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Dynamite Kid Passed Away


The Four Horsemen

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Can't see this reported anywhere online, but it wouldn't be a huge surprise given his failing health.

I know that Billington has a reputation for being a very unpleasant person (to put it mildly) but his influence on modern wrestling is probably as profound as anyone else in terms of the style we see nowadays.  His autobiography is a fascinating read and came out at a time when people generally didn't talk openly about some of the bad aspects of backstage life in WWF/E.

I do suspect that, if he has died, the WWE will look to induct him into the Hall Of Fame, something I suspect they were very reluctant to do whilst he was still alive.

Hopefully Lister or someone will do a proper obit later, but RIP to one of my favourite wrestlers back in the day.

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Incredibly sad to hear this news, although sadly I thought the day would come quicker than it has. 
I still class Dynamite’s book as perhaps the greatest Wrestling book ever written. Brutally frank and honest, he does come across as having a slight ego but at the same time was ready to admit to some of his mistakes. 
It always shocked me that his life was pretty much over by his mid-thirties. Perhaps it was just how old he looked or that it seemed like he was around for ages, but I always presumed he was in his late 50’s or something. But looking back to what I was doing in my 30s, I couldn’t fathom being confined to a wheelchair. It must have been crazy to have done what he did and then for life, and the world, to pass him by. No wonder he became even more bitter and resentful in later years.
Sadly I guess his attitude and the way he treated others meant that no-one was in a rush to see him or help out. And perhaps his story is the one above so many others that highlights the shocking way in which Vince will profit from someone’s talent before leaving themn with nothing.  
There’s a lot of stories about Dynamite and his personality (many of which he confirmed) and this isn’t the place to speak ill of the dead, but if there was ever proof of Karma than his life would be it. Not necessarily his cruel and bullying nature -but the way in which he abused his body in and out of the ring. 
But despite everything – the one thing that can’t be overlooked is his immense contribution to the world of wrestling and the sheer innovation and originality that he displayed. 
RIP Tom Billington – you are deserving of a place in the HOF.

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4 minutes ago, The Reverend said:

 There’s a lot of stories about Dynamite and his personality (many of which he confirmed) and this isn’t the place to speak ill of the dead, but if there was ever proof of Karma than his life would be it. Not necessarily his cruel and bullying nature -but the way in which he abused his body in and out of the ring.

Rightly or wrongly, the first thought I had when I heard this news was "the floodgates will open now" in regards to all the stories that HAVEN'T been told.

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Going to comment just on his ring work rather than him as a man or his behaviour outside of the ring - much (possibly all) of which I can't condone.

One of the true wrestling innovators. Like with Flair-Steamboat, the Dynamite-Tiger Mask matches are one of those things you hear about before you ever see them, and you know them by reputation long before you come across them. If Flair-Steamboat is the equivalent of a classic Hollywood Golden Age movie, Dynamite-Tiger Mask is the state-of-the-art special effects movie that changed everything through its innovation. Now more than ever you can see the influence of the style he helped pioneer. I don't think the matches we've had in WWE for the past five years would have happened without Dynamite Kid. It's clearly not without its problems (no Dynamite, no Benoit, not to mention the long-term impact on his own body and health) but in terms of making smaller men legitimate in the land of the giants, he's a big influence. 

Loved watching his stuff on World Of Sport on TWC, and it was always a highlight when he popped up against a Marty Jones or a Rollerball Rocco. His tag run in WWE had some classics too.

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28 minutes ago, poetofthedeed said:

Bulldogs for HOF??

This is can of worms material but....

 

Bruce Pritchard was pitched this on a Something to Wrestle and his response was "What did he do in the wwf to warrant it?" and went on to compare him to Marty Jannetty to Davey Boy being the Shawn.

 

Now for starters I think Jannetty has had a great career but yeah he was only in WWF for 4 years and his most famous bouts happened outside of WWF.

 

On top of all of that, I kinda get the impression that he was the sort of character who wouldn't 'give a toss' about a HOF ring.

 

Bret's parts about Dynamite in his book are particularly interesting, especially when he visited him in the mid 90s when he was Champion.

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6 minutes ago, theringmaster said:

This is can of worms material but....

 

Bruce Pritchard was pitched this on a Something to Wrestle and his response was "What did he do in the wwf to warrant it?" and went on to compare him to Marty Jannetty to Davey Boy being the Shawn.

 

Now for starters I think Jannetty has had a great career but yeah he was only in WWF for 4 years and his most famous bouts happened outside of WWF.

 

On top of all of that, I kinda get the impression that he was the sort of character who wouldn't 'give a toss' about a HOF ring.

 

Bret's parts about Dynamite in his book are particularly interesting, especially when he visited him in the mid 90s when he was Champion.

Aren't there loads of HOF inductees who were never in the WWF/E at all? Bit of an odd argument for Pritchard to make.

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Looking forward to Lance Storm's tribute to Dynamite......

Yes, he was a bit of a prick but also incredibly influential. So smooth and fast- someone doing cruiserweight stuff but always looked legit hard as nails.

Who's this he's giving a pasting to at 3:47? The dropkick in to the kipup in to the second dropkick makes him look absolutely relentless.

R.I.P

 

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