5. Dynamite Kid Tom Billington
The Dynamite Kid is constantly referred to a as a wrestler who was far ahead of his time. His matches with Tiger Mask in New Japan and WWE are considered the templates for the modern light heavyweight style. As a teammate with Davey Boy Smith, The British Bulldogs performed classic tag team matches with fellow Stampede alums Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart. In the mid-to-late 80s there was not considered a higher pinnacle of a complete, athletic worker than Tom Billington. What made him so special? In short, he was a fireball. Everything he did in the ring was crisp, vicious, and with extreme intent. So much so even that he was actually quite stiff with most anyone he worked with and garnered a reputation for injuring fellow workers. Mick Foley has even told a story in his book that Billington one time dislocated Foley's jaw on a clothesline during a try-out match with the WWE. While his safety as a worker may be debated by those that had the ability to work matches with him, the fact remains that his grappling style influenced several wrestlers of the future generations. Chris Benoit heavily patterned his working style after Billington, and current indy star Davey Richards is virtually a carbon copy of the man. Though he was built like a brick house, Billington was a much smaller competitor than WWE was accustomed to promoting atop their cards at the time. While Dynamite had immense potential to become a top tier performer, the workers of his stature were not often given chances to shine in a singles or world title picture. Unfortunately as well, Dynamites intensity in the ring soon translated to crippling injuries and personal demons that cut his career short. Billington may not have been a practitioner of any other particular form of combat, but his high-flying, high-intensity style is something that many aspiring wrestlers still study and admire.