December 18, 2016
By Ryan Porzl
1986 was a big year in American Wrestling. The WWF was skyrocketing to the top with PPVs, Saturday Night's Main Event specials on NBC, and shows on The USA Network along with Syndication. The NWA had shows on TBS and The AWA along with World Class had shows on ESPN. That same year, many historical moments occurred including the legendary feud between Hulk Hogan and "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff as well as the formation of the legendary Four Horsemen. 1986 would also be legends like Sting, The Ultimate Warrior, and Lex Luger's first full year in the business while other legends like Scott Steiner and Jeff Jarrett made their debuts. Unfortunately, not everyone had a great 1986 as that year saw many promising careers come to an end for one reason or another while others saw the beginning of the end. We'll take a look at five wrestlers who had the wrestling world in their hands only for their careers to end while others saw the beginning of the end.
Gino Hernandez
The first wrestler we'll look at is "The Handsome Half-Breed" Gino Hernandez. Born Charles Wolfe on August 2, 1957, Hernandez started wrestling before he was 20 when he was trained by wrestling legend Jose Lothario (who's best known to modern fans as the trainer of future legend Shawn Michaels) and turned pro around 1975. Hernandez started in Houston where he formed a team with Lothario before turning on him and feuding with him which led to a hair match that Hernandez lost (which wouldn't be the last). In 1977, Hernandez briefly worked for The Original Sheik's NWA Detroit promotion where he captured his first title by defeating "Bulldog" Don Kent for the company's version of the NWA United States Championship on January 8, 1977 and held it for three months before losing it to The Sheik on April 2nd.
Also in 1977, Hernandez made his one and only appearance in the WWE (then the World Wide Wrestling Federation) where he defeated future WWE Hall of Famer and then prelim wrestler Johnny Rodz on March 7, 1977 at Madison Square Garden. In 1978, Hernandez went to Fritz Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling promotion (then Big Time Wrestling) where he worked for the next three years and mostly feuded with David Von Erich over the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship which he won on four occasions. Hernandez also won the NWA Texas Tag Team Titles on three different occasions with legends such as Jimmy Snuka, Bruiser Brody, and Pak Song. He also captured the NWA American Tag Team Titles four times with El Gran Markus (three times) and with Gary Young once.
Finally, he won the top prize the NWA American Heavyweight Championship once as well as the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship once. Hernandez also toured All Japan Pro Wrestling and made some stops for Bill Watts' Mid South. From 1981-1984, Hernandez went back to Houston for Paul Boesch and San Antonio for Joe Blanchard's Southwest Championship Wrestling where he spent most of the time teaming with Blanchard's son and future Four Horsemen Tully Blanchard with the two forming the original Dynamic Duo where they won the Southwest Tag Team Championship five times and the World Tag Team Championship two times. In 1984, Hernandez returned to World Class at the David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions and immediately began a feud with The Von Erich Family (Kevin, Kerry, and Mike).
Shortly back into his return, he formed an alliance with Jake Roberts and former Von Erich friend Chris Adams where they briefly won the WCCW Six Man Tag Team Championships. Following Roberts departure, Hernandez and Adams continued to stick together and became the second version of The Dynamic Duo. As part of The Dynamic Duo, Hernandez had the biggest year of his career where he & Adams feuded with The Von Erichs throughout 1985 with the feud being a huge success for World Class and was on par with the more famous Von Erich/Freebird feud. During this time, Hernandez won two more American Heavyweight Championships, two more Texas Heavyweight Championships, the Brass Knuckles Championship, and two American Tag Team Championships (both with Adams).
After spending much of 1985 cutting various wrestlers hair and keeping the pieces which they showed during their interviews, the feud with The Von Erichs peaked on October 5, 1985 in a tag team hair match against Kevin and Kerry. The Duo lost the match and both were shaved bald. Following this, the team began to show dissension despite regaining the tag titles in a cage match a month later on Thanksgiving. On the Christmas Star Wars 1985 event, The Duo faced the Von Erichs but problems began when Hernandez eventually began refusing Adams' tags resulting in Adams getting beat by The Von Erichs until getting disqualified. Following the match, Adams refused to celebrate with Hernandez and slapped him.
Shortly after this, the team finally broke up when Hernandez gave an interview where he denied problems with The Dynamic Duo, claimed he knocked out Adams following the Christmas show, and Adams apologized thinking Adams wasn't in the building. Adams to show up and blamed Hernandez for not picking him up and then got angry when interviewer Marc Lowrance told him what Hernandez said. Hernandez jumped and attacked Adams after Adams slapped him and turned around to leave. On January 27th, Hernandez faced Adams in a hair match which ended in a no contest when Hernandez took the hair removal cream and threw it in Adams' face which "blinded" him. Originally, the plan was for Adams to return to England to visit family and tour Japan before returning in time for the Parade of Champions event at Texas Stadium that May to resume the feud.
Unfortunately, the feud wouldn't go further because the January 27th match would prove to be the final match in Hernandez's life. On February 4, 1986, Hernandez was found dead in his home at the age of 28 having been dead for 2-3 days. The cause of death would be a cocaine overdose and while it was well known Hernandez had a drug problem (he was said to have had a sugar bowl filled with cocaine on his coffee table), there have been theories that he was murdered given his dead bolt wasn't locked which is something he always locked to being involved with certain people to being scared prior to his death about being killed to having three times the amount needing to overdose in him to having it in his stomach. Regardless of what happened, Hernandez still died way too soon and had potential to one day make it to the WWF or WCW instead of dying before he turned 30.
Kerry Von Erich
The second name to look at is another World Class alumni in "The Modern Day Warrior" Kerry Von Erich. Born Kerry Gene Adkisson on February 3, 1960, Von Erich was the fourth son of wrestling legend Fritz Von Erich and a member of the Von Erich wrestling family. Like his other family members, Von Erich originally enjoyed success in school sports specifically discus throwing before following his father and two older brothers Kevin and David to the wrestling ring in 1979 (his oldest brother Jack Jr. died in 1959 in an accident at 6). Von Erich was immediately pushed as he quickly won his first title shortly after debuting when he teamed with Bruiser Brody to win the NWA Texas Tag Team Championships on July 23, 1979 and less than two years into his career, won the NWA American Heavyweight Championship on December 28, 1980.
By 1982, Von Erich was a star on the rise as he had everything going for him in ring and mic skills but easily elipsed his brothers when it came to look and charisma. That same year, Von Erich scored a win over Harley Race while challenging "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair repeatedly for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. It was during his title match against Flair on Christmas 1982 that led to the legendary Von Erich/Freebird feud that became the most famous feud in World Class history. From 1983-1986, Von Erich was one of the biggest wrestlers in American wrestling as he won titles, main evented shows, and The Von Erichs feuds with the Freebirds and the Dynamic Duo were some of the biggest feuds of the 1980s.
During his peak, Von Erich defeated "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair on May 6, 1984 in front of 50,123 fans at Texas Stadium at the first David Von Erich Memorial Parade of Champions to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Von Erich also made history by becoming the youngest National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion at 24 years and three months old as well as being one of the few wrestlers to win a world title before their 25th birthday. However, while Von Erich was a huge superstar, not everything was great. At some point during his prime, Von Erich would become like many young stars and got addicted to drugs. Drugs were always a problem in sports and entertainment but they began to plague the wrestling business during Von Erich's rise.
Maybe it was because he got too much too soon or maybe he didn't have guidance or maybe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whatever the case, it severely damaged Von Erich's career as he eventually earned a reputation of being impossible to count on and before long, it got to the point where he would sometimes miss shows or other times show up messed up. Though he won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, it's well documented that it was only as a sympathy vote giving his brother David's death and the fact David was likely to win it at this event. Because of this, Von Erich was only granted a short title reign and lost it only 18 days later back to Flair. After the losing the title, the NWA board of directors never considered giving Von Erich the belt again.
Eventually, this would lead to the beginning of the end. On June 4, 1986, Von Erich was driving his motorcycle barefoot and crashed into a police car with his foot getting caught on the police lights. Von Erich was forced to undergo microsurgery in an attempt to save it and it appeared successful until he came back too soon in February 1987 (reportedly being pressured by his father Fritz). Despite wrestling a safe match, Von Erich did damage to his foot and he was forced to have it amputated. In October 1987, Von Erich finally came back to the ring but secretly did it while wearing a prosthesis. For one reason or another, Von Erich hid it for the remainder of his life even going so far as to shower with his boots on which led to suspicion. Sadly, this accident made Von Erich's problems worse as he developed a terrible addiction to painkillers.
Following the accident, Von Erich continued to work in World Class and later USWA (after Jerry Jarrett and Jerry Lawler bought World Class Championship Wrestling) for another three years where he won the World Class World Heavyweight Championship (which was created after World Class left the NWA in 1986) four times and challenged Jerry Lawler in a unification match at AWA's Superclash III Pay-Per-View in December 1988 as Lawler was the AWA Champion while Von Erich was the World Class Champion. In 1990, Von Erich went to the WWF and quickly found success as he replaced an injured Brutus Beefcake as Mr. Perfect's opponent at Summerslam 1990 which saw Von Erich defeat Perfect to quickly win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
Sadly, the honeymoon didn't last long as he lost the title back to Perfect that November which was a three month reign. Following that, Von Erich's stock dropped throughout 1991 as the WWF likely began to realize it wouldn't be smart to push Von Erich until he cleaned up. Sadly, Von Erich's drug problems caught up with him on February 8, 1992 when he was arrested for forging prescriptions and went to rehab. Unfortunately, the rehab didn't work and Von Erich continued to struggle. By August 1992, Von Erich was gone from The WWF and a month later, was sentenced to a ten year probation for drug conviction. By early 1993, Von Erich violated his probation and was looking at possible jail time. On February 18, 1993, with his career ruined, his marriage over, and missing his brothers, Von Erich drove to his father's ranch, took the revolver he gave to Fritz for Christmas less than two years before, and shot himself in the chest near the ranch. He was 33. Kerry Von Erich achieved things before turning 25 that many don't achieve in two decades of wrestling which makes it sad when you wonder how much more could he have accomplished if he was sober and wrestled into his 40s.
Chris Adams
Third is "Gentleman" Chris Adams. Born Chris Adams on February 10, 1955, Adams originally practiced judo before going into wrestling. Adams along with his brother Neil won national and world championships in judo with his brother winning silvers in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics while Adams was part of the judo squad on the 1976 Olympics but did not compete. Adams entered wrestling in 1978 where he competed in Joint Promotions where he won the British Commonworth Tag Team Championship and the British Light Heavyweight Championship which he won from legend Mark "Rollerball" Rocco (The original Black Tiger).
By 1981, Adams made his way to The United States where he worked for Mike and Gene LeBell's NWA Hollywood promotion where he achieved big success winning the NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship two times, the NWA Americas Tag Team Championship two times, and the NWA Beat The Champ Television Championship. During his time in California, Adams would also innovate the superkick which became one of the most popular moves in wrestling history. Adams also toured the world and won the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship in October 1981 while touring Mexico (The WWF didn't control the title at this point as it was mostly defended in Mexico and Japan).
In 1983, Adams jumped to the Von Erich's World Class Championship Wrestling promotion where he was immediately pushed as a top star as he was brought in as a pen pal of Kevin Von Erich and later became an "honory Von Erich". Adams became one of the biggest stars for the company from 1983-1986 where he served as a popular fan favorite then a hated villain and back. During this time, he had a memorable feud with "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin where they exchanged the NWA American Heavyweight Championship through 1983-1984, had a battle of the superkicks feud with The Great Kabuki, was part of the second version of the Dynamic Duo with Gino Hernandez with the two having one of the biggest feuds in the 1980s with the Von Erichs during which time he won ten championships including the American Heavyweight Championship, the Television Championship, the Brass Knuckles Championship, the Six Man Tag Team Championship, and the American Tag Team Championship.
By 1986, Adams became a babyface again and took time off to visit family in England and tour Japan with the storyline being Hernandez blinded him hair removal cream. Due to the death of Hernandez days later, the feud was cancelled and Adam instead began a feud with "Ravishing" Rick Rude for the new World Class World Heavyweight Championship. On July 4, 1986, Adams defeated Rude to win the World Class World Heavyweight Championship but sadly, his big moment was over shadowed by legal problems which would be the beginning of his spiral. On June 30, 1986, Adams was on a plane heading to Texas after touring Puerto Rico. During the flight, Adams became drunk and violent when flight attendants attempted to cut him off from more drinking.
Eventually, Adams would headbutt a co-pilot and had to be restrained by Kevin Von Erich. By September, Adams was sentenced to 90 days in jail and fined $500 during which time, he forfeited the World Class Title (largely due to refusing to lose the title to Black Bart who he didn't think was qualified to be World Champion) and left the company. After serving his sentence, Adams attempted to start fresh with Bill Watts' Universal Wrestling Federation at a time when many World Class wrestlers defected to due to former booker Ken Mantell. Adams would quickly see success as he teamed with "Iceman" King Parsons before the two broke up and began a feud that lasted on and off for years. Adams then teamed with Terry Taylor with the two winning the UWF World Tag Team Championships on February 7, 1987 after defeating Sting and Rick Steiner in a tournament final.
After losing the belts to Sting and Steiner on April 12th, Adams and Taylor began a violent feud that lasted for months. During this time, NWA President Jim Crockett purchased the UWF and eventually absorbed it into his Jim Crockett Promotion later in the year. Adams continued to compete in the UWF as well as the NWA before abruptly leaving during the summer of 1987 due to money, a move he later admitted he regretted. Adams returned to World Class that fall but the promotion was on life support by that point and Adams did nothing memorable aside from renewing his feud with Taylor after Taylor arrived in 1988. By 1989, World Class became the Dallas branch of the USWA after Jerry Jarrett bought the company and Adams continued wrestling there while opening a wrestling school.
During this time, Adams would make another contribution to wrestling when he trained a man named Steve Williams who later went on to legendary success as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Shortly after Austin turned pro, he began a feud with Adams. The feud took an interesting turn as Austin was married to Adams' former girlfriend Jeanie Clark and that would lead to a series of matches with Adams teaming with his wife Toni against Austin and Clark. The feud largely ended in November 1990 when World Class finally shut down after Kevin Von Erich broke away from USWA and attempted to restart World Class during the fall of 1990. Adams then made an appearance for the NWA at their Starrcade 1990 event when he teamed with Norman Smiley as Team UK for the Pat O'Connor Memorial Tag Team Tournament but it didn't lead to a full time job. During this time, Adams' problems with alcohol again got him in trouble as he beat his wife during a drunken rage in 1989 which resulted in a years probation and then a pair of DUIs in 1991.
After promoting a wrestling tour in Nigeria, Adams had his last taste of success when he competed in the Texas based Global Wrestling Federation (which was also based out of World Class' former home in the Dallas Sportatorium) from 1993-1994 where he captured the top title: The GWF North American Heavyweight Championship twice while renewing his feud with Parsons and working behind the scenes for the company. Eventually, the GWF folded in September 1994 right around the time Adams was to renew his legendary rivalry with Jimmy Garvin. Following this, Adams career fell apart as he became a washed up journeyman who mostly competed and promoted in a variety of promotions most of which were held in the Sportatorium including Jim Crockett's NWA Dallas and World Class II: The Next Generation with him also apparently being a silent partner but both companies lasted a year or less.
In 1997, Adams had his last run in a major promotion when he signed with WCW but largely was not successful as a run with Steven Regal (William Regal) and Dave Taylor never happened due to problems with Regal and he spent his two years as a jobber with his only highlight being wrestling the first match in the history of WCW's Thunder where he lost to Randy Savage by disqualification. Adams spent two years there before requesting and receiving his release in 1999. Following his WCW run, Adams life would go from bad to worse and then have an ugly end. By 2000, Adams drug problems escalated to the point where he began using GHB. In April 2000, Adams and his girlfriend began using it along with alcohol until overdosing. Adams would recover in the hospital but his girlfriend did not and a year later, Adams was charged with manslaughter but he never made it to court.
On October 7, 2001, Adams visited a friend of his with the two getting drunk and out of control. Fearing for his life, the friend took a gun and shot Adams in the chest, killing him. He was 46 years old. Chris Adams was a big star at one point but he's another who could've went further. With his talent and charisma, he could've enjoyed a highly successful career that went well into the 90s and maybe found success in WCW or WWF but his addictions and personal problems destroyed a promising career just as Adams was scratching the surface of what he was capable of. Like many of his time, Adams' story is a tragic one as he self destructed and met an ugly end.
Magnum TA
The Fourth Wrestler will look at is Magnum TA. Born Terry Allen on June 11, 1959, Allen got his start in Championship Wrestling from Florida and Pacific Northwest Wrestling after turning pro in 1980. In Florida, Magnum quickly found success winning the short lived Global Tag Team Championship on five occasions (one of which was with future close friend on and off camera in Dusty Rhodes). By 1983, Magnum went to Bill Watts' Mid South Wrestling where his career began to take off. During this period, Magnum followed the advice of Andre The Giant and changed his name from Terry Allen to Magnum TA to take advantage of his resemblance to actor Tom Selleck who was starring in highly success television show Magnum PI at the time. Immediately into his run, Magnum was pushed as a star as he quickly won the Mid South Tag Team Championship with "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan on July 23, 1983 and held it for four months before losing them to Butch Reed and Jim Neidhart on October 12th.
However, that same night, Magnum defeated Reed to win the company's top championship in the Mid South North American Heavyweight Championship. After losing the championship less than two weeks later, Magnum would take part in his most famous angle of his Mid South run when he became a tag team partner and protege of wrestling legend Mr. Wrestling II. Originally, the pairing was a big success as they defeated Reed and Neidhart on Christmas Night 1983 to win the Mid South Tag Team Championships. However, problems eventually began between coach and protege and after they lost the titles to The Midnight Express on March 13, 1984, they eventually split up. During this time, Wrestling II turned on Magnum and began to claim he could win the tag team titles with anybody.
The two then feuded which culminated on May 13, 1984 when Magnum defeated Wrestling II to regain the Mid South North American Heavyweight Championship. Magnum would then hold the belt for five months until losing it to Ernie Ladd on October 16th. Following the title loss, Magnum would rematch Ladd for the title but never got it back before leaving for Jim Crockett Promotions by the end of the year. In late 1984, Magnum joined Jim Crockett Promotions and was quickly pushed as a top star by feuding with and later defeating aging legend Wahoo McDaniel for the NWA United States Championship on March 13, 1985. Magnum would hold the title for four months until losing the title to Tully Blanchard on July 21st after Blanchard's valet Baby Doll brought him an object to knock out Magnum while disgusted as a secruity guard.
This led to a legendary feud which cuminated in an equally legendary steel cage I Quit match at Starrcade 1985 on November 28th. Magnum won the match and regained the championship after Baby Doll threw a wooden chair into the ring, Blanchard broke it to create a wooden stake, Magnum fought him off, and drove the stake into Blanchard's bloody forehead until he quit. Shortly after this, Magnum would also be one of many to feud with the newly formed Four Horsemen while defending the United States Championship. Magnum was eventually stripped of the title on May 29, 1986 after punching NWA President Bob Geigel who reprimanded him for his behavior during a contract signing when Nikita & Ivan Koloff insulted his mother which saw Magnum attack the Koloffs.
This eventually led to a legendary Best of Seven Series for the vacant United States Championship. Magnum would lose the first three matches but eventually bounced back in the next three matches but ultimately lost the seventh match on August 17th thanks to interference from Ivan Koloff and Krusher Khruschev but this was supposed to free Magnum for bigger things. Immediately into his NWA run, the NWA and booker Dusty Rhodes had huge plans for Magnum TA as he received many shots at "Nature Boy" Ric Flair and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship but wasn't able to win it. The NWA and Rhodes both saw massive potential in TA to the point where they believed he could be their Hulk Hogan. The plan was for Magnum to finally defeat Flair at Starrcade 1986 on Thanksgiving Night for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship and become the new face of the NWA but sadly, those plans never happened.
On October 14, 1986, Magnum was involved in a serious car accident when his porche got wrapped around a telephone pole after he lost control in the rain. The accident saw Magnum's C4 and C5 vertebrae "explode" and it was thought he would never walk again. For many months afterwards, the right side of Magnum's body was paralyzed and while he would mostly recover, he would never wrestle again. Magnum would eventually make his first appearance after the accident on February 7, 1987 in an interview and would continue to make appearances over the next few years as a manager for Dusty Rhodes and a babyface Nikita Koloff as well as a color commentator before eventually leaving the business and doing other things in life while making the occasional special appearances over the years. We'll never know whether Magnum could've achieved Hogan status had his career continued and it's sad he never got the opportunity to see if he could as his career ended right before it exploded into the stratosphere.
Dynamite Kid
Finally, we'll take a look at one of the biggest and most influential legends in wrestling history: The Dynamite Kid. Born Thomas Billington on December 5, 1958, Dynamite started sports in school including wrestling and gymnastics which would be important for his career while also training in boxing which instilled toughness, something Dynamite became famous for. Wanting to avoid working in the coal mine, he trained in professional wrestling by British wrestler Ted Betley and turned pro on Christmas Eve 1975, a few weeks after his 17th birthday. Dynamite worked in England for three years during which time he captured the British Lightweight and Welterweight Championships along with the European Welterweight Championship.
In 1978, Dynamite was discovered by the legendary Hart Family and went to their Stampede Wrestling promotion in Calgary. Competing in Stampede from 1978-1984, Dynamite experienced huge success by capturing 15 championships, engaged in great rivalries against the like of future legend Bret Hart, and formed The British Bulldogs tag team with cousin Davey Boy Smith. Unfortunately, it was in Stampede where many of Dynamite's personal problems began that would damage his career as he began taking steroids after being introduced to it by The Junkyard Dog and Speed after being introduced to it by Jake "The Snake" Roberts. While working for Stampede, Dynamite began touring Japan in 1979 first for International Pro Wrestling and then for New Japan Pro Wrestling starting in 1980.
During his four years in New Japan, Dynamite's legend grew as New Japan Pro Wrestling debuted it's innovative junior heavyweight division at the same time which featured The Original Tiger Mask Satoru Sayama as it's top star. The rivalry between Dynamite and Tiger is one of the biggest and most popular feuds in wrestling history. It also is credited for popularizing junior heavyweight wrestling as well as changing it from mat wrestling featuring smaller wrestlers to the high flying acrobatic style it is today. Following the brief retirement of Tiger Mask in 1983, New Japan held up the WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (which was defended at WWF and New Japan shows) and created a tournament which saw Dynamite defeat The Cobra in the finals to win the title on February 7, 1984.
In 1984, Dynamite's career saw big changes as Stampede was briefly bought out by the WWF and Dynamite signed with them. Meanwhile, The Bulldogs left New Japan in the fall and began working for All Japan. The Bulldogs would regularly tour All Japan from November 1984 to December 1985 where they took part in the yearly World's Strongest Tag League tournaments before working exclusively for the WWF and during which, he captured the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship briefly in June 1985. After spending the first year in the WWF wrestling The Hart Foundation in several critically acclaimed matches, The Bulldogs stock began to rise in the fall of 1985 when they took "Captain" Lou Albano as their manager and began pursing the WWF World Tag Team Championships which were held by The Dream Team of Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Brutus Beefcake.
After months of failed attempts against the champs, The Bulldogs with Albano and Ozzy Osbourne finally defeated The Dream Team to win the WWF World Tag Team Championships on April 7, 1986 at Wrestlemania 2. The Bulldogs would be dominating champions as they held the belts for the remainder of the year during which time they fended off challenges from The Hart Foundation, former champions The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff, and rematches against The Dream Team. Even with the departure of Albano in November 1986, The Bulldogs continued to remain atop the WWF and Dynamite was probably enjoying the biggest audiences of his career but as things were looking up, the beginning of the end for Dynamite came out of nowhere. On December 13, 1986, The Bulldogs defended the WWF World Tag Team Championships against "Cowboy" Bob Orton (father of Randy Orton) and The Magnificent Muraco at a live event in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in what was supposed to be another title defense.
During the match, Dynamite would suffer a severe back injury when his back went out while jumping over Orton while running the ropes. Dynamite wouldn't be able to stand and was forced to lay on the apron after tagging out which left Davey Boy to finish the match on his own. Dynamite was eventually stretchered out following the match and was hospitalized. For the remainder of the month and for most of January 1987, the WWF had Davey Boy wrestle with replacements including Roddy Piper, Tito Santana, The Junkyard Dog, Blackjack Mulligan, and The Crusher until the WWF finally decided to take the belts off The Bulldogs. Bret Hart would visit Dynamite in the hospital saying Vince wanted his belt but Dynamite refused and checked himself out of the hospital against doctor's orders.
Vince then wanted him to lose the titles to Sheik and Volkoff but Dynamite insisted that he only lose the titles to The Hart Foundation which Vince agreed to. The Bulldogs lost the title to The Hart Foundation on January 26, 1987 in a match that Dynamite appeared at but played no part in. Dynamite's injury proved so bad that he had to be carried to the ring by Davey Boy and was then knocked out by the Hart's manager Jimmy Hart and his megaphone which left Davey to wrestle the match by himself. Following this, Dynamite took another two months off before returning in March. The Bulldogs would wrestle for The WWF for another year and a half and would receive several title shots but were never given the titles again or were used as a top team but instead would slowly go into the mid card.
After a feud with The Islanders and opening Summerslam 88 against The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers which was the first match in Summerslam history, The Bulldogs run came to an end in the fall of 1988. Among the many things The Bulldogs were known for, cruel ribs were among them and Dynamite ran afoul with The Rougeaus which culminated in Jacques Rougeau knocking three of Dynamite's teeth out after punching him with a roll of quarters. This along with a dispute over WWF issuing complimentary plane tickets resulted in Dynamite quitting and Davey Boy following with the two having their last match at the 1988 Survivor Series on Thanksgiving Night. Following the departure, The Bulldogs went back to Stampede (which reopened in 1985) and All Japan but they were unable to recapture their old magic outside of a second run as Stampede International Tag Team Champions due to Dynamite's back injury limiting him as well as their steroid abuse making them bigger and affecting their mobility.
The Bulldogs eventually broke up in early 1989 in Stampede (but remained a team in All Japan) and began feuding with Dynamite forming a new team called The British Bruisers with fellow Brit Johnny Smith while Davey Boy teamed with an up and coming Chris Benoit until Stampede closed again in 1990. In November 1990, The Bulldogs finally broke up for good with Davey Boy pulled them from the yearly World's Strongest Tag Determination League after claiming Dynamite was injured in a car accident. In reality, Davey Boy resigned with The WWF and returned to the promotion. To make matters worse, Davey Boy also trademarked "The British Bulldog" name and would use it for his return all the while telling British media not to refer to Dynamite as a British Bulldog. This resulted in a nasty falling out to the point where Dynamite was so angry at Davey Boy that he couldn't bring himself to say his name for years.
Dynamite would reform The British Bruisers and competed for another year during which he & Smith captured the AJPW All Asia Tag Titles in April 1991. Unfortunately, years of a high risk style, steroid abuse,(which apparently also included horse steroids) along with other drug use including cocaine, and his 1986 back injury finally caught up with Dynamite. On December 6, 1991, almost five years to day of suffering his back injury, Dynamite announced his retirement from wrestling at the young age of 33 after finishing up All Japan's 1991 WSTL tournament and tour. However, as is the case with wrestlers, Dynamite wouldn't stay retired for long. On July 28 and 29, 1993, Dynamite returned to All Japan where he had two more matches for the company and then toured England from January to May 1994.
On October 10, 1996, Dynamite would have his final match when he took part in a special tag team match for Michinoku Pro Wrestling's 3rd Anniversary Show "These Days". Dynamite teamed with Dos Caras (father of Alberto Del Rio) and Kunaki Kobayashi against Mil Mascaras, Tiger Mask IV, and The Great Sasuke in a winning effort. At the airport the following day, Dynamite suffered a seizure and was hospitalized. By 1997, Dynamite lost the use of his left leg and is forced to use a wheelchair due to all the back and leg injuries he had throughout his career. Dynamite had one of the greatest careers in wrestling given his innovation, his talent, his success, and the influence he's had on future generations. However, Dynamite still had much more to offer the business. What kind of dream matches could he have had? Who else could he have had incredible matches with? What other achievements could he have gotten? We'll never know but the possibilities are endless.
As mentioned in the beginning, 1986 was a big year for professional wrestling and a big year for many names. However, 1986 saw the end or the beginning of the end for five great wrestlers during their primes. Five great wrestlers who had the world in front of them and could've achieved bigger things but were cut down before we truly saw everything they could've accomplished.
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