Biography
John Hindley is a retired British professional wrestler best known by his ring name Johnny Smith, as the storyline relative of wrestler Davey Boy Smith.
Hindley was trained by his uncle Ted Betley, initially 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 two years, having regular TV bouts with Alan Kilby and Drew McDonald before moving over to Canada with his wife Jane.
Joining Stampede Wrestling in 1985, Hindley was billed as Davey Boy Smith's brother, Johnny Smith. He was there involved in a storyline in 1988 where they had a heated rivalry, eventually his storyline sister and brother-in-law Diana Hart and Owen Hart also got involved after Johnny disrespected the Hart family. In February 1989, he began feuding with Dynamite Kid after interfering during a British Bulldogs-Karachi Vice rematch, attacking him from behind and cutting his hair. In May, Dynamite had turned on Davey Boy Smith, and Johnny began teaming with Dynamite as The British Bruisers, feuding with Davey Boy and Chris Benoit.
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, reforming the tag team: The British Bruisers.
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 10 April 2003, Hindley collapsed prior to his match at an All Japan Pro Wrestling show. 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] Some believe this incident to be connected to a previous injury. Sometime after the incident, Hindley retired. He was planning to make a comeback in March 2004 for IWA Japan, but chose to remain retired due to health reasons.
According to Dynamite Kid's autobiography, Pure Dynamite, Hindley was an English gentleman and a modest personality, as he was one of the few foreign wrestlers that did not negotiate anything at all, letting Giant Baba pay him what he thought was fair.
Hindley was also known to be very kind to his fans. One night, a Japanese fan had made a ring jacket for him and was so nice and generous that Johnny didn't have the heart to point out the mistake on it (the misspelling of his first name, which ended up being "Jhonny") to him and wore the jacket throughout his career.
