4. The Dynamite Kid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtjhAjIDdow Another man that would only be in the WWE's employment for the inaugural 1988 Royal Rumble only to not participate was Tom Billington, otherwise known as the Dynamite Kid. After beginning his career in his native Britain (when it had a popular domestic wrestling industry), Billington was scouted and moved to Calgary, where he worked with the Hart family (putting on matches with a young Bret, amongst others) and made a name for himself in both Canada and Japan. A move to the WWE followed in 1984, where the Dynamite Kid would be teamed with Davey Boy Smith to form the British Bulldogs, and the two would have a number of memorable encounters with The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) before winning tag team gold from Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine at Wrestlemania II. The Kid would make a number of enemies backstage, however, including Vince McMahon when he refused to drop the tag team belts to anyone other than the Hart Foundation following an injury. His reputation for bullying and working very stiff matches was eventually his downfall, as a backstage argument saw him beaten and humiliated by Jacques Rougeau. He would eventually leave the company (alongside Davey Boy) after 1988's Survivor Series event ten months later. Smith would eventually return to the company, being referred to as the British Bulldog (in the singular), and would come close to winning the Rumble event in 1995, when his music played and he celebrated in the ring after it appeared that he had eliminated Shawn Michaels, only for the Heartbreak Kid to re-enter the ring and throw him over the top rope, having only touched the floor with one foot. His partner, however, who has been described as 'pound for pound, the best wrestler who ever lived' by Bret Hart, would never return.