Bret “The Hitman” Hart thought he was better than himself, many stars from WWE and AEW emulate him – although the story of “Dynamite Kid” Tom Billington ended bitterly
His companion Bret “The Hitman” Hart looked up to him, calling him “the best wrestler who ever lived, pound for pound”.
Thomas Billington, better known as The Dynamite Kid, was a revolutionary who took wrestling to a new level. He defined the athletic standard that still characterizes WWE, AEW and Co. today. Who was emulated by so many stars that he can be classified as one of the most influential show wrestlers of the modern era.
The admiration that the Brit earned through his incredibly dynamic and very physical style in the ring came at a high price: the former tag team partner of the prematurely deceased “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith and legendary rival of the exceptional Japanese wrestler Tiger Mask completely ruined his health in the ring and was already a physical wreck when his career ended prematurely.
Billington was severely affected by the consequences and was confined to a wheelchair for over 20 years before he died five years ago today, on December 5, 2018, the morning of his 60th birthday.
And the Dynamite Kid’s legacy is not only littered with shadows because of this
Today would have been Dynamite Kid’s 60th birthday. There’s going to be so many of his old friends waiting to celebrate with him today in heaven…❤️ pic.twitter.com/G2VaGHWqI1
– Nattie (@NatbyNature) December 5, 2018
Professional Wrestling as we now it today. He flew high, and gave it his all every match. Thanks for everything and sad to have lost another family member. Rest In Peace Dyno. pic.twitter.com/0p57E6dLwx
– Harry Smith, “Davey Boy Smith JR” (@DBSmithjr) December 5, 2018
Companion of Bret Hart, revolutionary in Japan
Billington, born on December 5, 1958, the son of a miner from Golborne (Greater Manchester) in the UK, had emerged as a great talent in his home country in the 1970s. In 1978, he was discovered by Bret’s father Stu Hart’s Canadian promotion STAMPEDE, where he became a top star that Bret, who was a year older, also looked up to – and which also brought him to the NJPW league in Japan, which cooperated with them.
Billington was best remembered there for his matches against the original Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama), which were considered the best wrestling had to offer worldwide at the time. They established the Junior Heavyweight Division, which is still honored in Japan today – and were groundbreaking for the athletic and technical level that is perceived as the basis of today’s wrestling.
Billington was in the WWF from 1984 to 1988, where he fell rather short of his potential. At least for the tag team scene, the Bulldogs were able to show their class in the duels with the original Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, who also died in 2018).
The Bulldogs left the WWF in 1988, but unlike Billington, Smith returned shortly afterwards and went on to have a successful solo career, as did Bret and his younger brother Owen Hart – Owen, who was killed in an accident in 1999, was even more influenced by the Dynamite Kid.
Drugs promoted the decline in health
Dynamite Kid remained a sought-after star in Japan, but his physical decline began during his active career, especially his back and legs.
In his last match in 1996, he was only a shadow of his former self and had to be hospitalized the next day after collapsing. From the following year, he was confined to a wheelchair due to paralysis in his left leg. In November 2013, he suffered a stroke. In 2015, Billington joined an unsuccessful class action lawsuit accusing WWE of failing to adequately protect its performers from head injuries.
Billington’s health problems were fueled by drug use, and he himself admitted to constant abuse of steroids, amphetamines, cocaine and LSD. In his blunt autobiography “Pure Dynamite”, he described several drug-induced near-death experiences – and even muscle-enhancing experiments with horse steroids.
The early death of ex-partner Smith was also caused by drug and steroid abuse as well as painkiller addiction. When comparing earlier and later matches, it is noticeable how both Bulldogs have developed over the years from rather slender average types to mountains of muscle. Steroid use was not yet illegal in the 1980s; it was only a change in the law in 1990 and government investigations that put WWE under pressure to act at the time
Another detail for which the Dynamite Kid was notorious: behind the scenes, he had a penchant for sometimes nasty pranks against fellow wrestlers. The reaction of his former WWE colleague Jacques Rougeau (later: The Mountie, Quebec Jacques) became particularly famous: He beat Dynamite bloody in the back with a roll of coins and prevented the impending revenge by successfully convincing Dynamite that he had dangerous mafia connections.
Dynamite Kid leaves behind an ambivalent legacy
Dynamite’s ring style also proved to be a robbery of his own body: In retrospect, his most famous maneuver, the Flying Headbutt, a diving headbutt from the top rope against his opponent’s upper body, is considered a major mistake.
Wrestling legend Harley Race, who invented this move, later noted that he regretted his innovation. It was conducive to both concussions and back problems. This was not only the case with the Dynamite Kid, but also with future WWE star Chris Benoit, who was strongly influenced by the Dynamite Kid. In 2007, Chris Benoit – who was posthumously diagnosed with the degenerative disease CTE – killed his wife, his child and himself.
Billington also inflicted violence on his family, his first wife Michelle Billington (sister of Bret Hart’s first wife Julie) recounted in the TV documentary Dark Side of the Ring how he became abusive in front of their two daughters following an argument and threatened her with a gun while she was seven months pregnant. Her son Marek, whom she gave birth to shortly afterwards, never saw his father after the subsequent separation.
Despite everything, Michelle Billington does not look back on “Tommy” in anger, instead drawing a picture in the documentary of a man shaped by a violent environment, but who was honest at heart – who was no longer himself in the end.
Michelle Billington assumes that her ex-husband – who is probably not in the WWE Hall of Fame because of his personal shadows – had suffered from the brain disease CTE and depression like Benoit
