“AEW Collision” talent “Dynamite Kid” Tommy Billington almost didn’t adopt the nickname of his late uncle, the original Dynamite Kid, until a member of the WWE Hall of Fame convinced him to do so.

On an episode of AEW Unrestricted, Billington explained that it was Bret Hart who convinced him to use the name. He said he wrestled with the decision before taking Hart’s advice, as he didn’t want to be perceived as someone who “pooped” on the name. He explained that he only adopted the “Dynamite Kid” moniker about two weeks before his AEW debut.

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“I always thought, ‘I want to make a name for myself,’ so for a long time I just called myself Tom Billington,” he explained. “Two weeks before my AEW debut, I was at Bret’s house and he told me, ‘I really think you should use that ‘Dynamite Kid’ name as 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. He said it scared him a little bit. At first I said, ‘I understand what you mean, Bret, but I really don’t want to.'”

Billington said that after two shows, when he and Hart agreed to try out the name, he was well received by fans. He said people told him how much he resembled his late uncle, and he hears that every day.

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“‘You look so much like him it freaks me out. I like the 1980s and Stampede Wrestling and stuff like that,'” Billington said. “So when AEW said, ‘We have ‘AEW Dynamite,’ ‘Collision,’ it was a no-brainer that I was going to use it. Since then, it’s been the best decision I’ve ever made, to be honest.”

Please credit “AEW Unrestricted” when using quotes from this article and send an H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.