John Hindley

John Hindley^[1] (born August 7, 1965)^[1] is a retired British professional wrestler best known by his ring name Johnny Smith.

Career

Early years in the UK (1982-1985)

Hindley was trained by his nephew Ted Betley firstly in Winwick Warrington and then Port Erin, Isle of Man. He made his debut in January 1982 at the age of 16 at Gloucester Leisure Centre, under the name John Savage. He wrestled in the United Kingdom for a couple of years having regular TV bouts with Alan Kilby and Drew McDonald before moving over to Canada with his wife Jane.

Stampede, New Japan, All Japan, and Indies (1985-2003)

Joining Stampede Wrestling in 1985, Hindley was billed as Davey Boy Smith's brother, Johnny Smith.^[1] In 1987, he went on his first Japanese tour in New Japan Pro Wrestling. In February 1989, he followed The Dynamite Kid to wrestle for All Japan Pro Wrestling and replaced Davey Boy Smith as Dynamite Kid's tag team partner in September 1990, forming the tag team: The British Bruisers.^[1]

In between tours in All Japan, Hindley would wrestle the independent circuit in the United States and Canada, as well as brief stints in Extreme Championship Wrestling.

On April 10, 2003, Hindley collapsed prior to his match at an All Japan Pro Wrestling show.^[1] Paramedics were called to the Hiroshima Arena and Hindley was rushed to a local hospital, having lost feeling in some parts of his body, but was in stable condition at a local Japanese hospital.^[1] The Japanese media is suggesting the collapse was related to the use of painkillers, Keiji Mutoh attempted to downplay this story in the Japanese media but with very little luck.^[1] Some believe this incident to be connected to a previous injury. Sometime after the incident, Hindley retired. It has been speculated that his retirement was in response to a request for a bout with the Stotts-Jones, a wrestling amateur. Today, Hindley works as an English teacher at Stratford Central Secondary School^[1]

Reputation

According to Dynamite Kid's autobiography, Pure Dynamite, Hindley was an English gentleman and a modest personality, as he was one of the few gaijin wrestlers that did not negotiate anything at all, letting Giant Baba pay him what's fair. Another story was a Japanese fan made him a ring jacket, but misspelled his name "Jhonny." The fan was so nice and generous to him that he didn't have the heart to point out the mistake and kept and wore the jacket.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • British Bomb (Sitout crucifix powerbomb)^[1]
  • British Fall (Scoop lift dropped into an inverted DDT)^[2]
  • Death Valley driver^[1]

• Signature moves
  • Double underhook powerbomb^[3]
  • European uppercut^[1]
  • Front missile dropkick^[1]
  • German suplex^[1]
  • Hammerlock piledriver^[1]
  • Johnny's Magic (Single arm DDT)^[1]
  • One shoulder powerbomb^[3]

• Entrance themes
  • All Japan Pro Wrestling
    • "Lost In You" by Rod Stewart (1989–1992)
    • "Car Wars" by Tom Scott (1990–1991, 1993) – as part of The British Bruisers
    • "Hot & Bothered" by Cinderella (1992–1997)
    • "Speed TK Re-Mix" by TK (1997–2001)
    • "Dark Angel Theme" by Chuck D and MC Lyte (2001–2002)
    • "Helter Skelter" by The Beatles (2002–2003)
  • Extreme Championship Wrestling
    • "Sad But True" by Metallica (1996, 1999)
  • New Japan Pro Wrestling
    • "Crash Landing" by Tony Banks (1987)

Championships and accomplishments

• All Japan Pro Wrestling

• All Asia Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with The Dynamite Kid (1), and Wolf Hawkfield (1)^[1]
• World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Taiyō Kea^[1]

• Canadian Rocky Mountain Wrestling
  • CRMW Heavyweight Championship (2 Times)^[4]

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him 116 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1997^[5]

• Stampede Wrestling

• Stampede British Commonwealth Mid-Heavyweight Championship (4 times)^[1]

References