In November 1997 the Legion of Doom faced the newly formed New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) and shockingly lost the titles to the upstart team. Before Rhodes was fired, Animal beat him at the Clash of the Champions, so the Road Warriors were allowed to pick a new partner to hold the NWA Six-Man titles; they picked Genichiro Tenryu but the titles were quickly abandoned. On November 18, 2006, Road Warrior Animal appeared in full gear on ESPN's pre-game College Gameday show. During the 1987 Great American Bash, the rival sides faced off in the first ever War Games Match. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. Once again they returned to Japan competing in Fighting Of World Japan Pro-Wrestling defeating The Shane Twins for the Tag Team titles on March 1, 2003. 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As The Road Warriors, Laurinaitis and Hegstrand terrorized the AWA (American Wrestling Association), NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) and WCW (World Championship Wrestling). Also Read: Watch WWE Superstar Shinsuke Nakamura Drop John Cena Straight on His Head (Video), Rank: 17 (tie)  Wrestler: Sheamus  # of Reigns: 2. Hegstrand said that he felt tired and went to take a nap. Raw, WWE Legends of WrestleMania, WWE '12 , WWE '13 and WWE All Stars. The Road Warriors made appearances in the video games WCW Wrestling, WWF WrestleFest, WWF European Rampage Tour, the SNES version of WWF Super WrestleMania, Legends of Wrestling, Legends of Wrestling II, and Showdown: Legends of Wrestling as well as in the THQ wrestling games WWE SmackDown! The team was an instant hit, revolutionizing the tag-team scene with their power moves, no mercy attitudes, and innovative face paint that would spawn many future imitators in wrestling. One of the most popular ECW wrestlers of all-time, RVD has brought his three initials to seemingly every pro-wrestling promotion with three initials. The Legion of Doom were a professional wrestling tag team famously comprised of Michael "Hawk" Hegstrand and Joseph "Animal" Laurinaitis, though other members were added later. Hawk competed as a singles wrestler in Europe and Japan and although he won nearly every singles match he competed in, he was usually seen (by North American and Japanese fans at least) as a tag team wrestler. [37], After leaving the WWF, the Road Warriors would appear for various independent federations. Under either name, their gimmick was the same - two imposing musclebound wre… He was 46. During the November 26th episode of World Championship Wrestling, which was under strict instructions from TBS television executives prohibiting blading, the Road Warriors attacked Rhodes, removing a spike from the shoulder pads, and attempting to gouge his eye out. The Road Warriors also picked up the NWA Six-Man tag-team titles twice alongside Dusty Rhodes. Shortly after winning the tag team titles,[8] 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!". Hegstrand and Laurinaitis became born-again Christians in 2001, and would later appear on Ted DiBiase's religion and wrestling shows in 2003. [11] At Starrcade '86, the Road Warriors were featured in a Scaffold Match, defeating the Midnight Express. During this stint, they used the theme song "Hellraiser" by Ozzy Osbourne. Teaming with Hawk (or Hawk Warrior as he was called) helped elevate Kensuke Sasaki in the eyes of the fans, so much so that when the Hell Raisers broke up near the end of 1994, Sasaki shed the Power Warrior gimmick and became a main eventer on the singles scene. were feuding with at the time; Ellering and Animal explained on the DVD it was hard for them to rip on each other on promos. Also Read: How ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin Would Do on His ‘Broken Skull Challenge’, Rank: 30 (tie)  Wrestler: "Superstar" Billy Graham  # of Reigns: 1. Also Read: Watch WWE’s Sasha Banks Transform Into a Flesh-Craving Ghoul (Video), Rank: 17 (tie)  Wrestler: A.J. They made a third comeback in 2003 but their US TV appearance as a team occurred on the May 12, 2003 Raw episode in a tag team match against the WWE tag champs Rob Van Dam and Kane. several times in the next couple of months but without winning the gold. Long would be fired from his job due to the count but the titles were not returned to the Road Warriors. They left WCW in June 1990 due to heat with then-WCW head Jim Herd according to Animal on their WWE produced DVD. The careers of Hawk and Animal spanned two decades, featuring stops in the National Wrestling Alliance, American Wrestling Association, All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Federation, as well as numerous independent promotions across the United States. During this stint, they used the theme song "Hellraiser" by Heavy Metal band Motörhead. Pro-wrestling championship belts change hands (or waists) like grapplers change ring gear these days, though it wasn't always that way. “The family is planning to release a statement later today. It's complicated -- ask Killer Kowalski and Bruno Sammartino. Both LOD entered the pre-WrestleMania battle royal with the last two participants getting a tag team title shot later at WrestleMania XV but both came up short. The Road Warriors had several shots at the champions but never won the titles. Independent Premium Comments can be posted by members of our membership scheme, Independent Premium. Sunny soon left the team and Droz started to appear with them when Hawk was “incapacitated”, he later became an official member called Puke. "God speed and blessings to your beautiful family,one love4Life.". Joe and John have another brother in the business: Marcus Laurinaitis, a.k.a The Terminator, wrestled in WCW. At Starrcade '86, the Road Warriors were featured in a Scaffold Match, defeating the Midnight Express. Crooked referee Teddy Long used a fast count to cheat the Road Warriors out of their titles. Hawk and Animal eventually lost the AWA title to Jimmy Garvin and "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal on September 29, 1985, due to the interference of the Freebirds. challenged D-Generation X in a Tag Match, During The Match, The New Age Outlaws attacked L.O.D. The "Russian Bear" was actually Canadian. The pair made claims that Bischoff promised them a second-highest paid contract, as well as a separate contract from Japan, something which he denies remembering. On one episode of Raw, the Outlaws shaved the head of Road Warrior Hawk and were beaten down further by DX. During his wrestling heyday, Animal stood 6’2” and weighed in at 300 pounds. In 1988, Hawk and Animal turned heel, mauling the Midnight Express for the NWA World Tag Team Championship on October 29,1988. As a singles wrestler, Hawk found success in Europe, winning the CWA World Heavyweight Championship. In July 1995, he helped Sting in a feud against Meng and Kurasawa, but a proposed singles feud with Kurasawa fell through due to an arm injury (in kayfabe Kurasawa broke Hawk's arm using a cross armbreaker, to let Hawk rest). [44] Animal continued to perform for WWE under his old persona, The Road Warrior, for a few months before he was also released. In late January 1998, the Legion of Doom disappeared from WWF television. Due to the sheer scale of this comment community, we are not able to give each post the same level of attention, but we have preserved this area in the interests of open debate. Pro Wrestling is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. ).Eerst bestond het team uit Road Warrior Hawk en Road Warrior Animal, later zijn er verscheidene leden bij … It was a long way down from Shawn Michaels' former bodyguard's power-bomb. JBL has taken his heel persona from the ring to the announce table.