In the world of professional wrestling, few names evoke as much awe and controversy as Dynamite Kid and Chris Benoit.
Both men were heralded as pioneers of their craft, celebrated for their unmatched technical prowess and an unrelenting commitment to storytelling inside the squared circle.
Dynamite Kid, real name Tom Billington, revolutionized the sport with his innovative style, blending aerial manoeuvres with hard-hitting realism.
Chris Benoit, often regarded as Dynamite’s spiritual successor, took that legacy to new heights, becoming one of the most respected performers of his generation.
However, beneath their extraordinary in-ring achievements lay darker truths. Injuries, personal demons, and the unforgiving demands of professional wrestling took a devastating toll on both men, leading to tragic conclusions that cast a shadow over their legacies.
This article delves into the striking parallels between Dynamite Kid and Chris Benoit, exploring how their lives were shaped by brilliance, sacrifice, and ultimately, heartbreak. While their contributions to wrestling are undeniable, their stories serve as a sobering reminder of the cost of greatness.
Dynamite Kid and Chris Benoit: Wrestling Pioneers Who Redefined the Sport
Despite their controversial lives outside of the ring, there is no doubting the impact that the Dynamite Kid and Chris Benoit had when stepping between the ropes.
To start with, Tom Billington was a pioneer in professional wrestling. Alongside Tiger Mask, he helped to forge a style of wrestling that is still known and beloved today.
This fast-paced style, filled with hard-hitting moves, high-flying acrobatics and incredible counter-wrestling, is still as relevant today as it was in the 1980s.
This junior heavyweight style was an evolution of both the hard-hitting Japanese style and the more technical British “World of Sport” catch-as-catch-can wrestling. Dynamite Kid built upon the work that Tiger Mask and Mark Rocco (as Black Tiger) had and took it to another level.
If you look back at the series of matches between Tiger Mask and the Dynamite Kid, you can clearly see the influence on modern-day wrestling. Back in the 1980s the matches were out of this world and resembled something nobody had ever seen before.
The two men were pioneers and inspired a whole generation of wrestlers. One of these was a young Canadian called Chris Benoit. He had seen Dynamite Kid wrestling in Canada for Stampede Wrestling and loved to see the Englishman competing whenever he could.
In fact, a young Benoit once met Billington after a Stampede show. They had a small chat that stuck with Benoit and he modelled his in-ring style after his hero, including using his infamous diving headbutt move.
He continued the legacy of the Dynamite Kid as he forged his own career. Chris Benoit managed to rise the ranks of both WWE and WCW, becoming a world champion in both. His crowning achievement was winning the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XX, winning the biggest prize in the WWE with a style of wrestling that was not usually seen in the company.
However, his hard work and determination to become the master of his craft left the company no option to treat him like the top star that he was.
That did not come easy though.
Both Careers Were Defined by Sacrifice and Commitment
However, one of the biggest issues in their career came from their own insecurities. Wrestling in the 1980s into the 2000s was usually defined by size. In Japan, you could get away with being a smaller worker if you were that good, as Chris Benoit and the Dynamite Kid were, but things were very different in the United States.
Dynamite Kid always had a chip on his shoulder about his size. The British Bulldogs were a supremely impressive tag team, arguably one of the best of all time, but during their time in Canada and Japan, they were a bit on the small side.
They knew they needed to get bigger, so in came the steroid abuse. Davey Boy Smith and Tom Billington became comically big in order to dispel any notion that they were too small to become wrestlers.
At only 5 foot 7 inches, Dynamite Kid was nowhere the size of a Hulk Hogan. He packed on so much muscle during his time in the WWE that he could hardly move around the ring as he once could, although his in-ring work was still incredible.
Chris Benoit shared this belief that steroids were needed to get him to the next level. Its hard to say both men were wrong – Vince McMahon did encourage his wrestlers to get as big as they could – but the level both men took it to was far from healthy.
Both men were incredibly committed to the art of wrestling. Their workouts and training were infamously brutal, not allowing themselves to make a single mistake. If they did, physical punishment was what they treated themselves to.
Chris Jericho recalled Chris Benoit making himself do 500 squats for selling a kick that Chris Jericho missed him on. Nobody – not even Jericho – noticed the mistake, but Benoit felt he needed to punish himself if he wanted to be the best wrestler he could.
This drive to be the best drove the pair to do things they shouldn’t have. Steroids was one and working whenever they could, through injury and concussion, was another.
Had they accepted their physical limitations, the fate of Chris Benoit and the Dynamite Kid could have been so much better than how they turned out.
The Darker Side of Wrestling: The Tragic Fates of Two Legends
In fact, it was a combination of size and work rate that ultimately ended Dynamite Kid’s career.
He suffered a horrendous back injury during a match in the WWE that turned him into a shell of his former self and eventually left him wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life.
Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith battled Bob Orton and Don Muraco in a house show match on December 12th, 1986.
Fan footage, taken by someone in the crowd who snuck in a camera (no mean feat in 1986), shows the moment where Dynamite Kid’s back collapses in the ring.
After hitting the ropes and jumping slightly to leap over his opponent, the English simply collapsed on the other side of the ring. He clutched his back, as the other wrestlers in the match looked confused, and tried to continue.
“He dropped flat on his belly, so I had to jump over him to go to the other ropes” Dynamite Kid wrote in his controversial book, “Pure Dynamite”. “As I jumped, literally in my stride, I felt something go in my back.”
You can read our in-depth article about Dynamite Kid’s injury here.
After the injury, WWE still trotted him out to defend the title. Doctors told him to never wrestle again, but he was brought back six weeks later ot defend the belts. He didn’t take any bumps or do any moves, and was wheeled in and out of the arena as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, it was the need to be the best that ultimately killed Chris Benoit. Imitating his hero by using the diving headbutt, the Canadian Crippler suffered numerous concussions and significant head trauma throughout his career.
This caused lasting brain damage and he was said to have the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer’s patient when he died. The brain damage led to Chris Benoit murdering his family before killing himself in one of the most horrendous acts in wrestling history.
His head trauma was adjudged to have had a huge impact on his decision making. Friends and family have noted that he would never have done anything to harm his family, especially his son Daniel.
The deaths of the three Benoit’s shone a bright light on professional wrestling. Huge changes were made to the drug policy in the company as well as how seriously concussions were treated.
Explore more about the tragic death of Chris Benoit and his family.
Dynamite Kid and Chris Benoit: Complicated Legacies in Wrestling History
The legacies left behind by Dynamite Kid and Chris Benoit are complicated to say the least.
It is hard to ignore how talent, influential and similar they were. The way they moved in the ring, their determination to be the best and their unhealthy love for the business.
They had some of the most iconic matches in history and inspired generations with their strong-style wrestling, years before the term had been coined in Japan.
However, very few wrestlers will admit being influenced by them. After Billington’s death, Bryan Danielson admitted being a big fan of Dynamite Kid, but you will struggle to find many people condoning him.
The Briton did some horrible things in his career. This included breaking a girls kneecaps for insurance money, threatening to murder his wife with a shotgun and whole host of controversies (that you can read about here). Tom Billington was a nasty piece of work who burnt bridges with everyone in his life by the time he died.
The release of an episode of Dark Side of the Ring opened most people’s eyes about just how much of a terrible human being he was. The WWE rarely mention him and were happy to induct the late British Bulldog without any mention of his former tag team partner.
Meanwhile, the WWE haven’t refrained from mentioning Chris Benoit. They have gone out of their way to scrub him from their history books. Any match of his on the WWE Network simple says something like “Booker T has a match”, rather than “Booker T vs Chris Benoit”.
His World title victory, Royal Rumble win and his incredible canon of matches may as well have never happened, in the eyes of the WWE. A Hall of Fame induction is absolutely out of the question, as is ever mentioning his name on television again.
Should his entire professional career be erased due to what happened at the end of his life? An impossible question with an impossible answer. Chris Benoit and Dynamite Kid has complicated legacies that will be debated as long as the WWE remains.
Lessons from the Careers of Dynamite Kid and Chris Benoit
If we look back at the careers of Dynamite Kid and Chris Benoit then we can learn a lot about the world of professional wrestling.
Both men had a very similar outlook on wrestling. They wanted to push the boundaries of what was possible and valued skill and intensity over anything else in the ring.
They pushed the art form and their own bodies to the limit and beyond. This ultimately cost both men their lives and their careers, although it is what they did outside of the ring that has kept them from being truly honoured for what they did in wrestling.
