Billy Jack Haynes

Haynes started wrestling in 1982 at the age of 28. He trained in Stu Hart's Dungeon pro wrestling school and briefly wrestled in Hart's Stampede Wrestling under his given name, forming a tag team with Bruce Hart. He started wrestling as Billy Jack in the Pacific Northwest territory but had to change his name when Tom Laughlin (who starred in the movie Billy Jack) threatened to sue him. 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.[3]

He feuded heavily with Rip Oliver until 1984, when he had a run in Championship Wrestling from Florida where he feuded with Kendo Nagasaki for the NWA Florida Heavyweight Championship winning the title from him. They then had a brief run in World Class Championship Wrestling in 1985, managed by Sunshine. Due to internal conflict between Fritz Von Erich and Billy, he was written out of the organization, jobbing to Rip Oliver in a storyline where Rip bloodies and injured Billy. He rarely stayed put in any federation that he went to. During that time he faced off against the debuting Shawn Michaels. He started splitting his time between Portland Wrestling and CWF and wrestled with partner Wahoo McDaniel and won the NWA Florida United States Tag Team Championship and in Jim Crockett Promotions where they feuded with Ole and Arn Anderson. He had just begun a feud with The 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 1986, Haynes went to the World Wrestling Federation and feuded with Randy Savage over the Intercontinental Championship[2] and then with Hercules 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" at WrestleMania III,[2] where the two men battled to a double count-out. After the bell, Hercules' manager Bobby 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 had bladed himself with a small razor hidden in the tapes around his wrists after the first hit.[4] 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 native Ken Patera who had returned to the WWF.[4] Haynes saved Patera from a beating at the hands of Hercules and Harley Race after Patera's return match.[4] The pair would later feud with Demolition after a television match where Demolition left Haynes, Patera, and Brady Boone (who played Haynes' cousin) beaten and lying in the ring.[4]

Haynes' departure from the WWF 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.[5] Another account of the same incident reported that he actually wrestled the match with the finish reworked and then was fired afterwards.[6]

Haynes went back to Oregon in 1988 and wrestled in their independents, including forming his own promotion, Oregon Wrestling Federation. In the summer of 1989, he returned to Portland and immediately feuded with The Grappler. By the end of the year, he would form an alliance with former rival Rip Oliver and his son Larry. On April 14, 1990, he turned on the Olivers during a match with The Grappler, The Equalizer, and Brian Adams, turning heel for the first time in his career. As a heel, he feuded with the Olivers, Scott Norton, and Scotty the Body. In October 1990, he did several shows for Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation, where they built up another strongman feud between Haynes and Ken Patera. In May 1991, Haynes returned to the major promotions when he appeared under a mask in World Championship Wrestling as Black Blood in Kevin Sullivan's stable.[7] Soon after The Great American Bash, he was fired in July 1991, due to a pay dispute.[7] At the time he was fired, he suffered a severe knee injury. Instead of recuperating, he went back to Portland, where he feuded with top babyface Steve Doll and Demolition Crush. After PNW shut down in 1992, Haynes took time off to recover from his knee injury he suffered in WCW, which took eighteen months to fully recover from. His first matches back was in June 1994, where he wrestled shows that were co-promoted by PNW's successor Championship Wrestling USA and Mexico's Asistencia Asesoría y Administración in Vancouver, Washington. He showed up next in the United States Wrestling Association in 1995 and retired in early 1996.