WRESTLING: Book review of 'Pure Dynamite'

By Troy Hotten eWrestling.com Feature Writer

I first started to watch WWF wrestling just a little while after Wrestlemania I. I got the programming via a French language program from Montreal. Surely it was due to Vince buying out TV programming that the old native Montreal wrestling (Lutte International, I believe) had. Being just across the Bay of Chaleur from the Gaspe Coast, I had access to the golden WWF programming, although it was in French. The show featured on commentary Montreal legend Edouard Carpentier and JL Guy Huray (whom I believe was a promoter in Montreal for the WWF).

Carpentier was a wrestling legend and my father and grandfather were huge fans of Carpentier, so every Saturday evening we had supper in the living room, in front of all of the stars of the WWF. Via this show, I had access to all of the golden stars of the mid-80's, Hogan, Orndorff, Savage, Tito Santana, Hart Foundation and of course, the British Bulldogs.

My favorite team and favorite wrestlers were the British Bulldogs. The innovation, ability and grace of Dynamite Kid and the power and agility of Davey Boy Smith dazzled me week after week and made me an unhappy kid when they didn't appear on TV. Kid did stuff that had never before been seen in wrestling and it took many, many years before it would matched in wrestling. The Bulldogs revolutionized wrestling with their suplexes, aerial moves and their power and strength. Bulldogs ran roughshod over the WWF having matches with all of the top teams of the era. I still have amazing memories of Bulldogs versus Beefcake and Valentine and an awesome WWF tape (that I would pay big money for) that featured the Bulldogs exclusively.

I think that tape also featured that rare singles match from the first WWF PPV with Kid and Randy Savage.

Anyhow, moving along, I was very impressed with "Pure Dynamite", written by Tom "Dynamite Kid" Billington and Alison Coleman, distributed by SW Publishing.

Billington did some real nice writing, with good flow and he transferred easily from era to era in his career. He started from his childhood, described his start in Wigan, England and his training with shooter Ted Betely. He described the start of his career in England, his migration to Calgary, his runs in Japan, his time in WWF, then eventually going in reverse back to Calgary, to Japan and then back to England.

Kid's book described all of the stuff that only wrestlers can talk about, road stories, inside stories, funny stories (including a hilarious story about Stu Hart cooking eggs...) and all of the stuff you would expect in a wrestling book. Kid talked about all of the federations and territories he worked for and most of the pros and cons of working for each. Kid had many hilarious stories about his many pranks and his many tricks that he played on the other wrestlers and his funny stories about his "mates" like Harley Race, Danny Spivey, King Tonga-Meng-Haku, Abdullah the Butcher and all of the usual suspects...

The thing about Pure Dynamite that really "got" me, and from what I hear that got everybody who read it, was that it completely went from one spectrum to another, emotion wise. He could make you love Dynamite Kid, make you hate Dynamite Kid and make you feel sorry for Dynamite Kid. This was, I personally think, due to the Dynamite character being so strong and so over and simply due to his writing or storytelling ability. It was a book that made you kinda numb afterwards, hearing his start, hitting the big time and how he ended up, in a wheelchair and being not financially well off, due to a divorce to his wife Michelle (who is sisters with Bret Hart's wife Julie).

This book is a must have and is readily available (I paid $35 US for an autographed copy) via either www.liveaudiowrestling.com or www.dynamitekid.com. I will tell you, it is well worth the money and I think it is the best wrestling book I read, including the dreadful "Have a Nice Day" by Mick Foley. You will probably run the gamut of emotions like I did, but you will certainly be entertained for 204 pages.

Highly recommended.

Article courtesy of eWrestling.com