{"id":31959,"date":"2018-12-05T10:59:28","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T15:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=31959"},"modified":"2018-12-05T19:49:08","modified_gmt":"2018-12-06T00:49:08","slug":"the-dynamite-kid-tom-billington-passes-away-at-age-60","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2018\/12\/05\/the-dynamite-kid-tom-billington-passes-away-at-age-60\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;The Dynamite Kid&#8221; Tom Billington Passes Away at Age 60 (VIDEOS)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most influential professional wrestlers of the 1980s, Tom Billington &#8211; known professionally as <strong>The Dynamite Kid<\/strong> &#8211; passed away this morning on his 60th birthday. Billington has been suffering from various health issues for the past several years.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">WWE is saddened to learn that The Dynamite Kid has passed away. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/r41WiVPrOb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/r41WiVPrOb<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; WWE (@WWE) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWE\/status\/1070293151150235648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Tom Billington got his start in 1975, when he decided to pursue professional wrestling as a ways of escaping the life of a miner that his father had. Working his way up the ranks of the mid-70&#8217;s UK scene, he captured the British Lightweight and Welterweight titles early in his career. In 1978, along with his cousin <strong>Davey Boy Smith<\/strong>, the pair were scouted by <strong>Bruce Hart<\/strong> and relocated to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to continue their training with <strong>Stu Hart<\/strong> and compete for <strong>Stampede Wrestling<\/strong>. Dynamite Kid&#8217;s explosive style made him one of the hottest young stars in Stampede, especially after a feud with one of Stampede&#8217;s other emerging young talents, <strong>Bret Hart<\/strong>, over the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight title. During his early years in Stampede, Dynamite became the tag partner of Stampede star <strong>The Great Gama<\/strong>, often competing against Davey Boy Smith.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"World Of Sport - Dynamite Kid vs Tally Ho Kaye pt.1\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FbsWOvuWAwo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In 1980, Dynamite Kid began to work with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), as Stampede had a working relationship with NJPW, starting with a feud with Tatsumi Fujinami, then the WWF Light Heavyweight title (it had become a Japan-centric title by this point), as well as a series of classic matches with Tiger Mask that have become essential viewing for many wrestling students. By the time Vince McMahon purchased Stampede Wrestling in 1984, Billington was a 3x Stampede Mid-Heavyweight Champion, 5x Stampede Tag Team Champion and held the WWF Light Heavyweight title in Japan.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_0GxjYqGCSs<\/p>\n<p>Following McMahon&#8217;s purchase, Billington was brought to the main roster &#8211; alongside his cousin Davey Boy &#8211; as well as Bret Hart and Jim &#8220;The Anvil&#8221; Neidhart. The duo of Dynamite and Davey Boy, called The British Bulldogs, became one of the most popular tag teams of the Rock N&#8217; Wrestling Era, with classic rivalries against their Stampede co-horts The Hart Foundation as well as The Iron Sheik &amp; Nikolai Volkoff, The Dream Team (Brutus Beefcake &amp; Greg &#8216;The Hammer&#8217; Valentine) and Demolition. They duo defeated the Dream Team for the WWF World Tag Team titles in early 1986, holding them for nearly 300 days. Their title reign was actually cut short due to increasing problems with Dynamite&#8217;s back, which forced him to require back surgery. When he returned, he was never quite the same wrestler, although someone like Dynamite at 75% was still better than most at 100%. In 1988, the Bulldogs left the WWF and returned to Stampede Wrestling, which Vince had sold back to the Hart Family a couple years previously.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hart Foundation vs British Bulldogs - 5-2-87 - Boston Garden\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dbikP4Fr5ZY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Back in Stampede, Dynamite Kid would start having some stellar matches against another Hart son making his mark, the youngest son of Stu and Helen, Owen Hart. The Bulldogs would also return to Japan, but this time the duo would work for All Japan. When Davey Boy Smith returned to the WWF in the early 1990s, Dynamite would chose to stay with All-Japan, instead partnering with Johnny Smith. With his injuries mounting, Dynamite would work more and more tag matches, until injuries finally took its toll. He wrestled his final match with Michinoku Pro in 1996.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Owen Hart vs Dynamite Kid 1989\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zakcFmzaxbU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pT6TjfmfMxs<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The British Bulldogs vs Joe and Dean Malenko 1\/28\/89\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/s9DD79V1A-c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The wrestling community paid it&#8217;s respects today to a legend in the business and one of a handful of stars who could truly be considered pioneers and innovators of the sport.<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BrBq0EeAVZU\/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&amp;igshid=15lo0xbtugkqo<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It deeply saddens me to announce the passing of Tom Billington the \u201cDynamite Kid.\u201d \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude22\ud83d\ude4fI was really happy and glad I got to see Dynamite one last time last June in the UK. \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 \u2764\ufe0f\ud83d\ude4f. Dynamite was certainly an inspiration to myself and many others and really revolutionized <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/req7CWTdxm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/req7CWTdxm<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Harry Smith, \u201cDavey Boy Smith JR\u201d (@DBSmithjr) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DBSmithjr\/status\/1070270186224181248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/LanceStorm\/status\/1070336124403347458<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">EXCELLENT WORKER INSIDE THE RING. TOUGH MAN OUTSIDE. GOD BLESS THE DYNAMITE KID <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WWObV2gKE0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/WWObV2gKE0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/the_ironsheik\/status\/1070306520334651392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">It&#39;s with great sadness I have to inform you all that THE &quot;DYNAMITE KID&quot; TOMMY BILLINGTON ON HIS BIRTHDAY HAS PASSED AWAY.. A TRUE BRITISH AMBASSADOR FOR WRESTLING WORLDWIDE RIP &quot;KID&#39; CONDOLENCES TO  MARK &amp; HIS FAMILY MARTY JONES <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TRYbBTpTgf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/TRYbBTpTgf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Marty Jones (@martyleglockno1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/martyleglockno1\/status\/1070259729723736064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ligero1\/status\/1070299383357411328<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/WillOspreay\/status\/1070259106701815808<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/RealPaigeWWE\/status\/1070296361487269890<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/FrankieKazarian\/status\/1070322041650180096<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/Tyler_Bate\/status\/1070271933420326912<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/OfficialTAZ\/status\/1070282620527919104<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">RIP Dynamite Kid. One of the best to every come from these islands.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone take seventeen minutes of your life to watch the man in action in his prime. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ob83Bqq9Lj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/Ob83Bqq9Lj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jim Smallman &#8211; \u30b8\u30e0\u30fb\u30b9\u30e2\u30fc\u30eb\u30de\u30f3 (@jimsmallman) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jimsmallman\/status\/1070272611920293888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The NWA sends its deepest condolences and sympathies to the family, friends and wrestling fans of The Dynamite Kid. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RIPDynamiteKid?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#RIPDynamiteKid<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZN2WRbKoJJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ZN2WRbKoJJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NWA (@nwa) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nwa\/status\/1070309372268634113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Woke up to the news that the dynamite kid passed away today. He was such a big influence on me as I&#39;ve spent countless hours studying him. Rest in peace dynamite! \ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffd <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/h8AtdQVqAF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/h8AtdQVqAF<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Rohan Raja (@RavenousRohan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RavenousRohan\/status\/1070277268914597889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/IPWUK\/status\/1070300081193148416<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Condolences to the friends and family of British wrestling legend Tommy Billington &quot;The Dynamite Kid&quot;. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IWPS8p4Syw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/IWPS8p4Syw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; WOS Wrestling (@WOSWrestling) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WOSWrestling\/status\/1070283274084380672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/DaveMastiff\/status\/1070263744314466304<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Other than a brief meeting I didn\u2019t know Tom Billington, but the Dynamite Kid was an absolute game changer in wrestling. Technically and mechanically he ranks as one of the best ever.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Hurricane Helms (@ShaneHelmsCom) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShaneHelmsCom\/status\/1070320480115179521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/SaxonHuxleyUK\/status\/1070271046220214272<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dynamite Kid and Tiger Mask made me want to be in New Japan when I was younger. Even more so than the WWF. My first ever real job in wrestling happened to be New Japan, as soon as i\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jWQZLaeWCj\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/jWQZLaeWCj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; The Aswang TJP\ud83e\ude78 (@MegaTJP) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MegaTJP\/status\/1070264340807176193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gutted to hear about the passing of \u2018The Dynamite Kid\u2019 . <br \/> I like many others, would try to emulate him&#8230;I failed obviously as there could only be one! <br \/>I\u2019m proud to own one of the last pairs of boots worn by Tommy!<br \/>My thoughts go to Mark Billington and the family. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RIPDynamite?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#RIPDynamite<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VOjoEztenl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/VOjoEztenl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Johnny Moss (@Johnny_Moss) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Johnny_Moss\/status\/1070284302078881792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Dynamite Kid was a before his time in ring wrestler<br \/>1982 I saw him vs Tiger Mask at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheGarden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TheGarden<\/a> &amp; knew he was different<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BritishBulldogs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#BritishBulldogs<\/a> were 1 of my favorite tag teams as a kid <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jX6WyQUxHh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/jX6WyQUxHh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Tommy Dreamer (@THETOMMYDREAMER) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/THETOMMYDREAMER\/status\/1070322391677587457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 5, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most influential professional wrestlers of the 1980s, Tom Billington &#8211; known professionally as The Dynamite Kid &#8211; passed away this morning on his 60th birthday. Billington has been suffering from various health issues for the past several years. WWE is saddened to learn that The Dynamite Kid has passed away. https:\/\/t.co\/r41WiVPrOb &mdash; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":649,"featured_media":31988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,547,3],"tags":[3976,2673],"class_list":["post-31959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-in-memorium","category-wwe-universe","tag-british-bulldogs","tag-dynamite-kid"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/649"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}