Pure Dynamite: The Autobiography of Tom 'Dynamite Kid' Billington: Amazon.co.uk: Tom Billington, Alison Coleman: Books

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18 Reviews

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4.8 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A no-holds barred look at the career of one of the best ever, 23 May 2002

By	(Nik Walker) walkbi@hotmail.com (London, England) - See all my reviews

Tom Billington changed the face of professional wrestling forever.
As a fan lucky enough to have grown up watching the British Bulldogs in the eighties, it must be said that the current crop of cruiserweights in most of the American promotions (yes, especially you guys, Bret Hart and Chris Benoit!)owe this man a debt that they will never be able to repay.
This book revisits Billington's great battles and his legendary disregard for his own well-being. Admittedly his drug/steroid use combined with the career-shortening bumps and death-defying manouvres combined to end up placing 'Dynamite' in a wheelchair, but the overall tone of this book is one of 'no regrets'.The legendary (and some might say cruel) jokes he pulled on his fellow wrestlers, unflatteringly blunt opinions of the superstars of the day that he worked with and the feud he never resolved with cousin Davey Boy Smith are all covered with little or no embellishment. Here is a man who clearly feels that he has no bridges left to burn.
I laughed uproariously at parts of this book. I shook my head at the physical ordeal Billington put himself through, and, dammit, I got all teary-eyed reminiscing about the classic battles, feuds and angles the Bulldogs enjoyed in their heyday.
This is a classic book, and to my mind, it stands without a doubt alongside Mick Foley's 'Have a Nice Day' as one of the greatest books ever written about Professional Wrestling.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent look at a golden age., 4 April 2006

By	adanield (Glasgow United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

Pure Dynamite: The Autobiography of Tom 'Dynamite Kid' Billington gives a fascinating look at the life and career of one half of the British Bulldogs wrestling team in the early to late 1980's. Billington' gives a warts and all account of how he first became interested in wrestling up to the point where it ultimately left him broke and crippled. One of the best technical wrestlers to ever set foot inside a professional ring, as well as being a man who could actually handle himself outside of it, he took too many steriods in order to increase his physical size to fit in with the new breed of big men coming through in Japan and America. This steriod abuse combined with his high flying, high risk style brought him great dividends at the beginning when he became a top performer firstly in Japan and then in America with the WWF(WWE), but the final price for this success was the loss of one of his legs and the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Throughout the book, Billington does not pull any punches when talking about the people he has worked with. Most of the top names of that period are mentioned and some come out looking good and others not so good. Hulk Hogan, Bret and Owen Hart, Big Daddy, Giant Haystacks, The Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage and Brutus Beefcake to name but a few. Billington is quite happy to say if he liked someone outside of the ring, but thought of them as hopeless inside it or vice versa. He is also quick to acknowledge that he only has himself to blame for his current predicament. He doesn't try to lay the blame at someone else's door and recognises that he and he alone caused his current physical problems. The break up of the Bulldogs partnership is covered at length and the bitterness between himself and the late Davey Boy Smith is also discussed. Billington tells us his stories as if you were talking to him in his own house. While this makes the book seem less formal, it doesn't help with the structure as he tends to occassionally drift off in the middle of a tale and then comes back to it a bit later on. Cited by many current wrestling stars as the best performer they have ever seen, Billington lays bare the rewards both monetary and in lifestyle that he reaped while a top name in the industry and also the pitfalls that awaited him, the breakup of his marriage, the squandering of his money and the steriod and drug abuse that have crippled him. If you are interested in the darker unseen side of the American Professional wrestling industry, then this book is a must read.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Dynamite, 19 Jun 2000

By A Customer

If you grew up watching the WWF during the early 80's this book is for you. It is the autobiography of Tom Billington who left his job working the British wrestling circuit and headed to find fame and fortune in the Canadian Stampede federation. Eventually, he and his cousin Davey Boy Smith (The British Bulldog) end up in Vince McMahon's WWF and become the popular British Bulldogs tag team. In the federation he earned a lot of money and made a few wrong turns into drugs and steroids. But still, he was possibly the greatest performer in the world at that time. Billington details the relationship he had with many of the famous wrestlers from the 'Rock 'N' Wrestling' heyday and is brutally honest with his feelings. One of the down sides to the book is that when detailing his matches in the WWF,Stampede and Japan he refuses to break the hidden code of 'KAYFABE' and makes the matches appear as if they weren't worked. Despite this, Tom Billington lays the wrestling world straight out before us and proves that there is an even bigger power struggle behind the scenes just as there is on screen. The most moving part is when Tom returns home after this experience and realises that his wallet is filled with the same money he left with. This autobiography is PURE DYNAMITE!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 STAR READ
Pure Dynamite: The Autobiography of Tom 'Dynamite Kid' BillingtonNo other wrestling book bares the business as much as Dynamites, this book is totally compelling with no punches... Read more

Published 12 months ago by A. Musgrave

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!
This book is a great insite into one of the bes wrestlers ever to step foot in the ring, having been the second Wrestlers autobio' i have read(my first being Stone cold's) i found... Read more

Published on 23 Jun 2004 by Lyndon Rhodes

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely riveting!!!
I remember starting to take an interest in wrestling around the time when the bulldogs were tag team champions and obviously dynamite kid was my favourite ( as Davey Boy was a big... Read more

Published on 28 May 2001 by appassionata@uboot.co.uk

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good read but with one drawback
This is a really good read, i read it all in one evening. It really does detail his wrestling career and doesnt cover up his feelings on other wrestlers and the business in... Read more

Published on 31 Mar 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars What a book!
When i started reading this book that was it i couldn't put it down. This book is probably the most revealing book about wrestling i have ever read. Read more

Published on 21 Mar 2001 by chr21is@aol.com

4.0 out of 5 stars The greatest pound for pound wrestler of his time!
I first started watching wrestling during the early 90's and have gone to become a massive fan. When I always enquired what were the greatest matches I was always told they were... Read more

Published on 2 Sep 2000 by spiceboy6969@aol.com

4.0 out of 5 stars Not for the sqeamish
I had seen what other wrestling fans had said and approached the book that way. I actually dimly remember the Dynamite Kid partnering Big Daddy in England in the 70s. Read more

Published on 14 Jul 2000 by geoffrey.aspinall@dtlr.gsi.gov.uk

5.0 out of 5 stars The best wrestling biography written to date
After reading the autobiographies of Mick Foley and The Rock, I approached this book with interest, but without honestly believing that it would be surpass the works of 'The Great... Read more

Published on 4 April 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read for the ture wrestling fan!
The book Pure Dynamite by Tom Billington was among the best books Ive ever read. Tom tells stories from all around the globe. Read more

Published on 19 Mar 2000 by jmpmanxiv@aol.com

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Dynamite says it all!
Having read a few Wrestling books recently I have to say that Tommy's book is the most enjoyable and informed I've seen. Read more

Published on 17 Mar 2000 by bowie16@hotmail.com

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Pure Dynamite: The Autobiography of Tom 'Dynamite Kid' Billington (Paperback)

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