Posted on 12/05/2018 11:11:19 AM PST by EveningStar
The death of "The Dynamite Kid" Tom Billington came on Tuesday, his 60th birthday, his health battles post-wrestling front and centre for years, proof that there was a huge price paid to be one of the most innovative, influential professional wrestlers in history.
How influential was he? Even the curmudgeonly Bad News Allen Coage once gave Dynamite Kid props: "Pound for pound, Dynamite Kid was probably the best wrestler ever because you've still got these young guys today trying to emulate him in the ring. He was one of my favorites to work with. In our matches, the people just really wanted to kill me and just come in there and help him out."
The late Owen Hart, in one of his interviews with SLAM! Wrestling, said that growing up, he placed Dynamite Kid "on a pedestal ... I'd go 'Wow, that guy's awesome.' ... Dynamite, just because he was the original, was the best."
But the flipside of his legacy is equally lasting. As Dave Meltzer wrote in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter in 1994, that Billington was "a pioneer of insane bumps whose career was cut short by a crippling back injury no doubt related to his risk-taking, admitted blowing all his money on drugs, booze and women, claiming when he was in the WWF he drank himself silly, needed drugs (cocaine, Valium, speed and steroids) to survive the pace, get the sleep and keep his physique."
(Excerpt) Read more at slam.canoe.com ...
Glad I didn’t choose to be a pro wrestler.
Between having your head clamped in some dudes armpit and dying early, it doesn’t seem worth it.
Some older photos and videos in his prime and a recent one.
https://zahthoughts.wordpress.com/tag/tom-billington/
admitted blowing all his money on drugs, booze and women,
...
Still better than losing it in a divorce.
Is Davey Boy still around?
No.
He’s been dead a long time
When a candle is burned at both ends, it lasts half as long.
RIP.
Booze, drugs, and women will kill you slowly, but anabolic steroids will put you in the grave before 65 every time.
He died in 2002 at the age of 39.
The British bulldogs v. the Road Warriors was the best tag team match that never happened.
Losing JJ would be depressing.
They have been dying lately at a high number.
Damn. And his career ending injury was basically tripping on a loose ring apron. Huge influence on modern wrestling style.
How about Balls Mahoney?
And they are all dying young too.
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