10 Things We Learned From Dark Side Of The Ring: Billy Jack Haynes

10. Stu Hart “Threw Him Out Of Canada”

Many Billy Jack bios say he was trained by Stu Hart in Canada. Whilst true, that doesn't begin to tell the full story, at least according to Larry Oliver. Larry, who is the son of ex-pro Rip Oliver, told VICE that Stu actually dismissed Haynes from his territory "because he was too rough and beat all of his boys up". That's where 'Dark Side' interviewers needed to feed Larry another question.

It's unclear whether or not Oliver meant that Billy Jack was rough with Hart brothers like Bret, Bruce etc, or if he meant "boys" in a looser wrestling locker room sort of way. Haynes did spend some time in Stampede Wrestling before really making a name for himself in Portland then jumping to the WWF's fascinating boom in the 1980s, but details remain rather sketchy on why the Harts cast him out.

Using follow up stories to come to your own conclusions is always risky, because there are some talking head accounts from fellow pros who say Haynes was actually kinda quiet and reserved behind the scenes. However, he was known to have a vicious, violent temper, and he was roundly regarded as someone who enjoyed being a bully (or at least seemed that way on the road to his peers) with those smaller than him.

Therefore, it's possible that Haynes did get too full on with a few of Stu's sons during his time in Canada. That isn't something the Hart patriarch could've tolerated; Stu was known to be a tough customer himself, but no self-respecting father was going to sit idly by and watch anybody treat his family poorly.

It wasn't long until Billy Jack moved on to pastures new anyway.