Dynamite Kid

**Thomas Billington** (5 December 1958 &ndash; 5 December 2018) was a British professional wrestler known under the ring name **Dynamite Kid**. He was best known for his time in known for his work in World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Stampede Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).

He was best known for teaming with his cousin Davey Boy Smith and forming the tag team The British Bulldogs.

## Career
He moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, in 1978 and competed for Stampede Wrestling, which also included Bruce Hart and rookie Bret Hart. He started taking steroids in 1979 when Junkyard Dog, introduced him to Dianabol. Jake Roberts introduced him to speed during his stay in Canada.

After competing in Canada, he travled to Japan and started working for International Pro Wrestling from 19 to 25 July 1979. Stampede Wrestling switched their business relationship from IPW to New Japan Pro Wrestling shortly after his first tour, and he then wrestled for New Japan from 4 January 1980 to 2 August 1984. During his time in NJPW, he was known for his legendary feud with Tiger Mask. He met Tiger Mask again for the vacant WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship, but there was no winner because the match ended up as a draw three consecutive times.

On 7 February 1984, he earned the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship when he won a tournament in New Japan Pro Wrestling; even though it was a WWF Title, it was mostly defended in Japan. He defeated his cousin Davey Boy Smith earlier in the tournament, and then defeated The Cobra in the finals.

He debuted in the WWF on 29 August 1984 and teamed with Bret Hart where they defeated Iron Mike Sharpe and Troy Alexander in a match that was eventually shown on 15 September 1984, on the Maple Leaf Garden broadcast.

He ended up teaming with Davey Boy Smith and formed the British Bulldogs, while Bret would team with Jim Neidhart and formed The Hart Foundation. The two teams had matches against each other which usually ended in No-Contests. The British Bulldogs, accompanied by Captain Lou Albano and Ozzy Osbourne, defeated Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake at WrestleMania II.

During a tag match against Don Muraco and Bob Orton, he was injured. He was substituted by several wrestlers, which included Roddy Piper, Junkyard Dog and Billy Jack Haynes when tag title defenses were made. When he was recovering in the hospital from back surgery, he recounted that Bret Hart had shown up and said that Vince McMahon had sent him to get Dynamite's tag belt but Billington refused. He would shortly check himself out of the hospital (against doctors' orders) and met with McMahon, who requested that the Bulldogs drop the tag titles to the team of Nikolai Volkoff and The Iron Sheik but Billington refused and said that he would only drop the belts to The Hart Foundation. He made many enemies during his time in the WWF including Brutus Beefcake because he refused an autograph for Betley who was visiting his old student backstage at a 1986 WWF show, He said that Billington had manhandled him so badly in the ring that he could not eat solid food for a time, and Billington had tore a ligament in Foley's jaw with his trademark Hook Clothesline move. He was told he would never walk again.

## Death
Billington died on 5 December 2018, his 60th birthday in Ince, Cheshire.

## Championships
***All Japan Pro Wrestling**
**NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship (one time)
**AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship (one time) (with Johnny Smith)
***Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling**
**AGPW International Heavyweight Championship (one time)
***Joint Promotions**
**British Welterweight Championship (one time)
**British Lightweight Championship (one time)
**European Welterweight Championship (one time)
***New Japan Pro Wrestling**
**WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (one time)
***Pacific Northwest Wrestling**
**NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship (one time)
**NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Championship (one time) (with The Assassin)
***Pro Wrestling Illustrated**
**He was ranked **#5** of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" by PWI with Davey Boy Smith in 2003.
**He was ranked **#41** of the top 500 singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" by PWI in 2003.
***Stampede Wrestling**
**Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship (five times)
**Stampede International Tag Team Championship (six times) (with Sekigawa (one), Loch Ness Monster (one), Kasavudo (one), and Duke Myers (one), Davey Boy Smith (two))
**Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (one time)
**Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Championship (four times)
**Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame
***World Wrestling Federation**
**WWF World Tag Team Championship (one time) (with Davey Boy Smith)
***Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards**
**5 Star Match (1983) (vs. Tiger Mask on 23 April)
**Best Flying Wrestler (1984)
**Best Technical Wrestler (1984) (tied with Masa Saito)
**Best Wrestling Maneuver (1984) (Power clean dropkick)
**Match of the Year (1982) (vs. Tiger Mask on 5 August, Tokyo, Japan)
**Most Underrated (1983)
**Tag Team of The Year (1985) (with Davey Boy Smith)
**Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

## References 
## Other websites
*Archive of official website