Tommy Billington says that Bret Hart convinced him to use the Dynamite Kid moniker.
Billington declined to use the moniker before coming to AEW, citing that he wanted to make a name for himself instead of leeching off of his uncle's legacy.
In a new interview with AEW's Unrestricted podcast, Tommy Billington spoke to Aubrey Edwards and Will Washington about how Bret Hart convinced him to start using the nickname just two weeks before making his debut for AEW.
“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.”
Billington last wrestled for AEW on the July 10 edition of AEW Collision, facing Konosuke Takeshita in singles action.
Click here to check out Billington's recent comments on Don Callis and how he chews up wrestlers and spits them out.
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