The career of Tom “Dynamite Kid” Billington is one that had incredible highs and devastating lows.
His fast-paced, hard-hitting style revolutionized the industry, blending the technical mastery of catch wrestling with the high-flying innovation of junior heavyweight wrestling. Influenced by stars like Mark Rocco and Tiger Mask, Dynamite introduced a level of speed, aggression, and intensity that had never been seen before.
However, that same intensity came at a devastating cost. Self-conscious about his size, he turned to steroids, packing on muscle that his frame wasn’t built to handle.
Combined with his relentless in-ring style, this led to a career-altering back injury that would ultimately define the rest of his life. Despite his body breaking down, he refused to slow down, continuing to take dangerous bumps while relying on painkillers and other drugs to keep going.
The consequences were tragic. Years of punishment left him confined to a wheelchair, his health deteriorating as his past choices caught up with him. On his 60th birthday, the Dynamite Kid passed away—alone, his final years marked by pain and controversy.
This is the story of how one of wrestling’s greatest pioneers paid the ultimate price for his craft.
This article will be split into three distinct parts. We will begin with the impressive rise of the Dynamite Kid, from his humble beginnings in the UK to his work in Canada, and Japan and making it to the WWF with his partner, Davey Boy Smith.
The part will cover his downfall. Beginning with his back injury, it chronicled his backstage issues, how steroid abuse affected him mentally and the relationship breakdown between himself and the British Bulldog.
The final part is titled “The End of Tom Billington”. By this point, his career was over and he was no longer the dynamic personality in the ring, but a broken husk of a man who had alienated his family and died alone in his flat in Wigan.
The Rise, Fall and End of the Dynamite Kid
- Part 1: The Rise of the Dynamite Kid
- Part 2: The Fall of the Dynamite Kid
- Part 3: The End of Tom Billington
Part 1: The Rise of the Dynamite Kid
Tom Billington was a revolutionary in professional wrestling but he had very humble beginnings. The Englishman was born in Lancashire and taught to wrestle by “Dr Death” Ted Betley, following a meeting between Betley and Billington’s father.
This led to the young Billington to train at Riley’s gym in Wigan – more commonly known as the infamous Snake Pit, a term coined by Japanese wrestlers. Here, he learnt with legends like Billy Robinson and Steve Wright, who could see early on that this boy was a prodigy.
He began to train in 1971 at the age of 13 before making his debut in wrestling just four years later. A 17-year-old Tom Billington wrestled for the Jack Atherton promotion, with Ted Betley coming up with the name “Dynamite Kid” for the bout. I guess it stuck!
It was just 1 year later that the Dynamite Kid was featured on TV for the first time and the 18-year-old quickly became a household name. Despite being small he was electric in the ring and his personality made him larger-than-life next to heavyweights like Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks.
Dynamite Kid learnt from the best in those early days. He wrestled some fantastic professionals like Alan Dennison, “Crybaby” Jim Breaks and Mark “Rollerball” Rocco is some of the finest technical encounters you’ll ever see. While the fans loved to see matches like Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks, it was the Dynamite Kid’s matches that sent their jaws smacking into the floor.
However, it was the sheer intensity in the ring that made the Dynamite Kid so enamouring. He oozed class in the ring with his flawless execution of all his moves but the way he put his all into every push, pull and punch showed the willingness to win that nobody could ever match.
Bruce Hart Scouted The Dynamite Kid To Wrestle In Canada For Stampede Wrestling
In the spring of 1978, Dynamite Kid was a British and European Champion, so he needed to go further afield to make a bigger name for himself as a wrestler. Luckily, Canadian wrestler Bruce Hart – son of Stu and brother of Bret and Owen – was wrestling for Joint Promotions as “Cowboy” Bruce Hart during a tour of the UK.
Unbeknownst to his father, Bruce was also on a little scouting mission, wanting to impress his dad by bringing back some of the best wrestlers unknown to Canadian fans. As soon as he set eyes on the Dynamite Kid, he knew he’d be a hit in Stampede Wrestling (the promotion run by the Harts in Calgary.
After a particularly impressive bout with Mark Rocco in Cleethorpes (“Well, we always had a good match” the Dynamite Kid said in his book), he was offered to come to Calgary for a tour with Stampede and offered a car, accommodation and $400 a week for his troubles.
This was far, far more than he ever made in the UK. However, he was convinced not to take the deal by booker Max Crabtree but soon saw his sense after getting his measly pay packet from the Joint Promotions boss.
He left England with £20 in his back pocket for a new adventure on April 27th 1978. He was 19-years-old and about to embark on a career move that would help define him as a wrestler and a human being. He wouldn’t return to Britain until his career was over and he’d ruined all the relationships in his life.
Battling The Harts In Stampede
Tom Billington would become a massive star in Canada almost as soon as he stepped off the plane. From his first matches in the Stampede Wrestling ring, the fans, wrestlers and bookers knew that he was the star in the promotion and nobody could come close.
Dynamite Kid tagged with Bruce Hart early on in his run in the company. However, after several “missed” tags during their match (“I bent down to tie my shoe laces and pretended I hadn’t seen him”), he smacked the young Hart in the mouth and transformed into a destructive heel, much to the chagrin of the Canadian fans.
People were so angry that he needed security to escort him back to the dressing room. The fans spat at the Englishman, throwing rubbish at him (and worse) as he smirked his way to the back, completing his transformation.
Bruce Hart wasn’t the only Hart who Dynamite Kid threw around the ring though. His matches with Bret Hart, fresh into the family business, became legendary. They battled over the British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship (a title invented just for the Dynamite Kid by Stu Hart) numerous times, trading the belt between themselves constantly.
Their clashes included a legendary ladder match, which was an innovation that came out of Canada during this time. Sadly, no footage of this bout exists and both men consider it one of the best matches of their careers.
While his transformation into a hated heel and battler of the Hart family was iconic, it wasn’t the only transformation the Dynamite Kid would be doing.
Junkyard Dog Introduced Dynamite Kid To Steroids
Bret Hart debuted in Stampede just one week after Billington came over to Canada to stay with the family. He talked extensively about the Dynamite Kid in his book, Hitman. He remarked that he was an exceptional talent in the ring, one of the best ever, even noting that he didn’t drink, smoke or do any drugs – something that would not continue throughout his life.
That was because he would soon be introduced to that world by some of the veteran wrestlers in the territory. The Junkyard Dog, of WWF fame, was the first person to get the Dynamite Kid into steroids.
Tom Billington was very self-conscious about his size and had been his entire life. His incredible work ethic and intensity in the ring, as well as the incredible risks he took, were to show the world that his size didn’t make him any less of a man than the other, bigger wrestlers.
This also led him to Junkyard Dog, who introduced him to the world of anabolic steroids during a tour of Germany in 1979. They were still legal at this point and used by numerous wrestlers, having been popularised by former WWF Champion “Superstar” Billy Graham.
The ability to grow muscle and become as big as his peers was enticing to the Dynamite Kid. He had always been the smallest man in the ring and faced some ridicule from the other wrestlers. While he’d never admit it, it was clear that Tom Billington felt inferior due to his size and the use of steroids helped him greatly in that regard.
As his muscles grew, so did the attention. The Dynamite Kid’s star continued to shine brighter and brighter. More opportunities to work all over the world came in and he was recognised as a true superstar in Calgary. Now the skinny kid from Wigan was a proper professional wrestler in the eyes of many.
The steroids would have their negatives (which we will get into later) but his growing muscles and continued fantastic work earned the Dynamite Kid the chance to tour Japan and face his greatest-ever rival – Tiger Mask.
Wrestling Tiger Mask In Japan
It would be fair to say that the bouts between the Dynamite Kid and Tiger are some of the most influential in the history of professional wrestling. As soon as the pair locked horns for the first time, professional wrestling worldwide would never be the same again.
The first time Dynamite Kid shared the ring with Tiger Mask was actually in the UK, where the Japanese star wrestled as Sammy Lee. This was in a multi-man tag match but it was their first singles encounter in Japan that would change the world as we know it.
When they finally locked horns in New Japan Pro Wrestling a joint card with the WWF in 1981, it was like pro wrestling had been injected with a dose of nitrous. The match moved at the speed of light compared to some of the dull, plodding matches of the years gone by.
The two junior heavyweights wrestled a match that mixed the classic British technical style with the hard-hitting Japanese wrestling, with some non-stop action filled with quick counters, high-flying moves and spots that made the usually-reserved Japanese crowd jump onto their seats and scream with surprise.
The pair wrestled numerous times over the following years, at NJPW and WWE shows. These bouts showed the stark difference between the two products but also helped Dynamite Kid get signed to the WWE, along with his matches with Bret Hart in Stampede Wrestling.
Forming The British Bulldogs & Joining The WWF
Dynamite Kid was brought in to the WWF in 1984, although he initially teamed with Bret Hart on a 29 August 1984 TV taping against Iron Mike Sharpe and Troy Alexander.
However, he would soon be paired with Davey Boy Smith, who had he had begun teaming with in Stampede and NJPW a year prior. The pair were cousins and Davey had followed Dynamite to Canada after becoming a star himself in the UK.
The pair quickly made a name for themselves as one of the best tag teams in the WWF. Their hard-hitting and fast-paced styles was light years ahead of what fans were used to and they became big stars in the company, making big money for the first time in their careers.
This led to a match at WrestleMania II, which at the time was one of the biggest wrestling events ever following the success of the previous year’s event, celebrities were bussed in to appear at one of three cities (it was an absolute mess that year), with Black Sabbath’s Ozzy Osbourne accompanying the British Bulldogs to the ring for their match.
They beat Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake at the event to win the WWF World Tag Team Championships. The pair were at the top of the world, acknowledged as the best tag team in the biggest company and had more respect and riches than they could ever imagine.
That would be the beginning of the downfall of the Dynamite Kid.
Part 2: The Fall of the Dynamite Kid
Coming off WrestleMania II, The Dynamite Kid was flying as high as he ever did. The British Bulldogs were respected in the locker room and were being pushed as the top tag team in the business.
They were earning more money than they knew what to do with and spent it on big houses up in Canada to be near the rest of the Hart Family (Davey married Bret Hart’s sister, Dynamite married Bret Hart’s wife’s sister).
The British Bulldog’s matches were as good as they ever were, especially when facing off with the Hart Foundation. However, 1986 would mark the end of the good times and begin the dark spiral into the worst times of the Dynamite Kid’s life.
A Back Injury Ended His Career As We Knew It
Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith battled Bob Orton and Don Muraco in a house show match on December 12th, 1986. They were touring around North America defending their WWE World Tag Team Championships, usually against the Hart Foundation.
This match seems like a nothing match that would be forgotten over time. However, thanks to a sneaky fan bringing a camera into the arena, we got to see the beginning of the end of the career of the Dynamite Kid.
Midway through the match, Dynamite Kid ran to the ropes, hitting them with his back in anticipation of turning and running back towards his opponent. However, the Englishman simply collapsed onto the mat, clutching his back as the rest of the wrestlers in the match looked around, confused.
The immense mass he’d put on to stand out in the WWE and his high-risk style had finally come back to bite him. There was no way his body could carry that amount of mass and he immediately ruptured two disks in his back. The diving headbutt that he was famous for was also said to be a factor, with Harley Race regretting ever inventing it.
He was hospitalised for ten months (on and off) due to the injury. However, he returned six weeks later, being wheeled to the ring for a title defence against the Hart Foundation. Dynamite Kid refused to vacate the titles and would only come back to put Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart over, albeit without actually doing any wrestling.
Doctors advised him to retire and told the 28-year-old that his career was over. That didn’t work for the Dynamite Kid though, as money issues and personal pride meant he rushed back for WrestleMania III, needing the payday to help pay his mortgage. He was pumped to the gills with painkillers, a common theme that would follow him for the rest of his career.
Discover the full story of the Dynamite Kid’s horrendous back injury by clicking here.
Dynamite Kid Was A Bully Backstage And It Came Back To Bite Him
While his injury was tragic, numerous wrestlers backstage weren’t too upset to see the Dynamite Kid knocked down a peg and take an extended break from the WWE.
The Englishman was a known bully backstage. He wasn’t a light-hearted ribber like Owen Hart. His “pranks” were much more insidious, with Dynamite Kid enjoying spiking other’s food and drinks with sleeping pills or laxatives.
This included popping sleeping bills in beer cans before handing them to the driver of the van the wrestlers were in while doing their tours of Canada, which could have ended up in multiple dead wrestlers.
He would also just violently bully people backstage, which led to the infamous incident with Jacques Rougeau. Kid was already known for beating up a young Mick Foley in the ring and decided to get violent with Rougeau backstage, after a prank pulled by Curt Hennig was wrongly attributed to the Canadian.
In 1988, Dynamite Kid attacked Jacques Rougeau backstage at a Miami show, breaking his nose and his pride. To regain his standing in the locker room, Rougeau learnt to box with his father before punching Billington with a roll of quarters in his hand some weeks later.
Dynamite Kid only went down to one knee after the punch so Rougeau had to continue attacking him. The pair were pulled apart by the roster, which was lucky for Rougeau – if they hadn’t, Dynamite Kid would have likely murdered him then and there.
This incident is said to have humbled Dynamite Kid somewhat, although he would soon return to his old ways for the rest of his career. He never let up at home though and remained one of the most controversial wrestlers of all time.
Marriage Issues Ended Up In Him Being Sent Back To England, Alone
If you thought his conduct in the locker room was bad then thank God you didn’t have to live with the Dynamite Kid.
He terrorised his poor wife Michelle throughout their married life. The increased steroid use had made him angry and irritable, although he had been a bully long before he ever started on the juice.
Dynamite Kid abused his wife physically and emotionally, threatening to kill her and her children on multiple occasions. He would regularly lock her in the wardrobe before leaving to go to the bar, amid other horrendous abuse.
Julie even considered killing herself and her children just to get away from the abuse but didn’t because she couldn’t guarantee the children would die with her.
This all came to a head one night when Dynamite Kid pointed a shotgun at Julie and threatened to kill her. Tired of it all, she told him to do it, calling his bluff. He eventually stormed off to his car, where Bret Hart confronted him after hearing the dispute from his nearby house
This was the last time Dynamite Kid would see his wife. She bought him a plane ticket home to Wigan, telling him the family needed him gone and that he wasn’t welcome.
He packed his bags and flew back to England. In his book, Pure Dynamite, he claims he left with just £20 in a pocket, a perfect mirror to the day he left for Canada.
Davey Boy Smith Left Him To Return To The WWE
The breakup of the British Bulldogs in the late 1980s deeply affected both Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith, tearing their relationship apart and leading to a series of bitter events.
They walked out on the WWE in 1988 to return to work in Japan and Canada. Dynamite Kid had a dispute with the WWE over plane tickets and was too proud to concede to keep his job, so he left. The ever-faithful British Bulldog followed suit, always doing what Dynamite told him to do.
The duo worked together in Canada with Stampede Wrestling and Japan’s All-Japan Pro Wrestling, but tensions grew as Dynamite Kid’s injuries took a toll, leaving Davey Boy to carry much of the load.
The pair split in Canada, and in 1990, Davey Boy returned to WWE for a solo run, which Dynamite Kid viewed as a betrayal. This further strained their relationship, especially when Davey Boy falsely claimed that Dynamite Kid had died in a car crash to cover his abrupt departure.
In 1994, as both men wrestled in the UK, a dispute arose over the “British Bulldog” name. Davey Boy Smith had trademarked it for himself, leading to legal threats when Dynamite Kid was billed as the “British Bulldog” by another promoter.
This culminated in a confrontation at a 1994 wrestling show, where Dynamite Kid tried to confront his cousin, only for Davey Boy to avoid him, escalating tensions between the two. The feud, marked by spiteful actions and legal battles, marked the end of their once-prominent partnership, with both men going their separate ways in the wrestling world.
Dynamite Kid’s Final Match Was A Depressing End To His Legendary Career
While his career was functionally over by 1986, a decade later would see the Dynamite Kid wrestle the final match in his iconic, if not mixed, career.
His last match was for Michinoku Pro Wrestling in 1996, ending a legendary career with a whimper. They had brought him for Japan for a number of appearances in the months prior, which he accepted due to needing the money, before being convinced to take part in one more match.
The idea was to bring back some legends of the business to pay tributes to some of the most influential names in wrestling. This included reuniting with Tiger Mask, the who Dynamite Kid has changed wrestling with over a decade earlier.
The Dynamite Kid teamed with Dos Caras (the father of Alberto Del Rio) and Kuniaki Kobayash to take on the all-star trio of the original Tiger Mask, Mil Mascaras & The Great Sasuke. His performance was nothing like the fans remembered, this skinny, almost skeleton Wiganer no longer embodying the spirit of the Dynamite Kid.
He was slow and stilted in the ring, messing up simple moves and failing to execute the impressive combinations that wowed fans all those years ago.
For a man who had prided himself in hard-hitting, lightning-fast action, watching his body fail him was a depressing sight. It was clear he had very little in his life after is wife left him and sent him back to England. Wrestling was all the Dynamite Kid ever had, and now that had faield him too.
It was just sad. He barely spent any time in the ring, and whenever he did, he did very little. Every time Dynamite Kid tagged out of the match, he sat down on the apron clutching his head – clearly in pain.
He wasn’t involved in the finish, but Dos Caras pinned Great Sasuke to win the match for his team. He suffered a seizure before the match and hung up his boots for good after somehow getting through the bout unscathed.
That was the end of the Dynamite Kid.
Part 3: The End of Tom Billington
They say the brightest stars shine half as long and that is a proverb that accurately describes the career of the Dynamite Kid.
By the time his final match in 1996 had finished, he was just 37-years-old and was a shell of the dynamic performer which once took the wrestling world by storm. Just one year later, his injuries cost him the use of his legs and Billington was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
His back injuries, suffered originally in the WWE in 1986, had clipped his wings. However, the reputational damage he had done was entirely of his own making from a lifetime of violence, aggression and anger at the world.
This part of the article is titled “The End of Tom Billington”, rather than “The End of The Dynamite Kid”. That is because the Dynamite Kid died long before his final match in Japan. That was just a husk, a walking corpse of one of the great innovators of wrestling.
At that moment, the 37-year-old, broken-down shell of a man was Tom Billington, a former wrestler, trying to recapture the magic which never would return. Through his own stubbornness and selfishness, he was all alone with nothing but memories to show for his work.
Tom Billington Lived In Wigan In His Final Years
After being sent packing back to England by his wife, Tom Billington lived in a small, dingy flat in the arse end of Wigan for the rest of his life. While he was able to walk at first, his back soon gave out and he was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
He did meet a woman though who made his final years more enjoyable. He married Dot, a local girl who had no idea who he was and was not a wrestling fan. They married in 1997, only a few years removed from his WWE run and just a year after his final match.
Tom Billington rarely left his flat if he could help it, rarely going anywhere except for doctors appointments. He hated people seeing him and taking pity on what he’d become, rather having them remember him as the dynamic and charismatic Dynamite Kid they saw in the ring all those years go.
He looked like a man twice his age and was wasting away in his small flat, watching his classic matches of the past and reliving his glory days. There is a moving clip of the original Tiger Mask sending him a video message a few years before his death with is worth a watch.
He Eventually Reconnected With His Children Shortly Before His Death
While his whole life had fallen apart after wrestling, there was a glimmer of hope just a few years before his death. In 2016, he reunited with his daughter Bronwyne in Wigan. He hadn’t seen her in 15 years when he was first sent back to England and had given up hope of reconnecting with his family.
She made numerous trips to Wigan to be with her dad in the years following, which both of them enjoyed. She tells in the book Dynamite and Davey that in their most memorable meeting, they hugged each other and cried as Tom Billington apologised for all those years apart.
He even got to finally speak to Amaris, his youngster daughter. Her mother was pregnant when Billington left Canada and neither party had made the effort to meet. They finally spoke on Skype together, which Bronwyne thinks made it easier for him to say goodbye when he passed away.
Dynamite Kid passed away on his 60th birthday on the 5th of December, 2018. His death prompted numerous tributes from people like Bryan Danielson and Harry Smith, although due to his personal problems was not given an extended memorial by the WWE.
His death was tragic but Tom Billington at least got to reconnect with his family before his death.
Dynamite Kid’s Legacy In Wrestling Is A Complicated One
The legacy of the Dynamite Kid depends entirely on the person who you ask. Anyone who knew him personally would likely admit he was a great wrestler, but not somebody to be trusted nor to put your faith in.
He was cussed and rude at best and downright aggressive and violent at his worst. If his worst ribs had been reported to the police, he would have undoubtedly spent a long time in prison, let alone what he did to his poor wife and children. He even broke a child’s kneecaps to claim insurance money.
However, if we look at him from a purely wrestling perspective, there was nobody finer. Nobody moved as quickly and as crisply in the ring as the Dynamite Kid and he almost created an entirely new way to wrestle. His dedication to his craft and hard work was unmatched as he gave himself 100% to the sport of professional wrestling.
That is what ended his career, as he took no regard for his own safety in pursuit of perfection – something that would never come, no matter how perfectly he wrestled or how much danger he put himself in.
In the ring, Dynamite Kid was unmatched in two ways. Nobody could ever do what he did in the way he did it, and by God nobody should ever try to again. Chris Benoit did that and look where that left him. Tom Billington was a one-of-a-kind wrestler who should not be imitated but should still be admired.
Some of the sources used to learn about the Dynamite Kid include:
- Pure Dynamite – Tom Billington
- Dynamite & Davey – Steven Bell
- Physical Chess – Billy Robinson
- Hitman – Bret Hart
- Straight from the Hart – Bruce Hart
- My Life In Wrestling – Gary Hart
- Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling – Heath McCoy
