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It was saddened to hear, this past week, that my old friend and former Stampede Wrestling colleague, the Dynamite Kid (Tom Billington) is in an extremely bad state – his health failing after a series of debilitating strokes, and making matters worse, is unable to pay mounting medical bills. His wife, Dot, went public last week to appeal for financial assistance. The website, I believe, is called – GoFundMe.
Given that it’s been over twenty five years since Dynamite appeared in the WWE, it’s a distinct possibility that many of today’s fans aren’t all that familiar with him, but as wrestlers and fans who were fortunate enough to watch him back in his heyday can attest, he was truly one of a kind – a cutting edge trend setter who truly raised the bar and revolutionized professional wrestling as very few others have ever done.
I’m proud to relate that I played a role in his career back in the early days. Back in 1977, I was wrestling in England, in a place called Chester, when this old former wrester, named Ted Betley – who reminded me of Rocky Balboa’s trainer – Mick, approached me in the dressing room. He introduced himself and these had with him, these two skinny kids, named Thomas and David. He mentioned that he’d heard that my father, Stu, had helped launch the North American careers of renowned British wrestlers, such as Billy Robinson, Les Thornton and Geoff Portz and then, somewhat surprisingly, asserted that his two proteges were every bit as good as those guys – which was saying a lot, given that those guys were among the best workers in the business, and these were unproven, skinny teenagers.
Betley then informed me that the older of his two young proteges – Thomas, was booked to wrestle on the card that night and asked if I’d watch his match and let him know what I thought. To be honest, I was wondering if Betley was pulling my leg – given that his protege didn’t weigh more than a hundred forty pounds and was decked out in what appeared to be a homemade outfit. I, nonetheless, told him though, that I’d watch his young protege`s match and let him know what I thought.
Thomas was working with another veteran worker that night, named Jimmy Breaks and I, frankly, wasn’t anticipating anything all that earth shattering or awe-inspiring, but, as soon as the bell rang, much to my surprise, I witnessed one of the most incredible wrestling performances I`ve ever seen. In much the same way as Colonel Tom Parker must have felt, when he first saw Elvis Presley live; or how Berry Gordy was blown away when he first witnessed a little kid named Michael Jackson perform, I, too, had a similar reaction, watching this young English kid.
TO DONATE TO THE DYNAMITE KID, YOU CAN CLICK HERE.
Grasping for adjectives, I called my dad that night and told him that I had a prospect for him – a hundred fifty pound teenager who was as good as anyone I’d ever seen in the ring – and I`d been fortunate enough to have seen most of the great ones perform for my dad at one time or another. My dad – who, like most North American promoters back then, was strictly into heavyweights and considered guys under two hundred pounds to be too damn small, was pretty skeptical that a hundred fifty pound teenager was going to be his salvation and probably thought that I must be out of my mind. I persisted though, and he eventually agreed to give the skinny British teenager a tryout – and the rest, as they say, is history. Dynamite would go on to become an immediate sensation in Stampede Wrestling and his cutting edge brand of dynamic wrestling would prove to be the inspiration for an incredible aggregation of dynamic, young wrestler for our promotion, including the likes of my brothers Bret and Owen, Chris Benoit, Brian Pillman, his cousin – Davey Boy Smith and Japanese stars like Tiger Mask, Jushin Liger and Hiro Hase. Dynamite would ultimately have a profound influence on the whole industry, as, I`ve been told, other legendary performers, such as Shawn Michaels, Curt Hennig, Dave Finlay, Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan all aspired to be like him – which speaks volumes about just how great he really was.
I`ve often been asked what made Dynamite so great. In my estimation, what set him and others, like the Funks, Harley Race, Johnny Valentine and Ric Flair so good was not just their ability to get themselves over, but their innate ability to get whomever they were working with over. On many an occasion, I would see Dynamite go in the ring with some marginally talented jabroney type and Dynamite would go out and make them look like world beaters. It`s too bad there aren`t many workers around today with that capability.
In any case, after an incredible run in my dad`s promotion – where he helped raise the bar to all time high levels, Dynamite would go on to the WWF, where he and my brother-in-law Davey Boy would form the legendary British Bulldogs tandem, which is still considered by many to have been the greatest tag team in WWF history. Dynamite`s career was, sadly, cut short by a broken back in 1987 – which pretty much finished his career and eventually rendered him wheelchair bound. Pro wrestling – unlike other pro sports, unfortunately, has no health care plan or pension fund or any so-called safety net to fall back on – so it`s been an exceedingly tough road for him, since.
Knowing Dynamite as I do, he`s too proud to ask for help, nor does he want anybody feeling sorry for him, but on his behalf, I`d like to appeal to the wrestling community – former wrestlers, fans, promoters and whomever else, to step up to the plate on his behalf and enable him to live out his life in dignity. If you require further information, check out Hart Beat Radio on Facebook.
Thanks and God bless.
TO DONATE TO THE DYNAMITE KID, YOU CAN CLICK HERE.
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