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Former WCW and WWE writer Vince Russo recently gave his thoughts on wrestling legend Billy Jack Haynes allegedly killing his wife.
On February 8, Janette Becraft passed away at the age of 85 after a shooting at a home in Portland, Oregon. Haynes, 70, was arrested later that day on suspicion of murder. Becraft suffered from dementia in the later years of her life, prompting speculation that her death could have been a mercy killing.
Russo spoke to Dr. Chris Featherstone and EC3 on Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Outlaws about his own mother's battle with dementia:
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"My mother passed away from dementia, and it's such a slow build and it gets to the point, Chris, honestly, there is no quality of life whatsoever. My father, in my mother's waning years, he took care of her 24/7. She could not do anything for herself, and there's no quality of life. It got to the point that he just could not take care of her anymore." [1:39 – 2:20]
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Russo added that he understands why Haynes ended Becraft's life if the mercy-killing rumors are true:
"I don't know the circumstances or anything like that, bro, but I will tell you when you have somebody that close to you that you love that much and you just see every day deteriorating more and more and more, I hate to say it, Chris, but if that were the case [a mercy killing], I could understand it because I saw it, bro. I saw what it was like." [2:22 – 2:49]
Watch the video above to hear more from the panel about Billy Jack Haynes' possible state of mind in recent months.
Dr. Chris Featherstone addresses Billy Jack Haynes' mindset
Between 1986 and 1988, Billy Jack Haynes wrestled for WWE (then known as WWF). One of his most notable matches came at WrestleMania 3, where he fought Hercules in a double count-out.
Away from the ring, Haynes was diagnosed as a sociopath. He also revealed in interviews that a family member abused him as a child, which affected his relationships with people both sexually and socially.
Dr. Chris Featherstone gave additional insight into why Haynes might have thought killing his wife was the right thing to do:
"I can imagine just the sociopathy and her being in a state of dementia, him having to take care of her, there's a lot of factors there that could have – and I'm giving you from a criminology standpoint – there's a factor that could cause him to blow up. So, that is possible for him to say, 'I'm tired of this, I'm enraged, I don't wanna deal with this anymore.' So, it's not necessarily a mercy killing, but it is in a sense because she's going through all this, she doesn't need to be going through all these things anymore, so it becomes a mercy killing that way." [6:55 – 7:36]
Sportskeeda Wrestling Senior Editor Bill Apter recently played a voice message that Billy Jack Haynes sent him about his wife in December 2023.
Please credit Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Outlaws and embed the video if you use quotes from this article.
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