SOLO VENTURES
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TURNING ADVERSITY INTO OPPORTUNITY
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LEGENDS EVEN APART
Though they trained knew one another and worked together long before becoming professional wrestlers, Joe Laurinaitis and Mike Hegstrand got their first breaks in professional wrestling at different times, resulting in their careers truly beginning apart from one another.
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Joe Lauren
In his initial matches in Georgia Championship Wrestling, Joe Laurinaitis was known as "Joe Lauren", which Animal attributed to an Irish gimmick, despite him actually being of Lithuanian descent. Lauren wore simple trunks and boots, while he proved himself taking on known talent, including former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jack Brisco and Sweet Brown Sugar.
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The Road Warrior
Once booker Ole Anderson saw more potential in Laurinaitis, he decided to capitalize on the recent hit film Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) by making Laurinaitis into The Road Warrior. Animal purchased his own gear and entrance attire, which more resembled a biker than the characters in the film.
Like many new wrestlers, Joe wasn't yet prepared for interviews and establishing his character on the microphone, so his look and moves in the ring had to tell the story. |
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Crusher Von Haig
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Much like Joe, the first character Mike found himself playing wasn't a speaking part. Impressed by his physique and intimidating mannerisms, Vancouver promoter Al Tomko introduced fans All-Star Wrestling to "Crush Von Haig", a German-sounding name who, not ironically, used The Claw as his most punishing hold.
This gimmick was patterned after Baron Von Raschke, a very successful heel in the early 1980s. |
CRUSH TEAMS WITH ANIMALFollowing SummerSlam 1992, Hawk left the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), leaving Animal with dates to fulfill and no tag team partner. This led to Animal facing The Beverly Brothers in 2-on-1 handicap matches on at least one (1) occasion.
For their outstanding commitments for their European tour and some events in the United States, Crush (formerly of Demolition, now a singles competitor) was teamed with Animal. The duo would face various combinations of The Beverly Brothers, "The Genius" Lanny Poffo, The Brooklyn Brawler, Kato, and Skinner. On at least two (2) occasions, Paul Ellering joined Animal & Crush to take on The Brooklyn Brawler, The Genius, and one of The Beverly Brothers. |
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THE HELLRAISERS The Hellraisers vs. The Steiner Brothers
When Hawk left the World Wrestling Federation in the summer of 1992, he headed for Japan and began working for the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, run by Antonio Inoki. Hawk was soon teamed with Kensuke Sasaki, who donned the face paint and spiked shoulder pads to become "Power Warrior", and the team was christened "The Hellraisers".
The tremendous respect among Japanese fans for The Road Warriors made the new pairing instantly popular, and helped boost the credibility of the young Sasaki within the promotion. This duo would quickly win NJPW's top tag team prize, the International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) Tag Team Championship from Scott Norton & Tony Halme on December 14, 1992, and holding them until August 5, 1993. |
HAWK FLYING SOLO
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In addition to his tag team exploits with Power Warrior in Japan, Hawk also make his presence felt on the singles scene for a variety of promotions around the world.
In late 1992, Hawk spent some time in Australia's Wrestling Down Under promotion, rekindling a rivalry with Demolition Smash (Barry Darsow). Not only was Darsow one-half of the legendary Demolition team (seen by many as the WWF's version of The Road Warriors), but Darsow trained alongside Hawk, Animal, Scott Norton, Nikita Koloff, and Rick Rude under the tutelage of Eddie Sharkey. |
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On December 19, 1992, just five (5) days after capturing the IWGP Tag Team Championship with Power Warrior in Japan, Hawk defeated Rambo to claim the Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) World Heavyweight Title in Bremen, Germany. Hawk was defeated by Rambo in their rematch on July 3, 1993 in Steiermark, Austria.
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Hawk vs. Terry Funk
Back in the United States, Hawk worked under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) banner in singles matches against Terry Funk and Eddie Gilbert during 1992.
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Hawk vs. Nailz
On July 30, 1993 in Ft. Hood, TX, Hawk appeared on the first show for the new promotion World Wrestling Network (run by Jim Crockett, Jr. and Paul Heyman), defeating The Convict (formerly "Nailz" in the World Wrestling Federation). Unfortunately, Hawk's wrestling gear didn't arrive in time for the show, so he wore a prisoner's jumpsuit for the match.
Hawk would return for the promotion's only other show on February 28, 1994 at The Manhattan Center in New York to defeat Keith Scherer. |
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Hawk challenges Rick Rude at Clash of the Champions 24
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) fans were surprised when Hawk appeared at Clash of the Champions 24 to team with Dustin Rhodes in defeating Rick Rude & The Equalizer on August 18, 1993. Then on November 10, 1993, Hawk was Rude's surprise opponent for the WCW International Heavyweight Title at Chash of the Champions 25, a match which ended in a double countout.
Hawk's singles presence in WCW would continue through January 1996, along the way teaming with Sting at Clash of the Champions 31 to take on Kurasawa & Meng, along with many singles matches. Hawk also competed for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at the World War 3 1995 pay-per-view event, one of sixty (60) men in a three (3) ring battle royal to fill the vacant championship. |
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Hawk vs. Jimmy Snuka
Hawk also joined the action in the young promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW, soon to become Extreme Championship Wrestling), run by Paul Heyman. Highlights of this run included:
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ANIMAL IN WCW WCW Sin 2001
In January 2001, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was in a downward spiral, the result of a wide array of poor business decisions and bad use of their roster.
Attempting to form a new super stable, at the first (and only) WCW Sin pay-per-view event on January 14, 2001, on-screen WCW CEO Ric Flair formed a group called "The Magnificent Seven", comprised of Flair himself, WCW World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner, WCW United States Champion Rick Steiner, Lex Luger, Buff Bagwell, Jeff Jarrett, and a mystery man, later revealed to be Road Warrior Animal. Scott Steiner, Jarrett, and Animal would all take part in the night's main event, a Four Corners match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, working together to successfully fend off the threat of challenger Sid Vicious. The faction was short-lived, as WCW was purchased by Vince McMahon, owner of the World Wrestling Federation, in March 2001. |
THE HELL WARRIORS
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On September 1, 2007, fans in All-Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) welcomed the returning Animal, who teamed with Power Warrior (Kensuke Sasaki) to form "The Hell Warriors", defeating the team of YASSHI & Shuji Kondo. The Hell Warriors allowed Animal to team with Power Warrior in paying homage to Hawk, both for the legacy of The Road Warriors, and for that of The Hellraisers, a team formed by Hawk & Power Warrior in 1992.
The pair travelled to Mexico, defeating Damián el Terrible and Damián 666 to win the UWA World Tag Team Championship on May 11, 2008 at Toryumon Mexico's Dragon-Mania show. |
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BACK IN WWEAnimal returns to WWE to save Heidenreich
On July 14, 2005, Animal returned to WWE to challenge MNM (Joey Mercury & Johnny Nitro), and found a new tag team partner in Jon Heidenreich. The two would re-form The Legion of Doom, and would defeat MNM for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships at The Great American Bash 2005 pay-per-view event. Animal dedicated the title win to Hawk.
The new Legion of Doom would hold onto those titles until the October 25, 2005 episode of Smackdown, dropping them back to MNM in a Four Way match also featuring The Mexicools (Psicosis & Super Crazy) and Paul Burchill & William Regal. Heidenreich was released from WWE on January 17, 2006, ending the final run of The Legion of Doom. Following Heidenreich's departure, Animal returned to his original gimmick, once again becoming The Road Warrior, and turning heel. He would initially feud with Matt Hardy, then go on to work opposite younger talent for the remainder of his run. He was released from WWE on June 26, 2006. |
Animal in TNA
Animal made a surprise appearance in Total Nonstop Action (TNA) at their Slammiversary 2007 event as the surprise partner for Rick Steiner (filling in for the injurd Scott Steiner) as they unsuccessfully challenged Team 3D (Brother Ray & D-Von) for the TNA World Tag Team Championships.
It was a true crossing of the generations, as many fans saw Team 3D (a.k.a., "The Dudley Boys") as the greatest tag team of the 2000s. |
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A WWE Legend
In coordination with RAW's 1000th episode, Animal returned to WWE to defeat Heath Slater on Smackdown's June 12, 2012 episode. He later appeared on the actual 1000th RAW episode on July 23, 2012, along with other legends to help Lita take down Slater.
This would be Animal's final appearance on WWE television. |