Dynamite Kid was tenacious, rugged, and vicious. He is one of the most influential in-ring performers in professional wrestling history. He wanted to be the best wrestler he could be, and he wanted to be known for his ability in the ring. His work during the early 1980s is legendary, and it’s a must-see for anyone who wants to learn more about pro wrestling history. His NJPW feud with Shodai Tiger Mask (original Tiger Mask), Satoru Sayama, is one of the most important series, not only in Japanese pro wrestling history, but all of pro wrestling history. Those matches were so ahead of their time that they changed everyone’s perception of what pro wrestling could be like. The athleticism displayed in those matches was top-notch, and inspired future generations of pro wrestlers.

Tom Billington was born on December 5, 1958 in Golborne, England. When his father introduced him to a man called Ted Betley, who was a former wrestler, Billington started training at Betley’s gym and learning how to wrestle. Betley ended up taking Billington to Billy Riley’s Gym, which was also known as the Snake Pit. Riley had trained catch wrestlers like Billy Robinson and Karl Gotch at his gym. Betley didn’t like the way they were treating Billington at Riley’s Gym, because they were basically just beating the teenage Billington up, and that’s why Betley only took Billington a few times to Riley’s Gym. Betley started bringing Billington to another gym to learn catch wrestling, but this time it was the gym of Billy Chambers (a.k.a. Jack Fallon). Because of Wigan’s history of catch wrestling, it was an essential part of Billington’s training. Billington, under the ring name Dynamite Kid, made his pro wrestling debut on December 24, 1975 in Malvern Wells, England. He was a talented young wrestler with a bright future ahead of him. His speed and agility made him stand out during his early years, and pretty much the same could be said for the first ten years of his career.

Stu Hart was the promoter of a league called Stampede Wrestling in Western Canada, which mainly ran shows in Alberta and Saskatchewan. One of his sons, Bruce Hart, was on a tour in England during the fall of 1977 and he spotted Dynamite Kid. Bruce initially didn’t expect much from Dynamite because Dynamite was a skinny 18-year old kid. However, once Bruce watched Dynamite’s match, he was very impressed. Bruce wanted to bring Dynamite in for a Stampede Wrestling tour, but Dynamite initially turned the offer down. However, after a disagreement with the promoter of Joint Promotions in England (which at the time was the main promotion in England, and they were the promotion featured on World of Sports), Dynamite decided to accept Bruce's offer. On April 27, 1978, with 20 pound sterling in his pocket, Dynamite left England for Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He was going for a six-week tour, but Canada ended up being his home for the next 13 years. On April 28, 1978, Dynamite Kid had his first match for Stampede Wrestling in Calgary. He would be a regular name for Stampede for the next six years. Stampede was traditionally a territory where some of the bigger wrestlers had been on top, and promoter Stu was initially apprehensive about bringing a smaller guy like Dynamite in, but Bruce convinced him to give Dynamite a chance. Stampede was struggling at the time and Stu was even thinking about selling the company. However, Dynamite not only managed to get himself over, but also showed that junior heavyweight wrestlers could be drawing people to shows, and on top of that, Dynamite basically turned business around to the point that Stampede ended up having some very successful years. Soon after Dynamite had arrived, Stampede started pushing their mid-heavyweight division more, and seemingly created the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title because they knew it would be good for business to put Dynamite over more as they saw the potential in him. 

In July 1979, Dynamite would make his first tour to Japan for the IWE promotion after Mr. Hito asked him if he would be interested in working in Japan. Along with Kazuo Sakurada, Mr. Hito was one of the main trainers in Stu Hart’s dungeon and a regular for Stampede Wrestling. Mr. Hito and Sakurada were also two of the main trainers of Bret Hart, who would arguably end up becoming the most well-known member of the Hart family. Mr. Hito explained to Dynamite that working a Japanese tour was a good opportunity to get exposure in Japan and that other promoters would be interested in him.

Also in the summer of ‘79, Dynamite’s life would change when American wrestler (and I use the term ‘wrestler’ very loosely in this case) Silvester Ritter, also known as Junkyard Dog, would introduce Dynamite to steroids. This would have a big impact on his career and life, initially perhaps in somewhat of a positive way, but eventually in quite a negative way.

Dynamite wrestled a couple of extensive tours in Germany, one in late summer/fall of 1978 and one in late summer/fall of 1979. Dynamite certainly was a well-traveled wrestler who had the opportunity to go on international tours regularly. On the 1978 tour, he wrestled against Bruce, and he teamed with Bruce a few times on these tours. Sakurada and Ashura Hara were also opponents of Dynamite’s. During the 1979 German tour, he teamed with Bruce a few times again, and some of Dynamite’s opponents were Len Denton, Yasu Fuji and Tsutomi Oshiro. The German promoter was initially only interested in getting Dynamite, but Stu insisted that Bruce should be part of the tour too.

Stu changed his Japanese business relationship from IWE to New Japan Pro Wrestling. This resulted in Tatsumi Fujinami coming to Calgary to wrestle Dynamite Kid on 8/17/79. This match between Dynamite and Fujinami was probably Dynamite’s best match up until that point in his career. Luckily, there was a Japanese crew filming that day because that’s why we have this match available in full form (the Canadian TV version is incomplete).

Even though most Stampede Wrestling footage that is available are only the last few minutes of their matches because the matches were edited to fit a one-hour TV show (and many matches had screwy finishes), watching Dynamite’s matches from Stampede still helps piece together the pieces of the puzzle when researching his career. His input was great, but he rarely had an opponent that was on the level of Fujinami in Stampede. To say that Bruce and Keith Hart aren’t exactly Sayama and Fujinami would be an understatement. Regardless of all of that, it is clear that Dynamite was a worker who gave strong performances on a regular basis, and he elevated the overall quality of the territory from a business and especially in-ring work perspective.

From 1980 through mid-1984, Dynamite would tour NJPW on a regular basis. This era was also the peak era of his career as an in-ring performer. He stood out as a worker who was able to innovate and combine styles of British, Northern American and Japanese wrestling. He had a great match against Tatsumi Fujinami on 2/5/80 at a NJPW show. Also in 1980, Dynamite would make his first appearances in the United States as he wrestled in Hawaii and Montana that year.

In 1981, he showed how versatile he was by giving memorable performances in Canada, Japan and England against a variety of opponents. It was also the year the legendary feud started with Shodai Tiger Mask (original Tiger Mask), Satoru Sayama. Their first match together was on 4/23/81 in NJPW. It was an excellent start to one of the most influential feuds in wrestling.

In May 1981, Davey Boy Smith started wrestling for Stampede. Davey Boy was Dynamite’s first cousin (Dynamite’s father was the brother of Davey Boy’s mother), who had come over from England and was eager to step into the footsteps of Dynamite. Even though they were family, Dynamite didn’t like Davey Boy too much, and they weren’t too close. But, in the ring, they had very good chemistry as workers. First they were opponents, and later they became a tag team that would become known as the British Bulldogs.

In 1982, the feud between Dynamite Kid and Sayama continued. Dynamite and Sayama were at least two of the three best workers in the world at the time, arguably the two very best in the world. Sayama had toured Mexico and England. As a result of those international tours, Sayama had incorporated aspects of Mexican wrestling and British wrestling into his style. This resulted in the legendary matches between Dynamite and Sayama having elements of British, Northern American, Japanese and Mexican wrestling influences. In other words, Dynamite and Sayama basically created a wrestling style for the future.

August 1982 was a particularly eventful month for Dynamite. After having a great match against each other on 8/5/82 in Tokyo, that same month, Dynamite vs. Sayama took place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This was on 8/30/82, and it was the first time working at MSG for both these wrestlers. The next day, Dynamite went to Portland, Oregon for a tour to wrestle in the Pacific Northwest Wrestling territory. He spent the rest of the year and the beginning of the next year mostly in the Calgary area. In April 1983, Dynamite returned to Japan for a tour with NJPW. On this tour, one of his opponents was once again Sayama. The two had a great match on 4/21/83. This match, along with their 8/5/82 match, is among the most legendary junior heavyweight matches ever. Once again, Dynamite and Sayama put on an amazing display that inspired and influenced future generations of wrestlers.

In June 1983, Dynamite returned to the PNW territory. He played a big role in the territory and joined Rip Oliver’s heel stable known as The Clan. He even held the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title for a month. Since Portland isn’t too far from his home in Calgary, Dynamite was able to appear in PNW regularly from June 1983 through December 1983. His main opponents in PNW were Curt Hennig, Buddy Rose and Billy Jack Haynes.

Despite being a junior heavyweight wrestler for most of his career, Dynamite showed that a top junior heavyweight can potentially hang in there with the heavyweights. Dynamite’s intensity, versatility and overall ability made him credible against wrestlers larger than him.

Dynamite had quite a successful career in NJPW from early 1980 through mid 1984, but Dynamite felt that things weren’t the same in NJPW once Sayama left NJPW in the summer of ‘83 after being dissatisfied with the company’s backstage politics. In 1984, Sayama became part of the UWF, a shoot style league. Supposedly, according to Dynamite’s book, Sayama even asked Dynamite if he would like to join UWF, but Dynamite didn’t think the league would last. At some point in the summer of ‘84, Dynamite was contacted by All Japan Pro Wrestling, and they made him a good offer. AJPW was the rival of NJPW, but Dynamite decided to jump to AJPW anyway. This was a huge deal at the time, not only because of the rivalry between the two leagues, but also because NJPW had a working relationship with Stampede and WWF. Dynamite made not only NJPW, but also Stampede and WWF upset by jumping from NJPW to AJPW. Dynamite didn’t really care about that, because he felt that any other wrestler would have done the same since he was offered a good extra amount of money (and part of it was guaranteed), and he was given the option of picking any tours he wanted to work. AJPW promoter Giant Baba was at least willing to honor NJPW’s request of not showing Dynamite’s matches from 1984 as part of a media blackout, perhaps in an attempt by Antonio Inoki’s NJPW to hide from the fans that quite a few wrestlers had jumped ship at the time. Either way, there is no footage available of Dynamite’s 1984 matches in AJPW. Dynamite participated in AJPW’s annual tag team tournament in late 1984. Dynamite returned to AJPW for three tours in 1985. During the second tour, he won the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title when he beat Mighty Inoue in AJPW on 6/8/85. Five days later, Dynamite would lose the title to Kuniaki Kobayashi.

As mentioned before, Dynamite had wrestled in New York on 8/30/82 when he faced Sayama at MSG. That was just a one-off at the time, and not a regular thing for Dynamite at the time. The match took place because NJPW had a working relationship with WWF. However, from 8/29/84, Dynamite would start working more often in the northeast of Northern America. You see, this organization called WWF was run by a promoter called Vince McMahon, and he was trying to take over the wrestling world and turn it into a sports-entertainment industry. WWF started as a regional territory in the northeast of Northern America, in the New York area under Vince's father. However, after Jr. took over, they slowly started invading other territories and running other promoters out of business. Instead of trying to run Stampede out of business, McMahon offered Stu to buy him out in order to start running shows in Western Canada. Stu and McMahon came to an agreement. Also part of the deal was that McMahon would start booking Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith, who were Stu’s top three guys. WWF would later end up hiring more wrestlers that at some point had come through Stampede. The final card of Stampede would take place in the fall of ‘84 (until they would eventually start up again a year later). Dynamite teamed with Bret in Bret’s first WWF match on 8/29/84 at a WWF TV taping in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Dynamite was impressive and worked unlike anyone else in WWF at the time. The second time Dynamite wrestled at a WWF TV taping in ‘84 was in Poughkeepsie, New York on 9/11/84. The remainder of September and also in October, Dynamite appeared on some WWF shows in Ontario. Dynamite told McMahon that Davey Boy, who started getting booked by WWF in late September of ‘84, was his first cousin and that they were both from England. This gave McMahon the idea to call them the British Bulldogs. In November, WWF finally started running a few shows in Western Canada, which was traditionally Stampede Wrestling’s territory. As a result, WWF didn’t draw well in that area as the fans were used to Stampede and not the less serious product WWF was trying to spread everywhere. Because of that, McMahon wanted out of his deal with Stu, and Stampede would be able to restart again in October of 1985. From March of 1985, Dynamite had started wrestling even more often for WWF and now not just in the northeast, but also in different areas, as the WWF was expanding. On 9/14/85, Dynamite wrestled a pretty good match against Bret in Landover, MD. Most of Dynamite’s matches while working for this league aren’t noteworthy though. The British Bulldogs, Dynamite & Davey Boy, vs. the Hart Foundation, Bret & Jim Neidhart (who was another former Stampede worker who started getting booked by WWF and also a Hart family member as he was married to one of the Hart sisters), was a feud that did result in matches that should definitely be considered good for the standards of the WWF circus, but not something that stands out in the bigger picture of things, especially when compared to Dynamite’s work in Japan. Just like in Calgary, also in WWF, it was through his matches with Dynamite that Bret got to show his potential. WWF was expanding and so was the physique of Dynamite (and Davey Boy), who had become less flexible and clearly way too overly roided by mid-1985 through late 1986. In November 1985, Dynamite wrestled a few matches for Stampede. He’d also wrestle a tour for AJPW and take part in their annual tag team tournament later that year. WWF had been trying to sign the Bulldogs, but Dynamite would keep refusing because he wanted to keep touring Japan. However, WWF finally managed to convince Dynamite, as they promised that the Bulldogs would get the tag title on 4/7/86. Unfortunately, this meant no more Japan for the Bulldogs. On 12/13/86 at a house show at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Dynamite suffered a severe back injury that almost ended his career. It was not necessarily something that specifically happened during the match that caused the injury, but it was years of bumping, high risk moves and steroids that culminated in nearly a career-ending situation. In 1987-1988, after returning from the severe back injury, he was not the worker he once was. WWF wanted the Bulldogs to drop the title to Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff, but Dynamite insisted that he would only drop the title to the Hart Foundation, and that’s what happened in January in 1987. Dynamite wasn’t even able to walk without assistance, but he showed up and took part in the short match that saw the Bulldogs drop the title. The Bulldogs weren’t pushed that much by the fall of 1988, and a physical altercation with Jacques Rougeau that happened backstage didn’t help things either. It was time for Dynamite to leave the circus, and Dynamite’s last match for WWF took place on 11/24/88.

Dynamite (and Davey Boy) finally returned to Stampede in late 1988. Also, finally it was time to tour AJPW again in early 1989. Dynamite was certainly not the wrestler he was in the early ‘80s, but he could still go during 1989, and managed to make good contributions to many of his matches. The fact that he had now left WWF also seemed to have given him some extra motivation again. Unfortunately, apart from physically not being the same wrestler he was in the early 1980s, he also never really adapted his moveset. As a matter of fact, his moveset only started getting increasingly smaller from the mid 1980s onwards, in addition to his work having started to become increasingly more inconsistent from 1984 onward. To his credit, he always seemed to give a good effort, but it seemed that his effort and what his body was able to do were no longer matching up as the years went on. First it was the roids making him less mobile, then it was the injuries limiting his ability, and then it was also getting used to working repetitive matches against opponents of lesser quality in the WWF. At some point during this return to Stampede, Dynamite was the booker for a few weeks. During the spring/summer of 1989, Dynamite would make a few appearances in Atlantic Grand Prix Wrestling in eastern Canada. During the 1990s, he was physically such a broken wreck that he was no longer to really live up to his reputation. Still, he was respected, and he still continued to tour AJPW.

In 1991, in a full circle type situation, Dynamite moved back to England with the same amount of money he had left England with, 20 pound sterling. The last couple of tours for AJPW were rough. On one particular tour to AJPW, Dynamite looked so ill that Giant Baba, who was legendary for never missing a match himself, forced Dynamite to take a day off. Dynamite decided to retire from puroresu in December 1991. Dynamite continued to wrestle on the British independent scene, which wasn’t thriving by any means during the 1990s. Dynamite was invited to watch some matches at ringside at an AJPW show on 2/28/93. Dynamite didn’t have too much money at the time, and that’s why he accepted AJPW’s request to return to the ring in Japan for a couple of matches in July 1993. There is also some hand-held footage available of some of Dynamite’s matches in England in late 1993, but his 1993 matches were all quite average and certainly not recommended viewing. After wrestling approximately 2,000 pro wrestling matches and more than 300 different opponents during a career that had started in 1975, Dynamite Kid retired after working his last match on October 10, 1996 in Tokyo, Japan. He was barely able to wrestle by that point, and it was clear for everyone that this would really be his last match. It was a match for Michinoku Pro, and he wrestled in a legends six-man tag team match. One of his opponents in his final match was his favorite opponent, Satoru Sayama.

In 1997, Dynamite would end up in a wheelchair as a result of all the suffering his body had gone through over the years (injuries, bumps, high risk moves, steroids and other drugs). In 1999, Dynamite’s book “Pure Dynamite: The Autobiography of Tom ‘Dynamite Kid’ Billington” was released. In this book, he was not only sharing interesting stories about his wrestling career, but he was also honest about his drug usage and some of the terrible ribs/pranks he pulled on other wrestlers. Regardless of what people thought of him as a human being, he was a great pro wrestler. Even though some feel that he comes across as bitter in his book, Dynamite said that if he would have the chance to do it all over again, he’d do everything the same. “Wrestling was my life, and I loved it. No regrets. I had a blast.”

Dynamite was interviewed a few times in the 2010s. He was told that many Japanese fans still believe that the matches he had with Sayama are the best matches ever. Dynamite said that it made him happy to hear that. After his health had kept declining, Tom Billington died in Wigan, England on December 5, 2018, which was the day of his 60th birthday.

Dynamite Kid’s influence on professional wrestling really is immeasurably great. When you watch his matches from his prime, it becomes clear how much of an influence he was to other wrestlers and to stylistic changes in pro wrestling all over the world. Those wrestlers may or may not have been influenced by his famous series of matches with Satoru Sayama and/or Dynamite’s work in general, sometimes they were possibly influenced by his work even without knowing since Dynamite’s influence was much like a ripple effect. A large number of wrestlers, especially those who came through the Calgary territory and/or the New Japan junior heavyweight division were influenced by Dynamite’s work, either directly or indirectly. In particular, Dynamite’s series of matches with Sayama was a huge influence on Japanese junior heavyweight wrestling and, arguably, subsequently all of modern pro wrestling. The list of wrestlers who were influenced by Dynamite is pretty much endless, but just to name a few of the wrestlers who appeared to have been influenced significantly by his work are workers like Bret Hart, Davey Boy Smith, Chris Benoit, Owen Hart, Keiichi Yamada, Ben Bassarab, Biff Wellington, Johnny Smith, Brett Como, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Sean Waltman, Rey Misterio Jr., Chris Jericho, Lance Storm, Psicosis, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Bryan Danielson, Prince Devitt, PAC, Davey Richards, Kyle O’Reilly, Tyler Bate, The Billington Bulldogs (Thomas Billington & Mark Billington, Dynamite’s nephews), etc.

Dynamite Kid certainly deserves a spot in the Hall of Talent. Let’s have a closer look at a selection of matches from his career...

Joint Promotions 6/30/76 Lincoln, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Alan Dennison. R3 2:00. This was Dynamite Kid’s first televised match, in which he showed his great potential. The match aired 10/30/76 on ITV’s World of Sport Wrestling, the famous wrestling TV show that was popular in the United Kingdom from the mid 1960s through the mid 1980s. This was a 6-round match with 5-minute rounds. The Kid was 17 years old at the time and only about 158 lbs. He had only been a pro wrestler for six months. The Kid started the match off with some quick moves, including a couple of arm drags and a couple of front flips. The Kid executed a nice cartwheel among other moves. After being on the receiving-end of a monkey flip, the Kid landed on his feet. The Kid also did some of the typical old school European escapes when he was locked in a hold. The Kid seemed to rely on his speed and agility here against his far more experienced opponent. Dennison, a mediocre worker, was in his 40s here. In a funny moment, after the first round, Dennison tried one of those front flips the Kid has been doing, but he failed miserably (much to the delight of the spectators). This wasn’t the most graceful match, but it succeeded in its purpose of introducing the talented Kid to a television audience. In the third round, the Kid went for a move, but landed throat first on the top rope. This was sold in dramatic fashion and they ended the match. After the match, Dennison went on the mic and praised the Kid. He also asked for this match to be determined a no contest because he didn’t want to win the match this way. Referee Brian Crabtree allowed Dennison’s request and the match ended in a no contest. This was a promising start for the young Kid! ** 

Joint Promotions 11/3/76 Bolton, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Tally Ho Kaye. R3 1:35. This wasn’t a good match, but it’s useful to watch Dynamite Kid in his early years, so that we can see how he evolved as a worker. In this match, we once again got to see the Kid’s great potential. This aired 11/18/76 on WOS. Brian Crabtree was the referee. The legendary World of Sport commentator Kent Walton mentioned that the Kid had tremendous potential. Peter “Tally Ho” Kaye was a decent worker, but mostly seemed to rely on his heel character. Kaye appeared to be quite over as a heel. Kaye was in control for the most part. The Kid spent most of the time selling. The story of the match here seemed to be that the fans were really getting more and more behind the Kid because of Kaye’s heelish behaviour. At some point, a man in a suit came out of his front row seat and started yelling angrily because Kaye had his feet on the ropes. In a funny moment, the Kid jumped over the referee onto Kaye. The ref gave Kid only a friendly warning because he seemed to respect the Kid for going for such a move. In the third round, the Kid bumped and sold even more. At 1:35 into the 3rd round, the Kid managed to pin Kaye. This was a nice victory for the young Kid over an opponent who had ten years more experience. ** 

Joint Promotions 1/12/77 Bradford, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Tally Ho Kaye. R4 1:30; R5 3:07; R6 5:00. This was probably Dynamite Kid’s first match that was better than average. This aired 1/15/77 on WOS. Dynamite Kid once again faced Peter “Tally Ho” Kaye, who appeared to be his main TV rival at the time. Kent Walton rightfully mentioned: “that Dynamite Kid is getting more Dynamite every time we see him.” Dynamite, now a pro wrestler for a little over a year, appeared to be a bit more confident here than in his 1976 matches. Dynamite managed to do a front flip with both hands behind his back with a perfect landing on his feet. Kaye had Dynamite in a headscissors on the mat and Dynamite managed to do a kickup out of the hold. It’s a move that he would end up being the receiving-end of several times when he would face Satoru Sayama in Japan in the early 1980s. Kay was a solid base for Dynamite’s more athletic moves. Kaye wanted to shake Kid’s hand, but Kid wasn’t falling for it and continued wrestling. Dynamite’s work was a lot more smooth here than in his previous matches. At some point, Kaye reversed a front face lock into a hammerlock with Dynamite hooking the leg and tripping Kay to the mat, which was then followed up by Kaye kicking Dynamite into the ropes with Dynamite rebounding from the ropes into a cartwheel all in a few seconds time. Another cool move later on was when Kaye kept twisting Dynamite’s arm and threw him into the corner with Dynamite landing upside down into the corner. Dynamite suffered a nosebleed here, but didn’t seem to be bothered by it. This was an early indication that he was used to a more stiffer style of wrestling. Kaye won the first fall by submission. In the 5th round, Dynamite started getting more aggressive. At some point, he was literally riding Kaye as if Kaye were a horse. Right after that, Dynamite picked up Kaye and dropped him onto the top rope and started shaking the top rope, resulting in Kaye bumping into the ring. This is one of many things that Bret Hart would end up copying from Dynamite. The second fall ended when Dynamite pinned Kaye after a sunset flip, the crowd loved it and started chanting “easy!” Saying it was an easy match for Dynamite may have been a slight exaggeration, but things definitely seemed to come naturally to him. Kid started working over Kaye’s leg. Kent Walton noted Dynamite’s tremendous potential. The match ended in a draw after the time limit expired in the 6th round. This was a fun match, and it was interesting to see that Dynamite did some of the moves here that he would later end up using when he became more famous. **½

Joint Promotions 8/13/77 Enfield, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Tony Scarlo. R3 0:40. This was a bit more of a traditional match. There were some stiff uppercuts thrown and there was more matwork than in Dynamite Kid’s previous matches. Dynamite had won the British Lightweight Title by defeating Jim Breaks on 3/23/77 in Manchester. His opponent in this match from 8/13/77 was Tony Scarlo, a skilled and experienced worker, who had been working since the 1960s. Dynamite managed to score the pinfall victory over the experienced Scarlo in the 3rd round. There were some nice reversals and counters during this match. While not a mat wizard, Dynamite was at least able to hold up his end on the mat. He escaped a headscissors quite nicely, and then rolled himself up like a ball in order to block a potential counter. It’s good to see Dynamite was able to mix things up and work different matches every time. **1/4

Joint Promotions 12/6/77 Hemel Hempstead, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Jim Breaks. R3 1:25. This aired 12/20/77 on WOS. Even though it wasn’t a good match, it’s a notable match because Jim Breaks is one of the most well-known heels in British wrestling history. Breaks was acting like a crybaby, which got quite some heat from the crowd. Also getting a crowd reaction was Dynamite Kid’s performance. This was a one-fall match scheduled for six 5-minute rounds. Dynamite Kid had wrestled Steve Grey on 11/30/77 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England in a match that unfortunately never aired on WOS. Breaks kept complaining and whining. The crowd really wanted Dynamite to beat him up. Breaks had Dynamite in a hold and started saying: “Get the cameras on this! Come on! Come on Dynamite!” Once the 2nd round ended, Breaks got some cheap shots in after the bell. In the 3rd round, Breaks hit Kid with a big headbutt, which resulted in Dynamite’s nose bleeding. Dynamite won the match by pinfall. It was an okay match, but Breaks probably relied too much on his heel antics for this to be anything more than average. Apart from this being an interesting match-up on paper, it’s also noteworthy for being the final WOS match of Dynamite’s that is available from his pre-Calgary days. These two would wrestle each other again in Preston, England on 1/25/78 and that’s when Dynamite would beat Breaks for the British Welterweight Title. ** 

Stampede 5/12/78 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Norman Frederick Charles III 6:25 of 11:30. This wasn’t a great match or anything, but it was very interesting to see Dynamite in action during his early days in Western Canada. Every Friday night, Stampede Wrestling would tape the show at the Victoria Pavilion in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and the highlights would air the next day on their one-hour show. When Dynamite first arrived in Calgary in April of 1978, some of the wrestlers at the time weren’t too keen on the idea of working with Dynamite because he was just a small young guy. However, the Cuban Assassin (Angel Acevedo) was willing to put him over in Dynamite’s first match on 4/28/78. This match from 5/12/78 was from Dynamite Kid’s third week in Canada and his third week wrestling for Stampede Wrestling. His opponent in this match was Norman Frederick Charles III, who was an English wrestler who started his career in Australia. Charles eventually started getting booked for shows in Pacific Northwest Wrestling in Oregon. Then he headed even further north and that’s how he ended up here in Stampede Wrestling. Charles was merely an average worker though. Dynamite was having some fun showing off his unique offense. Commentator Ed Whalen mentioned that it was “an unusual match.” Dynamite got a bloody nose, but he also got the win. Dynamite’s style was still very English and similar to what we’ve seen of his work in England. He brought a different dynamic to the shows of Stampede Wrestling, and at the same time it was a great place for him to learn and grow. **1/4

Stampede 6/30/78 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Norman Frederick Charles III 6:00 of 30:00. Dynamite was getting more experienced, and he was getting more used to wrestling in Stampede Wrestling. This match was joined in progress at the start of the ninth of ten 3-minute rounds. Both wrestlers juiced. Dynamite hit some stiff looking uppercuts in the ninth round. In the tenth round, Dynamite hit a couple of falling headbutts from a standing position in the ring. In the final minute of the match, Dynamite hit an enzuigiri. The match went to the time limit after 30:00 with no falls scored. The three judges at ringside decided that Dynamite was the winner. It appeared to be just an average match, but only a fifth of the match was shown. Anyway, it was interesting to see a match of Dynamite’s from the summer of ‘78. **1/4

Stampede 12/15/78 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Norman Frederick Charles III 5:05 of 11:08. Dynamite Kid seemed to have gotten into the groove of working this territory, looking more and more confident in his matches. Dynamite executed some spectacular athletic moves where he jumped over his opponent, slid underneath his opponent, jumped over his opponent again and then turned his opponent over for a cover. Dynamite hit an enzuigiri, and Charles took a bump over the top rope. Dynamite hit a tremendous tombstone piledriver and got the pinfall win. Dynamite was still very English in his style, but by this point, he seemed more adjusted to the Stampede Wrestling style, which had become pretty much a blend of American, British and Japanese wrestling. The way Dynamite bumped and sold stood out. While not bad, “Kangaroo” Norman Frederick Charles III didn’t resemble a kangaroo in any way and was quite average as he mostly did standard punching-type offense. It was just an okay match, but it was interesting to see what Dynamite was doing in Stampede around that time. **¼

Stampede 12/29/78 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title: Bret Hart vs. Dynamite Kid 13:30 of 31:00. Dynamite Kid really appeared to keep improving in late 1978. Also, working these long matches with Bret Hart where he had to carry Bret, really seemed to help not only Bret improve, but also helped Dynamite improve because Dynamite was trying to figure out how to make these matches as good as possible. This was a 2-out-of-3 falls match. Bret was one of Dynamite’s top opponents in Stampede during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. This played a huge role in Bret eventually becoming a successful superstar. As a matter of fact, Bret was the opponent Dynamite would face most in his career, as they would also become regular opponents elsewhere in the mid-1980s. The action was joined in progress at the 17-minute mark, with 21-year old Bret in control leading 1 fall to nothing. Both men were bleeding from the nose. They probably stiffed each other up quite a bit during the first fall. In late December 1978, Dynamite had either turned heel or at least started showing signs of heelish behaviour. When Dynamite was on offense, he showed intensity and roughed Bret up a bit more. Dynamite started working over Bret’s left leg while selling his own right leg. The pace was relatively slow during the part of the match that was shown, but they kept the action going for the most part. Dynamite delivered a vicious headbutt and continued working over Bret’s left leg. Dynamite threw Bret into the ropes and Bret rebounded with a flying elbow, which Dynamite bumped big for. Dynamite quickly regained control though. Dynamite executed a surfboard. Dynamite gave Bret a couple of hope spots. Dynamite executed a double-underhook suplex. The final minutes were a bit less interesting with Bret on offense more. The finish kinda came out of nowhere when Dynamite grabbed Bret, suplexed Bret over the top rope and went over the top rope himself as well in quite spectacular fashion. It caught everyone’s attention, but it was also the end of the match as Dynamite was disqualified. **½  

Stampede 1/19/79 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Mr. Wrestling (Dick Steinborn) 14:30. There have been different workers portraying the masked Mr. Wrestling, but this version was American wrestler Dick Steinborn. Steinborn, who was 45 years old at the time, had been wrestling since the 1950s and he would retire in the mid-1980s. Dynamite Kid started out as a face in Stampede Wrestling, but was turned heel because he was a very good bumper, and the idea was that it would be better if people were cheering whenever he bumped in his spectacular way. I believe it was actually Steinborn who came up with the idea of turning Dynamite heel. Steinborn was briefly booking Stampede Wrestling around this time until Bruce Hart took over, I think. Mr. Wrestling was still okay enough of a wrestler to do some mat wrestling sequences with Dynamite that were somewhat interesting. Mr. Wrestling acted like he was trying to teach 20-year old Dynamite a lesson, as Dynamite didn’t seem to be too interested in fair play, even though he started the match off with a technical approach. Mr. Wrestling showed his disapproval of Dynamite’s lack of clean breaks. However, Mr. Wrestling’s patronizing behaviour only seemed to encourage young Dynamite to become more rugged in his approach. Dynamite won the match via pinfall. The match was quite basic, but it was fun to watch, and it was interesting to see Dynamite being able to adapt to a different type of opponent. **1/4

Stampede 2/23/79 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Marty Jones vs. Bruce Hart & Louis Laurence 5:30. Marty Jones, a good wrestler from England, was a strong tag team partner for Dynamite Kid in this match. Later that year, they would wrestle each other in England. In this tag team match in Calgary, Jones took some pretty good bumps, and Dynamite took spectacularly good bumps. Because they were focussing on being heels, we didn’t really get to see Jones’ technical ability. It would have been interesting to see these two team up more often though, but they only teamed up a few times during early ‘79. Just imagine an alternate timeline that has Dynamite and Jones as the British Bulldogs. Anyway, let’s not focus on my fantasy booking ideas. Louis Laurence was a wrestler from Montreal, and he seemed average. Bruce Hart wasn’t in this match that much. The match was relatively short, and apart from a fun heelish performance by the English team, this match was all about teasing a confrontation between Dynamite and Bruce Hart, who were in the early stages of their rivalry. It was a relatively short match, but there was some pretty good action, thanks to the work of Jones and especially Dynamite. **½

Stampede 3/23/79 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title: Dynamite Kid vs. Bret Hart 10:50 of 44:30. Bret Hart was slowly starting to grow as a worker. Dynamite Kid showed why he was the worker who set this territory on fire. This was a 2-out-of-3 falls match that was predictably joined in progress. Commentator Ed Whalen informs us that Dynamite had won the first fall and that Bret had won the second fall. Bret worked over Dynamite’s left arm. Bret’s work was still very generic, but he was learning and very slowly getting a bit better by wrestling Dynamite all the time. Dynamite’s selling really made all the Harts look better than they were. The Harts were the local favorites, and Dynamite did a great job making them look like heroes. It seems around this time that Dynamite was really stepping up his game more and more. Bret rammed Dynamite’s head into the turnbuckle and followed it up by hitting an atomic drop that sent Dynamite outside. They kept the action going at a pretty steady pace, even though they had been working for more than half an hour. A few minutes before the finish, Dynamite hit a well-executed sunset flip. The action started going back-and-forth. It was announced that only 3 minutes were remaining. Dynamite was trying to make this last to the time limit because that would help him retain his title. Bret threw Dynamite towards the ropes and Dynamite front flipped into the ropes and bounced back into the ring. Dynamite hit a powerslam with great power behind it. Bret managed to come really close to pinning Dynamite after a rollup. Bret hit a German suplex. Only one minute was left. Bret executed an abominable stretch. With approximately 30 seconds left in the match, Dynamite’s manager, John Foley, rang the bell in an attempt to make everyone believe the time limit had already expired. The result was a draw (and the result may or may not have been changed to a disqualification afterwards). At some point during the match, Ed Whalen said: “you almost think, when you see a match like this, maybe one of these programs we should...show you only one match.” I wish they would have shown the best matches in full-length. This was a pretty good match, and it really was the type of match that put Stampede on the map around this time. Dynamite’s creativity and imagination certainly played a big role during this part of his Stampede career. *** 

Stampede 4/6/79 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Keith Hart 7:00 of 20:00. This was decent overall. Keith Hart was an average worker, but Dynamite Kid bumped very well for Keith’s moves. Dynamite hit a nice-looking suplex. Dynamite bridged out when Keith was holding him down on the mat. The match ended in a 20-minute time limit draw. **½

Stampede 4/27/79 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Bruce Hart 5:30 of 9:00. This was a fun match to watch. In the pre-match promo, Dynamite Kid and his manager John Foley talked about how Dynamite wants to wrestle Bruce Hart in a clean match without punching or kicking. The match started off like a clean match, and they both refrained from punching and kicking. Dynamite did a nice British style escape from a hold. Bruce then tried to take Dynamite down, but Dynamite executed a nice front flip and landed on his feet. The match had been clean so far. Dynamite obviously outwrestled Bruce. But, at some point, being the heel that he was, Dynamite broke his promise and started kicking and punching. Bruce managed to fight back briefly, much to the delight of the fans. However, Dynamite was relentless and executed a wicked tombstone piledriver for the win. Bruce was an average worker, but Dynamite gave a strong effort to make Bruce look like a good worker. **½  

Stampede 5/4/79 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Bruce Hart 4:57 of 21:45. Ed Whalen said this was a “ring-a-ding-dong-dandy”, which was (or would become) one of his lame catch phrases. The work was relatively fast-paced. There was a very good amount of crowd heat because these two were two of the most over workers in the territory. Dynamite Kid hit a vicious headbutt on Bruce Hart. Dynamite’s manager John Foley distracted the referee. This gave Dynamite an opportunity to hit a low blow on Bruce and get the pinfall victory. Bret Hart showed up and came to Bruce’s aid. Every move Dynamite executed was executed with great ferocity. Bruce’s work was very basic, but Dynamite made him look much better. **½  

Stampede 6/15/79 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Big Daddy Ritter vs. Jake Roberts & Terry Sawyer 4:20 of 12:00. This is not necessarily a must-see match by any means, and of course, we didn’t get to see the entire match anyway since it wasn’t shown in full form (which may or may not have been a good thing in this case), but it’s always interesting to see what Dynamite was doing whenever he wasn’t in singles competition around this crucial stage of his career, in which he was really on his way to become a great worker. This was a tornado tag team match, which meant all four wrestlers would be in the ring at the same time. Dynamite Kid went for a top-rope move, but Jake Roberts moved out of the way. Dynamite bumped in spectacular fashion over the top rope after Roberts side-stepped out of the way. Dynamite took another big bump as he took a front flip bump into his own tag team partner, Big Daddy Ritter, who was standing in the corner, after Roberts threw him towards the corner. At some point, the ref was distracted and Ritter hit Roberts with a loaded glove for the pinfall win. In the post-match promo, Roberts proved that even in the early days of his career, his promos were far more impressive than his in-ring work. As far as in-ring work goes, Roberts gave an okay-ish performance, Ritter (Junkyard Dog) not surprisingly didn’t really show much, and Terry Sawyer was almost decent. Dynamite was easily the best worker in this match. *¾  

Stampede 6/22/79 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Terry Sawyer 6:25 of 20:25. Dynamite Kid’s workrate was so high that all Terry Sawyer had to do was try to be as decent as possible, and Dynamite would take care of the rest, in order to make this an enjoyable match for the viewers. Sawyer was a wrestler from Virginia who had been wrestling since 1972. Someone in the crowd was yelling at Dynamite Kid, and Dynamite invited him into the ring, but the fan wisely decided to stay in his seat. Dynamite went for a move off the top rope, but Sawyer rolled out of the way. This meant Dynamite landed face-first onto the canvas in the middle of the ring, much to the delight of the crowd. Ed Whalen also enjoyed it and proclaimed it to be a “malfunction at the junction.” Sawyer pinned Dynamite with an inside cradle. It was a non-title match as Dynamite’s British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title wasn’t on the line, but Dynamite was still enraged because he didn’t like to be beaten. In the post-match promos, Sawyer asked for a title shot. Dynamite started shouting at Stu Hart because Dynamite didn’t want to defend his title against Sawyer. Overall, this was lots of fun. During the match, Sawyer gave a decent performance and was at least able to kinda hang in there. Dynamite was obviously the one who made this match worth watching. The way Dynamite worked the match made it clear to me that he was trying to get the best match out of his opponent. **½

Stampede 7/13/79 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title: Dynamite Kid vs. Bret Hart 3:09 shown. The footage was joined in progress at the beginning of the second fall. Both men were selling, and Bret was bleeding. The crowd was on Bret Hart’s side as Dynamite Kid ferociously continued his attack on Bret, but Bret eventually got a flying forearm in, which resulted in Dynamite juicing. Bret threw a dropkick and hit a piledriver for the win in the second fall. In the third fall, both men were brawling for a minute until the referee decided the match was out of control. Even promoter Stu Hart entered the ring to try to calm his son Bret down. The match ended in a no-contest. It looked like a pretty good match, but we only got to see three minutes, and we didn’t get to see the first fall.

IWE 7/19/79 Kikonai Public Hall: Dynamite Kid vs. Isamu Teranishi 20:40 of 30:00 shown. Dynamite Kid showed quite some intensity. Isamu Teranishi was a decent but unspectacular worker. Dynamite didn’t really enjoy his first tour to Japan, partially because of culture shock (for example, he was scared to buy food on his own because he didn’t speak Japanese and didn’t know how much 1,000 Yen was), and partially because he didn’t like the overall experience with the IWE league that much. Apparently they travelled by coach during this tour with their suitcases on top of them, and there was no hotel. The crowds weren’t good either, and Dynamite thought it probably had a lot to do with the not so great North Americans on the tour (wrestlers like Ox Baker, Haystacks Calhoun, the Samoans and Alex Smirnoff). After this experience, Dynamite didn’t think he would want to do another tour to Japan ever again (but luckily NJPW managed to change his mind in 1980). In this match with Teranishi, Dynamite snapped Teranishi’s fingers Jim Breaks-style. Dynamite hit a nice monkey flip and a dropkick. His bodyslams and kicks had a lot of ferocity behind them. The match ended in a time limit draw. It was interesting to see Dynamite on his first Japanese tour. **½

IWE 7/21/79 Murakami City Gymnasium, Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title vs. WWU World Junior Heavyweight Title: Dynamite Kid vs. Ashura Hara 27:00 of 28:00. This match is interesting because it was probably the most memorable match from Dynamite Kid’s first tour of Japan. Both champions defended their respective championships. Hara had toured Stampede Wrestling in the summer of ‘78 under the name Fighting Hara, and even trained a bit with Dynamite in the Hart Family Dungeon. The WWU World Junior Heavyweight Title allegedly has its origins in Europe, but it appeared that it was basically a title IWE used to help put over and push Hara more. This match was held under British rounds rules. Each round had a time limit of four minutes. In the background on the wall of the venue, the flags of the United Kingdom, Japan and Canada were displayed. The first round wasn’t very eventful and it was more a feeling out kinda phase. In the second round, the pace started picking up a bit and the work had a bit more urgency. Dynamite did a kickup, cartwheel, front flip and an elbow smash. These four moves were all executed very smoothly while Hara was trying to keep a wrist lock executed on Dynamite. The action started heating up more. Dynamite hit a chop, headbutt and uppercut. Hara fought back with a chop of his own, which sent Dynamite to the mat. The third round kinda continued in the same fashion, but Dynamite went to the top rope and stomped Hara with one foot while landing. The ref warned Dynamite and didn’t seem to approve of this move off the top turnbuckle. Dynamite tried to pin Hara by holding Hara’s hands down on the mat, but Hara bridged out of the cover while Dynamite was still on top of Hara, and Dynamite tried to break the bridge. Dynamite then proceeded to start working over Hara’s left arm in quite a vicious manner. In the fourth round, Hara started fighting back more. Hara’s offense was quite basic, but Dynamite sold it well. Hara hit a nice sunset flip, but Dynamite kicked out at two. Hara threw Dynamite towards the corner, and Dynamite took a front flip bump into the turnbuckle area. Hara hit a nice gutwrench suplex and a powerslam, but Dynamite managed to kick out again. At the end of the fourth round, Hara almost choked Dynamite out, but the bell rang. They slapped each other a bit after the bell, this helped showing this wasn’t a friendly contest but an important double title match. In the fifth round, Dynamite executed a Romero special and came close to beating Hara. Dynamite pulled Hara up from the hair and dropped him unceremoniously on the mat. They exchanged a couple of elbows, and Dynamite kicked Hara aggressively. In the sixth round, Dynamite continued this aggressive approach. The action spilled to the outside and Dynamite was bodyslammed on the floor by Hara. Once back in the ring, Hara threw Dynamite into the corner and executed a monkey flip, which Dynamite bumped tremendously for. Hara hit a back body drop that resulted in another spectacular bump by Dynamite. Hara received some uppercuts that looked really good. In the seventh round, both workers became more desperate in their attempts to try to pin the other. They put across well that they now had to really score a pinfall soon if they wanted to win this contest. Several minutes of near-fall attempts made up pretty much the entire seventh round. The match ended in a draw after the time limit expired and all seven 4-minute rounds were completed without a single fall scored by either participant. Dynamite hit a couple of punches and a kick on Hara after the match. I thought this was a pretty good match overall and almost like a proto-type of the 1980s/1990s Japanese junior heavyweight matches. *** 

Stampede 7/27/79 Calgary, AB Victoria, Pavilion, Stampede British Commonwealth Title hair vs. hair: Dynamite Kid vs. Terry Sawyer 4:38 of 14:00. Dynamite had just recently returned from his first tour of Japan. This was a 2-out-of-3 falls match with not only Dynamite Kid’s championship on the line, but also both wrestlers’ hair on the line. The action was joined in progress at the start of the third fall. Ed Whalen informed the viewers that both men had won a fall each. Dynamite went for a top-rope move, but Sawyer moved out of the way, resulting in Dynamite landing on the mat face-first. Dynamite’s manager John Foley tried to get involved, which is why Sawyer tried to hold Foley for Bret Hart to take out Foley. However, Foley ducked and Bret ended up hitting Sawyer with Foley’s cane. Dynamite immediately took advantage, made the cover and got the pinfall victory. After the match, Dynamite strutted around with his British Commonwealth Title, and Sawyer got his head shaven by a female hairdresser. Sawyer started beating up Bret, but Jake Roberts came to Bret’s aid. This appeared to be a decent match, but we only got to see four minutes of it. **1/4

Stampede 8/3/79 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Gerry Morrow 5:07 of 25:14. Gerry Morrow was a wrestler from Martinique. Dynamite Kid was in control for most of the final five minutes of the match, and he showed his viciousness. Dynamite got a lot of heel heat, and he eventually got the pinfall victory. This appeared to be an okay match. **1/4

Stampede 8/17/79 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title vs. WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Dynamite Kid vs. Tatsumi Fujinami 20:33. This is arguably one of the best matches in Stampede Wrestling history (at least, as far as we can tell through the limited and incomplete footage that is available). This was the first meeting between these two future legends. Stampede Wrestling promoter Stu Hart had changed his Japanese business relationship from IWE to NJPW, and that’s why Tatsumi Fujinami, the top junior heavyweight in NJPW at the time, was able to work this Stampede show. Both champions defended their respective championships. Dynamite Kid was the holder of the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title. Fujinami had been the holder of the WWF Junior Heavyweight Title since beating Jose Estrada (a.k.a. Conquistador II) on 1/23/78 at Madison Square Garden in New York, which resulted in Fujinami bringing the title to Japan. The title remained in Japan for the most part with the occasional defense in New York or Mexico here and there. On this occasion, the title was on the line in Canada. This match was very interesting. Not only do we finally have a classic match from Stampede Wrestling in full form (thanks to the Japanese crew filming that day), but we also get to see Dynamite against someone who is able to have a high quality match. In this match in Calgary, Dynamite started aggressively beating Fujinami up. The crowd was really into this because Dynamite had built quite a reputation for himself in Calgary as a villain who was despised for his heelish tactics, but respected for his tremendous ability. Interestingly enough, the crowd was really into Fujinami’s matwork when he was working over Dynamite’s leg and this was a pretty big chunk of the match. It seems the old school Calgary crowds of the late ‘70s and the ‘80s really appreciated good wrestling. The crowd popped huge when Fujinami put Dynamite in a bodyscissors. Dynamite would bump tremendously when Fujinami would hit a back body drop and dropkick. Dynamite hit some intense looking elbows on Fujinami in the corner. Dynamite stayed on top of Fujinami and hit a double underhook suplex. Dynamite went for the cover, but Fujinami kicked out. This was a pretty stiff match apparently, as Dynamite’s nose was bleeding. During the final minutes of the match, the action kept getting increasingly more exciting. Dynamite had Fujinami caught up in the ropes and ran towards him, but Fujinami moved out of the way just as Dynamite launched himself at Fujinami, resulting in Dynamite crotching himself on the ropes. Dynamite went for a top-rope move, but Fujinami met him with a dropkick. This was many years before guys like Jushin Thunder Liger and Brian Pillman did this kinda stuff. Fujinami hit Dynamite with a very raw looking tope suicida, which sent Dynamite into the people sitting on the front row. That’s maybe the most lucha-esque thing people had seen in Calgary at the time. The match ended in a double count-out. This was such a fun match and the fact that this took place in 1979 makes it even more impressive. This was the most advanced match in Dynamite’s career up until that point in time. Both these workers played a big role in shaping how junior heavyweight wrestling would end up looking in the 1980s and beyond. I think people sometimes forget that Fujinami was so important to the history of Japanese junior heavyweight wrestling back in the late 1970s and early 1980s before moving to the NJPW heavyweight division in the mid 1980s. Fujinami was obviously a formidable opponent and someone Dynamite could actually have a really good match with. Even Dynamite himself said in his book Pure Dynamite said about this Stampede match: “It was probably one of the best matches I’d ever had up until then.” After NJPW got to watch the footage of this match, they wanted Dynamite for a NJPW tour in Japan and that would take place in January-February 1980. It was on 2/5/80 in New Japan that these two would have an even better match against each other, but this match in Stampede certainly helped them get familiar with each other, to say the least. I like how Dynamite was wrestling so freely, and he seemingly just did whatever felt right in the moment. There wasn’t like a right “template” of how to wrestle an international junior heavyweight style match like this at the time. If anything, Dynamite helped create “templates” for matches like this, blending styles and influences from England, Canada and Japan. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this match is that this match was excellent. Dynamite, while a very good worker, had only worked matches that were pretty good at best (at least when viewed through 21st century eyes), and here he worked an excellent match (and easily his best match up until that point in his career) against someone he had never faced before. This shows that Fujinami really was top talent at the time, as he helped bring out of Dynamite all that potential that was in Dynamite all along. Of course, star ratings are always going to be arbitrary, but it seems quite clear that there is a huge jump in match quality from this day onward in the career of Dynamite Kid. While Shodai Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) would become Dynamite’s most famous opponent, I’d like to go ahead and claim that Fujinami was easily the second best opponent in Dynamite’s career. ****    

Joint Promotions 11/13/79 Leicester, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Marty Jones 19:40. This aired 11/24/79 on WOS. This was Dynamite Kid’s first match back in England since leaving England in April 1978. He was almost 200 lbs at the time. Dynamite’s physique clearly started looking differently, largely due to his usage of steroids. Commentator Kent Walton almost couldn’t believe it’s the same Kid he saw over a year and a half ago. Dynamite had gained about 40lbs muscle mass since he had left England for Northern America. Dynamite’s wrestling style was getting more explosive too. Marty Jones was a very good worker. Apart from Tatsumi Fujinami, Jones was arguably Dynamite’s best opponent in the 1970s. Dynamite and Jones kinda had somewhat similar styles and this made the counters interesting. Dynamite was the more explosive of the two, but Jones was the more technically sound of the two. The match was scheduled for six five-minute rounds. Jones hit some nice knee lifts, which Dynamite bumped well for. Fifty seconds into round 4, Jones got a pinfall over Dynamite via a rollup. 2:25 into the fifth round, Dynamite executed a tremendous falling headbutt. Walton mentioned he had never seen anyone execute a headbutt like that before. He also executed a tremendous tombstone piledriver that got him a pinfall. One fall each now. It was time for the sixth and final round. Both workers executed moves with great intensity. Dynamite suplexed Jones over the top rope to the floor, and Dynamite went over the top-rope as well. The fall ended in a double count-out, and thus the match ended in a draw. Along with the 8/17/79 match vs. Fujinami, this was easily one of Dynamite’s most memorable matches from 1979. ***¾

Stampede 12/7/79 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Hiroshi Yagi 6:50 of 15:50. Hiroshi Yagi would later become known as Ryuma Go. In the pre-match promo earlier on the show, Dynamite Kid said: “Listen here Yagi, just because you’re Japanese don’t mean you’re good.” Apparently, Yagi was over 220lbs, so he wasn’t able to challenge for Dynamite Kid’s World Mid-Heavyweight Title. Dynamite was thrown into the corner, but managed to leap onto the second rope. He thought he had just outsmarted Yagi, but then he was on the receiving-end of a dropkick, which sent him over the top rope and Yagi followed it up with a pescado. The referee was so shocked and confused with these highspots that seemingly came out of a teleporter sent from a different time or a different world, so he decided to ring the bell and rule the result a draw. The action was decent for the most part. I like how a lot of the Stampede Wrestling action was gritty and always kinda fascinating to watch in a way, even though it’s not always necessarily very good. **½

NJPW 1/18/80 Isahaya City Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Steve Keirn vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & Kantaro Hoshino 21:57 of 22:34 shown. This is a match from Dynamite Kid’s first NJPW tour, and it’s a good match. Dynamite Kid bridged out of a pin attempt by Tatsumi Fujinami. Dynamite followed this up with a monkey flip and Fujinami caught Dynamite in a body scissors. Dynamite also worked quick sequences with Kantaro Hoshino. Dynamite’s top-rope diving headbutt onto Fujinami was tremendous and it got Dynamite the pinfall victory in the first fall, which lasted approximately 13 minutes. Dynamite went for another top-rope diving headbutt in the second fall, but Fujinami moved out of the way and followed it up with a suplex to win the second fall, which lasted approximately five minutes. I believe Dynamite started using the top-rope diving headbutt after he had seen Harley Race use it. Race is widely considered to be the innovator of the diving headbutt. In the third fall, Fujinami hit a tremendously spectacular tope suicida onto Dynamite. Steve Keirn pinned Hoshino to win the third fall, which lasted approximately four minutes. Dynamite & Keirn won the match. Keirn was an American wrestler from Florida, who was "Fabulous" in AWA and a gator clawer from the Glades in WWE. He was okay at contributing to the match. However, it was the other three workers in this match who were mostly responsible for making the match good and memorable. *** 

NJPW 1/25/80 Okayama Budokan, WWF Junior Title Next Challenger Decision Match: Dynamite Kid vs. Skip Young 2:45 shown. Skip Young was a wrestler from Texas. Young was not very convincing at what he did, especially when he was selling. At least when Young was on the offense, Dynamite tried to make it look decent. Dynamite Kid hit a tremendous top-rope diving headbutt for the pinfall win. To sell his own finisher even more, Dynamite juiced after hitting the move to make the move even look more dangerous than it already did. Less than three minutes aired, but it was enough to convince me that Skip Young’s matches are skippable.

NJPW 2/5/80 Aichi-ken Taiikukan, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid 14:54. During his run as the top native junior heavyweight in NJPW, Tatsumi Fujinami wrestled a great variety of opponents and his matches were usually quite interesting, or even fascinating at times. Whenever Dynamite Kid wrestled Fujinami, it appeared we got to see what Dynamite was truly capable of since both wrestlers were two of the very best junior heavyweight wrestlers in the world at that time. In Japan, Dynamite was in pure heel mode, and he was great in the evil gaijin role, yet at the same time was able to command respect from the viewers through his tremendous ability. Dynamite Kid was even more vicious than ever. Dynamite was relentless even when he was torturing Fujinami on the mat. When they were on their feet, Dynamite beat up Fujinami with forearm smashes, elbow smashes and punches. Fujinami started bleeding. Fujinami occasionally had the opportunity to fight back. Dynamite hit a gutwrench suplex for a near-fall. Dynamite followed it up with a couple of falling punches. Dynamite started biting Fujinami’s bleeding forehead. Fujinami almost pinned Dynamite with a sunset flip. Dynamite hit a double-underhook suplex. Fujinami hit a gutwrench suplex of his own. 10 minutes had passed at this point. Dynamite went to the second rope and hit a stomp on his way down. The crowd started panicking for a minute because they were afraid Dynamite would go for his brutal top-rope diving headbutt. Dynamite finally went to the top-rope and hit a tremendous top-rope diving headbutt. However, Fujinami somehow kicked out. Dynamite threw Fujinami to the floor and rammed Fujinai’s head onto a ringside table. Fujinami was dazed and bleeding, but he kept taking it to Dynamite Kid, who kept being in control for most of the match. Fujinami almost scored a win via a sunset flip. Dynamite went for another top-rope diving headbutt, but Fujinami moved out of the way, which meant that Dynamite came crashing down to the canvas. Fujinami saw this as a great chance. Fujinami went for a pescado, but Dynamite walked away, resulting in Fujinami crashing onto the floor. Once they were both back into the ring, Fujinami was able to go for some quick moves, which culminated in a bridging pinning combination that gave Fujinami the pinfall win. Dynamite was upset and kicked Fujinami after the finish, selling this as a flash pin. This was almost like a lucky win, as Dynamite had been on the offense for the most part and came really close to winning. Either way, this was a great match! This was an intriguing match from start to finish. Dynamite’s moves were executed with great intensity and stiffness. It was a stiff and brutal match, yet at the same time, it paved the way for things to come in the Japanese junior heavyweight division because we got to see some great timing and athleticism. During this first NJPW tour, Dynamite really started taking things to the next level and really showed the world the type of greatness he was about to show over the next few years. ****½

Stampede 3/28/80 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede International Tag Team Title: Bret Hart & Keith Hart vs. Dynamite Kid & Loch Ness Monster 4:51 shown. Hart brothers Bret & Keith defended the title against the unusual combination of Dynamite Kid & Loch Ness Monster. Dynamite is one of the all-time greatest wrestlers. Loch Ness is one of the all-time worst wrestlers. The immobile giant Loch Ness, also known as Giant Haystacks, was over 500lbs and about 6’7”. He tried to go for a splash off the second rope, but couldn’t get up on the second rope, so he just ended up doing a regular splash instead. This was probably a good thing for Bret, as he was the one on the receiving-end of the move. Dynamite & Loch Ness won the title. Dynamite showed a lot of intensity and was easily the best performer in the match. Bret was decent. Keith didn’t really do much. Loch Ness was terrible. This match is only for those of you who are completists. *½ 

Stampede early/mid 1980 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, hair vs. hair: Dynamite Kid vs. Bruce Hart 3:28 of 13:13. If Dynamite would lose, his manager John Foley would get his head shaven. This was one of the least memorable matches between Dynamite Kid and Bruce Hart, at least of the ones that are available on tape. However, Dynamite took a nice bump in the corner, and his overall execution was good. The finish saw Dynamite go to the top rope, but then accidentally crotched himself. After Dynamite fell on the canvas, Bruce got the pinfall over Dynamite. Foley got his head shaven. This looked like an average match, but we only have the final three minutes available, of course. **

Stampede 6/27/80 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Bruce Hart 5:12 of 19:40. The winner would be the #1 contender for the Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Title, which was held by Dick Steinborn. Dynamite Kid was the holder of the Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title, but it wasn’t on the line here in this match. Kasavubu and John Foley were about to help Dynamite get the win, but “Cowboy” Daniel Kroffat (not to be confused with Danny Kroffat/Phil Lafon) came to Bruce’s aid. Bruce won the match by pinning Dynamite, which resulted in a huge crowd eruption. The fans were incredibly happy to see the local Hart beating the villainous Dynamite. The action was pretty decent during the minutes that were shown. Bruce mostly sold, but it was Dynamite’s execution and hard work that made the match interesting. Dynamite did a good job carrying this. After all, despite Bruce being over, he was only an average worker. **1/4

Stampede 7/11/80 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Title: Bruce Hart vs. Dynamite Kid 6:57 shown. This is one of those many matches where I wish we would have the entire match available because it looked like a very interesting match with a lot of action. Bruce Hart had won the Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Title from Dick Steinborn the previous week. Dynamite Kid was in control, and he was beating up Bruce pretty badly when the action was joined in progress, but Bruce was able to make a comeback and pin Dynamite with a flying clothesline to win the second fall. In between the second and third fall, Bruce rammed Dynamite’s head into a door. Dynamite juiced. The third fall was started. Dynamite went for a top-rope diving headbutt, but Bruce moved away. Dynamite eventually was able to regain control again and suplexed Bruce on the floor. Once back into the ring, Bruce went for a sunset flip and almost scored the win. Bruce hit a wicked backdrop. Once back to their feet, they traded punches. Bruce suplexed Dynamite. Bruce almost beat Dynamite with an inside cradle. Both wrestlers were beating each other up some more. The referee decided to ring for the bell. The ref claimed that the match was totally out of control and that both men were beaten badly. The result was a no contest. The footage that was shown served its purpose as far as getting people to come to the live shows because if I was someone in Western Canada in 1980, I would certainly go and try to watch these Stampede shows live. **1/2

Stampede late 1980 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Title: Bruce Hart vs. Dynamite Kid 7:20 shown. This match is a great example of what Stampede was all about around this time. We have Dynamite Kid carrying one of the Harts, we have a screwy finish, and we have explosive in-ring action in a match that was joined in progress. Dynamite Kid had won the first fall. Bruce Hart was on the apron and ran Dynamite’s head into the turnbuckle, which Dynamite bumped for in spectacular fashion. Bruce then threw Dynamite into the corner and this time Dynamite sold it with a front flip bump in the corner. Dynamite was thrown into the opposite corner and bumped for a back body drop by Bruce, who followed it up with a clothesline and a cover for the three-count. Bruce won the second fall. In the third fall, Bruce executed a piledriver, but Dynamite’s foot reached the ropes. Bruce hit a knee drop right onto Dynamite’s face. When Dynamite was back up, he replied with elbow smashes, kicks, punches and a headbutt. Bruce fought back though. Dynamite hit a headbutt into Bruce’s face. Dynamite hit a beautiful falling headbutt. Dynamite went for the top rope and went for a diving headbutt, but Bruce rolled away. Bruce went for a top-rope kneedrop, but Dynamite moved out of the way. When the match was nearing the 20-minute mark, there was a referee bump. The ref counted to three when Bruce went for the cover. Alexander Scott, a heel referee who happened to be at ringside, told the official referee for this match that Dynamite’s foot was outside of the rope area. Heel referees were a thing Stampede Wrestling did before it was a common thing in other territories. The official referee somehow was persuaded to restart the match. Dynamite hit a back suplex for the win. I like how the wrestling in Stampede wrestling was so gritty. It’s almost like they were constantly giving each other receipts back, like they were stiffing each other up a bit here and there. **3/4

Joint Promotions 11/26/80 Walthamstow, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Mark Rocco 11:22. This aired 12/13/80 on WOS. This was another good match between Dynamite Kid and Mark Rocco. This is not their best match against each other, but it was still very good and certainly worth watching. Dynamite and Rocco worked at a steady pace. Dynamite had an amazing way of countering a wrist lock. Instead of simply reversing a wrist lock, he performed a really nice series of moves where he did a kick-up, a cartwheel, a backdrop on Rocco (while Rocco was holding onto a wristlock) and then Dynamite countered the wrist lock with a wrist lock of his own. There was a cool sequence where Rocco Irish whipped Dynamite into the ropes and went for possibly a backbreaker as Dynamite came off the ropes, but Dynamite flipped backwards and executed a backbreaker of his own, followed up by a falling headbutt and a released German suplex. Dynamite went for the cover and won the first fall via a pin in the third round. However, immediately after the third round had ended, the referee stopped the match because Dynamite Kid was bleeding too much. The result was a no contest. It was a disappointing finish to a very good match. By this time in his career, Dynamite’s repertoire had really become an explosive blend of British, Northern American and Japanese wrestling. Rocco was a good worker, and I like how Rocco really put a lot of effort in his pinning attempts, like he was really trying to pin his opponent. The action was non-stop, and the crowd was really into it. Both workers really put over that they were trying to rough each other up, to the point that the referee had to calm them down a bit (old school World of Sports-style British wrestling was supposed to be played by the rules). ***½

NJPW 4/10/81 Kitakyushu West Japan General Exhibition Center, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid. This match lasted 18:37, but only parts of the match exist, and the footage that exists is in poor video quality. It’s still interesting to watch for historical purposes though, and I mostly watched the bits and pieces that are available because I was just curious. This match probably was at least very good, but I guess we’ll never know for sure.

NJPW 4/23/81 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask 9:29. This was the first match in the famous feud between Dynamite Kid and Shodai Tiger Mask (original Tiger Mask), Satoru Sayama. It was also the first time Sayama had a match with this gimmick. Unfortunately, he was given a crappy mask that was created pretty much as a last-minute thing as NJPW had forgotten to get Sayama’s mask ready. It’s kinda ironic they forgot the part that basically the name of the gimmick describes, Tiger Mask. However, that didn’t take anything away from the in-ring work. These two worked sequences at incredible speed. The work was flashy and ahead of its time. Dynamite worked stiff. Sayama showed his incredible skills. This was an excellent match overall. They worked some really good reversals and counters. Dynamite told the ref to “ask him” when he had Sayama in a submission hold. Dynamite took some big bumps, and acted heelish. Sayama showed his tremendous athleticism, and he threw some good kicks. At some point, they appeared to botch a spot, as Sayama’s armdrag attempt didn’t quite work, but Dynamite covered it up well by selling his arm. Sayama won this match by pinning Dynamite with a German suplex. For two workers who wrestled against each other for the first time, this was certainly an incredible display of pro wrestling, especially considering that this feud would end up changing pro wrestling forever. This is not their most graceful match, and they would end up having better matches in 1982 and 1983, but this first match between these two is like a new beginning for pro wrestling, and it’s one of the most important matches in pro wrestling history. These two had superior speed, agility and ability, compared to most wrestlers at the time. They really changed the potential of what pro wrestling could be like, and they were about to raise things to new heights in the next year or two. ****1/4

Stampede 6/12/81 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Davey Boy Smith 4:20 of 15:50. This match is on Stampede Wrestling Classics Vol. 5. This is probably the best match between these two that is available. Davey Boy Smith had just arrived in Calgary from England a little over a month prior to this. Here in the early 1980s, Davey Boy wasn’t roided yet, and he was a lot smaller and faster than he would be from the mid 1980s onward. Both Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy showed tremendous speed and agility. Davey Boy pinned Dynamite, but after the match, Dynamite hit a ferocious dropkick on the referee. Dynamite convinced the referee that it was Davey Boy who had hit the dropkick, and Davey Boy was disqualified. The ref was obviously a heel ref. The match appeared to be really good, judging from what was shown. ***¼  

Stampede 6/26/81 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Title: Dynamite Kid vs. Keith Hart 3:30 shown. Dynamite Kid hit a tremendous top-rope knee drop onto Keith Hart. Dynamite then hit a bodyslam and a running elbow for the pinfall victory in the second fall. Adrian Street got attacked by Keith Hart just before the start of the third fall. Referee Wayne Hart didn’t see it, but decided that Keith couldn’t continue and awarded the match to Dynamite. David Schultz showed up, but got suplexed over the top rope by Dynamite. Bruce Hart then showed up and executed a back body drop, which Dynamite bumped huge for.

Stampede 8/7/81 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Gama Singh & John Foley vs. Davey Boy Smith & Bruce Hart & Duffy O’Rourke 4:10 of 18:15. The match was at its best when Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith worked with each other. Gama Singh was mediocre. Bruce Hart was okay. Duffy O’Rourke was pretty bad. John Foley was pretty bad, but he was mostly a manager at the time anyway. Video quality was poor. The match ended in a no-contest. This is certainly not a must-see match, but it’s always interesting to see Dynamite and Davey Boy work in the same match around that time in their respective careers. *¾ 

Stampede 9/4/81 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Robbie Stewart 5:50 of 11:50. Robbie Stewart was a Scottish wrestler also known as Chic Cullen, who appeared to be a pretty good worker. Dynamite Kid executed a well-placed knee drop. Dynamite went for a knee drop off the second rope, but Stewart moved out of the way. Dynamite took a big bump off a back body drop. Dynamite hit a leg drop, went for the cover, but pulled Stewart up by the hair because he wanted to punish him more. Once Stewart got to make a comeback, he executed a top-rope falling elbow drop where he would execute an elbow drop while falling backwards onto Dynamite. Stewart’s comeback didn’t last long. Dynamite hit a tremendous tombstone piledriver and followed it up with a tremendous top-rope flying headbutt, which Stewart sold well. Dynamite went for the cover and got the pinfall victory. This was pretty good, and it was interesting to see Dynamite against a different opponent than his usual opponents. **¾

Stampede 9/18/81 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Gama Singh vs. Robbie Stewart & Keith Hart 4:00 of 19:00. There was lots of action during the part that was shown. Dynamite Kid was bumping all over the place. Robbie Stewart (Chic Cullen) & Keith Hart double-teamed Gama Singh. The crowd was wild. The match got out of control, and Keith ended up hitting the referee with brass knuckles. Fun stuff. **¾

Stampede 10/30/81 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, World Mid-Heavyweight Title: Dynamite Kid vs. Bruce Hart 5:00 shown. This was another memorable match between Dynamite Kid and Bruce Hart, maybe their most memorable against each other. This time, Dynamite took his craziness to a whole different level. Bruce had won the first fall, but he was bleeding. Dynamite hit a great tombstone piledriver and won the second fall. In the third fall, Bruce tried to fight back with a dropkick, and he rammed Dynamite’s head into the ringpost. Now Dynamite was bleeding. There was a ref bump, and Dynamite hit a knee drop onto the referee. The match ended in a double count-out after Dynamite went for a diving headbutt off the ringpost to the floor! That’s just insane. **¾

Stampede 11/20/81 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Gama Singh vs. Davey Boy Smith & Bruce Hart 5:00 of 19:15. The match was best when Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith were in the ring. It was interesting to see Davey Boy during his first year in Stampede Wrestling. Gama Singh was a wrestler who was born in India, but spent the majority of his life in Canada leading the Karachi Vice, a Miami Vice inspired heel stable of born again "Pakistani" wrestlers such as Michigan's Mike Shaw & Rhode Island's Gary Albright. Dynamite took a big bump crotch first into the ropes when Bruce Hart moved out of the way. Davey Boy pinned Gama after a top-rope splash. Immediately after the win, Dynamite came flying with a top-rope knee drop onto Davey Boy. Bruce then propelled Dynamite off the top rope onto Gama. Dynamite was amazingly spectacular during the early 1980s. **¼

Joint Promotions 11/18/81 Oldham, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Mark Rocco 9:50 (5:00; 2:00; 1:30; 1:20). This aired 12/19/81 on WOS. “Mean Machine” Mark “Rollerball” Rocco was clearly the heel in this match. Dynamite Kid was briefly on tour in England. It was interesting to watch Dynamite back in action in England, the country he was born in and started his career in. This was scheduled for six five-minute rounds and two-ouf-of-three falls. Dynamite showed his explosiveness from the start. Dynamite took a huge back body drop bump. The first round was tons of fun. Rocco was a good worker. The second round saw Rocco acting more aggressive and heelish. No wonder that he was chosen for the role of Black Tiger in NJPW. Rocco hit a tremendously executed back suplex and that got him to win the first fall, two minutes into the second fall. In round three, Rocco continued the aggression. It was interesting to see Dynamite in the babyface role after watching so many matches of his as a heel in Calgary and Japan. Rocco took a big bump in the corner that sent him over the top to the outside. Dynamite executed a beautifully executed knee drop and then followed it up with an even more amazingly executed knee drop off the top rope. This got him a “public warning” from the referee. Dynamite hit a back suplex and got the pin, scoring the equalizing fall. In the fourth fall, Rocco executed a monkey flip, Dynamite almost landed perfectly on his feet and followed it up with a dropkick. Dynamite hit a wicked tombstone piledriver. Dynamite hit a beautiful diving headbutt. Dynamite threw Rocco into the ropes and when Rocco came off the ropes, Dynamite executed a gutwrench suplex to win the third fall and the match. What really stood out in this match was the high-level execution of moves. Everything looked intense and explosive. **** 

Joint Promotions 11/30/81 Catford, England, World Heavy-Middleweight Title Match: Mark Rocco vs. Dynamite Kid 12:50 (3:00; 3:00; 3:00; 3:00; 0:50). This match had some snug work and it was a joy watching these two wrestling against each other. This aired 1/16/82 on WOS. This was scheduled for 15 three-minute rounds and two-out-of-three-falls. Just as the first round had ended, Dynamite was about to follow-up a gutwrench suplex with a knee drop, but he decided to stop and be all about fair play here. Dynamite hit a back body drop on Rocco, who took a big bump. It’s funny to see Dynamite executing a back body drop because that’s one of the main moves Dynamite usually likes to bump big for, but this time the roles were reversed and someone else was doing the big bumping for the move. The action was non-stop and it was quite intense. They basically picked up where their excellent match from 11/18/81 left off. Rocco executed a monkey flip, Dynamite landed perfectly on his feet and dropkicked Rocco through the ropes. Dynamite hit Rocco with a forearm smash, Rocco replied with a forearm smash. Commentator Kent Walton said: “Oh, I hope this isn’t going to turn into a forearm smash contest.” Dynamite hit a really well-executed knee drop. In the third round, Dynamite hit another knee drop. Dynamite executed an armdrag, a leapfrog and another armdrag. In the fourth round, Dynamite took a huge bump of a back body drop. Rocco went for a top-rope back elbow, but Dynamite moved. Dynamite hit a beautiful double-underhook suplex, but Rocco’s legs were in the ropes. Rocco hit a well-executed back suplex. The fifth round ended when Dynamite suplexed Rocco over the top rope and Dynamite went to the outside as well. Both men failed to make the ten-count. The result was a no contest. It was another really good match between these two. ***3/4

NJPW 1/1/82 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Decision Match: Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask 8:31. This was the second singles match between Dynamite Kid and the original Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama). This time, just like his wrestling, Sayama’s mask looked great. Dynamite and Sayama worked amazing sequences at an incredible speed. They were so ahead of their time that it was almost like they had come from the future and showed everyone in 1982 what wrestling in the future could look like. The winner would become the WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion. The title had been vacated after Tatsumi Fujinami moved to the heavyweight division. Dynamite was very focused on working over Sayama’s left knee. Sayama was able to fight back with some kicks. Dynamite hit a backdrop and a wicked tombstone piledriver. Dynamite went to the top rope and executed a flying headbutt. Dynamite flew across half the ring and hit Sayama perfectly. Dynamite wasn’t done yet, and executed another tombstone piledriver, but Sayama rolled away. Dynamite went for a figure-four leglock. After some more fast sequences, Sayama was able to surprise Dynamite with a rollup pin to win the match. Even by today’s standards in the 2020s, these matches between Dynamite and Sayama are a great joy to watch. What stood out most in this match was Dynamite’s aggressiveness and viciousness, along with his explosiveness. ****1/4

NJPW 1/15/82 Himeji: Dynamite Kid vs. Kantaro Hoshino 13:45. Dynamite Kid was aggressive from the start and hit his moves with great intensity. They were both working quite stiff with each other in this match. At some point, they start getting even more snug with each other. They basically stop cooperating with each other at some point. This made the match even more interesting than it already was. At some point, they decided to just go to the finish, and at least they agreed on not messing up the finish. Dynamite hit a tombstone piledriver and a flying headbutt for the win. It’s almost like an unintentional shoot style match, and it definitely got pretty tense. *** 

NJPW 1/22/82 Kanoya City Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Bret Hart vs. Tiger Mask & Kantaro Hoshino 9:32. This match was at its most interesting whenever Dynamite Kid and Tiger Mask worked against each other. Bret was on this NJPW tour because his father Stu insisted that if NJPW wanted Dynamite for this tour, they’d also have to take Bret. This tour certainly was a great learning experience for Bret, who wasn’t an international star yet by this point in time. Dynamite hit a tombstone piledriver, but Sayama kicked out. Bret Hart was a solid tag team partner for Dynamite. Bret bumped well for Tiger Mask’s dropkick. At some point, Dynamite hit a well-placed flying knee drop on Hoshino. Sayama pinned Bret via a victory roll. Kantaro Hoshino did a couple of good moves, but didn’t play much of a role in this match. As a matter of fact, at some point he literally ran to Sayama to tag out because he didn’t want to have anything to do with Dynamite after their uncooperative encounter from 1/15/82, which had almost ended up in a shoot. This was a very good match overall, even though it felt more like a warming up for the next match between Dynamite and Tiger, which would take place six days later. ***½  

NJPW 1/28/82 Tokyo Taiikukan, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid 12:38. This was the third singles match between Dynamite Kid and Shodai Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama). They were given a little bit more time for this match. Dynamite took some huge bumps for some of Sayama’s moves. At the ten-minute mark, Dynamite hit a backbreaker, went for the cover, but Sayama kicked out. Dynamite’s tombstone piledriver was tremendous, as usual. Dynamite went for his diving headbutt, but Sayama moved out of the way. Sayama hit Dynamite with a vicious DDT. Sayama went for a diving headbutt, but Dynamite moved out of the way. The roles were reversed for once. Dynamite ended up on the floor after some more Sayama offense. Sayama then hit a tremendous tope suicida. Sayama suplexed Dynamite back into the ring. Dynamite landed on his feet and they went for reversals until Sayama nailed the German suplex for the pinfall victory. This was a really good match, but it didn’t feel like they utilized the few extra minutes they were given very well. The best way to describe this match is by saying this was slightly disappointing for the high standards these two had set, but it was still really good and better than what most other wrestlers were doing. ***¾ 

Stampede 6/11/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Duke Myers & Hubert Gallant vs. Bret Hart & Bruce Hart & Keith Hart 4:20 shown. Dynamite Kid bumped better than anyone else in this match, which is not a surprise since he was one of the best bumpers and best workers in the world at that time. Duke Myers was a wrestler from Portland, OR. Hubert Gallant was a wrestler from Shediac, NB. At some point, the referee got hit by Dynamite. Another ref entered the ring to count the pin when Keith scored the win over Gallant. There was a lot of action, but the best moments of the match were when Dynamite and Bret Hart were in the ring together. **

Stampede 6/18/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Keith Hart 5:00. By this point in time, Stampede Wrestling TV was being broadcast in Vancouver, BC and surrounding area, in addition to their regular viewing audience in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Dynamite Kid was relentlessly attacking Keith Hart, but Keith managed to make a comeback. Keith got a yellow card warning. The yellow card idea was something Bruce Hart started implementing when he was booking after he got the idea when he was on tour in Germany. Later in this match, John Foley (Dynamite’s manager), tripped Keith and that made Keith go to the outside area until Dynamite worked over Keith. Dynamite hit an insane dive off the ringpost onto Keith on the floor! The match ended in a double count-out. What stood out about this match was Dynamite once again displaying his craziness with a reckless move off the ringpost to the floor. In an interview later in his life, Dynamite would explain that he would just do these crazy things whenever they came to mind without really thinking about them too much. **1/4

Stampede 6/25/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Duke Myers vs. Bret Hart & David Schultz 8:30 of 12:25. Dynamite did a really good job selling to get his opponents over, and he would rough his opponents up when he was on offense. Bret Hart’s work was a lot more crisp and intense than in previous Stampede Wrestling footage. Perhaps his trip to Japan earlier in the year and continuing to work with Dynamite Kid regularly were the main reasons for this change. There certainly is nothing fancy about Duke Myers, but he was decent in his role as secondary worker of a heel tag team. David Schultz was okay, and did what he needed to do as he made his contributions to the match. He was actually quite over as a babyface, and yes, this is the same David Schultz who, in an act to protect the wrestling business, slapped reporter John Stossel backstage at MSG in 1984 when Schultz was asked if wrestling is fake. **1/4

Stampede 7/9/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Title: Dynamite Kid vs. Davey Boy Smith 3:10 shown. This match is interesting because it has Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith against each other when they were still very agile and flexible. There was a ref bump. Dynamite threw Davey Boy over the top rope. Dynamite told the ref to count. Davey Boy was back up in time. Dynamite tried to suplex Davey Boy, who was on the apron, back into the ring. Davey Boy managed to counter into a back suplex. Davey Boy went for the cover and managed to pin Dynamite to win the title. It may have been a good match, but only three minutes were shown.

NJPW 7/16/82 Nakama Athletic Culture Center: Dynamite Kid & Bret Hart vs. Tiger Mask & Kengo Kimura 14:20. The work in this match was crisp. Dynamite Kid & Bret Hart showed good teamwork, which was a bit ironic because they were feuding in Stampede Wrestling. Dynamite bumped high for a backdrop by Kimura. Dynamite executed a vicious tombstone piledriver on Sayama on the floor. Sayama hita dive over the top rope, but Dynamite & Bret caught him and slammed him on the floor. Dynamite pinned Kimura after a diving headbutt. Dynamite and Tiger Mask were spectacular. Kengo Kimura and Bret Hart gave a decent showing. If anything, this is one of the lesser known matches that featured both Dynamite and Sayama (which makes it a somewhat underrated match, I guess). It was a really fun match to watch, and it’s definitely worth watching. ***½

NJPW 7/23/82 Ishikawa Prefectural Industrial Exhibition Hall #3: Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask 13:54. The action was so smooth in this match. Both workers were great at this point in time.  The execution is so crisp and superb. I like how they kept a steady pace, with the match never getting dull in any way, yet at the same time, they weren’t rushing things either because they were given some extra time. The match was on its way to possibly become even greater, but then we got the DQ finish instead of a few more minutes of greatness. Tiger Mask was disqualified when he threw Dynamite Kid over the guardrail. Bret Hart was in Dynamite’s corner, and he briefly got involved in the action near the finish. This match had a lot more intensity than their slightly disappointing match from 1/28/82. This time they actually made proper use of the extra time given. ****1/2

NJPW 7/31/82 Osaka: Dynamite Kid & Bret Hart & Greg Valentine vs. Tiger Mask & Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura 13:03; 1:49; 2:04. This was a fun match. Dynamite Kid bumped around whenever he was in. Bret Hart gave a solid performance and worked well with Sayama. Greg Valentine was okay, but easily the weak link in this match. Shodai Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) played a big role for his team. Kengo Kimura helped contribute quite a bit. Kimura sold well and was pretty good at getting beat up by the gaijin team. Fujinami didn’t play too much of a role, but he was good when he was in. The first fall was more than three times as long as the second and third falls combined, making the ending seem a bit lackluster. **3/4

NJPW 8/3/82 Okayama Budokan: Dynamite Kid & Bret Hart vs. Tiger Mask & Kantaro Hoshino 15:08 of 18:08. This was a very good NJPW junior heavyweight tag team match. There was lots of back-and-forth action in this match. Shodai Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) showed his speed and agility. Dynamite Kid showed his intensity. I guess what the Japanese nicknamed him “kamisori fighter” (which translates to “razor fighter”). Kantaro Hoshino and Bret Hart were solid backups for their respective tag team partners. Sayama had Bret in all kinds of trouble early in the match. Bret threw a couple of uppercuts that took Sayama down, but Sayama kicked up after the second one and hit Bret with a spin kick. Hoshino and Dynamite Kid were tagged in. Dynamite showed great intensity and threw Hoshino out on the floor, where Bret greeted him with a bodyslam. Back in the ring, Hoshino picked up the pace and Dynamite sold well for his moves, including a sunset flip and armdrag. Hoshino took Dynamite down with another armdrag, but Dynamite kicked up. Hoshino jumped and hit Dynamite with a headbutt. Sayama ended up landing on the floor and Dynamite beat him up on the floor. Dynamite briefly worked with Sayama in the ring. Dynamite hit a back suplex on Sayama and a knee drop. Bret was tagged in again and had Sayama in a Boston crab, but Hoshino entered the ring to break it up. Dyanamite bumped huge for a Sayama back body drop. Sayama tagged Hoshino in, and Dynamite bumped huge for his back body drop as well. Hoshino hit a running clothesline. Bret and Hoshino then worked against each other. Hoshino dropkicked Bret over the top rope onto the apron. Sayama entered the ring with a flurry of kicks and then hit a back suplex on Bret. Dynamite & Bret hit Hoshino with a double elbow drop. Dynamite hit a wicked tombstone piledriver on Hoshino. Bret entered the ring and Hoshino tagged out as soon as he could. Sayama hit a beautiful flying cross body block on Bret. A bit later on, Dynamite and Bret were brawling with Hoshino outside of the ring. Sayama decided to join the party and hit a huge dive off the top to the outside. Eventually, when they were back in the ring, Sayama was able to pin Bret for the win. We probably didn’t get to see as much Dynamite vs. Sayama in this match because they wanted to save most of that for their upcoming match in two days. Still, we got enough to whet our appetite, and it was a very good match overall. ***½

NJPW 8/5/82 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid 15:57. This match is highly recommended. Dynamite Kid and the original Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) were so great. They were ahead of their time and game-changing. Dynamite took a huge bump when Sayama suplexed him over the top to the floor. Dynamite was then thrown into the guardrail. Dynamite tried to escape a headscissors, but was then driven head-first into the canvas by Sayama. Sayama then hit a piledriver that got him a two-count. Dynamite threw a dropkick at Sayama, kicked up after hitting the dropkick, but then was kicked over the top-rope by Sayama. Dynamite quickly re-entered the ring. Sayama was so good at escaping headscissors in a resourceful way. Dynamite would come close to victory after a flying headbutt, but Sayama kicked out. Dynamite ended up on the floor again and Sayama charged at him with a huge dive over the top rope. It was an incredible dive where he just ran across the ring and leaped over the top rope onto Dynamite, who crashed into the guardrail. Sayama then brought Dynamite back into the ring and hit a modified piledriver. Sayama got the win when he pinned Dynamite for the three-count after a tremendous moonsault. What they were showing here was so much more advanced than what anyone else was doing at the time. This match still holds up as a truly great match. ****3/4

Stampede 8/20/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Gama Singh & Duke Myers vs. Davey Boy Smith & Bret Hart & Keith Hart 5:52 of 18:00. After touring together and teaming together in Japan earlier that month, Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart were back in Calgary. This time they were on opposing sides again. Dynamite took a big bump for a back body drop by Bret Hart, who gave a solid performance. Duke Myers was the weak link in this match, as he lacks the speed and athleticism of most of the other workers in this match. Gama and Keith were okay. Dynamite hit a big flying knee drop off the top onto Davey Boy Smith’s shoulder. The Albertan crowd certainly didn’t like Gama too much, and wanted him to go home. The match ended when Davey Boy pinned Gama. Dynamite and Davey Boy worked at a high pace and stood out the most in this match. **1/4

Stampede 8/27/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede International Tag Team Title: Dynamite Kid & Duke Myers vs. Bret Hart & Keith Hart 7:17 of 19:07. Dynamite Kid hit an amazing top-rope knee drop onto Bret Hart. Dynamite’s precision when he hits these knee drops is awesome. Keith Hart got two yellow cards; he would have been disqualified if he would have gotten a third yellow card. After a lot of selling, Bret tags in his brother. Keith had Myers in a figure-four leglock, but the ref wasn’t paying attention, and Dynamite came off the top with a knee drop on Keith. This enabled Myers to pin Keith. The match was not very interesting whenever Duke Myers was in the ring, but it was interesting whenever Dynamite was in. A lot of these Stampede matches, I’m just listing for those who are completists and may or may not want to check this stuff out. Also, I think it’s worthwhile to have a more complete picture of what Dynamite was doing at the time. Even when Dynamite was involved in these heavily edited TV matches, he’d do something that would make him stand out. **1/4

WWF 8/30/82 New York City MSG, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid 8:20 of 9:36. A rare appearance for both these workers at Madison Square Garden. NJPW had a working relationship with this promoter in the New York area at the time, and that’s why these two ended up working at a MSG show. Sayama was light on his feet and quick as a cat. Dynamite reacted and bumped well for Sayama. The MSG crowd was very impressed as they, like most people at the time, had never seen anything like this before. Dynamite hit an amazing knee drop off the second rope. He hit a gutwrench suplex and ended up headscissoring Sayama, who escaped in spectacular fashion via a kick up, which got a good pop from the crowd. Dynamite bumped huge for a back body drop and was dropkicked to the outside. Sayama then did the tiger feint, and the crowd applauded for this tremendous spectacle, which was unlike anything they’d ever seen before. Dynamite took Sayama down with an enzuigiri. Dynamite went for the flying headbutt, but Sayama moved, and Dynamite went face-first onto the canvas. Sayama hit a suplex and followed it up with a moonsault. Sayama scored the pinfall win and got a standing ovation. The Americans fans had gotten a brief glimpse of futuristic pro wrestling. ***¾ 

Stampede 9/10/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Duke Myers vs. Bruce Hart & Billy Jack Haynes 5:44 of 15:24. American wrestler Billy Jack Haynes was a rookie with only about a month experience at the time. He was from Oregon, but he started his wrestling career in the summer of ‘82 in Stampede Wrestling after being trained in the famous Hart Family Dungeon. He was trained by Dynamite Kid. In this match, Dynamite bumped huge for Haynes when Haynes slammed Dynamite off the top rope and executed a back body drop. Dynamite & Duke Myers then managed to be in control for a while. Dynamite hit some of his signature knee drops. The ref didn’t pay attention and this enabled Dynamite & Myers to cheat their way to victory. Myers pinned Haynes. The match was obviously significantly better whenever Dynamite was in the ring. This is again one of those matches that are mostly just listed for those who want to have a more complete picture of Dynamite’s career and Stampede in general. **1/4

Stampede 9/17/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Gama Singh vs. Bruce Hart & Davey Boy Smith 6:55 of 14:57. Ed Whalen said this was a “ring-a-ding-dong-dandy.” Bruce Hart was getting beat up by Dynamite Kid and Gama Singh as we joined the match in progress around the 10-minute mark. Bruce managed to make the tag to Davey Boy Smith and the match became a lot more spectacular with Dynamite bumping in spectacular fashion for Davey Boy. Dynamite was on the receiving-end of a piledriver by Davey Boy. Bruce hit a piledriver on Gama. Duke Myers showed up and interfered. The referee called for the bell, and that was the end of the match. There was all kinds of action in this match, and at some point both teams were in the ring at the same time. **½   

Stampede 9/24/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Gama Singh & Duke Myers vs. Davey Boy Smith & Bret Hart & Bruce Hart 8:00 shown. Dynamite Kid was bleeding and bumped huge for Davey Boy Smith as we joined the action in progress. Dynamite went for a flying headbutt. He flew gracefully halfway across the ring, but Davey Boy moved away. Dynamite briefly went to the back to get taped up. Davey Boy was getting beat up by Duke Myers and Gama Singh. Davey Boy made the hot tag to Bruce Hart, who beat up everyone. The referee had a rough time keeping things under control, with everyone starting to brawl with each other. Myers was also bleeding by this point. Bret Hart was about to pin Gama, but American wrestler “Nightmare” Danny Davis interfered, and that was the end of the match. It seems like most matches featuring Dynamite from around this time were worth watching, and this one was no exception. **1/2

Stampede 10/1/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Gama Singh & Duke Myers & Danny Davis vs. Davey Boy Smith & Bret Hart & Mr. Hito & Bruce Hart 12:10 of 57:30. This match lasted nearly an hour, but we only got to see twelve minutes of it. That’s really a shame because I would have been very interested to watch this match in its entirety to see what these workers would do when given a significantly larger amount of time than usual. Mr. Hito gave Dynamite Kid a headbutt and Dynamite juiced. Dynamite fought back with a couple of knife edge chops. Dynamite hit a falling headbutt and then tagged Duke Myers in. Myers and Danny Davis used an illegal object when they worked over Hito. All kinds of action then took place, and the match almost got out of control. Davey Boy Smith hit Dynamite with a top-rope dropkick. Bruce Hart and Gama Singh wrestled each other a bit. Dynamite Kid went for a knee drop off the top rope, but Bruce moved and hit Dynamite with a running clothesline. Davey Boy applied a half Boston crab on Dynamite. John Foley, the manager of the heels, rang the bell to mislead the referee into believing the time limit had expired. However, there were still two minutes remaining. The Harts were furious. This appeared to be a pretty good match, but less than a quarter of the match was shown. **3/4

Stampede 10/8/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Gama Singh & Duke Myers & Danny Davis vs. Davey Boy Smith & Bret Hart & Mr. Hito & Bruce Hart 14:38 of 37:22. Dynamite Kid did some big bumping for Davey Boy, who then went for a splash off the top and missed when Dynamite rolled away. Bruce hit Gama Singh with a running clothesline. Bruce got beat up in the corner by all the heels. Bret Hart was in the ring for a bit. Eventually, it turned into all chaos and Hubert Gallant interfered against the Harts, resulting in a disqualification. Whenever Davey Boy and Dynamite worked against each other, it was great. Overall, it was a decent TV match with some fun action. **1/2

Stampede 10/15/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Elimination Match: Dynamite Kid & Gama Singh & Hubert Gallant & Duke Myers & Danny Davis vs. Davey Boy Smith & Bret Hart & Mr. Hito & Bruce Hart & Keith Hart 10:00 of 38:15. This is the third week in a row these two teams meet, but this time it was an elimination match, and this time both teams had an extra member, making it a 10-man tag. John Foley’s Army had Hubert Gallant joining them, and the “Hart Mafia” (as Foley liked to call them) had Keith Hart joining them. This match aired on TV, but it seems the version we have available from the Stampede Wrestling Classics Vol. 5 is slightly longer. Bruce Hart, Mr. Hito, Danny Davis, Keith Hart and Hubert Gallant were eliminated in that order, but those eliminations weren’t shown. Gama Singh hit a knee drop off the top rope on Bret Hart. Gama tried it a second time, but this time Bret moved. Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart exchanged stiff uppercuts. Gama took a bump over the top rope after Bret threw him over, resulting in the elimination of Gama. It was down to Dynamite & Duke Myers vs. Davey Boy Smith & Bret. Dynamite was piledriven onto the canvas by Bret. Dynamite and Myers were thrown into each other. Dynamite and Myers had enough and walked out. The crowd gave Davey Boy and Bret a standing ovation. The feud between these two sides seemed to be a hot feud, but it’s a shame we get to see only a quite a small part of these (long) matches. We didn’t really get to see much of Davey Boy, but maybe he contributed more to the match during the early stages of the match. Duke Myers was okay-ish, but he didn’t stand out in any way, as usual. Gama Singh was decent enough of a worker to not really take anything away from the match, and he did contribute in some way, but he wasn’t good enough to really say he was one of the workers who stood out. Bret gave a strong performance here. His selling helped the crowd get behind him. When he was on offense, you could tell he was really into what he was doing. Dynamite worked hard. His intensity stood out, because his offense was hard-hitting, and his bumping and selling was spectacular. **½ 

Stampede 10/28/82 Dynamite Kid vs. Davey Boy Smith 5:45 of 12:45 shown. This was okay, but disappointing considering who were involved. Dynamite Kid pinned Davey Boy Smith. At least the better Bulldog won. It appears they were at a different venue (this may or may not have taken place at the Sarcee reservation, which was a location Stampede would tape their shows at whenever they were kicked out of the Pavilion because of excessive “violence”), and I believe half of the roster was on tour in Antigua at the time, so this really had the feeling of a b-show, even though it was on TV. Dynamite wasn’t interested in going to Antigua anymore after the first time Stampede had a tour over there, and that had a lot to do with the disappointing money they were making there. Anyway, I found this match interesting to watch as I’m trying to watch more and more Stampede matches in order to kinda put the pieces of the puzzle together. Other than that, this certainly wasn’t a memorable match by any means. **  

Stampede 11/26/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Gama Singh 3:40 shown. Dynamite Kid and Gama Singh used to be part of the same stable, but were now fighting against each other after Gama recently turned his back on John Foley’s stable. K.Y. Wakamatsu was in Gama’s corner. Dynamite juiced. The crowd was mostly on Dynamite’s side. Dynamite finally managed to fight back and rammed Gama’s head into the ringpost. It appears that’s all that was shown of the match. I still wanted to list this here because Dynamite’s feud with Gama was one of the main storylines in Stampede at the time. 

Stampede 12/10/82 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Gama Singh 6:00 shown. American wrestler Mike Shaw interfered on Gama Singh’s behalf. Shaw would later have gimmicks such as Norman the Lunatic and Bastion Booger in different promotions. Shaw kept interfering whenever the referee wasn’t paying attention, enabling Gama to control most of the match up to this point. They brawled a bit on the floor and Dynamite juiced. Dynamite finally managed to fight back and he rammed Gama into the ringpost. Gama juiced. Ed Whalen felt this was getting too violent now, and they cut the rest of the footage out. What a mark. **1/4

Joint Promotions 1/19/83 Walthamstow, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Marty Jones 17:19 (3:00; 3:00; 1:45; 3:00; 3:00; 1:19; 2:15). This aired 2/5/83 on WOS. The British rounds system allows a story to be told in a different manner than most are probably used to (assuming that most fans aren’t watching old school WOS all the time). These old school World of Sports matches certainly come across as serious contests. This was a two out of three falls match scheduled for eight three-minute rounds. The first round was more a feeling out process. In the second round, Dynamite started being more aggressive. This made Marty Jones become more rugged in his approach as well. They gave each other some headbutts. Jones did a nice kick up after Dynamite tried to pin him down. Jones worked over Dynamite’s left arm in the beginning of the third round. Dynamite was able to fight back for a bit, but then was caught by surprise in a small package that gave Jones the first pinfall in this match. Jones wanted to shake Dynamite’s hand at the beginning of the fourth round, but Dynamite kicked him. Dynamite hit a stiff uppercut that took Jones down. While the ref was counting Jones as Jones was down, Dynamite hit him with a knee drop, which resulted in a public warning. Commentator Kent Walton explained that Dynamite is used to wrestling under completely different rules in Japan and America. Dynamite took a huge bump off a back body drop by Jones. Dynamite was then on the receiving-end of a couple of well-executed upper cuts by Jones. Early in the fifth round, Dynamite threw Jones back-first into the corner. Jones would throw Dynamite chest-first into the corner. Jones hit a beautiful double underhook suplex and almost pinned Dynamite, but Dynamite got his shoulders up. Tempers started to flare, and they hit each other even after the bell. Dynamite slammed Jones’ head into the canvas and kicked Jones as he was down. The ref wanted to maintain fair play, so he gave Dynamite his second and final public warning. Dynamite got Jones down again. This time, he followed it up with a beautiful flying headbutt off the top rope. The ref reminded Dynamite that this is illegal. Dynamite executed a bodyslam on the weakened Jones and got the pinfall. Jones, who by this point in the match was now bleeding from the nose, threw Dynamite chest-first into the corner and Dynamite sold it in a spectacular way. At some point, Dynamite went for a flying headbutt again, but this time, Jones rolled away. Jones launched himself at Dynamite, and both went over the top rope to the floor. Once Dynamite was back into the ring, Jones hit a top-rope dropkick. There was some exciting back-and-forth action near the end that culminated in Jones reversing a rollup pin attempt for the win. This was a really good match, and it was good to see Dynamite in a WOS sports match again. In fact, this was his final match in England that would be shown on WOS. Jones was a top quality opponent, and this match once again proved how versatile Dynamite could be as he had been excelling in Canada, Japan and England around this time in his career. Perhaps the thing that stood out most in this match was the tremendous execution by both workers. They worked this at a deliberate pace with plenty of stiffness, and it felt like every move meant something in this contest that they worked like a serious sports contest. ***3/4

Stampede 1/28/83 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Gama Singh 3:25 of 7:25. Gama Singh was in control and was very disliked by the crowd. This meant that Dynamite Kid, who had in the past four years had been a heel in Calgary, was pretty much on the verge of being a babyface. The recent split of John Foley’s stable has a lot to do with that development, and subsequently this also meant that Foley was no longer being booed out of the building all the time. At some point, Dynamite made his comeback in the match and the cowardly Gama started running away, and Dynamite ran after him, which meant the match ended in a double count-out. This match appeared to be just average since it was mostly Gama on offense during the footage that is available. I wouldn’t recommend this in general, but die-hard fans of Dynamite and Stampede will probably find this interesting. **

Stampede 2/18/83 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Title: Gama Singh vs. Dynamite Kid 5:05 of 14:05. This is on Stampede Wrestling Classics Vol. 3. Dynamite Kid hit Gama Singh with a dropkick off the top rope, followed up by a kip up. Dynamite reversed a tombstone piledriver attempt by Gama and hit Gama with a tombstone piledriver. This appeared to be an okay match until Leo Burke ran in and attacked Dynamite for the DQ finish. **1/4

Stampede 3/4/83 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Leo Burke 6:46 shown. This was a slow-paced match. Leo Burke, who was a wrestler from New Brunswick, was stalling almost throughout the entire match. Dynamite Kid showed patience and got a big reaction whenever he beat Burke up. This was an uneventful match because of the stalling by Burke, who was focused too much on being a cowardly heel. *3/4

NJPW 4/3/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, NWA Junior Heavyweight Title Decision Match: Dynamite Kid vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi 15:19. The NWA Junior Heavyweight Title (and also the WWF Junior Heavyweight Title) had been vacated because Shodai Tiger Mask was injured. Two of Tiger’s top foes battled it out here. They worked well with each other and had some nice sequences during the early stages of the match. Dynamite hit a tremendous top-rope dropkick followed by a kick up. Dynamite suplexed Kobayashi on the floor at some point. Later in the match, Dynamite executed a tombstone piledriver. The match ended in a double count-out. The match wasn’t as good as it looked on paper though, especially given the great matches each had with Tiger as his top rivals. The main problem is that the down time wasn’t very interesting as they didn’t really do anything advanced when they went for some ground work, to the point it seemed more like restholds. When they were moving and hitting more exciting moves, it was very good though. The next day, these two met for the vacant WWF Junior Heavyweight Title, and the match result was the same. ***

NJPW 4/7/83 Nagaoka: Dynamite Kid vs. Kantaro Hoshino 11:16. This match certainly was nothing like their uncooperative match from 1/15/82. Kantaro Hoshino was not about to back off and slapped Dynamite early in the match. Dynamite bumped and sold a lot for Hoshino during the first part of the match. The injured Shodai Tiger Mask was watching at ringside. Dynamite had Hoshino on the mat in a leg submission, and later on, Dynamite hit a gutwrench suplex. Hoshino fought back a bit, but it was mostly Dynamite who was in control during the middle part of the match. Hoshino tried to escape a headscissors, but Dynamite kept him in there. In his second attempt to escape, Hoshino managed to escape in spectacular fashion. Dynamite became more aggressive and suplexed Hoshino in a vicious manner. Hoshino was once again stuck in a headscissors. Dynamite hit a bodyslam and went for the top rope, but Hoshino threw him down to the mat. The pace increased. Dynamite bumped over the top. Hoshino hit a plancha off the top to the floor. After getting back in the ring, Hoshino hit a piledriver. Dynamite hit a snap suplex and went for the cover. Hoshino kicked out. Hoshino hit a sunset flip. Hoshino almost pinned Dynamite via backslide. Dynamite then hit a tombstone piledriver, followed up with a flying headbutt. Dynamite won the match via pinfall. The crowd chanted “Taigaa! Taigaa!” because they had noticed Shodai Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) was at ringside, and that’s when Satoru Sayama and Dynamite Kid had to be held back as they were about to fight each other. Dynamite and Sayama would face each other in a classic match two weeks later. ***1/4

NJPW 4/21/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Decision Match: Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask 11:11; 6:52. This is a must-see match. If you consider yourself a fan of professional wrestling, you should at least watch this match. These two once again showed their great chemistry together. The action was incredible, and these two once again showed they were years ahead of their time. After 11 minutes of great action, they both end up over the guardrail. However, as icing on the cake, the match got restarted. When it got announced that the match would continue, the crowd erupted because they loved seeing these two work against each other. Dynamite hit a wicked tombstone piledriver and a tremendous flying headbutt. Dynamite felt that victory was now his. However, Sayama suplexed him and hit a well-executed tombstone piledriver of his own. Sayama went for a pescado, but Dynamite moved away. Dynamite suplexed Tiger into the ring, they went for several reversals on each other, and both ended up on the floor. Dynamite threw Sayama into the guardrail and then suplexed him on the floor. Dynamite was rammed into the ringpost by Sayama. Dynamite was about to throw Sayama into the guardrail, but Sayama reversed it, and Dynamite went crashing into the guardrail. The action went back into the ring. Dynamite tried to attack with a broken bottle, but the ref stopped him. Dynamite then almost attacked the ref with the bottle, which resulted in loud shrieks from the crowd, but Dynamite had a change of heart and threw the bottle out of the ring. Dynamite tried to unmask Sayama, but unsuccessfully so. Dynamite hit the ref and got another stern warning by the ref. Dynamite and Sayama ended up on the floor again. Sayama hit a tombstone on the floor. Dynamite then hit a tombstone of his own. The bell rang, and the result was a double count-out. This match truly was a great spectacle of athleticism and drama. Not only is this one of the best junior heavyweight matches ever, but one of the best pro wrestling matches ever. *****

Stampede 4/29/83 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede Mid-Heavyweight Title: Dynamite Kid vs. Hubert Gallant 4:00 of 13:00. This took place only a little over a week after Dynamite had worked an all-time classic against Shodai Tiger Mask in NJPW. Here we get to see Dynamite back in Stampede after that tour of NJPW. Dynamite executed a really well executed tombstone piledriver and went for the cover, but he pulled Gallant up to punish him some more. Gallant started begging off in the corner, but Dynamite kept beating him up. Dynamite pulled Gallant up again after going for a cover. Dynamite had Gallant in a sleeperhold, but Leo Burke entered the ring to interfere on Gallant’s behalf. The referee signalled for the bell, and the match was over. Bret Hart then entered the ring to help Dynamite chase off the French Connection, Burke & Gallant. By this point in time, Dynamite was definitely fully a babyface in Stampede. We only got to see four minutes, but Dynamite looked like he was doing great in the footage that was shown. **¼

Stampede 5/6/83 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Bret Hart vs. Leo Burke & Hubert Gallant 3:00 shown. We had seen Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart team up before, but that was in NJPW. It was interesting to see them team up in Calgary. The match is joined in progress near the 10-minute mark. After Bret Hart had spent some time in the ring, he finally made the tag to Dynamite Kid, who hit a top-rope dropkick on Hubert Gallant and followed it up with a kip up. Dynamite was beating up both Gallant and Leo Burke with atomic drops. Bret entered the ring again and that’s when the footage cuts off. It looked like a match that probably would have been at least okay-ish in full form.

Stampede 6/10/83 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Bret Hart vs. Bad News Allen & Cuban Assassin 5:42 of 14:22. This was an interesting match-up. The Cuban Assassin was Angel Acevedo, a wrestler from Puerto Rico. Bad News Allen and Assassin worked over Bret Hart’s left leg. Bret finally made the tag, and Dynamite hit a tombstone piledriver on Assassin, and then he hit a splash off the top rope. Dynamite was about to win the match by pinfall, but Allen entered the ring and hit a leg drop on the referee to stop the ref from counting to three. That was the end of the match. After the match, Allen attacked Bret’s left leg with a chair. Allen always enjoyed working against Dynamite because they both liked to hit hard. It’s a shame not much footage of their single encounters exist. ** 

PNW 6/11/83 Portland, OR Sports Arena: Dynamite Kid & Buddy Rose vs. Curt Hennig & Billy Jack Haynes 7:18; 12:08; 5:20. Dynamite Kid was a heel during this run in Pacific Northwest Wrestling. Kid bumped huge for a back body drop by Curt Hennig. Hennig and Buddy Rose, who were two of the top stars of the area at the time, then wrestled a bit. Rose was decent. While not perfect, Hennig was a pretty good worker and a promising star. Hennig, who was from Minnesota and had been wrestling for about three years at the time after starting his career in the AWA in 1980, would eventually become an even bigger star in the AWA in the second half of that decade. Dynamite was tagged back in, and took another huge bump for Hennig. When Dynamite had Hennig in a headscissors, Hennig managed to escape and went for a headlock, but Dynamite quickly countered into a hammerlock. Dynamite hit a snap suplex, but Hennig kicked out at two. The commentators said they had never seen anyone execute a suplex that fast. Dynamite tagged Rose in. When Dynamite was back in, he sold huge for Billy Jack Haynes, who was now a star in his home state of Oregon after initially getting his start in Calgary. Dynamite executed a dropkick off the top, followed by a kip up. Dynamite hit a sick piledriver on Haynes to win the first fall by pinfall. In the second fall, the heels were in control for a while. Hennig eventually hit a beautiful missile dropkick off the top on Rose for the pin to win the second fall. The pace had significantly slowed down after the first fall. They were not able to keep the momentum they had in the first fall going for the rest of the match. The match ended when Dynamite accidentally hit his own tag team partner with a top-rope dropkick. Haynes pinned Rose for the win. Dynamite turned on Rose and started beating Rose up after the match. Rose was not only attacked by Dynamite, but also Rip Oliver and the Assassin. Rose juiced. Dynamite ended up joining Rip Oliver’s Clan. **¾

PNW 6/25/83 Portland, OR Sports Arena: Dynamite Kid & Rip Oliver & Assassin vs. Curt Hennig & Buddy Rose & Billy Jack Haynes 9:40; 6:30. The Assassin was Fidel Sierra, a wrestler from Cuba. He was a decent bumper and seller. The main storyline was that Buddy Rose wanted revenge against Rip Oliver’s Clan. Hennig and Assassin started the match off and worked hard in front of a wild crowd. Dynamite Kid sold and bumped well for Billy Jack Haynes. Buddy Rose beat up Assassin, and then wrestled against Dynamite. Oliver tried to avoid Rose at all costs. Dynamite went for a monkey flip, but Rose avoided it with a cartwheel and then dropkicked Dynamite out of the ring. Dynamite took a bump in the corner when Haynes threw him in the corner. Oliver continued to avoid Rose. Dynamite hit a knee drop on Rose. Oliver finally was willing to work against Rose after Rose was triple-teamed by the Clan. Oliver was an average worker. Dynamite showed a lot of viciousness when he was in the ring. Dynamite was press-slammed by Haynes. Dynamite was thrown off the top turnbuckle by Hennig, who pinned Dynamite after a cross bodypress to win the first fall for his team. The second fall started off well with Dynamite and Hennig working against each other briefly. The fall also ended with those two as Dynamite executed his super piledriver, with an assist from Oliver & Assassin. It was put over big time as Hennig did a stretcher job. Rose and Haynes were about to carry Hennig out with the stretcher. Oliver started talking trash on the mic. Rose and Haynes decided to attack Oliver & Assassin. This enabled Dynamite Kid to leap off the top rope onto Hennig with a vicious knee drop right across the throat. Hennig was taken to the back, and the match was over. **3/4

Stampede 7/22/83 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Title: Dynamite Kid vs. Cobra 6:42 of 15:57. After NJPW worker George Takano had spent some time in Mexico, he was repackaged as the Cobra while on this excursion in Calgary during the second half of 1983. He was billed as from Uganda, even though he was from Japan.  He was a heel in Calgary. When he returned to Japan, he would receive a big push as the new top native babyface in the NJPW junior heavyweight division, in an attempt to recreate the magic they had with Shodai Tiger Mask. However, like most wrestlers, Takano certainly wasn’t on the level of Satoru Sayama. Cobra missed a move in the corner and Dynamite started working over Cobra’s right leg in a vicious manner. Dynamite was also still selling his left leg. Dynamite hit a suplex and a knife edge chop. Cobra’s offense was not quite sloppy, but certainly not graceful. The fans were into this match, and Cobra went for a senton off the second rope, but Dynamite rolled away. Dynamite hit his top-rope dropkick and a kick up. No matter how often he does that, it’s amazing each and every time. K.Y. Wakamatsu was in the Cobra’s corner. J.R. Foley was in Dynamite’s corner. Dynamite won the match by pinfall and retained the title. This was a pretty good match overall and I would have liked to have seen the match in full form. ***¼

PNW 9/17/83 Portland, OR Sports Arena: Dynamite Kid vs. Buddy Rose 15:40 (5:00; 8:30; 2:10). Dynamite Kid was the Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Champion, but this was a non-title match. Dynamite showed a lot of intensity, especially when he was on offense, but also when he was bumping and selling. Dynamite won the first fall after hitting a vicious top-rope fistdrop on Rose. In the second fall, Dynamite went for the flying headbutt, but Rose moved out of the way. Dynamite hit a pescado onto Rose, who was on the floor. Dynamite juiced after headbutting the ringpost when Rose moved out of the way. The action returned into the ring, and for the first time in the match, things were looking good for Rose. Eventually, the second fall was won by Rose by pinfall. The third fall only lasted a couple of minutes because they were running out of TV time remaining, which meant the match result was a no contest. This was a pretty good match with a strong performance by Dynamite, and things were getting pretty wild once Dynamite started bleeding, but their match the following week was a bit more satisfying because it would have a decisive finish. **¾

PNW 9/24/83 Portland, OR Sports Arena, NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title: Dynamite Kid vs. Buddy Rose 22:05 (10:30; 5:20; 6:15). Dynamite Kid had won the Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title from Curt Hennig on 9/7/83 in Seattle, WA and he would hold the title for a month. Dynamite defended the title here against Buddy Rose. The first fall was pretty good. Dynamite won the first fall. In the second fall, Dynamite juiced. Rose pinned Dynamite to win the second fall. In the third fall, Dynamite missed a knee drop off the top when Rose rolled away. Rose worked over Dynamite’s left leg. Rose went for a dropkick, but Dynamite caught him and transitioned into a Boston crab. Rose countered it and was able to pin Dynamite, but Dynamite’s feet were on the ropes. Rose thought he was the winner and Dynamite quickly came up from behind and rolled him up for a three-count. This was a good match and probably the most memorable match of Dynamite’s run in PNW. ***

PNW 10/29/83 Portland, OR Sports Arena: Dynamite Kid & Assassin vs. Curt Hennig & Buddy Rose 17:12 (10:18; 4:14; 2:40). Dynamite's performance featured a lot of dynamic bumping and selling. The crowd was loud, because the fan favorites, Hennig & Rose, were taking it to the heels. Assassin (Fidel Sierra) sold his shoulder well after it hit the ringpost, and he was even still selling it while he was on the apron. Assassin also took some pretty good bumps, but he took some of the momentum this match had away with his restholds. Rose did well for himself and gave quite an okay performance. Hennig showed a lot of energy and a tremendous dropkick. Dynamite pinned Hennig after a powerslam off the second rope to win the first fall. The finish of the second fall had Hennig hit a dropkick on both opponents, which sent Dynamite to the floor in spectacular fashion, and it enabled Hennig to pin Assassin. In the third fall, Assassin hit a headbutt with his loaded mask on Dynamite when Rose moved away. Dynamite juiced immediately after getting hit, but he got disqualified when he brought a chair into the ring and started hitting his opponents with the chair. This was a pretty good match, and it was particularly interesting whenever Dynamite and/or Hennig were in the ring. It was Dynamite's spectacular bumping and selling that stood out most. I like how Dynamite was able to bump and sell like a madman in order to make his opponents look great, yet he still came off as a tough guy at the same time. **¾

NJPW 1/1/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Isamu Teranishi 16:19. Both Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith were bigger than ever before because of the steroids they were using. This was the first time Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith teamed in Japan. The very first time they ever teamed together was on 7/1/83 in Calgary (and they had wrestled each other many times in Calgary in the two years before that). They showed good teamwork, but this was still before they were known as the British Bulldogs. Dynamite took a big bump off a back body drop by Isamu Teranishi. Dynamite hit a powerful snap suplex on Teranishi. Dynamite showed a lot of intensity during this tour. He certainly was a mean-looking dude. Kuniaki kept being thrown to the outside. Dynamite hit a double underhook suplex. Dynamite hit a nice sunset flip, but couldn’t get the pin on Teranishi that way. Davey Boy worked a bit with Teranishi. Davey Boy hit a nice double underhook suplex on Teranishi. Davey Boy hit a powerful suplex. Kuniaki and Dynamite were back in the ring and Kuniaki hit Dynamite with a kick and then a fisherman’s suplex. Dynamite kicked out after each move. Teranishi applied a figure-four leglock on Davey Boy, but Davey Boy reached the ropes. Dynamite freed Davey Boy from the hold by stomping on Teranishi’s face. Dynamite hit a very robust flying headbutt on Teranishi for the victory. Dynamite & Davey Boy certainly made their presence known. Dynamite gave a good performance. Davey Boy was pretty good, but no longer the flexible worker he was a little over a year ago, and that’s what made him stand out back then. Isamu Teranishi was okay. Kuniaki Kobayashi gave a good performance, and he was maybe the one who worked the hardest in this match. *** 

NJPW 1/13/84 Yokohama Bunka Gym, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Decision League: Dynamite Kid vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi 12:40 shown. This match was better than their 4/3/83 match because they took it easy in that match from ‘83, for their standards at least. Here they seemed more motivated in having a good match. They tried to keep the action going, and this turned out to be a good mid-1980s NJPW junior heavyweight match. Dynamite Kid was really intense and explosive. Kuniaki Kobayashi reacted very well to Dynamite’s offense, and Kobayashi also gave a strong performance. Dynamite hit a wicked tombstone piledriver, but missed the flying headbutt after Kobayashi moved. Kobayashi hit a pescado. Dynamite and Kobayashi suplexed each other on the floor, but then were both counted out. The two former rivals of Shodai Tiger Mask confirmed there was still hope for the NJPW junior heavyweight division, even though its most popular native junior heavyweight star, Shodai Tiger Mask, had been gone from the promotion. Dynamite deserves credit for continuing the good work by keeping things going for the division, and being like a leader in the pack. He was a reliable factor in a changing division. ***¼

NJPW 1/20/84 Yanagawa: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. The Cobra & Black Tiger 19:13. Black Tiger was Mark Rocco, and he was the first of several incarnations of Black Tiger. Dynamite Kid was still an excellent performer, but seeing him on this tour, it was clear that he was not as flexible as he used to be in years prior. He definitely still displayed tremendous intensity though. It was interesting to see Dynamite and Rocco battle it out again, even though Rocco was now a masked villain. Just like Dynamite, Black Tiger was one of the main rivals of Shodai Tiger Mask in 1981-1983. The Cobra was Dynamite’s main Japanese rival after Tiger Mask left NJPW. The Cobra certainly was no Satoru Sayama, but he was an enjoyable worker nonetheless. Dynamite and The Cobra worked particularly well with each other in this match. Davey Boy Smith landed perfectly on his feet after he was on the receiving-end of a well-executed monkey flip by Rocco. Dynamite was still able to hit his top-rope dropkick and kickup combo, so that was cool to watch. Rocco hit a well-executed tombstone piledriver on Dynamite. It was interesting to see Dynamite being on the receiving-end of a move he himself had performed so often and so well over the years. The Cobra hit a sick looking piledriver on Dynamite. The match got even more action-packed during the final minutes. Dynamite pinned Rocco after a flying headbutt. This was a fun match that featured good mid-1980s junior heavyweight action. It was an enjoyable tag match with everyone giving good enough of an effort. They kept the action going throughout the match. I like how the commentator kept referring to Dynamite and Davey Boy as “za karugarii burazazu” (“the Calgary brothers”). ***

NJPW 1/27/84 Nagoya Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Decision League: Dynamite Kid vs. The Cobra 11:50 shown. This match was part of a tournament for the WWF Junior Heavyweight Title, vacated after Shodai Tiger Mask left NJPW in August 1983. The tournament featured Dynamite Kid, Davey Boy Smith, The Cobra, Black Tiger, Bret Hart, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Isamu Teranishi, Nobuhiko Takada and Babe Face. Dynamite came down the aisle wearing his badass-looking vest. The Cobra hit a nice plancha off the top to the outside. Dynamite missed the diving headbutt and The Cobra pinned Dynamite via a victory roll. Dynamite was tenacious in his approach here against The Cobra. The approach of The Cobra seemed to include more focus on trying to keep Dynamite grounded and working over Dynamite’s legs. That didn’t stop Dynamite from hitting some cool sequences that resembled the sequences he used to do with Shodai Tiger Mask. Of course, The Cobra was not on the level of Satoru Sayama (but then again, almost nobody ever was). The Cobra came across as someone who tried hard. Sometimes it even seemed he was trying to be a great worker, even though he was just not able to be actually great. ***

NJPW 2/3/84 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Decision League: Dynamite Kid vs. Davey Boy Smith 14:13. Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith were tag team partners earlier on this tour, but here they had to face each other in a tournament match. Both wrestlers still had a great chance of winning the tournament. These two were obviously very familiar with each other as they had wrestled each other many times in Stampede Wrestling in the previous couple of years. The match started off quite well, but the middle part was quite slow and didn’t see much happening. Davey Boy hit a dive. Dynamite started bleeding from the nose. Dynamite hit a falling headbutt. Davey Boy launched himself at Dynamite and both went over the top to the outside. The result was a double count-out. This was okay, but disappointing considering who were involved. **1/4

NJPW 2/7/84 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title 3 Way: Dynamite Kid vs. Davey Boy Smith 14:03. Davey Boy Smith was always a good follower during his career. His performances throughout his career were inconsistent though, largely because of steroids and other drugs. Dynamite was a leader, and he was always the one guiding Davey Boy. Dynamite, who was still the one of the very best workers in the world at the time, would see his career start taking different turns in 1984. Dynamite, Davey Boy and The Cobra all three finished with the most points in this tournament, which meant there was now a three-way tournament final to decide the winner. Prior to this match against Dynamite, Davey Boy had just had a 9-minute match against The Cobra, which ended in a double count-out. Davey Boy was knackered. After several minutes of nothing really happening, Dynamite decided it was time for some action. He hit a tombstone piledriver, followed up by a flying headbutt. He threw Davey Boy hard into the corner. Davey Boy tried to execute the Romero Special on Dynamite, but he couldn’t make it happen. Dynamite hit an enzuigiri. The finish came when Davey Boy suplexed Dynamite over the top rope. Both men tumbled to the outside, but Dynamite hits his back really hard on the apron. This may or may not have been the moment where Dynamite started having back problems. Whether that is true or not, the bump on the apron certainly didn’t help things. Dynamite made it back to the ring on time though and got the count-out win. This match between Dynamite and Davey Boy was even slightly less interesting than their previous match, and even slightly more disappointing. There was some pretty good action here and there, but large parts of the match were slow with not much happening. ** 

NJPW 2/7/84 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title 3 Way: Dynamite Kid vs. The Cobra 6:17. Immediately after Dynamite Kid had beaten Davey Boy Smith, The Cobra got introduced. This was the final of the tournament. Dynamite’s back was in a lot of pain from the previous match. Davey Boy was at ringside to show support for Dynamite despite having just lost to him. Cobra started attacking Dynamite as soon as the bell rang. Dynamite hit a dropkick, a kick up and a dropkick. Cobra executed a sasorigatame and a flying dropkick. Dynamite hit a tombstone piledriver. Dynamite went to the top rope, but Cobra kicked him to the floor. Cobra executed a space flying tiger drop. Dynamite hit another tombstone piledriver. Cobra hit a German suplex. Cobra went to the top rope, but Dynamite gutwrench suplexed him off the top for a two-count. Cobra executed a leapfrog and was about to backdrop Dynamite with his feet, but Dynamite went for the cover. Cobra kicked out. Dynamited then grabbed Cobra and slammed him down for the win. It was really good while it lasted, but it’s a short match since they'd already wrestled, which makes it hard to consider the overall match more than just good. ***

Stampede 2/17/84 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Sonny Two Rivers vs. Ron Starr & Kerry Brown 5:30 shown. Kerry Brown, the nephew of Bob Brown, was a wrestler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Ron Starr was an American wrestler from Atlanta, Georgia. Sonny Two Rivers was Japanese wrestler Junji Hirata with a First Nations (indigenous peoples of Canada) gimmick. Dynamite was back in Stampede after having been gone for about seven months, as he spent most of the second half of 1983 wrestling in PNW and the first six weeks of 1984 in NJPW. He worked as a heel in Japan, as he usually did. Here in Calgary, he was the babyface again. He was a very no-nonsense type babyface though, the type that takes care of business in the ring. Dynamite hit spectacular dropkicks. Dynamite’s knife edge chop looked and sounded great. Dynamite’s knee drop off the second drop was nicely executed. In other words, it was good to see Dynamite show up in Stampede again as he was the league’s best worker during the years 1978-1984. **1/4

Stampede 2/24/84 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Sonny Two Rivers vs. Ron Starr & Kerry Brown 6:19 of 17:20. This was an elimination tag team match. The first two minutes of the footage shown saw Dynamite Kid selling for his opponents, but eventually making the tag to Sonny Two Rivers (Junji Hirata). Dynamite was taken to the back. Kerry Brown was eliminated by being thrown over the top rope by Hirata. Ron Starr and Hirata battled it out until Starr made Hirata submit to a Boston crab. Dynamite returned from the back and hit Starr with a tombstone piledriver. Killer Khan showed up, and was hit with a top-rope dropkick by Dynamite. The post-match stuff was more interesting than what was shown of the actual match. *¾ 

Stampede 3/2/84 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede North American Heavyweight Title: Killer Khan vs. Dynamite Kid 3:42 shown. Despite the fact that Dynamite Kid was bigger than ever before at this time, he was still slightly less than 220 lbs and technically still a mid-heavyweight, but here he was a challenger for the heavyweight title held by Killer Khan, who had a big size advantage. Khan was a wrestler from Japan, but his gimmick was that he was from Mongolia. Dynamite was disqualified for throwing Khan’s head into the ringpost.

Stampede 4/6/84 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede International Tag Team Title: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Bad News Brown & Cuban Assassin 3:25 shown. Sam Menacker and Stu Hart were at ringside doing commentary. Davey Boy Smith was in a lot of trouble until he tagged in Dynamite Kid, who then beat up Cuban Assassin. The finish wasn’t shown, but the post-match interview was shown. Dynamite & Davey Boy won the title here.

Stampede 4/13/84 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith & John Quinn vs. Bad News Brown & Cuban Assassin & K.Y. Wakamatsu 9:07 of 9:27. This was a no DQ match. There was a lot of brawling. John Quinn, a wrestler from Hamilton, ON, was handcuffed to the top rope. This wasn’t bad, but there was not too much going on, other than brawling for the most part. Everyone was in the ring at the same time, just brawling. Dynamite grabbed the handcuff keys out of the Cuban’s pockets and that enabled Quinn to remove the handcuffs. Ron Starr and the Rebel (Steve Schumann) interfered. Dynamite’s team won by DQ in a no DQ match. Wait… what? *½ 

Stampede 5/11/84 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Butch Moffat 4:12. Butch Moffat was a Canadian wrestler from Ontario. Bad News Brown was at ringside to encourage Moffat. Dynamite Kid hit a snap suplex and a leg drop, but pulled Moffat up because he wanted to inflict more punishment. Dynamite hit a well-placed knee drop off the second rope. Dynamite executed a flying clothesline off the top and a diving headbutt off the second rope for the pinfall win. An easy victory for Dynamite. *¾

Stampede 5/18/84 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Timothy Flowers 3:30. Dynamite Kid pinned Timothy Flowers via a tombstone piledriver. This was pretty much a squash match. *3/4

Stampede 5/25/84 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Hiro Saito 3:41 Dynamite Kid showed a lot of intensity. Dynamite Kid roughed up Japanese wrestler Hiro Saito during the early minutes of the match. Bad News Allen showed up at ringside to distract Dynamite, but Dynamite remained focused and pinned Saito after he gutwrench suplexed Saito off the top while standing on the second rope. It appears Dynamite has been beating his latest opponents in glorified squash matches in order to build him up for big battles against Allen. *3/4

Stampede 6/1/84 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Bad News Allen & Duke Myers 7:20 of 15:50. Dynamite Kid and Bad News Allen had been feuding for a while. Allen and Duke Myers kept Davey Boy Smith in their corner as much as they could. Davey Boy juiced. Bad News was so aggressive that he received two yellow cards for his team within a short period of time. Dynamite was finally tagged in. There was a lot of chaos near the end of the match. There was a ref bump. Bad News pinned Davey Boy with some help from K.Y. Wakamatsu. Dynamite had some singles matches with Allen, but they were deemed too violent to air and/or there was too little TV time to air them, even though sometimes they would show very brief clips (perhaps also an attempt to draw people to watch the matches at the live house shows). **

NJPW 6/29/84 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid vs. The Cobra 7:30. The Japanese crowd seemed to be behind Dynamite, who was not only very popular in Western Canada, but also in Japan. The Cobra attacked Dynamite Kid right away, and was in control during the first few minutes. Cobra hit a tremendous backbreaker when he dropped Dynamite’s back across his shoulders. Cobra was aggressive and worked over Dynamite in a vicious manner. Dynamite hit a tremendous snap double-arm underhook suplex. Dynamite hit a tombstone piledriver. Dynamite went to the top and went for the flying headbutt, but Cobra got his feet up. Cobra hit a pescado on Dynamite, who was on the floor. After a thunderous knife edge chop, Dynamite tried to suplex Cobra over the top rope, but they botched the spot. They rolled to the outside. Cobra suplexed Dynamite on the floor. Dynamite snap suplexed Cobra on the floor. The result was a double count-out. Just like all their other singles matches against each other, this match between Dynamite and the Cobra was pretty good. Dynamite’s back appeared to be in quite some pain, but he showed a lot of determination and showed plenty of explosiveness. Cobra was clearly motivated in working a good match, and he worked hard. *** 

NJPW 7/5/84 Osaka Furitsu Gym, NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title: The Cobra vs. Dynamite Kid 5:14 of 11:38. The crowd was really into this match and it was not hard to understand why. These two workers gave a strong effort and a spectacular display of top-level junior heavyweight puroresu. Dynamite Kid attacked Cobra before the bell with the championship belt. Dynamite hit a tremendously vicious snap suplex. Dynamite was super intense. Cobra was on the floor when Dynamite hit a pescado on Cobra and then threw him into the guardrail. Dynamite hit a tombstone, which he followed up with a flying headbutt that saw him fly halfway across the ring. Cobra kicked out at two. Cobra hit a dropkick, for which Dynamite bumped really well for. Cobra then a human torpedo as he hit a crazy tope suicida. Cobra did the tiger feint, went for a pescado, but Dynamite moved and Cobra hit the floor. Dynamite went for a diving headbutt off the apron, but Cobra moved. The result was a double count-out. This was the best match these two workers had against each other. It was just a notch better than their other matches against each other. Just a notch more spectacular and memorable. ***1/4

NJPW 7/13/84 Obihiro General Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith & David Schultz vs. Tatsumi Fujinami & The Cobra & Antonio Inoki 8:00. Dynamite Kid was one of the key performers in this match. The Cobra and Davey Boy played an important role as well. The Cobra worked well with Davey Boy, who was a strong tag team partner for Dynamite. Tatsumi Fujinami was very good when he was in, but that wasn’t much. David Schultz was just along for the ride. Antonio Inoki was there to take all the credit. Fun little side note, when Inoki gets announced, you can see a young Keiichi Yamada in the background. The young lion Yamada sure must have been in awe of Dynamite’s spectacular performance. Dynamite and Fujinami started the match off in a great way. Unfortunately, they weren’t in the ring together for long though. The Cobra was tagged in, and hit a huge dive over the top rope onto Dynamite, who was on the floor. Davey Boy Smith tried to follow in Dynamite’s footsteps and bumped around for the Cobra quite a bit. One of the coolest spots happened when Davey Boy lifted the Cobra on his shoulder, and Dynamite hit a top-rope dropkick on the Cobra. Because this was a relatively short six-man tag, nobody really had to resort to restholds. All of a sudden, the match ended. Inoki’s team was awarded the win via disqualification over the Stampede Wrestling team because Davey Boy was about to bodyslam the referee. This was fun to watch, but it’s hard to imagine that someone could think this is one of the twenty best matches of the 1980s. **¾

NJPW 7/20/84 Sapporo Nakajima Taiiku Center, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Dynamite Kid vs. Davey Boy Smith 12:00 of 15:52. These two were obviously very familiar with each other. This was actually quite a bit better than their matches from February ‘84. It had less dead time. Dynamite hit a snap suplex on Davey Boy. When Davey Boy had Dynamite in a resthold, Dynamite was noticably calling the next spots. Davey Boy executed a Romero Special. Dynamite went for a top-rope dropkick, but Davey Boy caught him and transitioned into a Boston crab. The crowd was chanting for “Kitto! Kitto!” Dynamite hit a gutwrench suplex and a chin breaker. Dynamite threw Davey Boy into the corner and Davey took a Dynamite-esque bump. They went both over the top to the floor when Dynamite launched himself at Davey. Back in the ring, they both hit a lariat on each other and both went down. Dynamite hit a flying headbutt for the win. It was a slow-paced match, but it was a good match. ***

NJPW 7/26/84 Morioka: Dynamite Kid vs. Tatsumi Fujinami 7:04. This was good, but this wasn’t on the level of their great 2/5/80 match. It just didn’t have that exceptional energy and feeling of importance that the 2/5/80 match had. One of todays highlights was a tremendous snap suplex by Dynamite Kid, after which the crowd applauded. Even though this wasn’t their most memorable match by any means, they were both still so good at this time that they were able to have a good match against each other anyway on what perhaps was an off-day for them. Dynamite would have seven more matches (all tag matches) on this NJPW tour, which turned out to be his final NJPW tour. ***

AJPW 1/6/85 Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Tiger Mask II & Mighty Inoue 6:24 of 12:01. This was Dynamite Kid’s third tour for All Japan Pro Wrestling. Footage of his 1984 AJPW matches don’t exist because those matches didn’t air as part of a media blackout since he had jumped ship from NJPW to AJPW. Masa Fuchi was a loyal AJPW worker who was also reliable as an in-ring performer. Tiger Mask II was a Mitsuharu Misawa. In his role as Tiger Mask, he was decent to pretty good, but nowhere near the level Satoru Sayama was as Tiger Mask I, as Misawa wasn't anywhere near the athlete or worker in the junior heavyweight style, and wasn't doing anything groundbreaking. Misawa would later start becoming a great performer once he dropped the mask and gimmick in 1990 and began to carve his own niche. Mighty Inoue was a mediocre midcarder who had been one of the big stars, and more well rounded natives, in the now defunct IWE. The British Bulldogs, Dynamite & Davey Boy Smith, had a cool double-team spot where Dynamite lifted Misawa onto the shoulders of Davey Boy, who then hit a powerslam as he came off the second rope. Dynamite’s tombstone piledriver on Misawa got a good reaction from the crowd. Dynamite hit a snap suplex. As Dynamite was suplexing Misawa over the top rope, Inoue dropkicked Dynamite. Inoue then hit a sloppy looking plancha on Davey Boy. The match ended in a double count-out. This was decent, but it looks like the quality of the Bulldogs’ matches was slowly getting less impressive bit by bit. **½ 

AJPW 1/10/85 Kitakyushu Nishi-Nippon Exhibition Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Masa Fuchi & Tiger Mask II 10:15 of 11:23. Dynamite was still really good, and he had some good moments with Tiger Mask II (Mitsuharu Misawa), who was quite decent, but still trying to figure things out. Misawa did some Tiger Mask spots that looked quite good, but overall, Tiger Mask II certainly wasn’t anywhere close to Shodai Tiger Mask’s greatness. When Dynamite was in the ring with Fuchi, Dynamite continued to show explosiveness. Dynamite also bumped well for Fuchi’s offense, and Fuchi worked hard. Davey Boy Smith was okay, but it’s a shame how he was starting to go downhill more. He no longer was the Davey Boy from the early 1980s for sure. He relied on a few power moves, and he no longer really showed any of the spectacular aspects of the worker he was in years prior. There was plenty of good fast-paced action in this match overall. Fuchi reversed a tombstone piledriver attempt and then hit a tombstone piledriver on Dynamite. Fuchi went for the cover, but Dynamite kicked out. Fuchi hit an enzuigiri on Dynamite. It was interesting to see Dynamite take a couple of moves he normally dishes out himself. Dynamite got the pinfall victory after he hit a flying headbutt on Fuchi. This was probably the best match the British Bulldogs had during this tour (and arguably their best match during this entire year of 1985), and they showed they were at least still able to have a good match once in a while. If you’re interested in watching a Bulldogs match from the mid-1980s, this would definitely be a good one to watch. *** 

AJPW 1/14/85 Kagoshima Prefectural Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Isamu Teranishi 9:40 of 10:53. Kuniaki Kobayashi and Isamu Teranishi, who were regular opponents of Dynamite Kid when he was in NJPW, had also jumped ship to AJPW as part of Riki Choshu's exodus, so these four workers were all familiar with each other from their days in NJPW. While he wasn’t bad, Teranishi didn’t do much though and appeared to get less impressive with each year. Davey Boy Smith was throwing Kobayashi around early in the match, including a press slam to the floor. Dynamite’s snap suplex was a joy to watch, as usual. Dynamite executed a top-rope dropkick on Kuniaki Kobayashi. At some point in the match, there was a cool double-team move that saw Isamu Teranishi going for a back suplex and Kobayashi hit a top-rope dropkick while Dynamite was in mid-air. Later in the match, Dynamite hit a thunderous knife edge chop, followed by a double underhook suplex. Dynamite was still really over with these Japanese fans, even though he was a gaijin who had jumped ship as they chanted “Kitto! Kitto!” when he was briefly in trouble during this match. I guess the crowd support helped since it was Kobayashi who was the one in trouble when Dynamite hit a tombstone piledriver. Dynamite & Davey Boy won this match by count-out. Dynamite and Kobayashi were the best performers in this match. Through his in-ring work, Dynamite proved that he was indeed still really good at this point in his career. **¾ 

AJPW 1/24/85 Toyohashi Shi Taiikukan: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Masanobu Fuchi & Akio Sato 5:30 of 10:49. Some of you may remember Akio Sato as a member of the Orient Express in 1990, and later as Shinja in 1995 when he took on the role of the manager of Hakushi (Jinsei Shinzaki). That was all in the circus. Here in this match in All Japan, Dynamite Kid hit a nice falling headbutt on Akio Sato. Masa Fuchi worked over Dynamite’s legs a bit and applied a figure-four leglock. Davey Boy Smith came to Dynamite’s aid. Davey Boy hit a big powerslam. Dynamite and Fuchi started chopping each other and then exchanged some forearm smashes. Sato performed some neckbreakers on Dynamite and a gutwrench suplex. Dynamite hit a knee drop off the top onto Sato for the pinfall victory. It was interesting to see Dynamite against some new and fresh opponents, but it felt like it was just another match. **1/2

AJPW 2/5/85 Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Animal Hamaguchi 9:43. This was the final match of the tour for Dynamite Kid. He hit a tremendous snap suplex on Kuniaki Kobayashi that got a big pop from the crowd. A bit later on, Dynamite hit a tombstone piledriver. Kobayashi hit a tope suicide on Davey Boy. The match ended in a double count-out. Dynamite showed good intensity. Dynamite and Kobayashi always worked well with each other. Their meetings may not have been as memorable as the ones Dynamite had with Satoru Sayama and Tatsumi Fujinami or maybe even The Cobra and Kantaro Hoshino, but Kobayashi was perhaps Dynamite’s fifth most memorable Japanese opponent. Heigo Hamaguchi and Davey Boy Smith were pretty good, but the match was definitely most interesting whenever Dynamite and Kobayashi were working. All four kept the pace going during the match, and there were never really any dull moments. **¾

AJPW 5/17/85 Asahikawa Tokiwa Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith & Canadian Lewis vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Norio Honaga 9:08. Canadian Lewis was Ben Bassarab from Calgary, and this was his only All Japan tour. ,By this point, The British Bulldogs were not only touring All Japan whenever they felt like, but they had also become regulars in the WWF. Bassarab is kinda like a poor man’s Dynamite Kid. He tried, but was a bit too slow and not agile enough to do the things he tried. I’m not surprised he never was invited back again by All Japan promoter Giant Baba. I’m not saying Bassarab was never any good because he had a decent run in Stampede Wrestling, but in this match on this All Japan tour, he was definitely not impressive. When Dynamite would tag back in, it was a world of difference compared to when he wasn’t in. Even though he wasn’t the Dynamite from a year ago, Dynamite still had the intensity and athleticism to pull off a lot of the stuff people wanted to see from him. One of the highlights of this match, among other moves by Dynamite, took place when Dynamite hit a tremendous top-rope dropkick on Kuniaki Kobayashi, who was a worker who stood out for the All Japan team opposing the Calgary trio. The finish came when Dynamite lifted Honaga on Davey Boy Smith’s shoulders, and Davey Boy hit a powerslam off the top rope for the win. Davey Boy was okay in this match as he didn’t add too much significant value, but he also didn’t really detract any quality from this match either. Norio Honaga was pretty much treated like a jobber in this match. Yoshiaki Yatsu was decent in this match. He was a pretty gook worker, but it seems he really needed someone like a Jumbo Tsuruta to be around him to help him get the best out of his work. A random six-man tag isn’t really something that he’s able to stand out in, unlike Kobayashi, who just worked hard in almost any setting most of the time back in the 1980s. In the end, this was a fun little match, but not really that good whenever Dynamite wasn’t in. **1/4

AJPW 5/19/85 Abashiri City Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Masanobu Fuchi Tiger Mask II 7:24 of 9:26. The highlight of the match was the finish when Dynamite Kid hit a superplex on Masanobu Fuchi. The rest was okay, but nothing to write home about. **¼ 

AJPW 5/31/85 Matsudo Movement Park Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi 10:06. Dynamite was still very good and able to perform some nice-looking sequences. But, by this point, he certainly wasn’t really going at full speed from start to finish anymore. Dynamite Kid hit a powerful snap suplex on Heigo Hamaguchi. Dynamite hit a flying headbutt on Hamaguchi, but Hamaguchi kicked out. Dynamite then hit a falling headbutt and tagged Davey Boy in. The Road Warriors were looking on from the back. Riki Choshu hit a lariat that sent Dynamite to the floor. The match resulted in a double count-out. This was decent, but I was hoping it would feel a bit more like an important match-up. After all, Riki Choshu was a big star at the time, but instead, this match felt like the workers were kinda driving with the brakes on. **1/2

AJPW 6/2/85 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Tiger Mask II & Magic Dragon 9:32. Mitsuharu Misawa once again proved he was decent in his role as the new Tiger Mask, but he didn’t really have any noteworthy match until 1988 or so (and that was only because he would be carried by Jumbo Tsuruta, who was one of the best in the world). Eventually, Misawa would become one of the all-time greats because of his exceptional work in the 1990s, but here in 1985, there weren’t too many signs of his greatness yet. Davey Boy Smith was okay, but seemed to rely more and more on just a couple of power moves. Magic Dragon (Kazuharu Sonada) was a masked Japanese midcarder who was okay, but unspectacular. Along with the Great Kabuki, Sonada was one of Misawa’s main trainers when Misawa first started in 1981. The finish of this match came when Dynamite hit a superplex on Dragon for the pin. Dynamite Kid still showed some very good intensity and some very good-looking moves, but he wasn’t the worker he was in previous years. Decent match, but nothing really noteworthy. **1/2

AJPW 6/4/85 Osaka Jo Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi & Shinichi Nakano 9:02. This match had a good amount of action. Dynamite Kid hit his signature top-rope dropkick and his signature tombstone piledriver. Davey Boy Smith executed the Romero Special on Shinichi Nakano, who was a young midcard worker. Dynamite hit a vicious running clothesline on Nakano. The match ended after Dynamite hit a superplex for the three-count on Nakano. These British Bulldogs matches from this tour are pretty disappointing. They are just kinda steamrolling over their opponents in matches that are not really matches you should have to seek out, unless you are a really big fan of the Bulldogs (and/or of their opponents). **1/2

AJPW 6/5/85 Nagoya Aichi-ken Taiikukan: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Tiger Mask II 6:35 of 10:57. When you read these names, it may look like somewhat of a dream match on paper, but Toshiaki Kawada and Mitsuharu Misawa were still at the early stages of their respective careers, while the British Bulldogs’ very best days appeared to have been over as they were getting more comfortable being in Stamford mode. This was still a fun and interesting match though, and actually one of the more memorable Bulldogs matches during this tour. Davey Boy tombstone piledrove Kawada on a ringside table. It was a Japanese table, which meant that it was a high-quality table that didn’t break. Dynamite pinned Kawada after a flying headbutt. This was fun for the novelty factor of having these four well-known names in one match. If you look past that fact, you’ll see it was just the Bulldogs beating two young workers up in a random match. Still, it was fun to watch at least once. **3/4

AJPW 11/23/85 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, ‘85 World’s Strongest Tag Decision League: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Stan Hansen & Ted DiBiase 5:32. This was part of Dynamite Kid’s final tour in AJPW, at least until he would return in early 1989. This was a short match, but at least there was some decent action. The finish saw Stan Hansen hitting the lariat on Davey Boy Smith, and Ted DiBiase then hit a powerslam on Davey Boy for the win. Davey Boy didn’t really do anything of note here, other than doing the job. Stan Hansen was good in his role of being Stan Hansen, clobbering his opponents with his no-nonsense style. Dynamite Kid showed some good explosiveness when he was in the ring, especially when he was working with DiBiase. **1/4

AJPW 11/27/85 Sapporo Nakajima Sports Center: Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask II 10:04. This sounded like a dream match on paper, but it was merely a decent or pretty good match in actuality. This certainly wasn’t anything like the matches Dynamite Kid had with Shodai Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) in NJPW during the early ‘80s. Tiger Mask II (Mitsuharu Misawa) couldn’t quite live up to the reputation of Shodai Tiger Mask. Misawa lacked the spectacular skills that made Sayama so special, and Misawa also lacked fire. Misawa would really start hitting his potential as a wrestler once the gimmick was dropped, and he started wrestling under his real name in 1990. It’s not just because of Misawa that this match wasn’t as good as it looked on paper though. Dynamite Kid was still very good in late 1985, but no longer the worker he was in previous years. He did a couple of good-looking moves, but he wasn’t as energetic and flexible as he used to be. That’s what spending a lot of time in WWF will do to you, which he had been doing a lot more often since March ‘85. Dynamite was probably legitimately close to 225 lbs here due to the large amounts of steroids he has been using. They did a couple of nice reversals early in the match, but then there wasn’t much happening until the final minutes. One of the highlights of the match was Dynamite’s superplex where he back suplexed Misawa off the top rope. The finish came Dynamite, while standing on the apron, suplexed Misawa to the floor. They both ended up getting counted out. **¾

AJPW 11/30/85 Yokohama Culture Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Tiger Mask II & Mighty Inoue 9:09. Dynamite Kid was like a huge bundle of Dynamite. He was quite explosive and energetic during the early minutes of the match. Davey Boy Smith press slammed Mitsuharu Misawa to the floor. Dynamite hit a vicious running clothesline on Misawa and also a tombstone piledriver. Misawa almost pinned Dynamite with a German suplex, but Dynamite kicked out. Misawa hit a plancha off the top onto Davey Boy, who was on the floor. In the meantime, Dynamite went to the top rope to hit a flying headbutt in the ring onto Inoue. Dynamite scored the pinfall. Mighty Inoue wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t very mighty either. This was a fun match for what it was, a random televised non-tournament tag match during the tag team tournament tour. **1/2

AJPW 12/4/85 Fukuoka International Center: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Yoshiaki Yatsu & Norio Honaga. Yoshiaki Yatsu had a highly successful amateur career prior to becoming a pro wrestler in December 1980, after Japan boycotted what would have been his 2nd trip to the Olympics. Norio Honaga was originally a NJPW worker, and would later return to NJPW and have a run as the top native heel in the early days of the Liger era junior division when all the 80's stars had either went back to shoot style or been promoted to heavyweight. He looked quite small here, especially compared to the roided Bulldogs and heavyweight wrestler Yatsu. Honaga took quite a beating from the British Bulldogs here. Dynamite’s execution was really good. There was a lot of intensity behind every move he did. Dynamite hit a superplex on Honaga for the win. This is only recommended for fans of the Bulldogs. **1/2

AJPW 12/7/85 Yamagata-ken Taiikukan, ‘85 World’s Strongest Tag Decision League: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Genichiro Tenryu 15:48. Exactly one month after defeating the mediocre Nikolai Volkoff in less than 10 seconds on a WWF show, Dynamite Kid was in Japan facing two of the top wrestlers in the world. What a difference a month makes. This match stands out because Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu were two of the biggest stars at the time, so this was quite a competitive match. Most of the British Bulldogs matches from 1985 were not very competitive and had the Bulldogs plow through their midcard competition. This match was certainly a different story. The Bulldogs were more focussed and serious here. Dynamite showed his usually strong intensity, and he executed his moves in a vicious manner. I like how the crowd chanted: “Kitto! Kitto!” even though Dynamite was facing the great Jumbo Tsuruta. Dynamite and Tsuruta hit lariats on each other, and both rolled to the floor, on opposite sides of the ring. Tenryu really made Davey Boy work to get the sasorigatame applied. Dynamite applied a Boston crab on Tsuruta. Dynamite hit a falling headbutt on Tsuruta. Davey Boy executed a fisherman’s suplex on Tsuruta. Davey Boy lifted Tenryu on his shoulders. Dynamite Kid used Tenryu’s back as a springboard for the flying headbutt on Tsuruta, who sold it tremendously and rolled to the outside. Both teams started brawling on the floor. Like so many other matches during the ‘85 World’s Strongest Tag Decision League, the result of this match was a double count-out. While this was one of the Bulldogs’ best matches of 1985, the middle portion of the match wasn’t too exciting (and all four workers appeared to be fine with that), and that’s one of the main reasons this match was disappointing. **3/4

AJPW 12/12/85 Tokyo Nippon Budokan ‘85 World’s Strongest Tag Decision League: Dynamite Kid vs. Harley Race & Jesse Barr 7:27. This turned out to be Dynamite Kid’s last match in Japan until he would return to Japan a little over 3 years later. Harley Race hit a diving headbutt on Davey Boy Smith. Dynamite Kid hit a diving headbutt on Jesse Barr. Race hit a diving headbutt off the apron onto Dynamite, who was on the floor. Both teams ended up brawling on the floor and getting counted out. This match was all about diving headbutts. Race was the inventor of the move, but Dynamite Kid perfected it. Race apparently regretted inventing the move because of the damage it has done to several wrestlers who performed the move regularly. This was an okay match, and it was mostly noteworthy because it Dynamite in the same match as the legendary Harley Race. **¼

Stampede 12/2/88 Calgary, AB, Stampede International Tag Team Title: Cuban Assassin & Gerry Morrow vs. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith 3:22 shown. Cuban Commandos vs. British Bulldogs. This was the first match back in Stampede for the British Bulldogs. The Bulldogs won via count-out. This was mainly interesting because it was good to see the Bulldogs back in Stampede. However, Dynamite certainly wasn’t the wrestler he was before the injury he had suffered on 12/13/86. ** 

Stampede 12/9/88 Calgary, AB, Stampede International Tag Team Title, Steel Cage: Cuban Assassin & Gerry Morrow vs. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith. Unfortunately, they couldn’t show this cage match because it was considered too violent. The British Bulldogs won the belts.

Stampede 12/30/88 Calgary, AB Stampede International Tag Team Title: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Vokhan Singh & Makhan Singh 3:00 shown. Dynamite Kid did the job to Makhan Singh after outside interference. The British Bulldogs lost the belts. This match looked like nothing special at all. It kinda reminded me of the average quality matches the Bulldogs would have in the WWF in 1987-1988.

AJPW 1/2/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Tiger Mask II & Shinichi Nakano 9:35. After more than three years, Dynamite Kid was back in Japan. He got a big crowd reaction, and the Japanese fans were clearly happy to have him back. Dynamite had lost quite a bit of size compared to the last time he was in Japan (in late 1985, when he was probably at his most roided). Davey Boy Smith was still the massively roided Bulldog he had been for years now. Davey Boy mostly did power moves. Dynamite hit Nakano with a thunderous running clothesline. He also did his signature snap suplex and a falling headbutt. Misawa did a kick-up, followed up with a back body drop on Dynamite. Misawa then hit a spin kick that sent Dynamite to the floor. After a lengthy portion of the match where Davey Boy spent quite some time selling for the opposition, Dynamite got the pinfall win over Nakano after a superplex. Dynamite didn’t spend much time in the ring, but whenever he did, he made sure it was explosive. It was a decent match overall, but it was mostly memorable because it was Dynamite’s first match back in All Japan after a long time, and not really for any other reason. Later that show, along with both Footloose members (Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki), both Bulldogs would end up being two of the final four in a 20-man battle royal. **1/2

AJPW 1/9/89 Ishinomaki City Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Shinichi Nakano & Shunji Takano 10:50. Shunji Takano was the brother of George Takano (The Cobra), and some might remember his 1995/1996 run as Giant Zebra in Michinoku Pro. Davey Boy worked the majority of the match. Dynamite Kid executed a running clothesline, a kneedrop, a snap suplex and a falling fist on Shinichi Nakano. When Dynamite was in there with Shunji, Dynamite hit some stiff-looking elbow smashes and a falling headbutt. Later in the match, Dynamite hit a tombstone piledriver on Nakano. For a while, Davey Boy was selling quite a bit for the opposition until he hit a powerslam on Nakano, lifted Shunji on his shoulders, and let Dynamite leap off the top rope via Shunji’s back onto Nakano with a diving headbut for the win. This felt like an extended squash with Dynamite just getting his main moves in, and Davey Boy doing a bit of selling before eventually the opposition would go down relatively easily. Dynamite was not able to go as much as he used to. Still, whenever he was in the ring, at least he made sure he executed everything with a lot of intensity. **1/4

AJPW 1/25/89 Osaka Furitsu Taiiku Kaikan: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Samson Fuyuki 17:57. This was significantly better than the matches the British Bulldogs had earlier this tour, and this match was more competitive than the previous Bulldogs matches on this tour. Davey Boy Smith worked the majority of the early part of the match, but as the match progressed, we got to see more of Dynamite. Samson Fuyuki gave a very good effort. It was cool to see Dynamite Kid and Genichiro Tenryu face each other early in the match. One of the coolest sequences in the match was when Fuyuki suplexed Dynamite off the apron into the ring, then they each reversed a suplex attempt until Dynamite hit a devastating belly-to-back suplex, which the commentators marked out for (“baaakku doroppu~!”). Dynamite seemed really into this match, and even challenged Tenryu to come out and play. Dynamite proceeded to stiff up Tenryu with a series of sharp elbow smashes. Tenryu juiced, and started bleeding from the chin area. The finish was spectacular as it had Dynamite hitting the diving headbutt off of Fuyuki’s back while Fuyuki was on Davey Boy’s shoulders, but Tenryu moved out of the way, which resulted in Dynamite hitting the canvas. Once Dynamite was back up, Tenryu finished Dynamite off for the victory. This match was lots of fun, and it was good to see Dynamite do more things than he had been doing previously on this tour. This was the most memorable Bulldogs match in a long time up until that point in time. ***1/4

AJPW 1/27/89 Utsunomiya Tochigi City Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Masanobu Fuchi & Isao Takagi 11:03. This was one of those matches where the Bulldogs were pretty much just working a glorified squash. Masa Fuchi was a reliable worker and very good worker, but he wasn’t a top dog. Isao Takagi was an undercard worker who really didn’t bring much to the table, who later became Arashi, an upper mid card worker who still didn’t bring much to the table. Fuchi briefly tried to make this match more interesting, but the Bulldogs insisted on this being a glorified squash. Takagi was mediocre and gave the Bulldogs even less of a reason to care about this match than they already did. This is one of the least interesting Bulldogs matches that had taken place in Japan up until this point in time. This first tour of 1989 was certainly a very interesting tour because it was their first tour of Japan since late 1985, but it sure was filled with inconsistency and uncertainty. You never really knew what you’d get from the Bulldogs. **

AJPW 1/28/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Joe Malenko & Dean Malenko 23:55. This took place a day after a disappointing glorified squash the Bulldogs worked against Masa Fuchi and the mediocre Isao Takagi. On this tour, the first tour back in Japan after more than three years of absence, the Bulldogs’ matcheswere mostly average to decent, with just one good match so far (on 1/25/89 against Tenryu & Fuyuki). Just when you thought the Bulldogs weren’t going to have any matches that were better than merely good, they ended up having this excellent match against the Malenko brothers. Initially, according to Dynamite Kid’s book, he didn’t think this would be a good match-up because of the differences in styles. Luckily, he turned out to be wrong, much to his own surprise. In fact, the Malenkos are two of the few people he had nothing bad to say about in his book. Anyway, early in the match Dean Malenko was wowing the crowd already with some fancy moves when he was in there with Davey Boy. Dynamite and Joe were tagged in, and they had everyone’s full attention. They drew everyone in with their matwork and reversals. Dean and Davey Boy did some good-looking stuff again. When Dynamite was in with Dean, he hit Dean with a ferocious snap suplex. In particular, the segments between Dynamite and Joe were fascinating. Joe has to be one of the more underrated wrestlers ever. Joe was on the receiving-end of a tombstone piledriver by Dynamite. Even Davey Boy was more inspired than he had been in a long time. Some of the middle portion of the match was a bit slower, partially due to Davey Boy’s lack of stamina. Dean managed to hit an excellent German suplex on Davey Boy. One of the coolest spots had Davey Boy about to press slam Dynamite onto Joe, but Dean dropkicked both Bulldogs over the top rope. After some struggling, Dynamite eventually managed to pin Joe. Both teams received a standing ovation from the crowd, and deservingly so. What made this match so special was that unlike most tag teams, instead of simply letting the Bulldogs do their stuff, the Malenkos were adding a different element to the match by letting the Bulldogs struggle a bit more. The Bulldogs seemed to enjoy this invitation to do something different, and to their credit, they put their egos aside and focused on wrestling instead of steamrolling over the competition. This was the most technical wrestling Dynamite had been displaying in over five years or so. It’s almost like the Malenkos unlocked a lost level inside of Dynamite, and Dynamite remembered that years ago he was able to go on the mat. Even Davey Boy stepped up his workrate up a notch, and worked this match like it was 1984 when he was still showing passion for what he was doing (it’s a shame he wasn’t as flexible as in 1984 though). Also, this match was certainly the most creative and competitive Bulldogs match in a long time. I’d say that out of all the matches the Bulldogs wrestled as a tag team, this was the best Bulldogs match ever. ****

WWA 2/2/89 Kansas City, KS Memorial Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson 30:00. The British Bulldogs vs. The Rock N’ Roll Express was a dream match between two of the most famous teams of the 80s, but the match turned out to be a lot better on paper than it was in actuality. It was a long match, and this probably would have been better if it was at least 15 minutes shorter. It was one of those matches where no one could lose, but since both teams were babyface tag teams, some of the usual screw job options were out, though actually both teams were occasionally heeling it up. It was a relatively slow match that never really took off, and it felt they spent most of the match killing time without really doing anything to make this match live up to the “dream match” it appeared to be on paper. This match was part of the International Bash, a show held in Kansas City. The show featured some wrestlers from AJPW, and I guess through the AJPW connection that the Bulldogs ended up being booked for this show as well. Pat O’Connor was the referee for this match. Dynamite Kid showed glimpses of his viciousness during parts of the match. Ricky Morton spent a long time being Ricky Morton, which means he spent a lot of time selling. During the final few minutes, they started having more exciting action, but it was too late to make this match good. The match ended in a time limit draw. **1/4

Stampede 2/3/89 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede International Tag Team Title: Vokhan Singh & Makhan Singh vs. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith 3:44 shown. The idea behind the villainous Karachi Vice stable the Singhs were a part of is so bad that it’s good. Basically, Gary Albright and Mike Shaw, two big American workers, had become “born-again Pakistani” and were now known as Vokhan Singh & Makhan Singh respectively. I believe it was Bruce Hart who came up with the idea as Bruce had lots of crazy ideas that were kinda out there for sure. The match didn’t seem to be anything special. Commentators Ed Whalen and Bob Brown made reference to the Japanese tour the Bulldogs had just returned from. The Singhs deliberately got themselves disqualified by hitting referee Wayne Hart. This match was just a teaser for next week’s match, which would be a no DQ match.

Stampede 2/10/89 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede International Tag Team Title: Vokhan Singh & Makhan Singh vs. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith 3:27. This time it was a no DQ match, but the match ended in a no-contest anyway when Johnny Smith interfered against the Bulldogs. Even though this was a decent match, the post-match promos were more intense than the match itself.

Stampede 2/17/89 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, English Chain: Dynamite Kid vs. Johnny Smith 2:12 shown. This was a chain match. We only got to see the very first couple of minutes and the finish. Dynamite won the match after touching all four corners. They couldn’t air the rest of the match because it was too violent.

Stampede 2/24/89 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Gama Singh 4:30 shown. Dynamite Kid and Gama Singh revived their feud from the early 1980s. Gama’s manager Abu Wizal took a bump. Dynamite Kid hit a nice-looking tombstone piledriver. Gama Singh executed a cobra clutch. Dynamite suplexed Gama over the top rope, and they both went to the floor. Referee Wayne Hart stopped the match and ruled it a no-contest. Apart from the spots I mentioned, nothing really special happened. **

Stampede 3/3/89 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith & Brian Pillman vs. Vokhan Singh & Gama Singh & Makhan Singh 5:10 shown. In a promo earlier on the show, Dynamite Kid mentioned that he was thinking of hanging his boots up at some point because he has too many injuries. He also mentioned that he would like to dedicate his boots to a young man who he believes will be the superstar of the ‘90s, and that’s Chris Benoit. In this six-man tag where the British Bulldogs teamed with Brian Pillman, it was Pillman who really stood out through his tremendous energy and athleticism. The match ended when Larry Cameron interfered, but he got chased out of the ring by Chris Benoit, who came to the rescue. The post-match promos were kinda fun. This was interesting because this footage has Pillman and Benoit in it, and those two would become big names in the 1990s after getting their start in Calgary in the late ‘80s. **1/2

Stampede 5/5/89 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, English Chain: Dynamite Kid vs. Johnny Smith 5:30 shown. This was billed as the “Battle of Britain.” We got to see the first five and a half minutes until they stopped showing footage due to excessive violence. Dynamite Kid was bleeding from the forehead after Johnny Smith started using the chain as a weapon. In the post-match stuff, it was revealed that Dynamite had become a villain again, like he was in his earlier days in Stampede. It was around this time that they were planning a big feud between Dynamite and Davey Boy Smith.

AJPW 5/12/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Danny Kroffat & Doug Furnas 17:50. The British Bulldogs vs. The Can-Am Express. While Stampede Wrestling, in an attempt to turn business around, was in the middle of running a big angle that involved the split-up of the British Bulldogs, Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith were a tag team on this tour in AJPW, just as they usually were when they worked for Giant Baba. The Bulldogs were one of Baba’s top acts, and apparently Baba didn’t like the idea of the Bulldogs splitting up, so he just no-sold the Stampede booking. Their opponents in this match were Doug Furnas from Oklahoma and Danny Kroffat (Phil Lafon) from central Canada. Phil Lafon was named Danny Kroffat after the original “Cowboy” Daniel Kroffat, who was from Western Canada and mostly known for his run in the 1970s in Stampede, during which he invented the ladder match while he was a booker (and later it was Bret Hart who introduced the ladder match in the WWF, and Shawn Michaels who took credit for popularizing it, but that’s an entirely different story). When Lafon wrestled in Stampede, he was known as Phil Lafleur. Dynamite and Lafon started the match off. They didn’t want to give each other an inch. It was Dynamite who eventually got the upper hand and hit a great-looking snap suplex. Davey Boy and Furnas did some powerhouse stuff as they tried to escape each other’s full nelson hold and other lacklustre action. Once Dynamite and Lafon were back in the ring, Lafon leaped at Dynamite with an elbow that sent Dynamite to the floor. Lafon charged at Dynamite with a tope suicida. When Lafon worked with Davey Boy, he brought out whatever athletic skills Davey Boy had still left at that time. Furnas seemed inspired by this and hit an amazing dropkick, among other spectacular moves. Dynamite hit a drop kick off the top rope. Later in the match, Dynamite hit a superplex on Lafon. In the end, Dynamite managed to pin Lafon to win the match. Lafon really stood out the most in this match as he was the most spectacular and most creative worker in this match, but everyone else gave a pretty good showing too. All four workers were into this match, and the crowd seemed to love it (understandably so). Dynamite tried his best, but he was clearly quite broken down by this point in his career, and he was suffering from a lot of back pain. It’s quite ironic that the best matches the Bulldogs worked as a tag team took place in 1989, which was after what most would consider the prime years of the Bulldogs. I guess it has a lot to do with them being more interested in steamrolling over their opponents in Japan in 1984-1985, and their work in WWF doesn’t hold up very well (like most WWF). ***1/2

AJPW 5/20/89 Koyama Yuenchi Skate Center: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Danny Kroffat & Doug Furnas 13:14 of 18:04. Danny Kroffat (Phil Lafon), this time proudly displaying the Canadian colors on his trunks, gave a very good showing in this rematch between the British Bulldogs and the Can-Am Express. Doug Furnas showed his athletic ability. Davey Boy Smith was significantly less energetic here than he was eight days earlier during this tour. Dynamite Kid tried his best, considering what he was capable of at this stage of his career as a worker who was suffering from permanent back pain. To further proof that point, Dynamite took a huge bump off the top turnbuckle to the floor when he was dropkicked by Furnas. I don’t know if that showed Dynamite was really passionate or really crazy, but perhaps it’s a bit of both. The Bulldogs were still a big deal at the time, and they once again were able to beat the Can-Am Express. Davey Boy hit a running powerslam on Kroffat, and Dynamite finished things off with a diving headbutt. This was a slower, a bit of a watered down version of their very good match eight days prior (5/12/89). Still, this one from 5/20/89 was pretty good overall and worth watching. *** 

AJPW 5/24/89 Sakata Kenritsu Taiikukan, AJPW World Tag Team Title: Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith 16:47. The British Bulldogs got a title shot against the World Tag Team Champions, Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu. This was a really interesting match-up because the Bulldogs were still able to have good matches here, and Jumbo Tsuruta was one of the best wrestlers in the world at the time. Yoshiaki Yatsu was a solid tag team wrestler. The Bulldogs started off with a lot of aggression. They needed that aggression if they wanted to win this match. Tsuruta & Yatsu were two strong powerful heavyweight wrestlers, and that meant that the Bulldogs weren’t able to bully their opponents around here. Dynamite was respected by the Japanese fans, and many of them popped loudly when Dynamite executed a dynamic snap suplex on Tsuruta. After Dynamite worked over Tsuruta a bit on the mat (which featured some neat selling by Tsuruta), Dynamite tagged in Davey Boy, who ended up being on the receiving-end of a Tsuruta jumping high knee, which looked great. Tsuruta & Yatsu were no-nonsense in their approach, but they had a rough time against the Bulldogs, who weren’t about to back down from any team, regardless of reputation. It was good to see Dynamite’s viciousness really come into play here, and Davey Boy was good in the role of the follower. The Bulldogs came close to victory when Davey Boy press slammed Yatsu, and Dynamite followed it up with a diving headbutt. However, Tsuruta broke up the pin attempt to save his team from defeat. A bit later on, Tsuruta hit Dynamite with a jumping high knee and a piledriver. Tsuruta took a big bump shoulder-first into the ringpost when Davey Boy moved out of the way as Tsuruta came charging at him. Dynamite worked over Tsurta’s left arm a bit, and Dave Boy continued the attack when he was tagged in. Dynamite hit Tsuruta with a running clothesline. Dynamite was signalling Davey Boy to throw Tsuruta headfirst into Dynamite’s head. This is how the Bulldogs won the World Tag Team Championship elsewhere back in 1986. However, this time, it backfired on them as Tsuruta managed to counter, and Tsuruta rammed the Bulldogs’ heads into each other. Davey Boy went down, and Tsuruta scored the pinfall win. This was a good match, and it was nice to see Dynamite still be able to show some of his old intensity at times. *** 

AJPW 5/27/89 Aizuwakamatsu Aizu City Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki 13:20. Dynamite Kid showed a lot of intensity. All four tried hard. Toshiaki Kawada stood out for the Footloose team. Dynamite threw Samson Fuyuki’s head onto a table, right in front of Giant Baba. Davey Boy Smith pinned Fuyuki after a powerslam off the second rope. This was a fun match, and it was pretty good, but I was hoping for more after 1989 had provided some surprisingly good Bulldogs matches. **¾

AJPW 6/5/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy 14:36. This match took place on the same show as the classic Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Genichiro Tenryu and Footloose vs. Can-Am matches. The British Bulldogs faced two of the top American brawlers in AJPW at the time, Stan Hansen and Terry Gordy. The crowd at Budokan was really into this, and there was a loud pop when Dynamite Kid was able to take the much larger Gordy down with a shoulder block, and a snap suplex. After Hansen & Gordy were able to dominate Davey Boy for a bit, Davey Boy was able to hit a big press slam on Gordy. There were a lot of duller moments in the match though as these two teams weren’t able to keep their momentum going. In the end, it was Hansen who beat Davey Boy after hitting the lariat. Davey Boy knew his role, Hansen was Hansen, and Gordy deserves credit for doing a pretty good job working the majority of the match for his team. Dynamite Kid gave a good performance, and he was explosive when he was in the match. **1/2

Stampede 6/16/89 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Sumu Hara 5:29. Dynamite Kid had returned from his All Japan tour, during which he teamed with Davey Boy Smith. However, back in Calgary, he was still in the middle of the angle that was about the split-up of the British Bulldogs. Dynamite Kid was accompanied by his new tag team partner Johnny Smith and their heel manager Abu Wizal. Dynamite and Johnny were known as the British Bruisers. Sumu Hara was Koki Kitahara, a Japanese wrestler who had started his career in AJPW in 1988, and he would end up spending most of the 1990s in the WAR promotion. Dynamite was dominating the match. After five minutes, Kitahara fought back briefly. Kitahara came off the top rope, but Dynamite caught him in a powerslam for the win. This was pretty much a squash match. *3/4

Stampede 6/30/89 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith vs. Chris Benoit & Ken Johnson 7:45 shown. Kenny Johnson was a wrestler from Alberta. He spent most of his career in Canada. He would occasionally be used as a jobber whenever WWF had TV tapings in Alberta in the 1990s. Chris Benoit was one of the most promising workers in the world at the time. Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith were the British Bruisers. Johnson was completely dominated by the Bruisers. Johnson was finally able to make the tag to Benoit, who was giving both Bruisers a pounding. Benoit eventually tagged Johnson back in, and Johnson was defeated via a superplex by Dynamite. This was interesting when Benoit was briefly in, but it was a squash match for the most part. **

Stampede 7/15/89 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith vs. Sumu Hara & Ron Ritchie 9:40. Ron Ritchie was a mediocre wrestler from Winnipeg, MB. Sumu Hara threw some good kicks. Dynamite hit a superplex on Kitahara, but Dynamite sold being hurt himself after executing the move. The Bruisers double-teamed Ritchie and then finished him off. This was basically a glorified squash match as the British Bruisers dominated most of this match. **

Stampede 7/21/89 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Davey Boy Smith interview. Davey Boy Smith had been injured in a car crash and was not able to participate in the “dog fight of the decade” against Dynamite Kid, which was a match they had been building up for weeks. Dynamite and Johnny Smith were about to beat up Davey Boy, but Owen Hart made his return and saved Davey Boy. Owen threw a tremendous dropkick on Johnny and a tremendous suplex on Dynamite. They set up a match for the following week, a fight between Dynamite and Owen.

Stampede 7/28/89 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Owen Hart. Unfortunately, they only showed some slow-motion clips and stills of this match.

Stampede 8/4/89 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, street fight: Dynamite Kid vs. Owen Hart. Unfortunately, they only showed some slow-motion clips and stills of this match.

Stampede 8/11/89 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, street fight: Dynamite Kid vs. Owen Hart 5:51 of 12:07. This match is on Stampede Wrestling Classics Vol. 5. It was the last match Dynamite Kid worked for Stampede wrestling. His opponent, Owen Hart, was the most talented athlete of all the Hart brothers. Owen hit a tremendous missile dropkick, and Dynamite bumped well for it. Both workers juiced. Owen won the match by pinfall. It was interesting to see Dynamite and Owen wrestle each other, but it’s a shame we got to see less than half the match. **3/4

AJPW 11/19/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith & Kenta Kobashi vs. Danny Kroffat & Doug Furnas & Masa Fuchi 20:17. This was around the time that the Bulldogs would slowly go down the card in AJPW. Dynamite was only taking a small amount of steroids at the time, nothing like he used to take, so he had lost a lot of size. Davey Boy Smith was still suffering from some of the injuries he sustained in the car accident he was involved in in July, but unlike Dynamite, Davey Boy was still using lots of steroids. By this point in time, the Bulldogs were done with Stampede Wrestling, which would end up going out of business by the end of the year. Danny Kroffat (Phil Lafon) and Kenta Kobashi worked well against each other. Doug Furnas’ dropkicks are amazing and they are some of the best dropkicks in the business, right up there on a Brian Pillman-level of great dropkicks. Dynamite threw Lafon really hard into the guardrail at ringside. Davey Boy lifted Fuchi up in the air and Kobashi hit Fuchi with a flying dropkick. Lafon hit a nice superkick and a well-executed DDT on Kobashi. After some stiff action against Fuchi, Dynamite started bleeding from the nose. Davey Boy pinned Fuchi to win the match. The final minutes were pretty good, and it was quite a decent match overall. **1/2

AJPW 11/25/89 Fuji Municipal Yoshiwara Gym, World Strongest Determination Tag League: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu 11:56. This was a match from the annual tag team tournament that All Japan is so famous for running. This was around the time Yoshiaki Yatsu, who was a successful amateur wrestler prior to his pro wrestling run, started wearing the amateur wrestling headgear for his matches. On this tour, it was clear that Davey Boy Smith had slowed down a lot, but he was still able to do enough athletic sequences to get by. Dynamite Kid was really starting becoming too broken down by this point, to the point that he didn’t have the energy level he had just a few months prior to this match. All four workers gave a good effort, and it was easy to get drawn into the match because they took this match seriously. Jumbo Tsuruta won the match for his team by pinning Dynamite. **3/4

AJPW 12/4/89 Sendai Miyagi-ken Sports Center: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Samson Fuyuki & Yoshinari Ogawa 14:19. Dynamite Kid was still able to show lots of intensity in six-man tags like this because that would give him plenty of time to rest on the apron when his tag team partners were working, which is what he needed around this time of his career. Davey Boy Smith was overly roided, but he was still able to contribute with some decent stuff. Kenta Kobashi did well for himself, and he gave a pretty good performance. Kobashi was only a 1 1/2 years into his career, and thus hadn’t come close to hitting his peak. Yoshinari Ogawa was okay. Toshiaki Kawada stood out the most for his team. Samson Fuyuki gave a solid performance in this match, and he took a big bump when he was superplexed by Dynamite. It was interesting to see Kawada and Kobashi battle it out during this match because that was a sign of great things to come for AJPW. Ogawa did the job when he got destroyed by the opposition as Dynamite & Kobashi assisted Davey Boy piledrivering Ogawa for the win. ***

AJPW 12/6/89 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, World’s Strongest Determination Tag League: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Danny Kroffat & Doug Furnas 17:48. These two tag teams had a couple of good matches against each other in May 1989. However, this match from the ‘89 World’s Strongest Determination Tag League was slightly less impressive. It was the last day on the tour. Dynamite Kid, who had been having serious back problems during the past three years by this point, seemed to have some serious back pain a few minutes into the match. Dynamite was broken down to the point he had to keep tagging Davey Boy back into the ring after Dynamite only spent very little time in the ring. Dynamite was never a worker to give up or take it easy though. He showed he was willing to work as hard as he could, even when he was physically not really able to do much. Danny Kroffat (Phil Lafon) gave a very good performance. He showed plenty of great athletic moves, and he played an important role in making sure this match wasn’t falling apart too much. Doug Furnas also played his role well in this match as he showed really good athleticism and power. Furnas’ dropkick was tremendous. Even with his back pain, Dynamite was willing to take a bump off the top rope after Furnas dropkicked him in the corner. There was a cool double leapfrog spot where both members of the Can-Am Express leapfrogged over Davey Boy, and then they hit him with a fallaway slam. Dynamite was clearly hurting, and the Japanese crowd appreciated Dynamite’s efforts by chanting: “Kitto! Kitto!” near the finish. Dynamite superplexed Kroffat, which seemed to take all of Dynamite’s last strength he had left for this match. It was clearly time to go home. Davey Boy pinned Furnas, and the Bulldogs were victorious. Considering the fact that the Bulldogs were clearly not in top form, and the fact that the Can-Am Express did a good job in making the most out of this match, it was still quite a decent match overall. **3/4

AJPW 1/2/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Tiger Mask II & Shinichi Nakano 12:32. The 1990s is a period of the Dynamite Kid’s career that I consider his “legends mode” phase. By that, I mean that he was still very much respected as a legend, but he was a shell of his former self as he was a broken man physically. It’s almost like he was just invited for these early 1990s All Japan tours because Giant Baba respects him, and Giant Baba probably marked for the British Bulldogs. In a way, it’s almost sad to watch 1990s Dynamite matches because he had been such an exceptional worker in the past. This match was really nothing special, even though it was nice to see Dynamite get the win over Nakano via a superplex. If we think back about the match the Bulldogs had exactly one year prior, it was a very happy situation because the Bulldogs were back after a lengthy period of absence. But, here in January 1990, the fans were clearly witnessing the Bulldogs past their prime. Apart from Dynamite being broken down, Davey Boy Smith was also not able to do what he used to do either. In his case, it was mostly that he was overly roided. Tiger Mask II (Mitsuharu Misawa) only seemed to care for a few minutes, and Shinichi Nakano was treated like a jobber, so it’s no wonder this was not even close to being a good match. **

AJPW 1/3/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Tiger Mask II & Masanobu Fuchi 7:24. Tiger Mask II tried to work a bit more fancy than usual here, and he seemed to care more than he did the day prior. Masa Fuchi was obviously a much better tag team partner for Misawa than Shinichi Nakano was the day before. Davey Boy Smith was quite okay in this match. Even though Dynamite Kid was only decent by this point, he was still Dynamite. After Davey Boy was done beating up his opponents, Dynamite hit a flying headbutt for the win. This was a fun little match for fans of the British Bulldogs, but it wasn’t too competitive, and the Bulldogs used to have better matches. **1/4

AJPW 1/11/90 Nagoya Tsuyuhashi Shi Taiikukan: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Akira Taue & Isao Takagi 8:28. The British Bulldogs were okay, considering this was 1990. Akira Taue gave a pretty good showing as he worked hard, and he clearly tried to contribute. Isao Takagi seemed to have improved slightly in the past year as he wasn’t as bad as he was in his January 1989 meeting with the Bulldogs. As the match progressed, the Bulldogs seemed to get more into the match. The Bulldogs won the match when Dynamite pinned Taue via a flying headbutt. **1/4

AJPW 1/14/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton 19:23. By this point in their respective careers, Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith were solely relying on the All Japan tours because Stampede Wrestling had closed down. The British Bulldogs stepped up their game a bit because in this match they gave that extra little bit of effort they weren’t able to give in most other matches on this tour. The Fantastics were quite fantastic, especially Tommy Rogers, who was trying to get everyone to work harder in this match. Dynamite and Bobby Fulton did some cool reversals on the mat. In the end, it was Dynamite who pinned Rogers after a flying headbutt. If this was the Bulldogs from a year earlier, it probably would have been a very good match, but this match still ended up being pretty good. **¾

AJPW 1/28/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith & Tiger Mask II vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Masa Fuchi 11:00 shown. This match was particularly interesting because it had Jumbo Tsuruta in it, and Tsuruta was the top guy in AJPW at the time. It’s interesting that Tiger Mask II teamed with the British Bulldogs here. I guess it shows that in this Tsuruta vs. Misawa feud at the time, Misawa would rather team with the gaijin team that had beaten him up like a jobber than team with his arch rival Tsuruta. Misawa was a bit more motivated here than he usually was during this Tiger Mask II run because he knew working this feud against Tsuruta was going to be good for his future, and it was Tsuruta who brought out the best of Misawa during Misawa’s Tiger Mask II days. This match was fun to watch, and the fact that Tsuruta was in it made this obviously a more high profile match than if he wouldn’t be in it. They kept the action going throughout the match. Masa Fuchi was truly in his element here, as he excelled in the six-man tags during the Tsuruta vs. Misawa feud. Yoshiaki Yatsu was the one who stood out the least in this match. Dynamite was decent and made an impact whenever he was in the match. He was past his prime, but he tried, and since this was a six-man tag, it allowed him to rest on the apron in between the times he made his in-ring contribution. Davey Boy did some power moves, and he was kinda what you’d expect from 1990 Davey Boy Smith. His work was nothing fancy, but he made some contributions to the match. Misawa hit a nice pescado on Fuchi when Fuchi was on the floor. Tsuruta and Misawa only briefly worked against each other, just enough for people to keep wishing for more in the future. After Davey Boy hit a powerslam on Fuchi, Dynamite went for a diving headbutt, but Tsuruta & Yatsu saved Fuchi by pulling Fuchi away. Dynamite hit a superplex on Fuchi, but Fuchi kicked out at two. The crowd was really into this match. Dynamite lifted Fuchi on Davey Boy’s shoulders, who then hit a powerslam off the second rope for the win while Dynamite tackled Yatsu, who tried to break the pin attempt. This was probably the last good match Dynamite ever was involved in, and it was also the very last time that Dynamite & Davey Boy were in the same match. This is particularly significant when you realize that literally almost half of Dynamite’s matches ever were matches that had Davey Boy Smith in it, either as tag team partner or as an opponent. ***1/4

AJPW 9/30/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith vs. Joe Malenko & Dean Malenko 16:27 of 19:50 Dynamite Kid brought a new tag team partner to this All Japan tour, and his name was Johnny Smith. They were known as the New British Bulldogs, or, as they used to be known as in Calgary, the British Bruisers. The British Bulldogs had split-up as a tag team, and they were no longer friends either. It’s a shame, and it’s hard to say what really caused this split-up between the two cousins. Davey Boy Smith showed up in WWF in October 1990 though, so perhaps that gives you an idea about Davey Boy’s possible motive. Dynamite had been asked several times by WWF to return, but he would always decline the offer. By this time, Dynamite had lost so much size due to him not using steroids as often as he would in the mid 1980s, that he was now at his smallest since the late 1970s. This was nothing like the match the British Bulldogs had with the Malenkos in January 1989. One of the main reasons for this was that Dynamite had really deteriorated since January 1989. Also, even though Johnny Smith was a pretty good wrestler, he wasn’t Davey Boy Smith in the sense that Davey Boy had been working with Dynamite for so long that the Bulldogs were such a cohesive unit that when Dynamite teamed with Johnny, it didn’t have the same effect. Plus, things just didn’t seem to click like on that 1/28/89 show when the Bulldogs and Malenkos were just really feeling it. This match from 9/30/90 was decent. The Malenkos gave a pretty good performance, especially Dean. The Bruisers were decent. It was nice Dynamite was invited to this show, which was a celebration of Giant Baba’s 30th anniversary as a pro wrestler, but the overall quality of Dynamite’s work kept declining. **1/2

AJPW 3/23/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, ‘91 Champion Carnival League: Dynamite Kid vs. Stan Hansen 7:00. By this point, Dynamite Kid had left Calgary and lived in England again. Dynamite Kid gave up a lot of size against Stan Hansen, but they worked well together, and they were able to make people believe for a little while that Dynamite had at least a small chance to win. In the end, Hansen kicked out of Dynamite’s flying headbutt, and Hansen won the match via the lariat. **¼

AJPW 3/29/91 Niigata Nagaoka-shi Kosei Kaikan: Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 10:08 of 14:08. One of the highlights of this match was Dynamite hitting a falling headbutt on Tsuyoshi Kikuchi through a ringside table. Kikuchi was in the role he was best in, the underdog who was in trouble. Toshiaki Kawada was on the apron, waiting for Kikuchi to finally tag him in. Kawada finally was tagged in, and he worked a bit against Dynamite. When Johnny was tagged in, he hit a dropkick off the top rope, followed up by a kick up, which was something Dynamite used to do. Johnny hit a superplex on Kikuchi. Dynamite hit the diving headbutt on Kikuchi for the pinfall win. It was a pretty good match. It’s a shame Kawada wasn’t in the match that much, but Kikuchi gave a strong performance, so it was an enjoyable match anyway. Kikuchi was the worker of the match. Kawada was excellent during the brief moments he was in though. Johnny Smith gave a pretty good performance, and he worked the majority for his team. Dynamite did quite well in this match though, considering this was 1991. **3/4

AJPW 4/6/91 Osaka Furitsu Taiikukaikan, All Asia Tag Team Title: Kenta Kobashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi vs. Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith 18:06. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi executed a crazy dive over the top rope. Kenta Kobashi hit a beautiful moonsault on Johnny Smith, but Dynamite broke up the pinfall attempt. The finish came when Dynamite hit a flying headbutt on Kikuchi for the pinfall win. The British Bruisers were the new All Asia Tag Team Champions. Johnny worked hard and was pretty good. It’s a shame that Dynamite, while still decent, was certainly past his prime by 1991. Kobashi & Kikuchi were excellent workers at the time, and it would have been really interesting if this was 1984 Dynamite in there against them. Kobashi was the most impressive worker in this match. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi was tremendous in the underdog role, as usual. I bet Kikuchi enjoyed working against Dynamite, who was a hero to Kikuchi. Despite some of the middle part of the match not having too much action, it was a surprisingly good match overall with lots of exciting things happening, an enthusiastic crowd, and even a title change. **¾  

AJPW 4/20/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, All Asia Tag Team Title: Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith vs. Danny Kroffat & Doug Furnas 4:40 of 12:16. The British Bruisers defended the All Asia Tag Team title. Dynamite Kid tried his best. Johnny Smith was solid. Danny Kroffat spent a good amount of time in the ring selling and reacting to the offense of the Bruisers. Doug Furnas hit some tremendous moves, including a Scott Steiner-esque frankensteiner. Only a little over a third of the match aired, but it appeared to be in the **¾ range.

AJPW 11/16/91 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Akira Taue 8:24. This was the opening day of the ‘91 World Strongest Determination Tag League. Dynamite Kid retired after this tour, but came out of retirement in 1993 and worked a few more matches until fully retiring in 1996. In this match, Dynamite showed a lot of intensity. Johnny Smith gave a solid performance. Akira Taue wasn’t too memorable in this match. Jumbo Tsuruta was the worker of the match, and he pinned Johnny Smith to win the match. **3/4

AJPW 12/6/91 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, World Strongest Determination Tag League: Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith vs. Johnny Ace & Sunny Beach 5:51. This was Dynamite Kid’s retirement match. Dynamite pinned Sunny Beach after a flying headbutt. After the match, the AJPW roster shook hands with Dynamite. The match was nothing special, but it was significant because it was Dynamite’s retirement match, and his final All Japan match until he would briefly come back out of retirement in the mid ‘90s. *3/4

AJPW 7/29/93 Tokyo Nippon Budokan: Dynamite Kid & Johnny Smith vs. Jun Akiyama & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 11:23. This was Dynamite Kid’s second match back in Japan since 12/6/91 (he also wrestled a match on 7/28/93). Jun Akiyama was a promising rookie who had made his debut in September 1992. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, who idolized Dynamite, was the worker of the match. Johnny Smith was a solid partner for Dynamite. This was mostly interesting just to see what Dynamite was like in 1993. It was an average match, and Dynamite gave an average performance. Dynamite did some of his signature moves, but obviously not quite with the same power and intensity he used to execute them with. ** 

Michinoku Pro 10/10/96 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan: Dynamite Kid & Kuniaki Kobayashi & Dos Caras vs. Great Sasuke & Tiger Mask & Mil Máscaras. This was a legends match featuring legends from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. I guess Great Sasuke already considered himself a legend and booked himself with these other legends (I can’t blame Sasuke though because he was certainly great, and this was probably a dream match of his). However, this match was almost sad to watch because Dynamite Kid clearly wasn’t able to wrestle any longer. Dynamite was in such a broken down state physically that this was certainly his last match. He only accepted the offer to work this match because he needed the money (and the money Sasuke’s Michinoku Pro was able to offer was unfortunately nowhere near the amount he would get from Giant Baba in AJPW). According to Dynamite’s book, he was feeling quite ill that day, and he was just happy that the match was over when it was over. Dynamite was also feeling a bit down because he realized he really was just booked for his name and not for his ability, and he felt terrible about not having the ability he used to have. When Dynamite was about to fly back to England the day after this show, he had a seizure and missed three flights. During the match, Dynamite just wanted to make sure he was going to be able to make it through the match. Luckily, he could spend most of the match on the apron. This match started off with a very significant battle, which was Dynamite and Shodai Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) wrestling each other for the first time since 1983. Obviously this was nowhere near their 1983 work, but it was cool seeing these two all-time greats in the same ring one more time. One of the main highlights of this match was Great Sasuke hitting a tremendous Asai moonsault on Kuniaki Kobayashi. Soon after this, Mil Máscaras wrestled against his own brother, Dos Caras. Dynamite tried to contribute to the match by executing a snap suplex on Sasuke on the floor. Later in the match, Dynamite slammed Sasuke on a table. Another highlight involving Sasuke took place when Sasuke hit a tremendous tope con giro on Dos Caras. It’s kinda ironic that Sasuke was taking several high risk moves like this in a match that involved a broken down Dynamite, who used to take crazy risks during his prime. Dos Caras gave a pretty good performance here, and probably the best parts of the match were whenever he was in with Sasuke, who was obviously the best here and still at his peak. Mil Máscaras didn’t do anything special in this match, but he hadn’t really done anything special since 1980 or so anyway (unless not doing the job is considered special). Kobayashi gave a good effort and was still able to be quite decent. Sayama was okay, but this forced him back into the style he made famous at the height of his athleticism rather than the shoot style he could more reasonably do at as an older worker. This was an okay-ish match overall, at least considering only Sasuke was still in his prime. If it wasn’t for Sasuke’s tremendous moves, this probably would have been a pretty bad match. Perhaps the most noteworthy fact about this match is that this was Dynamite’s final match ever. *¾ 

1976 decent

1977-1978 pretty good

1979 very good

1980 excellent

1981-1983 great 

1984-1985 very good

1986 pretty good

1987-1988 decent

1989 pretty good

1990-1991 decent

1993 average

After showing his great potential during his early years, Dynamite Kid really started becoming a very good wrestler in 1979. Dynamite’s peak was the early 1980s, and he gave tremendous performances in Japan during this time period. Dynamite’s work in Canada and England was also top-notch around that time. He was one of the very best workers in the world during the early 1980s, arguably the best. Satoru Sayama, Tatsumi Fujinami, Mark Rocco and Marty Jones were among the best opponents Dynamite Kid wrestled during his career. In 1984 and 1985, his work was still very good overall, but he became more inconsistent, and he started slowing down due to excessive steroid usage. However, he was still able to add explosiveness to the matches. From 1986 through late November 1988, he wrestled exclusively for the WWF. That’s why those years are the least interesting years of his career, especially his work after getting severely injured in December 1986. His work in 1989 was quite interesting because it was good to see him wrestling matches in Japan and Canada again. During the 1990s, he was too broken down physically to perform at the level he used to perform at. Even though he was an incredible worker during his relatively short in-ring peak, what perhaps stands out the most about Dynamite is that he is absolutely one of the most influential wrestlers ever. His work, in particular his matches against Sayama, influenced a countless number of wrestlers. In recent times, it has become somewhat normal to see spectacular junior heavyweight matches, but Dynamite was one of the pioneers in an era that mostly had slower heavyweight matches on top of the cards. Dynamite’s in-ring work helped people in the wrestling business to start thinking more outside the box. In the end, Dynamite should certainly be considered one of the fifty greatest male pro wrestlers of all time. 

1. NJPW 4/21/83 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title Decision Match: Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask 11:11; 6:52. *****

2. NJPW 8/5/82 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid 15:57. ****¾

3. NJPW 7/23/82 Ishikawa Prefectural Industrial Exhibition Hall #3: Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask 13:54. ****½ 

4. NJPW 2/5/80 Aichi-ken Taiikukan, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Dynamite Kid 14:54. ****½ 

5. NJPW 4/23/81 Tokyo Kuramae Kokugikan: Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask 9:29. ****¼ 

6. NJPW 1/1/82 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Decision Match: Dynamite Kid vs. Tiger Mask 8:31. ****¼ 

7. Joint Promotions 11/18/81 Oldham, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Mark Rocco 9:50 (5:00; 2:00; 1:30; 1:20). ****

8. Stampede 8/17/79 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Title vs. WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Dynamite Kid vs. Tatsumi Fujinami 20:33. ****

9. AJPW 1/28/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Joe Malenko & Dean Malenko 23:55. ****

10. Joint Promotions 11/13/79 Leicester, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Marty Jones 19:40. ***¾ 

11. Joint Promotions 1/19/83 Walthamstow, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Marty Jones 17:19 (3:00; 3:00; 1:45; 3:00; 3:00; 1:19; 2:15). ***¾ 

12. Joint Promotions 11/30/81 Catford, England, World Heavy-Middleweight Title Match: Mark Rocco vs. Dynamite Kid 12:50 (3:00; 3:00; 3:00; 3:00; 0:50). ***¾ 

13. NJPW 1/28/82 Tokyo Taiikukan, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid 12:38. ***¾  

14. WWF 8/30/82 New York City MSG, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title: Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid 8:20 of 9:36. ***¾ 

15. NJPW 7/16/82 Nakama Athletic Culture Center: Dynamite Kid & Bret Hart vs. Tiger Mask & Kengo Kimura 14:20. ***½ 

16. AJPW 5/12/89 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Danny Kroffat & Doug Furnas 17:50. ***½

17. Joint Promotions 11/26/80 Walthamstow, England: Dynamite Kid vs. Mark Rocco 11:22. ***½  

18. NJPW 1/22/82 Kanoya City Gymnasium: Dynamite Kid & Bret Hart vs. Tiger Mask & Kantaro Hoshino 9:32. ***½   

19. NJPW 8/3/82 Okayama Budokan: Dynamite Kid & Bret Hart vs. Tiger Mask & Kantaro Hoshino 15:08 of 18:08. ***½

20. NJPW 7/5/84 Osaka Furitsu Gym, NWA World Junior Heavyweight Title: The Cobra vs. Dynamite Kid 5:14 of 11:38. ***¼ 

21. Stampede 6/12/81 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion: Dynamite Kid vs. Davey Boy Smith 4:20 of 15:50. ***¼ 

22. Stampede 7/22/83 Calgary, AB Victoria Pavilion, Stampede World Mid-Heavyweight Title: Dynamite Kid vs. Cobra 6:42 of 15:57. ***¼ 

23. AJPW 1/25/89 Osaka Furitsu Taiiku Kaikan: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith vs. Genichiro Tenryu & Samson Fuyuki 17:57. ***¼  

24. NJPW 1/13/84 Yokohama Bunka Gym, WWF Junior Heavyweight Title Decision League: Dynamite Kid vs. Kuniaki Kobayashi 12:40 shown. ***¼

25. AJPW 1/28/90 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith & Tiger Mask II vs. Jumbo Tsuruta & Yoshiaki Yatsu & Masa Fuchi 11:00 shown. ***¼ 

Dynamite Kid - Hall Of Talent video version (much different)