 Road Warrior Hawk in 1997 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Michael James Hegstrand[2] (1957-01-26)January 26, 1957[3] Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | October 19, 2003(2003-10-19) (aged 46) |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
Spouses | |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Crusher Von Haig Hawk Hawk Warrior Road Warrior Hawk |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 275 lb (125 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Chicago, Illinois |
| Trained by | Eddie Sharkey[1] |
| Debut | 1983[1] |
Michael James Hegstrand (January 26, 1957 – October 19, 2003) was an Americanprofessional wrestler. He was best known asRoad Warrior Hawk, one half of thetag team known as theRoad Warriors (or the "Legion of Doom"), withRoad Warrior Animal. Outside of the Road Warriors, Hawk was a sporadic challenger forworld heavyweight championships onpay-per-view from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. He headlined the inaugural1993 edition ofExtreme Championship Wrestling's premier annual event,November to Remember.[4]
While living in Minneapolis, Hegstrand attendedPatrick Henry High School where he graduated in 1976. After high school, he had various odd jobs to make ends meet such as a butcher. It was while working as a bouncer at Gramma B's in theTwin Cities that he caught the eye ofEddie Sharkey, a well-known wrestling trainer. Sharkey thought that Hegstrand, along withJoe Laurinaitis,Rick Rood andBarry Darsow could make it big in professional wrestling.
Hegstrand started his career as part of the Traveling All-Stars. He was billed as "Crusher Von Haig" and wrestled in Vancouver. Soon growing weary of the road and becoming homesick. Hegstrand traveled back home with Rood. Later in 1983, fate struck again when Laurinaitis's partner for the night found himself in legal trouble. Needing a quick replacement, Ole Anderson gave Hegstrand a call, and he accepted the booking to team with Laurinaitis. Neither man knew at the time that they would make wrestling history that day.[5] WhenPaul Ellering was looking to put together a stable of heels inGeorgia Championship Wrestling called The Legion of Doom it was decided to pair Laurinaitis with Hegstrand and change their names to "Animal" and "Hawk" respectively; thus, theRoad Warriors were born. To look more intimidating the two shaved their heads into Mohawks and started wearing studded dog collars, leather chaps, and face paint. The look and name was taken fromMad Max 2: the Road Warrior, helping to paint the two as no-mercy monsters. Theirinterview style was vicious, yet charismatic and a bit humorous. Hawk was known for often beginning his promos with his trademark yell of "Wellllllllllllll!..." and ending with hiscatch phrase of "Oooooooooh, what a ruuuuuuuuuuuush!"[6] 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.[7] In Georgia, they won theNWA National Tag Team Championship four times[8] before moving on to bigger promotions such as theAmerican Wrestling Association in the US andAll Japan Pro Wrestling in Japan, winning tag-team titles wherever they went.[8]
Their hard hitting style, no nonsense attitude, and winning ways made the Road Warriors fan favorites wherever they went; even when they were booked as heels, the fans refused to boo them.[7] They were so in demand that they started to split their time between the AWA and theNational Wrestling Alliance until finally leaving the AWA for big money contracts with the NWA and a huge push for the monster duo.[6] The move paid off instantly as they won the inauguralJim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup Tag Team Tournament[9] and feuded with the top stars of the NWA such asThe Four Horsemen[10][11][12][13] andThe Russian Team (which included the Road Warriors’ old training buddy Barry Darsow, then wrestling as Krusher Khrushchev).[14][15][16] During their initial run in the Mid-Atlantic region of the NWA, they helped popularize theWarGames match,[10] theScaffold match,[17] and their trademarkChicago Street Fight.[18]
In 1988, the Road Warriors engaged in a violent feud with thePowers of Pain (The Barbarian andThe Warlord), the first team that could truly match the Road Warriors in power (and who were one of the most well known Road Warrior clones). The Powers of Pain even went so far as to injure Animal's eye (kayfabe) during a weightlifting competition. When Animal returned, he initially wore a hockey goalie mask to protect his eye. Theangle abruptly ended when the Powers of Pain left the NWA after finding out they were booked against the Road Warriors in a series of Scaffold Matches and they did not want to get hurt by falling off the scaffold.[6] Near the end of 1988, the Road Warriors captured theNWA World Tag Team Championship fromThe Midnight Express whom they mauled in short order to win the titles inNew Orleans. Despite being heels at the time and using brutal tactics againstStan Lane and"Beautiful" Bobby Eaton, once again they were cheered by the crowd.[8] After being the "Uncrowned champions" for a long time, the Road Warriors’ run with the tag-team titles was short-lived. Crooked refereeTeddy Long used a fast count to cheat the Road Warriors out of their titles.[8] In their last year with the NWA, the Warriors feuded mainly withThe Varsity Club,[19][20][21]The Samoan Swat Team,[22][23] andThe Skyscrapers[24][25] before leaving the NWA in the summer of 1990.
The Road Warriors immediately signed with theWorld Wrestling Federation[26] and were pushed into a feud withDemolition (which once again included their old training partner Barry Darsow).[27] Due to his health,Ax was replaced by a new member of Demolition,Crush. (Popular rumor at the time cited a heart condition on Bill Eadie's part, but this has been discredited in recent years. An allergic reaction to shellfish while in Japan afterWrestleMania VI was the real cause of Eadie's temporary health problem. He confirmed this in a shoot interview in 2007.)[28] However, fans did not react as strongly to this new Demolition team as they had to the original configuration, and the feud was considered a disappointment.[6] During the early part of the feud, Legion of Doom often teamed withWWF World Heavyweight ChampionThe Ultimate Warrior in six-man tag matches against all three members of Demolition. Just over a year after signing with the WWF, the Legion of Doom won theWWF World Tag Team Titles fromThe Nasty Boys atSummerSlam 1991 and held them for about six months.[8] When they lost the titles in February 1992 they were briefly taken off television, only to return with long-time manager Paul Ellering by their side, as well as a wooden dummy called "Rocco". Both members of the Legion of Doom thought thegimmick was stupid, as did most of the fans and it led to Hawk quitting the WWF,[29] leaving Animal on his own for the first time in nine years. When Animal suffered a severe back injury a short while later, everyone thought it was the end of the legendary team.
Hawk competed as a singles wrestler in Europe, Australia, 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. Thus, he always fought either mid-card opponents or made teams with better-known singles stars. When he joinedNew Japan Pro-Wrestling, he was immediately paired withKensuke Sasaki, then simply known as a good mid-carder, as the Hell Raisers (Sasaki adopting the face paint and gimmick Power Warrior).[6] The two dominated NJPW's tag team ranks for a while through their two wins of theIWGP Tag Team Championship,[8] but no North American promoter thought about bringing them as a team, due to Sasaki's affiliation with NJPW. As a singles wrestler, Hawk found success inEurope, winning the CWA World Heavyweight Championship.[8] Hawk also competed in NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling, the progenitor ofExtreme Championship Wrestling, in 1993.[30] Hawk left ECW in 1994. Hawk competed in theindependent circuit forPro Wrestling America,Mid Eastern Wrestling Federation,Smokey Mountain Wrestling and Midwest Territorial Wrestling.
In August 1993 Hawk made sporadic appearances inWorld Championship Wrestling as a mystery partner ofDustin Rhodes[31] and later as a replacement partner whenDavey Boy Smith left the promotion[32] and wrestling Rude for theWCW International Championship atClash of the Champions XXV,[33] and later appeared as a replacement partner forSting atStarrcade 1993 whenDavey Boy Smith left the promotion[34] but nothing permanent ever came of it, and Hawk left after Starrcade in December 1993. In May 1995, he reappeared in WCW. In July 1995, he helped Sting in a feud againstMeng andKurasawa,[35] but a proposed singles feud with Kurasawa fell through due to an arm injury (inkayfabe Kurasawa broke Hawk's arm using a cross armbreaker, to let Hawk rest). Hawk returned in January 1996, but this time, he also brought Animal back with him as his back had finally recovered enough for him to return to active competition. During that time, Sting andLex Luger had won theWCW World Tag Team Championship and the Warriors challenged them, to no success.[36][37] The rise of theNew World Order precluded further challenges, and they headed back to the WWF.
After leaving WCW they returned to the WWF[38] where the Legion of Doom took part in the feud between"Stone Cold" Steve Austin andthe Hart Foundation, siding with Austin.[39] The Legion of Doom also became 2 time tag-team champions on October 7, 1997, when they defeatedThe Godwinns.[8] In November 1997 the Legion of Doom faced the newly formedNew Age Outlaws (Road Dogg andBilly Gunn) and shockingly lost the titles to the upstart team.[8] On an episode ofMonday Night Raw, L.O.D. challengedD-Generation X (DX) in a Tag Match. During the match, The New Age Outlaws attacked L.O.D. and shaved off one of Hawk's mohawks, and threw Animal through the announcers table. After several unsuccessful challenges the L.O.D. were repackaged as "Legion of Doom 2000" with managerSunny, although she did not stay with the team for long.[6]
Duringthe Attitude Era, in which the WWF moved towards a more "adult" product, the Legion of Doom was placed into a storyline incorporating Hegstrand's real-life drug addiction andalcoholism, against the wishes of both Hegstrand and Laurinaitis.[29] The storyline found the Legion of Doom crumbling as Hawk repeatedly showed up to matches apparently drunk or under the influence of drugs, and began demonstratingsuicidal tendencies. In order to stabilize the team, a third member,Puke, was introduced later known as Droz. This led to the conclusion of the storyline, in which a suicidal Hawk climbed to the top of the TitanTron, the giant television monitor erected during episodes of WWF'sRaw Is War to show match highlights to fans in attendance. Puke, supposedly attempting to rescue Hawk, climbed after him, only to apparently throw Hawk over the side (with a special effect being used to make it appear as though fans could see Hegstrand's body plunging a fatal distance behind the screen); Puke then revealed that he had been enabling Hawk's drug addiction in order to kill him and take his place in the Legion of Doom. Being forced to act out Hegstrand's personal demons onscreen eventually proved too much for both Hegstrand and Laurinaitis, and both men quit the company shortly after the "Puke killed Hawk" incident.[29]
While the Road Warriors never officially broke up, Animal started making an increasing number of solo appearances after they left the WWF as Hegstrand struggled with drug and alcohol addiction and generally did not appear at many wrestling shows during this time.[7] In 2000, during a tour in Australia, Hegstrand was diagnosed withcardiomyopathy, a heart condition that stopped him from wrestling for a short while. He was able to overcome its effects and returned to a regular working schedule later on. Laurinaitis and Hegstrand becameborn-again Christians in 2001 and appeared at a number of Christian wrestling events run byTed DiBiase andNikita Koloff hoping to reignite their tag-team career. On June 22, 2002, International Wrestling Superstars, Road Warriors Animal & Hawk defeated the Headshrinkers for the World Tag-Team Championship. That victory also led to Team USA winning the International Tournament held in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
They also appeared inTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in late 2002 and early 2003 as part of a group that opposedVince Russo’s factionSports Entertainment Xtreme but only wrestled one actual match for the company.[40] Animal and Hawk made a surprise appearance onRaw on May 12, 2003, when they took onKane andRob Van Dam for the World Tag Team Championship.[41] Although Hawk and Animal came up short in their attempt to become three-time champions, it was clear that Hawk had defeated the demons that had once kept him from competing, and the Road Warriors had hopes of returning to WWE. Later in 2003, Hawk made an appearance with the All World Wrestling League, a take-off of the 'original' Big Time Wrestling that was owned byThe Original Sheik who died earlier that year; it was run by the sons of The Sheik, Eddie and Tom Farhat. They decided to book Hawk for an event in Holt, Michigan; that event was the second to last time Hawk wrestled.[citation needed] Two weeks before he died, he wrestled his final match with Animal in Oshawa, Ontario, defeatingGreg "The Hammer" Valentine andBuff Bagwell.[42]
Hegstrand and his tag team partner Lauriniatis owned two gyms in Minneapolis in the late '80s. The pair, alongside gym employees Bob Truax and Dan Stock, conceptualized theZubaz workout pants and helped popularize the brand globally.[43][44] Hegstrand owned 25% of the company until its closure in 1996.
Hegstrand died on October 19, 2003, in the early morning in his home inIndian Rocks Beach, Florida.[45][46] He was 46 years old. His friends said that he and his wife Dale had recently bought a condominium near their current home and were packing their boxes the night before. Hegstrand said that he felt tired and went to take a nap. When his wife checked on him at about 1:00AM, he had died of a suddenheart attack.[47] At the time of his death, Hawk and Animal were working on a book about their careers; Animal released the book (alongside co-writer Andrew Wright) as "The Road Warriors: Danger, Death and the Rush of Wrestling" (ISBN 978-1605425788) in 2014.[48] Animal returned to WWE in mid-2005 and decided to dedicate his entire run to Hegstrand, including his tag team title victory withHeidenreich atThe Great American Bash.[49][50]
On the March 28, 2011 episode ofRaw, it was announced that the Road Warriors would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2011.[51] On April 2, 2011, the night beforeWrestleMania XXVII they, along withPaul Ellering, were inducted into theWWE Hall of Fame byDusty Rhodes.[52]
a The Road Warriors reign with the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, with Genichiro Tenryu, began December 7, 1988, after Ted Turner's purchase of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling from Jim Crockett, Jr. and having it renamed World Championship Wrestling.
b Hawk and Animal's reign with this championship also happened after Ted Turner bought and renamed the promotion. However, it took place before the title was renamed the WCW World Tag Team Championship.
(May 12, 2003) WWE Raw Tag Team Champions Rob Van Dam & Kane defeated the Legion of Doom when RVD pinned Road Warrior Hawk following the chokeslam / Five Star Frog Splash combo (LOD's surprise return after more than a 4-year absence)
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| National | |
