Wrestling Star Billy Jack Haynes Arrested After Wife Found Dead

A name that many of us remember from our childhood days of watching wrestling on Saturday and Sunday mornings has gotten himself into trouble.

Retired wrestler Billy Jack Haynes has been arrested after a standoff with police.

According to reports, Haynes allegedly shot his wife and killed her at their Oregon home on Thursday.

Tragedy Strikes

Police had responded to calls of gunfire at the home, but Haynes refused to come out when the police arrived, and SWAT was eventually called to the scene.

Haynes apparently thought better of taking on SWAT and surrendered to authorities.

When police were finally able to get inside the home, they found Haynes’ wife, Janette Becraft, dead inside.

Local police stated, “He is in police custody at a local hospital while he is being treated for a medical condition unrelated to the homicide or his contact with law enforcement.

“Once he is released from the hospital, which may be days from now, he is expected to be booked into jail. Haynes’ charges will be released once he is booked.”

Haynes started wrestling at the age of 28 (1982), a late start for most in the business at the time.

He was part of Stu Hart’s Dungeon wrestling school, briefly wrestling in Stampede Wrestling.

Four years later, he joined the WWF, now the WWE, where he grappled with Randy “Macho Man” Savage for the Intercontinental Championship.

He also grabbed quite a bit of attention for an ongoing feud with Hercules Hernandez that became known as “The Battle of the Full Nelsons,” which both of them used as their finishing move.

The story of how he left the WWF is a bit muddled, as Haynes says he quit the WWF after refusing a match in Oregon, while others say he was fired by the WWF.

In 1988, Haynes was relegated to the independent circuit, where he continued to wrestle until 1996.

In 2014, Haynes found his way back into the headlines for suing the WWE over the "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."

The suit eventually grew into a class action lawsuit that was joined by dozens of other wrestlers, but the case was eventually dismissed.