By Joe Puccio
Modern era professional wrestling is virtually saturated with acrobatic, high-flying daredevils who wow the audience with their unmatched technical prowess each time they step into the squared circle. While five-star classic masterpieces are par for the course for Will Ospreay, Kenny Omega, and Kazuchika Okada these days, this luxury really didn’t exist 40 years ago – with a notable exception.
The anomaly was Thomas Billington, better known as the Dynamite Kid. With a career spanning more than 20 years, the British aerial aficionado is widely recognized as one of the most imitated performers in history, with a who’s who of top stars, such as Bret Hart, Chris Benoit, and Jay Lethal, clearly influenced by the legend.
Whether it was Hart, who has gone on record as stating that Billington was the greatest wrestler he ever saw, Benoit, who adopted the snap suplex, or Lethal, who uses the swandive headbutt, the Kid’s style has been copied in each successive generation. For the aforementioned Ospreay, Omega, and Okada, the style he revolutionized in the late 1970s is undoubtedly the foundation for their unrivaled athleticism today.
In 2018, Billington, battling a plethora of ailments, tragically passed away on his 60th birthday. While obviously sorely missed, ardent fans of the sport are well aware that the Lancashire-born grappler has several family members carrying on his famed legacy, including nephews Thomas and Mark (The Billington Bulldogs), cousin Harry Smith (Davey Boy Smith Jr.), and daughter Bronwyne.
“I grew up with people constantly telling me that my dad was their favorite wrestler,” Bronwyne recalled, in a recent chat with Generation X Wire. “But honestly, I think I really started hearing and noting the praise in the early 2000s, when social media was getting big. I was going to local shows and the talent would tell me ‘He’s the reason I wrestle’ or ‘I’ve studied all of his matches.’ It was back then when I really began to deep dive into all of his work and promos.”
Bronwyne presently works for Real Canadian Wrestling (RCW), an established popular independent organization based out of Alberta, as Dolly Manson, a heel, or “bad girl” manager. “We typically run about three weekends every month in Calgary and small towns in the area, like Drumheller,” Bronwyne shared. “I’m part of a faction called the Manson Family with Moondog Manson and Ginha. We recently lost the tag team belts, which was unfortunate, but that’s not stopping us. We’re having a lot of fun.”
Just being part of the glitzy spectacle known as pro wrestling is a thrill for the ambitious, career-minded wife and mother by day and hardcore stable leader by night. And although training to be a grappler is enticing for Bronwyne, it’s a role that evokes considerable mixed emotions. “I never seriously considered it, with my dad ending up in a wheelchair towards the end of his life and all of his injuries,” she admitted. “But I’m considering doing a little bit of training, just so I’m able to take a few bumps and be involved in some fun spots. You never know, I might be really good! I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with wrestling.”
Although Billington is probably most remembered for his revolutionary tag team with partner Davey Boy Smith (British Bulldogs) in the World Wrestling Federation, or WWF (World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE) where the duo put on clinics with the leading units of the 1980s like the Hart Foundation (Hart and Jim Neidhart), the Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake), and the Rougeau Brothers (Jacques and Raymond), his bouts with Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) in Japan preceded his multi-man battles by several years and is considered to be one of the most important feuds in the history of the fabled business.
“Anything my dad did with Tiger Mask was absolutely captivating,” she gushed. “You can’t take your eyes off of it. I love going back and watching his early matches when he was super young and skinny and would be bouncing around the ring like a ping pong ball. But I also love the matches the Bulldogs had with the Hart Foundation. There was so much chemistry between the four of them.”
Incredulously, Billington is not currently in the WWE Hall of Fame. Widely believed to be more of a political endeavor than an achievement recognizer, Bronwyne is confident that her deserving father will be inducted posthumously in the near future. “I feel like we’re inching closer to that,” she exclaimed. “Getting him in is one of my goals. I’m optimistic. If it’s not this year, I hope it’s next year. There are a lot of exciting things in the works.”
A Hall of Fame nod for her father would be particularly special for Bronwyne, as she was unable to attend her dad’s funeral due to the combination of being pregnant with her daughter at the time as well as the distance between Canada and England. It would be a sequel of sorts to the afterword she wrote in 2022’s Dynamite & Davey: The Explosive Lives of the British Bulldogs by Steven Bell.
“I wrote that piece as what I would’ve said to my dad if I could. It was very healing for me,” she professed. “It was like a eulogy.”
Married to a musician husband, Bronwyne names Marilyn Manson, Chris Cornell, and Lynyrd Skynyrd as just a few of her choice artists. The craft beer enthusiast (“sours are my favorite”) has taken after her extended family’s predilection for animals, especially cats.
“Stu (Hart, father of Bret, grandfather of Bronwyne) always had lots of cats and dogs running around,” she smiled. “And I’d stay over Bret’s (Hart, cousin of Bronwyne) when I was younger because I was close with his kids, and they always had cats. I particularly love orange tabbies. If I could, I’d open a wrestling and cat-themed craft beer brewery,” she laughed.
As for the future, the stunning entertainer is looking to branch out into other parts of Canada like Toronto, in addition to venturing outside of the country for lucrative wrestling opportunities. “I accepted an award for my dad last year at the 2300 Arena (ECW Arena) from Battleground Championship Wrestling (BCW) in Philadelphia, which was awesome,” she raved. “New York, Las Vegas, there are so many places that I want to work. Even Japan,” she continued.
“Before I was Dolly Manson, I was the Dynamite Doll,” Bronwyne acknowledged. “Not being attached to my dad’s name allowed me to grow so much. I was a bit scared at first but now I’m realizing that people love me for myself and what I’m doing on my own. I’m proud to be his daughter but now it’s just a cool fact about me and not everything.”
Generation X Wire 