved. The Hart Foundation then defeated Davey Boy Smith and won the WWF World Tag Team Championship, at a television taping from the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida on January 26, 1987.
Dynamite's first match back following his injury took place on March 8, the British Bulldogs lost to the Dream Team by disqualification at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. At Wrestlemania III on March 29, 1987, the British Bulldogs along with Tito Santana lost to the Hart Foundation and Danny Davis in front of an (WWE reported) approximate 93,000 fans.
Following the pay-per-view, the Bulldogs continued to feud with the Hart Foundation over the championships on the house show circuit, normally on the losing end, occasionally winning by disqualification though. For the rest of 1987 the Bulldogs had matches with various newly formed teams such as Boris Zhukov and Nikolai Volkoff, Demolition, and the Conquistadors. The results were back and forth, it was clear the Bulldogs time at the top of the tag team division had ended.
They were featured in the big twenty-man tag team Survivor Series match on November 26 out of the Richfield Coliseum, Ohio. Dynamite was pinned by Haku twenty minutes into the match, making the Bulldogs the fifth team to be eliminated. Their side went on to be the eventual victors.
1988 saw much of the same for the Bulldogs as they just continued to wrestle middle of the card matches, occasionally they won a televised match against a pair of jobbers. After a series of matches with the Islanders, Haku and Tama, the Bulldogs earned a place on Wrestlemania IV, where they lost to the Samoans on March 28, 1988. During the summer they were used to put over Demotion, the new tag team champions, at house shows across the country.
At Summerslam on August 29, in Madison Square Garden, the British Bulldogs went to a twenty minute time-limit draw with the Fabulous Rougeaus. They worked with Demolition into the fall of the year. They lost to the duo in a televised championship match filmed in the Bercy de Paris, Paris, France, on October 7. Again the Bulldogs were paired up with a newer team in the WWF in the fall, this time it was the Brainbusters, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard.
Dynamite's last ever match took place the next month. On November 24, at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, the British Bulldogs competed in the tag team Survivor Series match again. This time they were the sixth team eliminated, again it was Dynamite who suffered the pin fall, at the hands of Demolition Smash. Then Dynamite never appeared for the WWF again.
Earlier in the year Dynamite had trouble backstage with the Rougeau brothers, it ended badly for Dynamite. A lot of people attributed it for his leaving the WWF saying he was humiliated, however, Dynamite has spoken fairly openly about his own downfalls. He has said that it was actually because he had disputes with the management revolving around money and travel arrangements.
Davey Boy Smith also left the WWF in support of Dynamite's decision. The Bulldogs quickly went to work for Stampede Wrestling, reformed by Stu Hart's son, Bruce. Their first match was on December 3, they defeated the Stampede International Tag Team Champions in a non-title match. Just four days later the Bulldog's defeated the Cuban Assassin and Gerry Morrow once again, to win the International Tag Team Championship.
The title reign was only short though, as they dropped the belts on December 30 against Majham Singh and Vokhan Singh. The Bulldogs immediately went back to AJPW for the New Year Giant Series tour in January. That was the recipe through-out 1989 and for the early part of 1990 for the two cousins.
It's said Davey Boy wanted to go back to the WWF and the WWF were open to taking them back, but Dynamite refused. Dynamite felt a return to the WWF would mean more working dates and less pay in return for their work. Davey Boy went back though, and Dynamite has since spoken of how Davey Boy had trademarked the name "The British Bulldog", which stopped Dynamite from using it. The last match the two had together took place on January 28, 1990, where they teamed with Tiger Mask II and defeated Jumbo Tsuruta, Yoshiaki Yatsu, and Masanobu Fuchi in the Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan.
It was around that time after the split with Davey Boy that Dynamite and his wife separated and he moved back to his home country of England, for the first time since Bruce Hart spotted him and took him to Calgary back in 1978. He has spoken of being in England and having people take down posters that called him "The British Bulldog" due to Davey Boy. When he returned to AJPW in September of 1990, he formed a new team with Johnny Smith as "The British Bruisers."
They teamed together until the end of 1991. Over the course of his career Dynamite had picked up an alarming amount of injuries from delivering performances at the fast paced, hard hitting, strong style fans had become accustomed to from him over the years. When you mix that with his drug usage that he has openly spoken of, it isn't surprising he had to declare his retirement at such a young age. He announced it immediately after he and Johnny Smith defeated Johnny Ace and Sonny Beach in the famed Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
In June of 1993 he returned for two matches teaming with Johnny Smith. In January 1994, he wrestled two matches on the same night. First he teamed with Robbie Brookside to defeat Jimmy Ocean and Ricky Knight (WWE Paige's father) and then later he defeated the Masked Superstar by disqualification, for All-Star Wrestling (ASW).
On July 5 of the same year he appeared for ASW again and teamed with the 1-2-3 Boy (This is not a typo) and defeated Sid Cooper and Carl McGrath. They teamed again to beat the Legend of Doom (again, not a typo) and then defeated Skull Muphy and Mel Stuart, these two victories won them the tag-team tournament.
His last ever match was on October 10, 1996 when he teamed with Kuniaki Kobayashi and Dos Caras to defeat the Original Tiger Mask, the Great Sasuke and Mil Mascaras. It was only fitting his final match was against the man he is most remembered for facing, Satoru Sayama, the original Tiger Mask.
Unfortunately, Tom's health issues deteriorated to the point where he became wheelchair bound. He completely distanced himself from the wrestling business, and spent his time living with his second wife in his home in Manchester, England. He released a book on his life in 1999. From that point he slowly opened up to talking to the wrestling world. He also went backstage to WWE (previously WWF) shows when they were in his area of England. Over the years Tom Billington mended a lot of old fences. He even patched up his old friendship with Bret Hart after they had been estranged since the release of his book.
There have been several documentaries and pieces released on the career of the Dynamite Kid even as recently as 2013, just under 25 years since he was last apart of a major wrestling company in North America. It's hardly surprising though. The Dynamite Kid has left a legacy most professional wrestlers can only imagine. Chris Benoit, Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, Jay Lethal, and Davey Richards are all wrestlers who have been influenced by the Dynamite Kid.
His style of wrestling literally helped push open a whole new outlook on smaller guys on a large scale from his time in the WWF. He helped define a whole era of superstars in Japan, setting the bar for many who followed him, in many ways you can see a bit of the Dynamite Kid when you watch the late, great Mitsuharu Misawa.
"The Dynamite Kid " Tom Billington passed away on December 5, 2018 . It seems a fitting away to end the story of his life with a few quotes from those who knew him best and looked up to him.
Stu Hart said of Dynamite, "Dynamite did everything and everything pretty well. 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."
Bad News Allen said, "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."
Owen Hart spoke about him, "I placed Dynamite Kid on a pedestal. I'd go 'Wow, that guy's awesome.'...Dynamite, just because because he was the original, was the best."
Davey Richards on Dynamite, "I know that some wrestlers hate to be compared to others, but I've always been flattered by the comparisons between myself and Dynamite. I've studied his stuff, kind of patterned myself after him, and I just happen to look a little like him, too. His style, and that of Benoit, is what I think pro wrestling should be, so I'm happy to be under that banner.
There's been a million times when I've thought about what a match between myself and Dynamite would be like, but I think it'd be a case of me shutting up and taking notes! I've never had the privilege of meeting him, as much as I'd love to, but I know that he's seen a bunch of my stuff, and I've been told he was really impressed with me. I have the Dynamite Kid's approval, so I couldn't ask for more than that".
Bret Hart has also said on numerous occasions, before they had even reconciled, that he believes Dynamite Kid is the greatest wrestler who ever lived.
Dynamite Kid was born Tom Billington in Golbourne, England on December 5, 1958. Growing up in England during the 1960's was any wrestling fans dream. Dynamite still had a wealth of traditional Catch-as-Catch-Can wrestlers around, and a hot television product viewed by the whole of the United Kingdom. Tom would be a fair boxer in his youth as a pre-teen following in the footsteps of his father and grandmother in contact sports, along with other sports in school.
At the age of 12 it was Ted Betley who saw the potential catch wrestler in Billington. Tom spent much of his time training, being sent between various shooters in England, even having a brief stay with Billy Riley in the infamous Snake Pit, before settling with Billy Chambers (Jack Fallon). He had his first professional match in 1975 at the age of sixteen.
By the age of 18 he had won his first singles championship on April 23, 1977, his second on January 25, 1978, and his third on March 22, 1978, whilst working for Max Crabtree's Joint Promotions. Other than winning some of the junior championships Dynamite was a regular partner to arguably the biggest British wrestler of all time, Shirley Crabtree who was better known as Big Daddy.
Young wrestlers often spent time teaming with Big Daddy so they could act as the work horse due to Daddy's limited in ring abilities. During his time travelling on the British circuit Tom was spotted performing by Bruce Hart, part of the famous Hart Family of Calgary, Alberta and Stampede Wrestling, which was ran by the patriarch, Stu.
The last match for Dynamite Kid in England I can find recorded took place on March 15, 1978 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He teamed with Big Daddy to defeat Giant Haystacks and Kojak Kirk. The first match in the new chapter of his life in Canada I can find was a winning effort against the Cuban Assassin, from Calgary, Alberta on April 28, 1978.
It did not take the young Dynamite Kid long to make a name for himself inside of Stampede Wrestling, nor did it take him long to get introduced to the ways of gaining muscle mass in an attempt to increase his value. He was still just a skinny kid at this point in his career. Not only that, but he found himself riding with Jack Foley a veteran who had a great mind for the business, as well as a twisted personal side. Foley took a liking to Dynamite and began to tutor him.
He etched himself out a niche in the Canadian promotion that no other wrestler was really doing there at the time. That gained a tremendous amount of respect from his peers for his relentless work rate. Through this he earned opportunities to face all of the top names in the promotion, guys like Leo Burke, Dan Kroffat, Nelson Royal, and the Hart's; Bruce, Keith, and Bret.
On January 6, 1979 Dynamite captured the British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship for the second time. He defended the championship against opponents such as Louis Laurence and Bruce Hart. He also continued his feud with Bret, who he had won the title from, into the summer before dropping the title on June 1 in Calgary, Alberta. Just over a month later Dynamite challenged Nelson Royal for the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship, but was disqualified.
The following day on July 7 Dynamite defeated Bret Hart once again to recapture the British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship in Edmonton, Alberta. From here he continued to feud with the Hart', as well as mixing it up with the likes of Tatsumi Fujinami, Terry Sawyer and Jake Roberts. Dynamite then embarked on a tour of Germany during the months of September and October in 1979 using the name, Tommy Billington.
Shortly after his return to Canada Dynamite dropped the championship to Terry Sawyer and set his sights on winning tag team gold. He accomplished this on December 21 with his partner Mr. Sekigawa when they defeated Leo Burke and Hubert Gallant for the Stampede International Tag-Team Championship in Calgary, Alberta. The belts were dropped to Keith and Bret Hart before Dynamite's next international trip, the exact date is not currently recorded.
Dynamite had been on a short tour of Japan in the summer of 1979 for International Pro Wrestling, but it was in January of 1980 when he really started to make a name for himself in the land of the rising Sun. Stu Hart worked out a deal for him to do a tour for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). During the tour that lasted from January 4 to February 8, Dynamite had matches with such stars as Tatsumi Fujinami, Kuniaki Kobayashi, George Takano, Kantaro Hoshino, and Riki Choshu.
There were a lot of six-man and normal tag team matches taking place too, he partnered with the likes of Rocky Johnson, Stan Hansen, Bad News Allen, and Steve Keirn against top Japanese stars such as Antonio Inoki, Seiji Sakaguchi, Osamu Kido, and Strong Kobayashi. Upon his return from Japan Dynamite recaptured the British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship by defeating Keith Hart on March 24 in Red Deer, Alberta.
Just five days later in a two out of three falls match Dynamite and his partner, his former foe from his days with Joint Promotions back in England, the Loch Ness Monster, also known as Giant Haystacks, won the Stampede International Tag-Team Championship from Bret and Keith Hart. Dynamite carried on defending both titles over the course of the next few months. He also received another title opportunity against the Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Champion, Dick Steinborn.
And so the cycle continued for Dynamite during his time in Stampede, being involved in some of the most fast paced, hard hitting encounters ever to be seen in Canada. He faced anyone new coming into the territory including guys like David Schultz and Gama Singh among others. On March 7 Dynamite and Bret Hart competed in a match that was considered very rare at the time, the ladder match.
Tom's career was about to take a turn in a new direction in 1981. When Bruce Hart spotted Dynamite's cousin, Davey Boy Smith over in England, he was brought over to Stampede Wrestling like Dynamite had a few years prior. The two started to team together on-and-off almost straight away, but they both continued to work solo too. Also in the spring of 1981 Dynamite traveled to NJPW again and had the debut match of a brand new character in the company, Tiger Mask, whose real name was Satoru Sayama.
On January 1, 1982 the two picked that feud right back up in NJPW when Tiger Mask defeated Dynamite for the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship. Those two went on to have some of the most influential and ground breaking matches possible. Over three decades after their first encounter people still talk about those matches and quote them as inspirations for either getting into the wrestling business, or effecting the style of how they work.
The two cousins, Davey Boy and Tom, eventually in 1982 went on to have a very heated feud taking them across the Stampede territory, swapping the Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Championship between themselves. It was in that feud which helped Dynamite gather respect for his cousin. Initially Dynamite had not been fond of Davey Boy. Then he picked his feud back up with Gama Singh while continuing to feud on-and-off with Davey Boy Smith.
In the new year Dynamite had a short stint in the Pacific Northwest territory. He picked up more gold there defeating Curt Hennig on September 7, 1983 to win their version of the Heavyweight Championship. He also held the tag team championship their with his partner, The Assassin, when they defeated Curt Hennig and Buddy Rose on November 12, 1983.
Other than tours of Japan, Dynamite spent the rest of his time in Canada for Stu Hart picking up the North American Heavyweight Championship and feuding some more with his cousin, the Hart family, and other regulars from the Stampede promotion. In the summer of 1984 everything once again changed for Dynamite. He'd made a good career working in between Stampede and New Japan, he'd married into the Hart family, and had children. But, it was time to move on.
Stu Hart sold his promotion to Vince McMahon Jr. who was in the middle of trying to monopolize the wrestling industry into one big national promotion. Stu had arranged it so his four most promising talent, all of which happened to be related to him, would get contracts with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). They were Bret "Hitman" Hart, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Davey Boy Smith, and Dynamite Kid.
By this time Davey Boy and Dynamite were back teaming together, and they decided to put off going to the WWF. They took a trip to Japan and competed against each other, before finally agreeing to go to the WWF in late August. Dynamite has said on many occasions they never had a set contract whilst working there and were one of, if not the only two wrestlers not to have one during that period.
Dynamite's last recorded match for Stampede took place on September 20, 1984. He and Bruce Hart defeated Bad News Allen and Randy Webber in LeDuc, Alberta. His first WWF appearance was on August 29, Dynamite and Bret Hart defeated Mike Sharpe and Troy Alexander at a WWF TV taping in Brantford. On that same night Dynamite also defeated Nick DeCarlo in a singles match.
It only took until October of that year for the WWF to put the two British stars together as they teamed up to defeat Bobby Bass and Goldie Rogers on the 21st in the Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, Ontario. Taking full advantage of their lack of written contract with the WWF, the British Bulldogs headed over to All Japan Pro-Wrestling (AJPW) for the Real World Tag League in November which went on until December.
On their return in early 1985 to WWF the Bulldogs started to get some serious screen time from the WWF, as they made quick work of jobbers and make-shift teams. Through-out the summer of 1985 they had a series of matches taking them around the whole house show circuit with The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, who had just lost the tag-team titles. The Hart Foundation, Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart, were regular opponents too.
During the fall the WWF World Tag-Team Champions the Dream Team, Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine, were added to the mix on the house show circuit, and the Bulldogs had several close encounters for the championships. At TV tapings the Bulldogs continued to mainly squash minor teams in matches that lasted just a couple of minutes.
The WWF held their second pay-per-view on November 7, 1985. It was called The Wrestling Classic and the main attraction was a tournament. Dynamite Kid defeated Nikolai Volkoff in the opening round of the tournament, and Adrian Adonis in the quarter final. In the semi final Dynamite was beaten by the "Macho Man" Randy Savage. 1986 was the year of the Bulldogs though in terms of reaching their peak as a tag-team.
In a non-title televised match the British Bulldogs defeated the tag-team champions, the Dream Team, on January 7, 1986. On February 15 the Dream Team defeated the British Bulldogs for a taping of Saturday Night's Main Event that was aired on March 1. The two teams repeated this on house shows leading up to Wrestlemania II.
That event took place on April 7, 1986, and it saw the British Bulldogs be accompanied by Ozzy Osbourne and their manager, Captain Lou Albano. They defeated the Dream Team to capture the WWF World Tag Team Championship. Straight away they set to work on defending their newly won gold, taking on all comers. Within a month of Wrestlemania they defended them against the Dream Team, Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik, and the Hart Foundation all on television, as well as others.
Tragedy struck Tom Billington in December of that year. On the 13th during a match against Don Muraco and Bob Orton Jr. he injured his back putting him out of action. Dynamite has recalled since that Bret Hart was sent to collect his tag team belt whilst in the hospital so that they could be vacated. He has said he refused and when he got out of hospital he went to see Vince McMahon, who suggested they drop the titles to Nikolai Volkoff and the Iron Sheik, Dynamite again refused. Dynamite said he would not drop the gold to anyone other than the Hart Foundation.
So, that's the way it went down. Before the match Jimmy Hart attacked Dynamite with his megaphone to provide a reason for Dynamite not to be involved. The Hart Foundation then defeated Davey Boy Smith and won the WWF World Tag Team Championship, at a television taping from the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida on January 26, 1987.
Dynamite's first match back following his injury took place on March 8, the British Bulldogs lost to the Dream Team by disqualification at the Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. At Wrestlemania III on March 29, 1987, the British Bulldogs along with Tito Santana lost to the Hart Foundation and Danny Davis in front of an (WWE reported) approximate 93,000 fans.
Following the pay-per-view, the Bulldogs continued to feud with the Hart Foundation over the championships on the house show circuit, normally on the losing end, occasionally winning by disqualification though. For the rest of 1987 the Bulldogs had matches with various newly formed teams such as Boris Zhukov and Nikolai Volkoff, Demolition, and the Conquistadors. The results were back and forth, it was clear the Bulldogs time at the top of the tag team division had ended.
They were featured in the big twenty-man tag team Survivor Series match on November 26 out of the Richfield Coliseum, Ohio. Dynamite was pinned by Haku twenty minutes into the match, making the Bulldogs the fifth team to be eliminated. Their side went on to be the eventual victors.
1988 saw much of the same for the Bulldogs as they just continued to wrestle middle of the card matches, occasionally they won a televised match against a pair of jobbers. After a series of matches with the Islanders, Haku and Tama, the Bulldogs earned a place on Wrestlemania IV, where they lost to the Samoans on March 28, 1988. During the summer they were used to put over Demotion, the new tag team champions, at house shows across the country.
At Summerslam on August 29, in Madison Square Garden, the British Bulldogs went to a twenty minute time-limit draw with the Fabulous Rougeaus. They worked with Demolition into the fall of the year. They lost to the duo in a televised championship match filmed in the Bercy de Paris, Paris, France, on October 7. Again the Bulldogs were paired up with a newer team in the WWF in the fall, this time it was the Brainbusters, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard.
Dynamite's last ever match took place the next month. On November 24, at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, the British Bulldogs competed in the tag team Survivor Series match again. This time they were the sixth team eliminated, again it was Dynamite who suffered the pin fall, at the hands of Demolition Smash. Then Dynamite never appeared for the WWF again.
Earlier in the year Dynamite had trouble backstage with the Rougeau brothers, it ended badly for Dynamite. A lot of people attributed it for his leaving the WWF saying he was humiliated, however, Dynamite has spoken fairly openly about his own downfalls. He has said that it was actually because he had disputes with the management revolving around money and travel arrangements.
Davey Boy Smith also left the WWF in support of Dynamite's decision. The Bulldogs quickly went to work for Stampede Wrestling, reformed by Stu Hart's son, Bruce. Their first match was on December 3, they defeated the Stampede International Tag Team Champions in a non-title match. Just four days later the Bulldog's defeated the Cuban Assassin and Gerry Morrow once again, to win the International Tag Team Championship.
The title reign was only short though, as they dropped the belts on December 30 against Majham Singh and Vokhan Singh. The Bulldogs immediately went back to AJPW for the New Year Giant Series tour in January. That was the recipe through-out 1989 and for the early part of 1990 for the two cousins.
It's said Davey Boy wanted to go back to the WWF and the WWF were open to taking them back, but Dynamite refused. Dynamite felt a return to the WWF would mean more working dates and less pay in return for their work. Davey Boy went back though, and Dynamite has since spoken of how Davey Boy had trademarked the name "The British Bulldog", which stopped Dynamite from using it. The last match the two had together took place on January 28, 1990, where they teamed with Tiger Mask II and defeated Jumbo Tsuruta, Yoshiaki Yatsu, and Masanobu Fuchi in the Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan.
It was around that time after the split with Davey Boy that Dynamite and his wife separated and he moved back to his home country of England, for the first time since Bruce Hart spotted him and took him to Calgary back in 1978. He has spoken of being in England and having people take down posters that called him "The British Bulldog" due to Davey Boy. When he returned to AJPW in September of 1990, he formed a new team with Johnny Smith as "The British Bruisers."
They teamed together until the end of 1991. Over the course of his career Dynamite had picked up an alarming amount of injuries from delivering performances at the fast paced, hard hitting, strong style fans had become accustomed to from him over the years. When you mix that with his drug usage that he has openly spoken of, it isn't surprising he had to declare his retirement at such a young age. He announced it immediately after he and Johnny Smith defeated Johnny Ace and Sonny Beach in the famed Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
In June of 1993 he returned for two matches teaming with Johnny Smith. In January 1994, he wrestled two matches on the same night. First he teamed with Robbie Brookside to defeat Jimmy Ocean and Ricky Knight (WWE Paige's father) and then later he defeated the Masked Superstar by disqualification, for All-Star Wrestling (ASW).
On July 5 of the same year he appeared for ASW again and teamed with the 1-2-3 Boy (This is not a typo) and defeated Sid Cooper and Carl McGrath. They teamed again to beat the Legend of Doom (again, not a typo) and then defeated Skull Muphy and Mel Stuart, these two victories won them the tag-team tournament.
His last ever match was on October 10, 1996 when he teamed with Kuniaki Kobayashi and Dos Caras to defeat the Original Tiger Mask, the Great Sasuke and Mil Mascaras. It was only fitting his final match was against the man he is most remembered for facing, Satoru Sayama, the original Tiger Mask.
Unfortunately, Tom's health issues deteriorated to the point where he became wheelchair bound. He completely distanced himself from the wrestling business, and spent his time living with his second wife in his home in Manchester, England. He released a book on his life in 1999. From that point he slowly opened up to talking to the wrestling world. He also went backstage to WWE (previously WWF) shows when they were in his area of England. Over the years Tom Billington mended a lot of old fences. He even patched up his old friendship with Bret Hart after they had been estranged since the release of his book.
There have been several documentaries and pieces released on the career of the Dynamite Kid even as recently as 2013, just under 25 years since he was last apart of a major wrestling company in North America. It's hardly surprising though. The Dynamite Kid has left a legacy most professional wrestlers can only imagine. Chris Benoit, Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, Jay Lethal, and Davey Richards are all wrestlers who have been influenced by the Dynamite Kid.
His style of wrestling literally helped push open a whole new outlook on smaller guys on a large scale from his time in the WWF. He helped define a whole era of superstars in Japan, setting the bar for many who followed him, in many ways you can see a bit of the Dynamite Kid when you watch the late, great Mitsuharu Misawa.
"The Dynamite Kid " Tom Billington passed away on December 5, 2018 . It seems a fitting away to end the story of his life with a few quotes from those who knew him best and looked up to him.
Stu Hart said of Dynamite, "Dynamite did everything and everything pretty well. 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."
Bad News Allen said, "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."
Owen Hart spoke about him, "I placed Dynamite Kid on a pedestal. I'd go 'Wow, that guy's awesome.'...Dynamite, just because because he was the original, was the best."
Davey Richards on Dynamite, "I know that some wrestlers hate to be compared to others, but I've always been flattered by the comparisons between myself and Dynamite. I've studied his stuff, kind of patterned myself after him, and I just happen to look a little like him, too. His style, and that of Benoit, is what I think pro wrestling should be, so I'm happy to be under that banner.
There's been a million times when I've thought about what a match between myself and Dynamite would be like, but I think it'd be a case of me shutting up and taking notes! I've never had the privilege of meeting him, as much as I'd love to, but I know that he's seen a bunch of my stuff, and I've been told he was really impressed with me. I have the Dynamite Kid's approval, so I couldn't ask for more than that".
Bret Hart has also said on numerous occasions, before they had even reconciled, that he believes Dynamite Kid is the greatest wrestler who ever lived.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Biography of Tom Billington.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: July 2014.
Biography: #24.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Last Updated: September 28, 2019.
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Biography of Tom Billington.
Author: Jimmy Wheeler.
Published: July 2014.
Biography: #24.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Last Updated: September 28, 2019.
The quotes are from a SLAM! Wrestling piece on the Dynamite Kid.