The Dynamite Kid. This was the final dark side of the ring episode in the first half of season 3.

So one last chance to ruin another part of my childhood.

And now that all of the AEW fans realized this is not the Dynamite review they were expecting,

I can hear them clicking off the video. You know, you hear the expression he was ahead of his time,

or she was ahead of her time. You hear that a lot? Dynamite Kid really was ahead of his time

as a performer. The stuff he was doing in the ring 35, 40 years ago is so commonplace in

today's wrestling. It's on our televisions every week, but he had an intensity and an explosiveness

and everything that he did that really made him stand out. Nobody will doubt his ability in the ring.

The careers that he influenced from Chris Benoit, to Brian Danielson, to Davey Richards,

and who knows how many dozens more. Mick Foley has said that on his Mount Rushmore of wrestlers,

Dynamite would be on there. Dave Meltzer in the episode that aired on Vice said that there

is no Juition Liger without Tiger Mask and Dynamite Kid in the matches those two had.

One of the most influential wrestlers of all time. Those matches with Tiger Mask are

the stuff of legend. The matches with the British Bulldogs and the Heart Foundation.

I think it was Bret Hart once who said the people may have paid to come see Hulk Hogan,

but after he went on before intermission, they all stayed to the end to see the hearts and the Bulldogs.

And I think there is a lot of truth in that. When you look at, for example, the WCW Monday

Nitro days and the NWO stuff, people wanted to see stars. They wanted to see the big names.

Those were the ones who sold the paper views. But you needed variety on those shows and some of

the more fun memories I have from flipping between Raw and Nitro and watching Nitro are from

the Cruiserweight matches. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who would say the same thing.

But there was a dark side to Tom Billington. And on a show called Dark Side of the Ring,

...