Bret Hart Says Dynamite Kid Was A "Bully", Details Dynamite's Drug And Alcohol Abuse

On episode 19 of Confessions Of The Hitman entitled, "Dynamite's Downfall", two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Bret Hart shared his thoughts on the late, great Dynamite Kid. While Hart remains grateful for Dynamite Kid's contributions to the genre, the revolutionary professional wrestler's drug and alcohol abuse prevented Dynamite Kid from taking his rightful place within the annals of professional wrestling history.

According to Hart, Dynamite Kid was on so many pain pills that he could not feel anything when he blew out his back.

"Dynamite kept taking pain pills on such a regular basis that he couldn't figure out if he was in pain or not anymore," Hart professed. "He was on so much different stuff that he ended up blowing out his back in a [pro] wrestling match in Hamilton [Canada]. He was just running, jumping over top of a guy in the ring, just stepping over him. The guy was laying flat, and when he jumped over top of him, he blew his back out and he crashed. They ended up taking him out. He blew out two discs in his back. He had to be taken to the hospital and there was talk that he would never wrestle again."

Hart divulged that he will be forever grateful to The British Bulldogs for coming back from injury to drop the WWE Tag Team Championship to The Hart Foundation.  

"And I will forever be grateful for both Bulldogs because they really came back to make sure Jim [Neidhart] and I got the belts from them," Hart said. "That was the whole idea. We were supposed get the belts anyway but Dynamite got hurt, and so Dynamite said, 'No, I'll be there. I'm going to make sure we deliver on that promise – that we drop the titles to The Hart Foundation.' So he did do that and I'll never forget that he did that for me, both of them."

While Dynamite Kid started off as the leader of The British Bulldogs, the late, great Davey 'Boy' Smith took the lead after Dynamite Kid's back injury. Smith shouldering the load actually increased his confidence in his own abilities. 

"When Dynamite got hurt, it became Davey's job, new job, to be the leader, and Dynamite had to follow," Hart recalled. "And it actually worked okay. Davey started to step up a bit and became much more confident in his own abilities, and I think that's where he started to realize, 'I don't need Dynamite if I need to go on my own.'"

Although Smith did the heavy lifting for The British Bulldogs for a year or two, Dynamite Kid's drinking and drug abuse worsened. The Bulldogs floated around the idea of returning to Calgary to Hart, but 'The Hitman' declined due to the difference in pay.

"But Davey picked up the slack and started really carrying the load for Dynamite and him for maybe a good year or two years after Dynamite hurt his back. He did all the work, but Dynamite was just in a bad state. His drinking and just his temperament, it was just getting more and more out of control and drinking harder and taking more pills. He was getting a little crazier, and I think Davey started seeing the writing on the wall. And Dynamite, they both left WWF and came back to Calgary.

"I remember they came to me and talked to me about coming back to Calgary, that the three of us were all big names from before and now we had even more exposure, and now we'd be in Calgary, our hometown kind of thing." Hart continued, "I remember being like, 'tell me more!' But at the same time, the money difference was huge." ?

According to Hart, Dynamite Kid's alcoholism and drug abuse worsened as he struggled to admit to himself that his in-ring career in professional wrestling was over.

"I don't think Dynamite could do it anymore and I think he was having trouble admitting that to himself, like, 'I can't do this anymore.' And instead, he went around town drinking, and drinking, and drinking, and drinking, and drinking until there was no money left." Hart noted, "His wife and him were growing further and further apart too."

Apparently, Hart and his family went to visit Dynamite Kid, but he was drinking vodka straight from the from the bottle and shooting random animals in his yard. Hart stated that he told his wife that they should make the visit quick, and he vowed to never visit Dynamite Kid again as he became "a bit of a nut".

"I remember visiting Dynamite out at his house. He'd have this arsenal of weapons and he lived out in the country." Hart remembered, "He had these big huge guns and he'd sit there and say, 'do you see that rabbit over there in the field there?' And I'm like, 'yeah, I see that rabbit.' 'Watch this.' And I had my kids in the sandbox right in front of us. And I'm watching this going, 'this is a bit odd.' I'd see a rabbit maybe a half-mile away, and he would blow it apart, and it would explode and there would be nothing left of the rabbit."

In Hart's estimation, Dynamite Kid's professional wrestling career took off faster than 'The Hitman”s own professional wrestling odyssey, but he burned out fast and he was done by the age of 35.  

"The drinking and everything caught up with Dynamite, and I always think of me and Dynamite as two guys who came up together and he had such great success early on in his career and I really had to chip away for a long time. But later on, like, he burned so bright that he burned out twice as fast as everyone else." Hart added, "And he really was finished by the time he was about 35."

According to Hart, he tried to be a friend to Dynamite Kid for a long time, as he was always grateful for what Dynamite did for him in his own career, even offering to pay for Dynamite Kid's back surgery. However, Dynamite Kid turned into a bitter person.

"He was a bitter, sour, angry at the world? I mean, I tried to be a close friend to him for years. I offered to pay for his back surgery; I did a lot. I was always very appreciative of all the things that I got from Dynamite. I learned so much from him and he was really ahead of his time. I never would have been the wrestler I was if it hadn't been for Dynamite Kid, and I owe a lot to him. The wrestling business owes a lot to him." Hart said, "If there is one wrestler who should be in the Hall Of Fame just by what he brought to the wrestling business alone, it would be Dynamite Kid."

Hart, who recently spoke about the bullying that The Rock endured at the hands of Shawn Michaels and Triple H, said that Dynamite Kid was a bully who had a lot of enemies backstage. Notably, Dynamite Kid even took liberties with Hart in his second match because the cantankerous Englishman misunderstood 'The Hitman' feeling unprepared to wrestle someone as skilled as Dynamite Kid as not wanting to wrestle the influential grappler at all.  

"He had a lot of enemies and he did a lot of lousy things to people. He was a real bully and, I mean, he would pick on guys that were minding their own business. Even me, when I first wrestled Dynamite, my first match, one of my first matches, my second match of my career against Dynamite and I really had no business being a wrestler, and I knew that and I said that. Like, 'I don't have the experience to wrestle a guy from England. I don't think I can wrestle you, Dynamite.'" Hart continued, "He really took liberties in the ring with me. He busted my face open with an elbow smash, he busted my nose open, and he kicked me in the face one time.

"I remember coming to the back thinking, 'how was it?' I wasn't sure! Like, 'I hope I didn't do anything wrong.' And I realized after, when he shook hands and all that, that it was just cheap shots. He just didn't like me and he thought I was complaining about having to work with him, or he didn't understand what I was really trying to say. What I was really trying to say was, 'I don't know how to wrestle you – I don't have the experience.'"

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