Professor Wrestling: Legion Of One
A Converstation With Animal Of The Road Warriors
By Professor Wrestling, The Grappling Scholar
POSTED: 8:56 am EDT April 30, 2004
HAMEL, Minn. -- It sits in humble home in suburban Minneapolis. It's in the corner of the kids' TV room, nestled in a plastic case, a thing of pure beauty. It's a relic from Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association: the AWA tag team championship belt. Characters such as The Crusher and Dick The Bruiser have worn it, as have Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens, Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell. The worn hunk of metal and leather is the prized posssession of Joe Laurinaitis, a former AWA tag team champ. Also in the room, a tag title belt from the old World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and still-in-the-package action figures in Joe's likeness. If Joe's name doesn't ring a bell, he also calls himself Animal, one-half of perhaps the greatest tag team ever: The Legion Of Doom, The Road Warriors.
These days, there's a huge hole in Animal's heart. His partner, Mike Hegstrand, known as Hawk, died in his sleep on Oct. 19, 2003 at the age of 45. Sadly, yet another in a long list of wrestlers who have simply died too young.
Out of his trademark face-paint, and talking in a whisper instead of his TV growl, Laurinaitis, 43, spoke of his late partner, his career and his family. In short, he's a ring legend at a crossroads in life, facing real-life plot lines far more compelling than fiction ... or even the best-written wrestling show.
The Road Trip Begins
The story starts simply enough. Joe, a fresh out of high school (class of 1978), is working out in Jesse Ventura's gym in Minneapolis. There, he hooks up with Mike, who graduated from high school a few years earlier. Before they know it, they're employed in the early '80s as bouncers together in various Twin Cities nightclubs. The next step: wrestling school.
Local legend Eddie Sharkey trained the duo in the basement of a south Minneapolis church. The class would include future wrestling stars such as Ravishing Rick Rude, Scott "Flash" Norton and Barry Darsow, who performed as Smash of Demolition, a WWF tag team.
"We had a ring that was nothing but railroad ties and plywood, with carpet on top of it, then the wrestling mat," Laurinaitis said. "It was so hard. No padding, man. Talk about the school of hard knocks, that's exactly what it was."
But graduating from that school meant developing a style never seen before: athletic, high-impact monsters in face-paint inspired by Mel Gibson's "Road Warrior" movies. It wasn't long before they would dominate promotions around the world, including the AWA, WWF, NWA and WCW.
"We've had a 21-year peak," Laurinaitis recalls. But with Hegstrand's death, everything is different now. "The Road Warrior era is done. You cannot replace a Hawk or an Animal in this type of gimmick."
Tragedy Strikes
Laurinaitis says Hegstrand suffered from a weak heart. During a tour of Australia a few years ago, Hegstrand found out the ventricle wall of his heart was so stretched out that it had half of its normal thickness. Laurinaitis also admits his partner had substance abuse issues in the past, but maintains he was clean and sober for the last eight years of his life.
"He was a heavy-duty partier," Laurinaitis admitted. "He did what he wanted to do after hours, and he got nailed on a couple of tests." But in recent years, Laurinaitis says he and his partner turned to Christianity to help chase away the demons that came with international fame.
"They always talk about finishing strong," Laurinaitis said. "(Hawk) finished the race strong, because he got the forgiveness fo God and then he finished strong in the race because he got rid of all the demons in his past. He had a heart bigger than himself."
With Hawk gone, Laurinaitis now faces a much different road. After a 21-year partnership, it's not an easy task. Luckily, he has some help -- a stong family and a troupe of fellow Christian wrestlers.
Testimony In The Ring
About five years ago, Laurinaitis says was in the locker room at an event when fellow performer Nikita Koloff urged him to read his book, "Breaking The Chains." Animal says he couldn't resist the pro-Christian message, and paged through it.
Twelve hours later, another performer, Chis Chavis, who wrestled as Tatanka is the WWF, called out of the blue and asked Animal to turn to the Lord.
Coincedence? Perhaps. But when Laurinaitis arrived back in Minnesota, he was zapped again. A Christian group just happened to be working out in his gym. Refusing to ignore the signs from above, he said he soon turned his life over to God. Next was his -- and Hawk's -- eventual association with a Christian-based promotion called the Power Wrestling Alliance, run by former WWF star Ted DiBiase. The gimmick is to put on a wrestling card, but then testify after the action is over. It's not your typical evening at the rasslin' arena, but Laurinaitis says fans still flock to the shows, which feature other names like Sting, Greg Valentine and Buff Bagwell.
"We were in Omaha," he said. "The WWE was in Lincoln, 50 miles away. WWE had 1,200 people. We had 5,500 in a church parking lot."
They're pretty good numbers, and Joe knows it: "I hope I can make a difference because it made a difference in my life."
The Animal As A Family Man
One thing about pro wrestlers, when the camera is off, most tend to be pretty normal guys. Bigger and tougher than the rest of us -- and better tumblers -- but they put their superhero tights on one leg at a time. Minnesota's Joe Laurinaitis is a family man. He lives with his wife, Julia, 40, and their two children, James, 16, and Jessica, 14, in suburban Minneapolis. Like dad, both are standout athletes. James is ready to play football and hockey at the University of Minnesota, Jessica is considered one of the best girls hockey players in the state. Joseph, 22, his son from a previous marriage, is in the U.S. military, with tours of duty in Kuwait and Iraq under his belt.
"He sent me letters and called me on the phone and said 'Dad, I just sit here and hope and pray I'm not the next one to go. Because mortars are going around us all day,'" Laurinaitis recalled. "He said it's nothing like what you see on TV. He said, "They are all spitting on us, throwing stuff on us, they're trying to kill us. And we're trying to help. We're trying to rid 'em of the evil and they're spitting on us.'" It's just another real-life drama for a man with a lot on his mind. But he's confident his kids will be OK in life, especially now that the family has embraced Christianity.
Of the three, Animal says James has the charisma to perhaps make it in the wrestling world, but he isn't exactly encouraging him to follow that path. "It's not a nice business," he admitted. "You've always got somebody wanting to jump in your shoes, telling you to your face, 'You're a great guy,' ... and just when you turn around, here comes a stilletto in the back. It's just the nature of the beast. I think most professional sports are like that."
Oooooh, What A Rush!
Don't get Animal wrong, however. He's seen the world and made a lot of money over the years. In the ring, he says the highlight was the 1992 SummerSlam pay-per-view event at Wembley Stadium in London. There were about 90,000 people there, and they made so much noise he couldn't hear himself think. He and Hawk rode to ringside on Harleys.
"The only bad part about it is Hawk rode too close to me and I couldn't get off the bike on the left side so I had to jump off on the right side, and my calf stuck to the tailpipe. It burned my tights right into my leg and I had to do the whole match like that. I'm just jumping around and Hawk says, 'Do you have to go to the bathroom or something?' I said, 'No, Mike, look at my leg!' It was brutal. It hurt so bad."
Outside the ring, Joe's biggest rush is coaching football, the other game he loves. As if his schedule isn't busy enough, Laurinaitis and Marion Barber II also coach the Minnesota Lumberjacks semi-pro team. Before that, he helped coach football teams for both of his sons. That's where his personal "Oooooh, what a rush!" comes in. Over 10 seasons of fourth through eighth grade football for both boys, he says they never lost a game: "For them to experience that and to feel that joy and that rush .. that's what life is all about."
The Next Road
What's next for Laurinaitis? Certainly more family time. Certainly more Christian wrestling events. As for WWE -- the biggest promotion in the land -- Animal says if the gimmick is right, he's still interested in working for Vincent Kennedy McMahon. "Look at (Ric) Flair, look at (Hulk) Hogan. Those are two guys that are 12 years older than I am, still doing what they can do. I'm a young 43, I could go for five to seven years real strong, and go 150 percent, like I've always gone."
Spoken like a true Warrior. Not an Animal, mind you, but a man at a crossroads.
Class dismissed.
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12-15-2004, 08:40 PM
Don't worry about hockey guys!!
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