Dark Side Of The Ring - The Dynamite Kid FULL RECAP
The Dynamite Kid earned worldwide fame with a riveting, self-sacrificing style, but violent confrontations outside the ring would destroy his family, his body, and forever alter his legacy.
The Intro
Mick Foley kicks off the intro by stating, “I see people emulate him, but in my mind, no one did it better than Tommy.”
Dave Meltzer notes that he embodied the style that became modern-day pro wrestling.
The Dynamite Kid took the wrestling world by storm with extraordinary agility and technical mastery. His obsession fueled his need to be the best to overcome his small stature by pushing his body to dangerous extremes.
Meltzer notes that he destroyed his body young.
Mick also confirms that Dynamite sacrificed his body for the sake of his art, something that he knows all too well.
Between the debilitating injuries, steroid abuse and a dependency on painkillers, he became an increasing threat to himself and those around him.
He sacrificed his body and family all for professional wrestling.
The Episode
Lance Storm officially kicks off the main portion of the episode by noting that the impact Dynamite had on the world of wrestling was gigantic. For the most part, he left a positive mark on the wrestling business.
If you’re a fan of the faster-pace action today, it’s likely attributed to Dynamite, Bret Hart, and others from Stampede Wrestling.
The former wife of Tom Billington (Dynamite Kid), Michelle Billington, is introduced. Her sister Julie would ultimately marry Bret Hart.
Julie Hart, the former wife of Bret Hart and sister of Michelle Billington, was introduced. She took Michelle under her wing and was very protective of her. Michelle views Julie as her hero.
Michelle first saw Dynamite during his incredible matches against Bret. He was like a pinball flying around.
When Tom wasn’t wrestling, he would stand behind Michelle, and the two would converse. She had a big romantic idea of the refined Englishman. Michelle read some of the personal letters that he left her discussing having babies, but only when was ready. Tom did not pick up his daughter until she was old enough to walk in fear of dropping her.
Bronwyne Billington, Tom’s eldest daughter, makes her first appearance. She recalls being backstage at the wrestling shows with Randy Savage and Miss. Elizabeth. A picture of the three was shown.
At one point, Dynamite had no teeth, just a retainer, so he would pull it out and perform tricks on Bronwyne. In photos, he was always shown holding her hand tightly.
Amaris Billington, Dynamite’s youngest daughter, speaks about learning flips quickly and how she was just like her father. Amaris was very proud of her father and how he overcame a smaller size.
Dynamite was at the top of the bill in Calgary and on the other side of the world in Japan.
Mick Foley, who gets introduced, brings up a series of moves that Dynamite performed with the original Tiger Mask, which resembled magic. It wasn’t just what they did, but the speed at which they performed the ultra-impressive moves and the excellence of execution that was outstanding.
Mick Foley would rewind the VHS tape on so many occasions that it broke.
Dave Meltzer, the publisher of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, brings up how the product you see today started with Dynamite and Tiger Mask. There’s no Jushin Liger, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Owen Hart, or countless others without those two.
At Dynamite’s size, he always had to overperform to stand out since it was a big man’s business.
Mick points out that if you’re considering the art of illusion, Dynamite was certainly anything but a magician since if it looked good and hurt, it’s probably because it did. Meltzer agreed that Dynamite had no regard for his own body.
In 1984, The Dynamite Kid was signed with WWF, joining Davey Boy Smith, Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart. In order to compete at the top, Dynamite continued to push the limits of his body.
Julie reflects on Dynamite’s physical transformation due largely to steroid abuse.
Dan Spivey, a former wrestler and friend of Tom’s, noted how Dynamite was essentially one big muscle and a human version of Mighty Mouse.
Gary Portz, who was former wrestler, Scott McGhee, points out how everyone was taking steroids at the time. Dan, Scott and Dynamite would party, give each other shots of steroids and hang out. Each would stick the needles into the hotel room wall. Dan joked, “who does that? Dumbass wrestlers!”
The British Bulldogs (Dynamite and Davey) were packing arenas around the country. They worked a harder, faster style than pretty much any other team.
Jacques Rougeau makes his first appearance reflecting on marvelling over Dynamite’s snap suplex. He also brings up a story where one night, Dynamite entered the locker room with a needle sticking out of his butt. Jacques impersonated a fired-up Dynamite and noted, “I was afraid of him.”
At WrestleMania 2, the British Bulldogs won the WWF Tag Team Championship.
Dynamite was a product of the Snake Pit Training Camp, and they knew how to hurt wrestlers. Those who didn’t endure what he went through would suffer. Mick Foley competed in WWF as Jack Foley with only one match under his belt. It was him and Les Thorton against The British Bulldogs. Foley was excited about being in the ring with one of his heroes. When Dynamite was tagged in, he sent Foley into the ropes and clubbed him with his bicep in the jaw. This was the last time Foley ate solid food for three weeks. The dislocated jaw nearly cost Foley his entire career.
His daughters show Dynamite’s cape and vest.
Jacques loved the Bulldogs but noted witnessing a few things that altered his opinion of Dynamite.
Dan brought up how Dynamite was a ribber, and while meant to be taken jokingly, much of it could be taken quite seriously.
Dynamite would drop sleeping drugs into the drinks of others
A story about a wrestler named Mitch Snow is brought up where Dynamite dropped a sleeping pill in his drink. Later that night, he and Davey snuck into his room through the balcony, crapped in his bag, and shaved his eyebrows and head. It was supposed to be a joke, but Jacques pointed out it was not funny after 23 days on the road.
During a non-televised match during a show in Hamilton, Ontario from 1986, Dynamite’s body started to break down, and he was rushed to hospital for emergency back surgery.
His fourth and fifth lumbar was just shredded with his discs tangled in his spinal cord. Two discs were removed and he was back in the ring two weeks later.
Vince needed to get the belts off the British Bulldogs, so Davey was forced to carry him to the ring off-camera. Jimmy Hart’s megaphone hit him to take him out immediately, then Davey worked the match with the Hart Foundation and was pinned by The Anvil.
Dynamite got back to Gary’s house and was confined to a wheelchair. He only found comfort by sleeping on the floor. Gary’s wife would overhear Dynamite whimpering and crying in pain at night.
While dealing with constant agony, Dynamite began to spiral out of control at home.
Producers asked Gary if he witnessed when times were terrible between Tom and Michelle while getting quiet and forcing out a “yeah.”
Michelle was out with Tom and ordered tonic water. Tom would take a sip and spit it out. He was disgusted and angered that she wasn’t drinking alcohol. He felt lied to and played chicken on the road in his car with Michelle in the passenger seat. When they got home, Dynamite forced Michelle to get out of bed, shoved her in a closet and said, “You f**cking stay in there, you guard dog.” She slept on the floor for the evening.
Michelle discovered she was pregnant, and Dynamite went to great lengths to make up for the closet incident.
Growing increasingly bitter, Dynamite would turn his frustration to another tag team, The Fabulous Rougeaus. In 1988, the two teams competed in a draw. Jacques celebrated as if it were a victory since they felt in the same league as the Bulldogs, which he admitted they were not.
Producers asked Michelle about the Rougeau incident, but she said, “I’m tired of it and don’t want to talk about it anymore. Is that the only thing that happened to them?”
Dynamite was upset that the Rougeaus already had a glow to them upon arriving and did not earn their right to have any privilege.
Jacques admitted to talking and joking often, but it likely didn’t help his cause. Upon entering the dressing room, and was asked to play cards. Suddenly, Dynamite slaps him from behind. When he went to stand, Dynamite would proceed to punch him in the face and kick him. This led Jacques to swell up. He was in bad shape, mentally and more than physically, which was already rough.
Jacques didn’t want to seek revenge but knew he was forced to. He revealed losing 10 pounds in the week leading up to his retaliation. He couldn’t eat and was constantly throwing up. He was by no means a rugged street fighter and afraid for the action he was about to take, but he needed to earn his respect back.
Jacques’ father would tell him, “Before going to the building, go the bank and get yourself a roll of quarters.”
Just hours before a television taping, Jacques would wait for Dynamite’s arrival at the arena. Jacques would look him in the eyes for the first time in a week and say, “Hey! How ya doing?” Dynamite was holding a coffee in his hand, smiled, then Jacques would pull back with the roll of quarters in his hand and hit him as hard he could.
Jacques would say, “You know when you’re young, and you see those monster movies when the blood starts throwing out like a river? It’s true.”
Four teeth of Dynamite’s teeth would get knocked out.
Dynamite would yell, “I’m going to f*ck you up!”
Jacques would reply, “The next time, I’m going to put you in a F*CKING WHEELCHAIR!”
Gary speculates that it was a pair of brass knuckles, not a roll of quarters.
Michelle did not believe that what Tom had previously done deserved having his teeth knocked out.
Dan Spivey noted that Dynamite was highly bothered by this attack as his reputation was tarnished.
Dynamite’s plan for revenge would come to a halt, no thanks to Dino Bravo, who provided him with a cautionary warning.
After chatting with Dino Bravo, Dynamite presented a 9mm handgun to his wife. Dino had revealed an envelope with his home address and a picture of his family. The Billington’s would soon move.
Jacques gained his respect back, but Dynamite never had an opportunity to gain his back. His life was never the same.
When asked about the mob coming after Dynamite, Jacques would laugh and say, “That is funny, but there is something I’ve got to tell you guys. I forgot about that; now you’re bringing it back. I didn’t like Dino, but I knew he was a stooge. Jacques wrote a fictitious name down and told Dino, I’ve got to call him every night, and things will get taken care of if I don’t call him one night. And I’m glad to hear that it worked.”
At the 1998 Survivor Series event, Tom ended his WWF career.
Meltzer speculated that Dynamite was never happy in WWF and was much more content with the respect he received in Japan.
Unbeknownst to fans, Dynamite was hurting badly during the tour in Japan. He was still giving 100%. His ligaments weren’t even on the bone.
The arguments at home would only continue to get worse.
His best ways were officially behind him, so he slipped into pills and drinking.
One evening, Julie Hart was invited over to watch wrestling with Tom. It was hours of his matches against Tiger Mask. That’s her last memory of Tom, the end of greatness.
On New Year’s Eve 1991, Tom returned home wearing a blood-soaked white sweater with his brother and friends. Wearing sunglasses, his cheekbone was essentially revealed due to a flap of skin hanging off. His daughter Bronwyne freaked out.
By this point, Michelle was pregnant and suicidal. She provided him with a one-way ticket to England. Tom would then drag his wife by her hair across the floor, start choking her and then let her go. Tom suggested that Michelle should be the one to leave, but she rejected that claiming, “I’m the one pregnant and the one with a toddler and with another child in diapers.” Tom grabbed a gun and promised, “If you’re not gone in 15 minutes, I’m gonna blow your f*cking head off.”
Tom would put a shotgun up to his wife’s head as his daughter Bronwyne would cover her brother and scream, “Daddy, no!” This was a highly hysterical scene. Michelle would then call the police, who said, if he asked you to leave, leave. Michelle didn’t want to bring the drama to Bret and Julie Hart’s place, but she did.
Julie Hart claims her sister was terrified as Tom’s headspace was not good.
The legacy of the Dynamite Kid was forever altered once these details were revealed years later.
Dynamite would leave Calgary for England in 1991.
Michelle would give birth to her daughter Amaris, who she believes saved her life.
Dynamite had supposedly wrestled his retirement match and promised to return to Calgary to see his baby, but he never came and let them be. Michelle appreciated this since he lost control of his violence.
Dynamite was bare-knuckle fighting in garages after he retired from wrestling.
Five years after his retirement, Dynamite competed in Michinoku Pro Wrestling in 1996, but he was a shell of his former self from a physical perspective. He was no longer Dynamite.
Dynamite had too much scar tissue on his legs for any operation, so he soon became confined to a wheelchair.
He went from being one of the greatest pound-for-pound wrestlers ever to being confined to a wheelchair in his 40s. Michelle still loved Tom, regardless of their past.
Amaris brought up the Chris Benoit tragedy when she was 16 years old, and it was the first time her mom talked about abuse in their marriage.
A CNN expose would air that focused on domestic violence titled Death Grip: Inside Pro Wrestling. Michelle was interviewed, and for the first time, she detailed the abuse suffered by her ex-husband Tom Billington. The night before her interview, Michelle would reveal the complicated truths about Tom to her children.
Understandably, the children were disappointed and disgusted that their father acted in such a way toward their mom. He never returned to Canada to ever see them again.
Bronwyne gave birth to her daughter but wanted to reconcile with her father. She booked a ticket to England, but Amaris refused to join her. Tom had no idea his daughter was coming to see him 15 years later.
Tom was in the living room, sitting in his wheelchair. Bronwyne would break down crying. After the third day, she would take a chair and sit right next to him. The two would hold hands, Tom apologized, and they cried. Bronwyne considered this a beautiful moment they shared together.
Towards the tail end, he was very sick and suffered a stroke.
Dan and Gary were visibly shaken up when reflecting on the loss of their friend.
Bronwyne knew it was coming but did not break down after a week.
Gary shared a story of Danny calling Dynamite to say I love you, to which he responded with, “Why?”
Upon Dynamite dying, Dave Meltzer felt it immediately brought up memories of how much of an integral figure he was in wrestling who will never receive full credit due to his checkered past. It’s a sad story, not a happy story.
Michelle advised them to let her kids heal, and if they want to discuss the violence, talk about CTE and signs of depression but don’t knock him. Her children did better without him. He seemingly cared more about his work than being a parent, but Michelle oddly appreciated the gift he left behind.
Mick Foley recalls Bruce Springsteen saying, trust the art, not the artist. Dynamite had a canvas and suffered for the sake of his art.
For two decades, I’ve gone on the record to state that Dynamite is one of the most innovative wrestlers who ever graced the squared circle. While he was destructive outside the ring, his work remains undeniably impressive. If you can separate Dynamite Kid from Tom Billington, perhaps you can fully appreciate the art. That being said, how Tom treated his pregnant wife is unforgivable and challenging for fans to digest.
As a reminder, this officially concludes Part 1 of Season 3. Part 2 will pick up this September.