Animal Dead at 60 - Road Warriors (Legion of Doom)

[Millard]

Road Warrior Animal passes away
WWE is saddened to learn that Joe Laurinaitis, known to WWE fans as Road Warrior Animal, has passed away at the age of 60.

One of the most intense Superstars to ever step into the squared circle, the 6-foot-2, 300-pound Animal spent most of his career alongside his tag team partner, Hawk. Together, they formed what was arguably the most successful, popular and feared tandem of all time — The Road Warriors.

With their intimidating face paint, outfits covered in metal spikes and impressive array of power moves, the duo captured titles and destroyed opponents wherever they roamed. Their dominance made them so popular that the phrase “Road Warrior pop” has been used in locker rooms to describe particularly deafening reactions from the crowd ever since.

Joining forces with legendary manager “Precious” Paul Ellering, their team formed in Georgia Championship Wrestling in 1983. Before the decade was out, The Road Warriors had run roughshod over competition in both the National Wrestling Alliance and the American Wrestling Association, achieving the rare feat of claiming both organization’s tag team titles.

The Road Warriors gained prominence as top rivals to The Four Horsemen in NWA member territory Jim Crockett Promotions, teaming with Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff to face the Horsemen in the first WarGames Match on Independence Day 1987.

The Road Warriors also thrived in multiple stints with WWE, where they were known as The Legion of Doom. The team won the World Tag Team Titles on two occasions, defeating The Nasty Boys in 1991 and The Godwinns in 1997.

After Hawk’s passing in 2003, Animal captured the WWE Tag Team Title for a third and final time in 2005, teaming with Heidenreich to defeat MNM, a victory that Animal dedicated to his late partner. The Road Warriors collective of Animal, Hawk and Ellering were enshrined in the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011.

Animal wasn’t the only member of his family to earn fame in athletics. His brothers John and Marcus both enjoyed careers in the ring, competing as Johnny Ace and The Terminator, respectively, with John eventually becoming a WWE producer. Animal’s son James Laurinaitis played eight seasons in the NFL before retiring in 2017.

WWE extends its condolences to Laurinaitis’ family, friends and fans.

Source: Road Warrior Animal passes away

 

[Logan44551]

Bummer, I remember watching them as a kid.

 

[Millard]

New York Times obituary:

Joe Laurinaitis, a Star as Tag Team’s ‘Animal,’ Dies at 60
As one of the Road Warriors, he brought a muscled flamboyance to professional wrestling.

Joseph Michael Laurinaitis was born on Sept. 12, 1960, in Philadelphia to Joseph and Lorna Laurinaitis. When he was 13 the family moved to Florida, where he took up weight lifting. Two years later another change in his father’s employment took them to Minnesota. At Irondale High School in New Brighton, he played baseball and football. He also played football during his two years at Golden Valley Lutheran College in Minnesota.

But he left college when his girlfriend became pregnant. (The resulting marriage was brief.)

By 22 he was drawing attention as a power lifter — aided, he later admitted, by anabolic steroids. He and Mr. Hegstrand became acquainted when both were bouncers at local clubs. They started working out together and, as Mr. Laurinaitis wrote, “decided to see what a regular steroid regimen could do for us.”

When they teamed up and joined the wrestling circuit, their musclebound physiques were a decidedly different look.

“We basically changed tag-team wrestling forever,” Mr. Laurinaitis told The South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 2001. “The era of the beer-bellied drinking guy who said, ‘Give me $50 and I’ll be happy,’ ended.”

Source: Joe Laurinaitis, a Star as Tag Team’s ‘Animal,’ Dies at 60

 

[MindlessWork]

I remember watching the Road Warrior matchups in WWF (now WWE) back in the day...RIP Animal!