Tommy Billington Credits Bret Hart As The One Who Convinced Him To Use The Dynamite Kid Moniker

Tommy Billington credits Bret Hart with some amazing help.

Before arriving in All Elite Wrestling, Tommy Billington spoke about how he did not want to use his uncle, the Dynamite Kid’s moniker in the squared circle, that was until he was convinced by Bret Hart who told Billington to use his uncle’s moniker for when he made his official singles debut for AEW.

Billington opened up more about it on AEW’s Unrestricted podcast with Aubrey Edwards and Will Washington.

“Actually, I was never going to use the moniker Dynamite Kid. It was actually up until two weeks before AEW before I started using it. I was really funny about using it because I didn’t want people to get the wrong impression that I’m just leeching off that sort of name just to boost [myself]. I always thought, I want to make a name for myself. So for the longest time, I just went by Tom Billington. Two weeks before my AEW debut, I was in Bret’s house just having dinner with him. He told me, ‘Tom, I really think you should use that Dynamite Kid name. It’s your name too because you look so much like him, you talk like him, you even walk like him.’ I reminded him so much of him that it scared him a little bit. So, at first I was kind of like, I get where you’re coming from Bret but I really don’t want to. It took like weeks of him being like, ‘I urge you to use it, it will do you good and people won’t ever doubt you. They’ll see how you work, just like him.’ After a few weeks, I was like you know what, I’ll give it a test run. Two shows of using it, it got really over and people were like, yeah, no doubt, you look so much like him. I get it everyday, you look so much like him it freaks me out, it takes me back to the 1980s with Stampede Wrestling. So when AEW was like [putting me on] Dynamite and Collision, of course I’ll use it. Ever since, it’s been the best decision I’ve ever made to be honest with you.”

The last time Billington stepped in the ring was this past July on AEW Collision when he fought Konosuke Takeshita.

h/t to Fightful for the transcription.

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