Dynamite Kid Thomas " Tom " Billington ( December 5 , 1958 ) , best known by the ring name Dynamite Kid , is a retired British professional wrestler who competed in the World Wrestling Federation , Stampede Wrestling , All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling in the mid - to late - 1980s . With his cousin Davey Boy Smith , Billington became best known for being half of the tag team the British Bulldogs . He has had notable feuds with Tiger Mask in Japan and Bret Hart in Canada . He was born in Golborne , Lancashire . Early life . Academics were not a priority to Tom , but he was drawn to the sport programme at his comprehensive school ; his adherence to it , particularly wrestling and gymnastics , helped him develop a relatively small but powerful and agile shape . In addition , he had also received training in boxing during his formative years , which helped instill toughness in him before his career . His father , the brother of Davey Boy Smith ' s mother , was a miner and itinerant labourer who often took young Thomas to see wrestling matches in Wigan , then as now , well known for its wrestling tradition . It was during a home visit that the younger Billington met and caught the attention of Ted Betley , who had been running a pro - wrestling school in his home ; it was here that Billington began his training , as a way of avoiding the back - breaking work of the coal mines . Professional wrestling career . Early years ( 1975 – 1984 ) . His first shot in the pro ranks was working for Max Crabtree , as he debuted in 1975 . During his early days , he won the British Lightweight title on April 23 , 1977 , and the Welterweight title on January 25 , 1978 . He was also instrumental in starting the career of then - Judo star Chris Adams while still competing in Britain , was scouted and moved to Calgary , Alberta , Canada in 1978 . Dynamite made a big impact in his matches for Stampede Wrestling with the increasingly popular Bruce Hart , and rookie Bret Hart . Despite differences between them due to comments Dynamite Kid made about Stu Hart in his autobiography , Bret still regards him as " pound - for - pound , the greatest wrestler who ever lived " . Dynamite Kid began taking steroids in 1979 when Big Daddy Ritter , aka the Junkyard Dog , introduced Billington to the anabolic steroid Dianabol . Billington was also introduced to speed during his stay in Canada by Jake Roberts . After doing big business in Canada , Dynamite was booked on his first tour of Japan , working for International Pro Wrestling from July 19 – 25 , 1979 . Stu Hart and Stampede Wrestling switched their business relationship from IPW to New Japan Pro Wrestling shortly after Dynamite ' s first tour , and he wrestled for New Japan from January 4 , 1980 , to August 2 , 1984 . Perhaps the most memorable matches that came out of Dynamite ' s run in New Japan were from his now legendary feud against Tiger Mask ; Tiger Mask ' s debut was against Dynamite , in which Tiger Mask shocked the wrestling world by gaining the victory over Dynamite . The two would compete against one another several more times in a feud that is often credited as putting Junior Heavyweight wrestling on the map , as well as setting the standard for future generations . Both the NWA and WWF Junior Heavyweight titles were vacated after Tiger Mask was injured by Dynamite Kid in a tag match on April 1 , 1983 . Dynamite and Kuniaki Kobayashi competed for the vacant titles , but no winner was decided . On April 21 , 1983 , Dynamite and Tiger Mask met for the vacant WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship , but no winner was decided after the match ended up as a draw three consecutive times . On February 7 , 1984 , Billington captured the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship by winning a tournament in New Japan Pro Wrestling ; although it was a WWF Title , it was primarily defended in Japan . He defeated Davey Boy Smith earlier in the tournament , and would go on to defeat The Cobra in the finals . World Wrestling Federation ( 1984 – 1988 ) . Dynamite Kid made his WWF television debut on August 29 , 1984 , where he and Bret Hart defeated Iron Mike Sharpe and Troy Alexander in a match eventually shown on September 15 , 1984 , on the Maple Leaf Garden broadcast . Billington would end up teaming with Davey Boy Smith as the British Bulldogs , while Bret would team with Jim Neidhart as The Hart Foundation , and it led to matches between the two teams that usually ended in No - Contests . On April 7 , 1986 , accompanied by Captain Lou Albano and Ozzy Osbourne , the British Bulldogs won the WWF World tag team title from Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake at WrestleMania II . Dynamite Kid was injured in December 1986 in a tag match in Hamilton , Ontario , Canada against Don Muraco and Bob Orton , Jr . and several wrestlers including Roddy Piper , Junkyard Dog and Billy Jack Haynes would substitute for him when tag title defenses were made . While recovering in the hospital from back surgery , Billington would later recount that Bret Hart showed up and stated that Vince McMahon had sent him to get Dynamite ' s tag belt ; Billington refused . Shortly after checking himself out of the hospital ( against doctors ' orders ) , Billington met with McMahon , who requested that the Bulldogs drop the tag titles to the team of Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik ; Billington refused , saying that he would only drop the belts to The Hart Foundation . McMahon acquiesced and at a TV taping on January 26 , 1987 , The British Bulldogs wrestled a match to drop the titles to The Hart Foundation ; the match would air on the February 7 edition of WWF Superstars of Wrestling . The match itself was an odd sight , as Dynamite could barely walk due to back surgery , and thus needed to be assisted to the ring by linking arms with Davey Boy Smith . Dynamite was knocked out by Jimmy Hart ' s megaphone early in the match , avoiding his having to wrestle in the match for story purposes . From that point forward , the Bulldogs would not be a top - tier team anymore , and while they would not become straight jobbers , they would mostly wrestle to double disqualifications , double countouts or time - limit draws against the top teams in the WWF . After getting into a real life backstage fight with Jacques Rougeau , the Bulldogs wrestled their last WWF match at the 1988 Survivor Series . Throughout his time in the WWF , Dynamite Kid made several enemies , including Brutus Beefcake ( who - alone of the wrestlers on the show - had refused an autograph for Betley who was visiting his old student backstage at a 1986 WWF show ) The Honky Tonk Man whom Dynamite claimed had made light of injuries suffered by his friend Harley Race , - an account largely corroborated by Hart - and Jacques Rougeau . After a prior incident in which Rougeau had blamed Dynamite for having cut up his clothes for a prank ( in fact committed by Curt Hennig ) and Dynamite in return had confronted and punched Rougeau and his brother Raymond , he ambushed and assaulted Billington with three shots in the face while his fist was loaded with a roll of quarters ( including one in the mouth that knocked out four of Dynamite ' s teeth ) Because of Billington ' s history of bullying , many wrestlers thought he deserved the beating . Many claimed that Billington never recovered from this humiliation . Billington was known for being a legitimately tough guy and for his stiffness as a worker . Mick Foley tells the story of when Kid and Smith wrestled the team of Les Thornton and a young Mick Foley . By Foley ' s account , Billington manhandled him so badly in the ring that he couldn ' t eat solid food for a time , and tore a ligament in Foley ' s jaw with his trademark Hook Clothesline . Outside of the ring , WWF - champion Randy Savage once specifically asked for him to watch his back when he went drinking in a hotel bar frequented by NWA wrestlers , including Ric Flair . Billington himself , however , has claimed that the Rougeau incident was not in fact the final straw that drove him to leave the WWF . Rather , he has stated , it was a dispute with WWF management over issuing of complimentary plane tickets , over which he resigned from the company on principle and , to his surprise in retrospect , Smith followed suit . Stampede Wrestling , All Japan Pro Wrestling , and Michinoku Pro Wrestling ( 1988 – 1996 ) . After leaving the WWF , the Bulldogs returned to Stampede Wrestling to win the International Tag Team Titles . The Bulldogs also competed frequently in All - Japan Pro Wrestling where they were paid $ 20 , 000 each by Giant Baba , along with the liberty of choosing which tours they wanted to participate in . In 1990 , Davey Boy Smith abruptly withdrew the Bulldogs from AJPW ' s annual World ' s Strongest Tag Determination League by returning to the WWF , and fabricating a story to the All - Japan office that Billington was in a serious car accident and was unable to compete . Since Davey Boy Smith had trademarked the term " The British Bulldog " during the Bulldogs ' previous run in WWF , he decided to return to the WWF as The British Bulldog , and would send people to the United Kingdom to warn the promoter every time a flyer was distributed promoting Dynamite Kid as a " British Bulldog " . Johnny Smith would end up taking Davey Boy Smith ' s spot in the World ' s Strongest Tag Determination League , and the duo ( known as the British Bruisers ) continued to compete in All - Japan Pro Wrestling . The duo managed to capture the AJPW All - Asia Tag Team Championships , but the partnership was short lived ; the years of steroid abuse ( including an incident in which he used horse steroids ) , working a high impact style , and cocaine usage caught up with Billington as he suddenly announced his retirement on December 6 , 1991 , immediately after the Bruisers defeated Johnny Ace and Sunny Beach at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo . He returned to Japan as a special guest with Lord James Blears on February 28 , 1993 , and claimed that he was going to send his 17 - year - old brother to All Japan ' s Dojo , but it wasn ' t realized . He returned again for a tag team match with Johnny Smith on July 28 , 1993 , and was planning to promote an All - Japan show in his country in 1994 , but it wasn ' t realized either . Also around his later period with All - Japan , he was divorced from his first wife Michelle ( the sister of Bret Hart ' s ex - wife Julie ) , with whom Billington had one son and two daughters ( Marek , Bronwyne and Amaris ) . As a result , he moved from Canada back home to Wigan , England with his parents . Before embarking on another All - Japan tour , he visited Dan Spivey and stayed in his home in Florida for a week , while Spivey went on vacation . When Spivey came back , he and Billington took hits of LSD , which resulted in Billington coming close to death twice in one day , but he was revived with adrenaline shots by paramedics both times . His final match took place on October 10 , 1996 , at a Michinoku Pro event called " These Days " . The match was promoted as a " Legends of High - Flying " 6 - Man Tag featuring Dynamite paired with Dos Caras and Kuniaki Kobayashi against The Great Sasuke , Mil Máscaras , and his greatest rival , Tiger Mask . Dynamite ' s body had clearly degenerated to the point where he was practically skin and bones , as the bottom portion of his tights were very loose . In the end , Dynamite delivered his trademark tombstone piledriver on Great Sasuke , leading Dos Caras powerbombing Sasuke for the pin fall . While at the airport to return home on the next day , he had a second seizure ( as the first one was in 1987 , while traveling with the Ultimate Warrior ) and was sent to the hospital immediately . Retirement . In 1997 , after marrying his second wife Dot and having a great deal of complications he was experiencing with walking , he lost the use of his left leg . He now has a paralyzed left leg and he now uses a wheelchair . Billington is cared for by his second wife Dot . His autobiography , " Pure Dynamite " , written with Alison Coleman was published on October 1 , 1999 ( and reissued as a paperback on August 15 , 2001 ) . Billington would remain reclusive until a three - minute appearance eight years later in the 2007 CNN documentary , " Death Grip Inside Pro Wrestling " . He discusses the effects professional wrestling had on his life . Legacy . Billington ' s British training , combined with an aerial arsenal honed during numerous tours in Japan , influenced a generation of later wrestling stars , especially those normally associated with Stu Hart ' s " Dungeon . " Among Billington ' s most notable imitators was the late World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) wrestler Chris Benoit , who idolized Billington growing up and adopted a similar moveset that included the swandive headbutt and the Snap suplex . Former TNA wrestler Jay Lethal often used Dynamite ' s swandive headbutt , which Mike Tenay referred to as the " Diving Dynamite Headbutt " , in tribute to him . Bret Hart stated in a 2008 documentary about Chris Benoit , that he believes Dynamite Kid was the best wrestler Hart ever saw . The playable character in the Mat Mania / Mania Challenge / Exciting Hour arcade games of the mid ' 80s is named Dynamite Tommy , frequently presumed to be modeled after Billington . In February 2013 Highspots . com released a full feature documentary on the Dynamite Kid . Disability . Due to the large number of back and leg injuries he suffered during his career , Billington is disabled and uses a wheelchair . Billington has been told he would never be able to walk again . Harley Race , the inventor of the diving headbutt , has stated that he regrets ever inventing the move , due to the fact it appears to cause spinal problems , and may have contributed to Billington ' s disability . In addition to his paralysis , Billington also has suffered from heart problems .