.jpg) Haynes in 1984 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | William Albert Haynes III (1953-07-10)July 10, 1953 (age 72) Portland, Oregon, U.S.[1] |
Spouse(s) | |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Billy Jack Billy Jack Haynes[1] Billy Haynes Black Blood |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[2] |
| Billed weight | 246 lb (112 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Portland, Oregon[1] "A little town in France" (as Black Blood) Tucson, Arizona |
| Trained by | Stu Hart |
| Debut | 1982[2] |
| Retired | 1996 |
William Albert Haynes III (born July 10, 1953) is an American retiredprofessional wrestler, better known by thering nameBilly Jack Haynes.[1]
Haynes started wrestling in 1982 at the age of 28. He trained inStu Hart's Dungeon pro wrestling school and briefly wrestled in Hart'sStampede Wrestling under his given name, forming a tag team withBruce Hart. He started wrestling as "Billy Jack" in the Pacific Northwest territory but had to change his name whenTom Laughlin (who starred in the movieBilly Jack) threatened to sue him.[3] He added his real last name to the gimmick and continued to work as a babyface. It is rumored that Haynes served time for manslaughter before becoming a pro wrestler.[4]
He feuded heavily withRip Oliver until 1984 when he had a run inChampionship Wrestling from Florida where he feuded withKendo Nagasaki for theNWA Florida Heavyweight Championship winning the title from him. They then had a brief run inWorld Class Championship Wrestling in 1985, managed bySunshine. Due to internal conflict between Fritz Von Erich and Billy, he was written out of the organization, jobbing to Rip Oliver in a plot where Rip bloodied and injured Billy. He rarely stayed put in any federation. During this time, he faced the debutingShawn Michaels. He started splitting his time betweenPortland Wrestling and CWF, and he wrestled with partnerWahoo McDaniel. They won theNWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship and they feuded withOle andArn Anderson inJim Crockett Promotions. He had just begun a feud withThe Barbarian over who was the strongest man in the territory when he abruptly left the company after a confrontation with Jim Crockett in his office which became physical.
In June 1986, Haynes went to theWorld Wrestling Federation and feuded withRandy Savage over theIntercontinental Championship[2] and then withHercules Hernandez over who was stronger, more muscular, and who had a better version of the full nelson (their mutual finishing maneuver). Their feud in the WWF peaked with what was dubbed "The Battle of the Full Nelsons" atWrestleMania III,[2] where the two men battled to a double count-out. After the bell, Hercules'managerBobby Heenan kneed Haynes in the back while he had Hercules in a full nelson out on the floor. Haynes chased Heenan into the ring where Hercules blindsided him with his trademark chain, hitting Haynes multiple times and (kayfabe) cutting his forehead (in reality, Haynes hadbladed himself with a small razor hidden in the tapes around his wrists after the first hit.[5] He was actually seen on camera taking the razor out of his wrist tapes while chasing Heenan around the ring).
In the months to follow, the two had a series of "chain matches," where they were attached at the wrist by a foot long chain which could also be used as a weapon during the match. Haynes later teamed with fellow Oregon nativeKen Patera who had returned to the WWF.[5] Haynes saved Patera from a beating at the hands of Hercules andHarley Race after Patera's return match.[5] The pair later feuded withDemolition after a television match where Demolition left Haynes, Patera, andBrady Boone (who played Haynes' cousin) beaten and lying in the ring.[5] Haynes' departure from the WWF in January 1988 has been a subject of controversy considering dramatic changes in the story as Haynes repeated it. In one version, he says he quit the WWF after refusing to do a job in his hometown of Portland, Oregon.[6] Another account of the same incident reported that he actually wrestled the match with the finish reworked and then was fired afterwards.[7] The May 7, 2025 episode ofDark Side of the Ring revealed that the true reason for his release was that he overdosed on pills during a flight, and the company did not want to risk keeping him and dealing with the negative publicity he might bring.[8]
Haynes returned to Oregon in 1988 and wrestled in independents, including his own short-lived Oregon Wrestling Federation. In the summer of 1989, he returned to Portland and immediately feuded withThe Grappler. By the end of the year, he formed an alliance with former rivalRip Oliver and his son Larry. On April 14, 1990, he turned on the Olivers during a match with The Grappler,The Equalizer, andBrian Adams, turning heel. As a heel, he feuded with the Olivers,Scott Norton, andScotty the Body. In October 1990, he did several shows forHerb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation, where they built another strongman feud between Haynes andKen Patera. In May 1991, Haynes returned to a major promotion when he appeared under a mask inWorld Championship Wrestling as Black Blood inKevin Sullivan's stable.[9] Soon afterThe Great American Bash, he was fired due to a pay dispute.[9] He had suffered a severe knee injury shortly before his release, but instead of taking time off to recuperate he instead returned to Portland, where he feuded withSteve Doll and Demolition Crush. After PNW closed in 1992, Haynes took time off to recover from the knee injury he suffered in WCW, which took 18 months. His first matches back were in June 1994, where he wrestled shows that were co-promoted by PNW's successor Championship Wrestling USA and Mexico'sAsistencia Asesoría y Administración in Vancouver, Washington. He showed up next in theUnited States Wrestling Association in 1995 and retired in early 1996.
On March 16, 2013, Haynes was hospitalized because he was suffering from an aortic aneurysm as well as liver and kidney issues.[10]
In October 2014, thePortland Tribune reported that Haynes filed a lawsuit in federal court against WWE, alleging "egregious mistreatment of its wrestlers for its own benefit, as well as its concealment and denial of medical research and evidence concerning traumatic brain injuries suffered by WWE wrestlers." This litigation was taken after research intochronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which was attributed to causing the deaths ofChris Benoit in 2007 andAndrew Martin in 2009. Haynes also sought for the court to grant class action status for hundreds of former wrestlers and to force WWE to establish a medical trust fund to pay for wrestlers who suffer from injuries that took place in a WWE ring.[10] In March 2016, the suit was dismissed by JudgeVanessa Lynne Bryant. At the time of dismissal, dozens of former WWE wrestlers had joined a class action lawsuit while being represented by the same attorney, Konstantine Kyros.[11] Bryant dismissed the other lawsuits in 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected subsequent appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear the case in 2021.[12]
On February 8, 2024, Haynes was arrested in Portland, Oregon following a two-hour standoff with police after a shooting.[13][14] He was questioned by police regarding the death of his wife.[13][14][15] Becraft, who was 85 years old at the time of her death and suffering from dementia, had been shot in the head.[13][15] On February 28, 2024, Portland Police announced that Haynes had been charged with second degree murder and unlawful use of a weapon.[16][17] He would make his first court appearance for the charges on February 29, 2024.[18] His trial proceedings were initially set to begin on April 11, 2024,[18] but would later be pushed back more than a month after a judge allowed an extension for Haynes' bail hearing in order to allow more time for investigation and preparation. His trial is now slated for December 2025.[19]
Haynes was slated to stand trial in December 2025. However, KOIN Channel 6 reported that Haynes attended a status hearing in May 2025 and the judge determined that he was "mentally unfit" to proceed with the case.[20] Haynes will be transferred to Oregon State Hospital for further evaluation and treatment until he is deemed competent to move forward with legal proceedings.
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