My Take
If you want to understand what modern professional wrestling owes to one person, watch footage of the Dynamite Kid from the early 1980s and try not to have your jaw drop. Thomas Billington from Golborne, England was doing crisp snap suplexes, diving headbutts, and lightning-fast chain wrestling decades before any of it became standard. His matches against Tiger Mask in New Japan are legitimately some of the greatest in the history of the sport, and his WWF tag run with Davey Boy Smith as the British Bulldogs gave him a mainstream audience he probably deserved ten times over. The guy was genuinely revolutionary — a small, technically gifted worker in an era that mostly rewarded size. He died on his own 60th birthday in 2018, which feels almost too on-the-nose poetic. Complicated man, but the ring work? Untouchable.
Overview
Thomas Billington (5 December 1958 – 5 December 2018), best known by the ring name the Dynamite Kid, was a British professional wrestler. Trained by former wrestler "Dr Death" Ted Betley, he competed in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Stampede Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Dynamite Kid
- Name (Japanese)
- ダイナマイト・キッド
- Reading
- だいなまいと・きっど
- Born
- December 5, 1958 – December 5, 2018
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Sagittarius / Dog
- Origin
- Golborne, United Kingdom
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- 173 cm
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- professional wrestler
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame
- World Tag Team Championship
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.