This was filmed in January of 2006
The interview was conducted by Rob Feinstein and Doug Gentry
It is a two-disc collection
Disc one runs at one hour and fifty-eight minutes
Haynes said he was a fan of wrestling growing up. He watched Portland Wrestling with Don Owen.
He is asked about how he broke into the business then Haynes says that he wants to shoot then talks about how he had protected the business for his entire career until Vince McMahon exposed it all. Haynes then talks about being a boxer, having several fights then talks about how he was sexually abused by at age 8 by a family member but did not want to tell his father or uncle at the time because they were both fighters and he was afraid that he would kill the molester. He said at age 15, he was an amateur boxer then could not keep it inside any longer so he told his uncle. His uncle then drove his truck to the molester’s house but was killed in an accident along the way. Haynes said that he felt responsible for his uncle’s death. Two weeks later, he told his mother what happened and she told him that she felt that something happened to him. It was his mother’s sister’s husband to did this and she slapped her sister repeatedly and when the molester got up to intervene, Haynes pushed him down. Nothing else happened after that but Haynes said that he and his mother ended up keeping the molestation a secret and as a result his mother ended up having a nervous breakdown and died of a brain aneurysm three days later. Haynes then looks into the camera and reaches out to anyone who has been sexually abused to tell them how you feel like it was your fault when the molestation occurs then cries and regroups himself to say that if we want a shoot interview, we will get one and says that his dad ended up going blind two years later and all of these factors led him to become a violent fighter in the ring.
Haynes now talks about how he actually got into the business. He said at the time, he was a janitor who made $6 an hour as he dropped out of school at age 15 and went into the military and came home on leave but went AWOL as he stayed longer than he was supposed to and ended up spending six months in a military stockade at Fort Washington. Haynes said he was young and stupid back then. One day, at the age of 27 and claimed that he was 6’4 and 220lbs and went into the gym and took steroids and after four months, he went to 290lbs. Haynes then calls out Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa for being full of shit as steroids give you incredible coordination and strength. He then says that 95% of wrestlers take steroids while the other 5% are full of shit. He then qualified for the Mr. America contest but went to a wrestling show at the advice of the guy giving him steroids and was still a janitor at the time. Don Owen did not want him because he was a local but Dutch Savage, another wrestler and promoter, advised him to drive up to Calgary and train with Stu Hart.
While in Calgary, he trained with 30 guys who were mostly Canadian football players. Haynes said that the first thing you had to do was tuck-and-roll onto a thin piece of carpet over cement. He said that half of the guys could not do it but he did and it hurt like hell but he did not sell that. Haynes said four guys were left at the end and he talks about being stretched out by Stu but did not want to fail as he wanted to make it as a wrestler for his dad then joked that he did not have enough money to get home. Haynes said that he beat everyone out and lost his first match against a guy named Duke Myers in ten minutes. Haynes puts over the Dynamite Kid for helping him make it as a wrestler and calls him the greatest wrestler but notes how he is now crippled and mentions how Vince McMahon made him wrestle with an injured back. Haynes said that Dynamite took care of him and let him stay at his house and fed him as Haynes said he was $25 Canadian per match at the time. Haynes also talks about traveling in the van with the other wrestlers from Calgary to Regina every Monday.
When asked about guys he worked with in Portland, Haynes said that Roddy Piper had the promo part down to a science and tremendous charisma, likening him to Hulk Hogan and Dusty Rhodes but had a terrible body until he went on steroids and said that Piper is a good bullshitter and once told him that he was a boxer so Haynes challenged him to box in the ring and Piper balked at the idea. Haynes said that Buddy Rose was the best athlete for a person who was his size and said that he skated with a pro hockey team in Oregon during the late 70’s. He tells a story about Rose in 1983 when he asked Haynes for $10,000 to supposedly give to the federal government so Haynes gave him the cash but Rose never paid him back. Haynes then said that he ruined Rose’s career by trying to show up in the same territory as him, which would cause Rose to leave. He talks about needing 40 stitches at WrestleMania III after getting hit with a chain by Hercules. Haynes said that they always wrestled stiff in the ring and did not have a problem in doing show at all. He then puts over Hercules for having all four qualities you need as a pro wrestler: charisma, body, promo skills, workrate. Haynes calls Tom Zenk a great talent but said he was a jealous guy. He tells a story of how Zenk took over as a top babyface in Portland when he left for Florida and how Zenk was upset that he wasn’t pushed like Haynes. He then calls Zenk a “backstabbing prick” and recalls seeing him at a bar in 1991 then confronting him but Zenk backed down completely. This prompts him to say that he got along with 95% of the wrestlers but Zenk was not one of them. He puts over Matt Borne and recalls telling him when he was Doink the Clown in the WWF and how people were laughing at him not to worry because he was making a lot of money. Haynes calls Curt Hennig’s death tragic and how he improved as much as all but a few wrestlers. He said that he became a fantastic wrestler and had all four qualities. He credits Rip Oliver for standing by him as he wrestled in Oregon.
He is asked about going to Florida. Haynes said that Eddie Graham saw a tape of him in Oregon and offered him $2,000 a week and a chance to sell his pictures. Haynes pulls out a wrestling magazine in which he was on the cover putting Superstar Billy Graham on the cover. Haynes said that he used to gig his forehead right down to the bone. Haynes then shoots on Hogan by saying that he stole everything from Billy Graham and Haynes thought if you stole from someone, you should pay then 5-10% what you make.
Haynes goes off on Jerry Lawler as he molested a child and bought himself out of trouble. He then said how Lawler refused to job back then yet would constantly show a tape on Memphis TV of him beating Hogan.
Back to Florida, Haynes said that there was a lot of conflict between booker Dusty Rhodes and promoter Eddie Graham. Haynes then calls Dusty a piece of shit as when Dusty left Florida and took a lot of the talent with him to Charlotte, Graham ended up committing suicide a week later as a result. He also said that Dusty planned the whole move to Charlotte as he kept ripping off Graham then shipping off all of the young Florida talent, like Barry Windham, to Charlotte. Haynes said that Dusty was a chicken shit for leaving Graham without any talent.
He then talks about his very, very brief stint in the WWF in late 1984. He only had one match and was primed for a mega-push. At the time, he told Chief Jay Strongbow that he had to leave and go home as his dad was in the ICU as the result of a stroke. However, Strongbow told Haynes that he could not leave as he was going to get a big push leading into the first WrestleMania and if he went home, he was going to get fired. Haynes said that his dad came first before the business and he left and got fired.
Haynes tells a story about Barry Windham once fucking around with his back as he was in the ring. In the locker room, they went at it and Haynes got the best of him and he then shook off Mike Rotunda who tried to break his arm then told him that if he wanted to fight, meet him outside. After that, Haynes went up to Windham’s dad, Blackjack Mulligan, and asked what would happen if he kicked the crap out of his son and Blackjack told Haynes that he is a grown man and can care for himself. He said that Blackjack was a badass and did not want to have him get revenge for his son. He then tells a story of Blackjack beating the shit out of a guy in the locker room after he tried to give his 17 year old, Kendall, some drugs. Haynes said that Blackjack hit the guy ten times and a wrestler called The Saint, who wore an all-white suit, ended up covered in the blood of the guy Blackjack destroyed.
He is asked about a few more workers. He said that Rick Rude broke his neck and was in constant pain every day and as a result he fell into drugs to mask that and that is how he died. He then talks about Kevin Sullivan and said that he managed him in WCW when Haynes was “Black Blood.” This led Haynes to talk about how he tore his knee up wrestling at the Spectrum but that WCW paid for his surgery.
We get a story from Florida. Haynes said that they worked seven days a week and stresses how there is no off-season and back then, if you got hurt you got fired if you took time off and it was easy to do as their were no contracts. Eddie Graham used to once a week from Miami to Tampa. This time he was Mike Graham and Dusty Rhodes. Anyway, the plane engine started to give out and the plane kept dropping and they couldn’t see out of the windshield but miraculously landed the plane safely.
Haynes brings out another magazine in which he is on the cover of with Kerry Von Erich. He said they were both considered as the future NWA World Champion. He said that they ended up putting the belt on Kerry but took it off of him due to his personal problems that Haynes did not want to get into. Later on, Dusty told Haynes that Fritz Von Erich wanted Haynes to come down to Texas as “Billy Von Erich” but Haynes said he wanted to keep his name.
When asked about his time in World-Class, Haynes said that he stayed only a month and did not want to speak ill about the Von Erich’s as they are not alive to defend themselves. He does tell a story about Fritz and how he told him that Tom Loughlin, the original “Billy Jack” was there and wanted to sue Haynes for using his gimmick. He thinks now that Fritz might have said that to try to get him to change his name but he met Loughlin and said he was a nice guy and after that, he added Haynes to his name.
He now talks about marrying Jeannie Clark (Lady Blossom) so she would not get deported back to England. He then said that she went with him to Florida and that when they were both in WCW, Steve Austin came up to him and said that he was dating his ex-wife in a respectful manner and that led Haynes to call him a real man and said that he is proud of his career.
Now, he talks about Starrcade against the Anderson’s. Haynes said that Eddie Graham came up to him and told him that he was going to either shoot Dusty (with a gun) or himself if he went to that show. Haynes then said that Graham sent him a card that read he was going to kill himself but he did not read it until later on. Haynes said that Crockett offered him $5,000 a week and that they wanted Wahoo to do the job in the match but Haynes said that he would. He then talks about how they were pushing Wahoo out at the time as he was older and Wahoo told Haynes that he would job as Haynes was young and going to get the push. He said that he got his check for Starrcade week and it was for $4,800 and the week’s before that were for $3,000. Crockett came into the locker room after Starrcade to ask if anyone had problems with their payoff. Haynes said that Baby Doll took out her check, which was for $8,000, and kissed it saying she loved her payoff. Haynes said no one else did anything and when Crockett left, he ended up leaving the locker room and wanted to speak with him in private as no one discussed money in the locker room.
In Crockett’s office, Haynes said that Crockett disrespected him by making him wait for 20 minutes while he was on the phone so he yelled at Crockett to hang up the fucking phone. He did and asked what was wrong as Haynes told him about the money and Crockett told him that if he did not like him, he could leave the company. Haynes said that he then worked a six-man teaming with Dusty Rhodes and Magnum TA to take on Flair & Ole Anderson & Arn Anderson and was not tagged into the match, which lasted for 20 minutes. He said that the fans chanted his name at the 14 minute mark. He claims that guys like Dusty, Barry Windham, and Magnum were all jealous of him and screwed over his payoffs and left. Haynes then said that he ended up pushing Crockett against the wall as he trembled in fear. Haynes then said that he kicked down Dusty’s door, which was locked, and called him a “big fat fuck” then went home back to Portland.
Haynes now goes back and talks about how he was told by Don Owen on May 21st, 1985 that he was going to become the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. He then said that Fritz Von Erich went nuts at the thought of that as he wanted Kerry to be champion again and the NWA Board of Directors met and they ended up not doing the title change. Haynes then said how Harley Race stood up for him but they decided to have a 60 minute draw instead.
He wound up in the WWF in 1986 after he was wrestling in Portland and got called up by George Scott. He was told that he would be pushed as a “semi-main eventer” and could make up to $8,000 a week. He was booked on the shows underneath Hogan and did in fact average about $8,000 a week. Haynes talks about how he used to hold on to all of Hogan’s gold jewelry when he went out to the ring as Hogan trusted him.
After WrestleMania III, they paired him up with Ken Patera. He then got Brady Boone booked in Portland and showed tapes of him to the WWF and got him booked as his cousin in the WWF. Haynes talks about how Boone looked like a smaller version of himself. He then said that he never got a fair shot and was very talented.
In January of 1988, Haynes said that Vince McMahon, who he calls the “Adolf Hitler of Professional Wrestling” and that he took all of the top guys from the remaining territories which put them all out of business as a result. Haynes said that Vince’s dad would have kicked his ass if he saw him doing that. He ended up giving his notice to Vince that month and opened his gym in Oregon. At the time, Hogan promised Haynes he would be there for the opening but Hogan called him up shortly before the opening and said that he would not be there as Vince wanted him to shoot a music video with Dolly Parton called “Headlock on my Heart” on the day of the opening. Haynes said that he had a lot of people expected to be at the opening who were waiting for Hogan and if he did not show up, the gym would be in trouble and he already put in $200,000 into the business. Two days before the opening, Hogan called Haynes up and said fuck Vince and that he would be there for the opening. Haynes said that he offered Hogan as much cash as he wanted but Hogan did it for free and even flew out on his own dime. Haynes claims that the line was a mile long for the gym full of people waiting to see Hogan.
He goes back to when he left the WWF in 1988. He told Vince that he did not want to job in Oregon but would do anything else after telling Vince that he was leaving to start his own promotion in Oregon. He said that Vince told him that he and Patera would be jobbing to Demolition at WrestleMania IV. When they got to Oregon, Strongbow told Haynes that he was going to do the job tonight. Haynes said that he refused and gave Strongbow the number for his home to give to Vince. He said that he talked with Vince for a half-hour and called him a liar and said it was stupid on his part then said that he gave Vince notice unlike others. Haynes then told Vince to fuck himself and hung up the phone on Vince and quit.
When asked about Randy Savage, Haynes said that he is up at the top of the list out of wrestlers that he respects. He said that they were tight and saw him fight guys. Haynes then talks about how Mike Sharpe started shooting on him in the ring after blowing him off in the locker room when Haynes wanted to go over their match, which was a TV squash. During the match, Sharpe did not sell anything that Haynes did and in the locker room, Haynes said that he dropped Sharpe with an uppercut, who kept on bragging about being a boxer. He said after that, the locker room respected him. He then said that he traveled with Randy, Elizabeth, and Lanny Poffo.
He is asked about other locker room fights. When asked about the Jacques Rougeau/Dynamite Kid fight, Haynes said that what Jacques did was chicken shit. He talked about how Dynamite was a tough fighter and beat the shit out of Jacques in the past and said he heard about Pat Patterson setting up the whole thing as they were both from Montreal.
When talking about the travel, Haynes said that George Steele once held the record with 91 consecutive days and he broke that with 97 straight days on the road. He said that you were always recognized while traveling and looked like a zombie due to all of the travel.
Haynes talks about how he did not really care for drugs or alcohol as a kid but wound up into wrestling by using steroids and there is an unwritten rule in both wrestling and bodybuilding that if you do not take steroids, you never wind up going anywhere. Haynes then talks about how he did steroids from 1980-87. He said that they all passed them around the locker room. He then said that the promoters did not give a shit if you got hurt as they could replace you easily so you did whatever it took to get by.
Haynes said that his Oregon Promotion folded in three months. He said rumors came about that he did not pay the wrestlers but Haynes claims that he showed the commission his receipts and never stiffed them a dime.
On how he ended up in WCW, Haynes said that he came up with the idea of wrestling under a mask and how his wife cleaned him up after their divorce. He also said that he cried for two days straight and ended up buying a mobile home and drove into Atlanta and talked to Dusty about the Black Blood gimmick and how there was a guy in France who chopped the heads off of people in France after putting them in a mask for the death penalty. He said that Dusty liked the gimmick and wanted to call Turner and after a while, got a deal for $250 a match.
Haynes said that it bothered him a bit to go back and work for Dusty. After two months, Haynes said that Paul Heyman was pushing the gimmick to Turner and was on the verge of signing a contract and was beating a guy with his finish, he would not mention his name, and says how you are giving your body to your opponent and could be killed at anytime as you are giving your body to your opponent. As he leaped off of the top for his finishing move, the guy on the mat got scared and put up his hands and Haynes said he tried to twist his body so he would not break the guys arms but in the process, his knee pad hit and tore his kneecap off and it ended up behind his leg. He waited six hours in the emergency department and that was how he became addicted to pain pills. He said that ended his career.
He talks about Sting and Lex Luger and said that Lex had a good body but couldn’t work and did not have great charisma. He said that Sting had the greatest gimmick.
After WCW, he went to Portland. He said he told the Harris Brothers, who wanted to quit, that they had the talent but needed to come up with a gimmick. He said that Steve Doll wanted to wrestle for him instead of Owen as he claimed that he paid more then when he learned from Rob that Doll is now on life support, he freaked out a bit as he does not want to speak ill of people who have passed away. He talks about Brian Adams (Crush) who screwed him over. He wanted to help him get into the WWF and said that Adams got huge due to steroids, as he was skinny when he broke into the business. Haynes said that Adams never gave him any respect, even after showing tapes of him to the WWF. He then said how Adams told him that he was going to get him a tryout in the WWF in 1992 and Haynes showed up to two different shows and was not used as he was told at the last one that Vince did not want to use him. He calls Adams an asshole for ribbing him like that, after he helped him in the beginning of his career then said he broke down in his car after that show and almost grabbed his gun in an attempt to shoot Vince, Adams, the other guy with Adams who Haynes did not mention because he was deceased, and then said that he would have probably shot himself after that. He said that he was just about broke at the time and traveled far away for this show.Haynes said that Vince seemed surprised that Haynes was even at the event and that Hercules was the one who prevented him from taking drastic action.
Haynes talks about being asked by the show “Hard Copy” and “Inside Edition” if Hulk Hogan took steroids and Haynes told them that they both took steroids together. He claimed that he revealed all of this due to his friend, Lyle Alzado (former professional football player who was one of the first athlete’s to come out and admit to steroids use) passing away shortly after he got the call from the shows, which Haynes said was the result of Superstar Billy Graham giving them his phone number.
In 1995, Haynes went to work for Jerry Jarrett in the USWA. He said that Jarrett promised him $700 a week and that he was going to go to WCW and become the booker for them and wanted to bring Haynes along. Haynes said that he was given the belt after a month in the territory. He said that he didn’t want the belt and just wanted the money. He said that some guys would rather be champion than to make money and said how Rip Oliver refused to job to Jake Roberts at a WWF TV taping, because he would rather be the champion in Portland and make less money, then got fired as a result.
He said that the crowds more than tripled when he went to the USWA. Haynes said he was a heel at the time and did some main event’s with Sid Vicious. Haynes said that he was wrestling a show and got a $100 and asked Sid how much he was making and he said $2,000.
Final Thoughts: Holy shit! Haynes promised to give us a shoot and he certainly did. He discussed everything from sexual abuse, contemplating a murder/suicide involving Vince McMahon, marrying someone so they would not be deported, and at one point he mentioned how his father died in his arms.
As far as the wrestling part of the shoot is concerned, Haynes still brought the goods. He does seem crazy in this disc (nowhere near as much as his “Conspiracy Theories” shoot or disc two) and frequently asked the guys if a wrestler was still alive before he talked about them as he really did not want to discuss anything negative at all about someone who has passed away because they are unable to defend themselves. That is an admirable thing.
Despite all of this, Haynes was not afraid to shy away from questions. He did stray away from the question a few times but more than not it led to a good story. After this disc, I eagerly await the second. So far, I give this a strong recommendation, even if he is whacked.
And for those interested, the schedule of my reviews for the next seven days.
Friday: RF Video Shoot Interview with Billy Jack Haynes, Disc Two 12:30pm EST
Friday: WWF Championship Wrestling 7/26/86 4:00pm EST
Saturday: RoH Crowning a Champion 7/27/02 8:00pm EST
Sunday: WWF Championship Wrestling 8/2/86 9:00pm EST
Tuesday: WWF Championship Wrestling 8/9/86 8:00pm EST
(Give or take about 30 minutes for each post. I just wanted to give a general time for these)
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