The Road Warriors

The Road Warriors were a tag team composed of Michael "Hawk" Hegstrand and Joseph "Animal" Laurinaitis. They performed under the name "Road Warriors" in the American Wrestling Association, the National Wrestling Alliance, and World Championship Wrestling, and the name Legion of Doom (LOD) in the World Wrestling Federation (despite the altered team name, they were still individually introduced as "Road Warrior" Hawk and "Road Warrior" Animal). Under either name, their gimmick was the same – two imposing musclebound wrestlers in face paint. For brief periods, other wrestlers were added as stand-in partners for both men. In Japan in the 1990s, Kensuke "Power Warrior" Sasaki often teamed with Hawk and Animal, separately and together.

Hawk and Animal were known for their impressive physiques, and revolutionized the business by popularizing the use of face paint, and introducing a tandem maneuver known as the Doomsday Device. Both men used the move as a teamfinisher throughout their careers, even when teaming with other partners. Angel Diaz in Complex wrote: "By all accounts, LOD is the greatest tag team to ever reign in the squared circle".

History[]

Japan (1985-1990)[]

In March 1985, the Road Warriors began touring Japan, mainly with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) where they made an immediate impact squashing the monster team of Killer Khan and Animal Hamaguchi in under 4 minutes. This and subsequent dominant victories garnered the Road Warriors a lot of Japanese wrestling media headlines and front page stories. Their tours with AJPW in 1985 and 1986 made the Road Warriors such legends in Japan that they toured the country whenever they were “between contracts” of the big three.

The Road Warriors won the NWA International Tag Team Championship on March 12, 1987 from Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu and would hold them for 15 months before losing them to PWF World Tag Team champions Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu to unify the titles as the AJPW World Tag Team titles, making the Road Warriors the last defending champions of the NWA International Tag Team titles Their last match in Japan was on July 22, 1990, for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), losing to Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh by disqualification.

New Japan Pro Wrestling (1992-1995)[]

When Hawk left the WWF after SummerSlam 1992 he traveled to Japan and started working for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) where he quickly teamed up with young mid-carder Kensuke Sasaki who was soon dubbed "Power Warrior" as he adopted the trademark Road Warrior face paint and spiked shoulder pads. The duo was dubbed "The Hell Raisers" and carried on the legacy of the Road Warriors in NJPW winning the IWGP Tag Team Championship from Tony Halme and Scott Norton in December 1992 and then again from the team of Scott Norton and Hercules (known as the Jurassic Powers) in January 1994. They also competed in both the 1993 and 1994 versions of the Super Grade Tag league making it to the semi finals of the 1994 tournament before losing to Masahiro Chono and Super Strong Machine.

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 in the middle of 1995, Sasaki shed the Power Warrior gimmick and became a main eventer on the singles scene. On special occasions, Sasaki would break out the "Power Warrior" persona, similar to Keiji Mutoh and his "Great Muta" persona.

During this stint, they used the theme song "Hellraiser" by Ozzy Osbourne.

When Animal came back from his back injury, he joined the duo in Japan in 1996. The three were announced collectively as the Road Warriors, using "Iron Man" as their theme music.

The Hell Warriors (2007-2014)[]

On September 1, 2007, Road Warrior Animal appeared for All Japan Pro Wrestling and teamed with Sasaki to form the Hell Warriors, with Animal being billed as "Animal Warrior" to match up with Sasaki's "Power Warrior" and Hawk's "Hawk Warrior" gimmick. The newly formed Hell Warriors defeated the team of "brother" YASSHI and Shuji Kondo.

On May 11, 2008, The Hell Warriors wrestled in Toryumon Mexico's Dragon-Mania show. They defeated Damián el Terrible and Damián 666 to win the UWA World Tag Team Championship (not the same championship revived by El Dorado Wrestling).

On February 13, 2014, Power Warrior announced his retirement from professional wrestling, ending The Hell Warriors' run.

Their theme music is a megamix of "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath and "Hellraiser" by Ozzy Osbourne.

WWE Hall of Fame (2011)[]

On April 2, 2011, The Road Warriors with Paul Ellering were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Incarnations[]

The Road Warriors / Legion of Doom
- Road Warrior Hawk
- Road Warrior Animal
- Crush (with Animal in tag team matches in Europe)
- Dusty Rhodes (during six-man tag team matches in the NWA)
- Power Warrior (when in six-man tag team matches in Japan)
- "Precious" Paul Ellering (manager)
The Hell Raisers
- Hawk Warrior
- Power Warrior
The Hell Warriors
- Animal Warrior
- Power Warrior

In wrestling[]

Finishing move
- Doomsday Device / Devastation Device / Double/Triple Impact (Electric chair lift into a top rope clothesline) – innovated
Entrance themes
- "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath
- "War Machine" by [Kiss (AWA)
- "We are Iron Men" (WCW)
- "The Hit" (Dubbed/Edit Music Over WCW Theme)
- "Mayhem Mavens" (WCW) 1995-1996
- "What A Rush" by J. Hart and J.J. Maguire (WWF/WWE) 1990-1992, 1997–1998, 2003
- "Hellraiser" by Ozzy Osbourne
- "Iron Man/Hellraiser Megamix" by Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath

Championships and accomplishments[]