Review: Pure Dynamite By The Dynamite Kid Tom Billington

Pure Dynamite: The Price You Pay For Wrestling Stardom

Tom "The Dynamite Kid" Billington with Allison Coleman

SW Publishing (Original) Winding Stair Press (Reprint), 1999

Hardcover, Paperback

The Dynamite Kid, born Tom Billington, is best remembered as one half of the British Bulldogs. Paired with his cousin, Davey Boy Smith, the Bulldogs were the pre-eminent tag team team during the early part of the WWF Hulkamania era. Whereas many of their contemporaries were big men who worked formulaic matches with limited moves sets, the British Bulldogs were a smaller team (by mid 80s WWF standards) that combined an array of unique tag team spots with cutting edge individual repertoires that gained them praise from critics and fans alike. Despite the fact that their main stream North American run last slightly over three years, the pair are widely regarded as one of the best teams of all time. In the early 90s the team parted ways.  While Smith went on to singles success in the WWF, The Dynamite Kid vanished from the North American scene. For a number of years, to the casual fan he was little more than a seldom mentioned footnote.

Review: Have A Nice Day By Mick Foley

Review: Have A Nice Day: A Tale Of Blood And Sweatsocks by Mick Foley
Reagan Books, 1999
Hardcover, Paperback, Audiobook

If any book is responsible for launching the professional wrestling literary market of the past twenty years, it is this one. When Have A Nice Day hit number 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list in December of 1999, wrestling insiders, historians and fans scrambled for their pens with hopes of following the success of "Mrs. Foley's baby boy." Some did (most did not) but gone were the days when the only wrestling themed releases were kayfabe guarding picture books and antiquated work out manuals.  Have A Nice day ushered in an era when every living star (past or present) was expected to release a biography; when B-level mid-carders had a forum to explain why he or she forever revolutionized the wrestling business and when the local book store most likely offered a wide selection of accounts of the trials and tribulations of those wrestling fans loved, hated, loved to hate or never heard of. For fans it has been a welcome change that can be attributed to Mick Foley and Have A Nice Day. Foley has since penned 9 other books (auto-biographical, children and adult fiction) and has contributed to a host of other releases.