JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – On this episode of the Going Ringside podcast we explore two major stories in the pro wrestling world that happened in the past week. One involves the booking of WrestleMania and the other involves murder charges being filed against former wrestling star Billy Jack Haynes.
WWE WrestleMania main event controversy
First, on the WrestleMania booking all the focus has surrounded the main event and whether Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson should face champion (and real life cousin) Roman Reigns or whether WWE star Cody Rhodes should be given that honor. Both prospective matches have been discussed for the past year and there was overwhelming outrage when fans found out The Rock may get the honor over Cody.
Now, WWE has responded to the controversy with a tense exchange between the stars at their WrestleMania press conference.
Billy Jack Haynes arrested for killing his wife
On this episode we also tackle a very serious subject that happened last week. It involves the arrest of former pro wrestling star Billy Jack Haynes. Real name William Albert Haynes, 70, he was arrested last week for killing his 85 year old wife Janette Becraft.
Haynes was at the peak of his stardom in the 1980′s. He was a star territorial wrestler in the Northwest wrestling territory based in Portland, OR. He had considerable national success as a wrestler as well and eventually was brought in as a top star for the World Wrestling Federation (today’s WWE) and performed at WrestleMania 3 in 1987. But in the years following that Haynes fell off the national radar and was rarely seen again.
The only time Haynes really surfaced publicly in recent years was during an odd story out of Arkansas. Haynes claimed to have witnessed an unsolved double murder in the 1980′s. Nothing was ever proven about his claims.
Haynes was initially taken to the hospital after being taken into custody in Portland following a standoff with the SWAT Team.