Road Warriors
- For the minor league baseball team, see Road Warriors (Atlantic League)
The Road Warriors were a popular professional wrestling tag team comprised of Hawk (real name Michael Hegstrand) and Animal (real name Joseph Laurinaitis). They performed under the "Road Warriors" name in the American Wrestling Association (AWA) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW). They also used the name Legion of Doom (or the acronym L.O.D.) in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Under either name, their gimmick was the same - that of two, imposing muscle bound wrestlers clad in face paint.
History
The Road Warriors first teamed up in 1983. They wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance, American Wrestling Association, All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, WCW and the WWF, as well as numerous independent promotions across the United States. Their name (and to some extent, their look) was taken from the Mel Gibson movie Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.
In the early 1980s, in NWA's Georgia Championship Wrestling, Paul Ellering had a stable called "The Legion of Doom" that included the Road Warriors, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, The Spoiler, Matt Borne, King Kong Bundy and Arn Anderson. The stable was short lived and the name "Legion of Doom" soon referred only to the Road Warriors and Ellering.
The Road Warriors were a revolutionary duo in pro wrestling and are widely considered the greatest tag-team of all time. They were amongst the first to popularize face-paint in wrestling. Their look made them famous as wrestling magazine cover boys, and their short matches filled with power moves and no-selling only helped them when they were exposed on a national stage.
They won titles all over the world, and are the only tag team in history to win the World Tag Team titles in all three of the big promotions (at the time): the AWA, NWA, and WWF. Near the end of their career, they wrestled as L.O.D. 2000 with Sunny as their manager and the third unofficial member, Droz. During the L.O.D. 2000 run, Hawk and Animal received new modern looking entrance and wrestling attire.
Droz Era
Droz made his WWF debut on Monday Night RAW as an associate of the tag team, The Road Warriors. Dubbed "Puke", he was the unofficial third member of the group. Droz was involved in a storyline involving L.O.D. member Hawk's alcoholism. In this storyline, Hawk was seen by his partner Animal as unfit to wrestle and Droz was tapped to take Hawk's place in the tag team.
The plot ended with accusations that Droz had been the "enabler" of Hawk's problems and had dosed the L.O.D. member to take his place in the team. During this segment, Hawk was infamously shown to have fallen off the TitanTron.
Other Notes
Some of the Road Warrior's biggest feuds were against The Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes, Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts), Ivan and Nikita Koloff, The Four Horsemen, Ron and Don Harris as the DOA, Buzz and Brett Sawyer and The Powers of Pain (The Barbarian and The Warlord).
Both Hawk and Animal became born-again Christians and appeared on Ted DiBiase's religion and wrestling shows in 2003.
The Road Warriors' last TV appearance as a team occurred on the May 12, 2003 RAW episode in a tag team match against the WWE Tag Team Champions, Rob Van Dam and Kane. Hawk died just a few months later on October 19, 2003.
Aftermath
Animal later returned to WWE in 2005, teaming with Heidenreich in a feud against the tag team MNM. At The Great American Bash on July 24, 2005, Animal and Heidenreich defeated MNM to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. After winning the titles Heidenreich changed his appearance, to a look that better suited the Legion of Doom image.
On the August 18, 2005, Heidenreich was officially made part of the "L.O.D" and was presented with his own Road Warrior "spikes". Shortly after winning the tag team titles, Animal paid tribute to his late partner and friend by looking up to the heavens above and saying, "Hawk, this one's for you, brother!"
On the October 28, 2005 edition of SmackDown!, L.O.D lost the tag team titles to MNM in a Fatal Fourway tag match that also featured Paul Burchill & William Regal and Super Crazy & Psicosis.
As L.O.D was setting up for the Doomsday Device, they were attacked by James and Chad Dick. Mercury and Nitro took advantage and hit the Snapshot on Heidenreich to regain the tag titles. This incarnation of the Legion of Doom has not been seen since then.
On the January 17, 2006, Heidenreich was released from WWE. Animal has continued to perform for WWE in various multi-participant matches, including the 2006 Royal Rumble.
Animal recently turned heel after losing a tag-team match with Matt Hardy where they faced MNM. Animal blamed Hardy for the loss and claimed to be done with tag matches. In a later match against Hardy, for a chance to participate in the WrestleMania 22 Money in the Bank match, it was discovered that Animal had used brass knuckles. After being declared the winner, when the referee raised his hand for the victory, the brass knuckles fell out from his underarm and reversed his decision, declaring Hardy the winner. Animal now goes under the name The Road Warrior and has dropped the name Animal for the time being.
On Tuesday, June 6, 2006, Animal was released by WWE, reportedly after becoming enraged following a meeting with the creative team regarding the booking of his character.
Quotes
- "When we're done with you' it'll look like we set fire to your face and put it out with an axe!"
- "You're micro-mini men in a big man's world! And we're the Big Men!!"
- "We snack on danger! We dine on death! And dead men don't make money!"
- "Aaaugghh, what a rush!"
- "Swelling of the fluid sack surrounding the brain, haematomas, contusions, next week Demolition, Mr. Fuji, that's what you've got to look forward to!"
Manger(s)
Trivia
- In the Road Warriors DVD released by WWE, Animal mentioned that the Legion of Doom name was based on the group of villains from the Super Friends.
- The Road Warriors theme music in their first major run in the WWE (WWF at the time) was a knockoff of the song, "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath. Early in their careers, "Iron Man" was their entrance music.
- The son of "Animal" (James Laurinaitis) plays outside LB for the Ohio State football team. He saw starting playing time in 2005, as a freshman, against Michigan in place of injured LB Bobby Carpenter. As of spring 2006, he is set as a starter. James Laurinitis' nickname is "Little Animal" in honor of his father.
Championships and accomplishments
Heidenreich and Animal
- 1-Time WWE Tag Team Champions
Kensuke Sasaki and Hawk
Hawk and Animal
- 2-Time WWF World Tag Team Champions
- 1-Time NWA World Tag Team Champions
- 1-Time AWA World Tag Team Champions
- 4-Time NWA National Tag Team Champions
- 3-Time NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Champions (with Dusty Rhodes twice & Genichiro Tenryu once)
- 1-Time AJPW International Tag Team Champions
- 1-Time IPW Tag Team Champions
- 3-Time Superstars of Wrestling Tag Team Champions
- 1-Time PCW World Tag Team Champions
- 1-Time i-Generation Tag Team Champions
- 1986 NWA Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup Winners
- 1989 NWA Iron Team Tournament Winners
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked them # 1 of the 100 best tag teams during the "PWI Years" in 2003. They also won the PWI Tag Team of the Year Award in 1982, 1984, 1985 and 1988. They were also part of the 1987 PWI Feud of the Year (Road Warriors & Super Powers vs. The Four Horsemen).
Championship Succession
External links
