RIP: Road Warrior Animal!

[Heenan Fan]

I felt this was the best place to post this because pro wrestling has literally become a sitcom, Animal was a part time character in the 1988-1989 sitcom "Learning The Ropes", and I wanted people to actually see it.

"WWE icon Joseph Laurinaitis, AKA Road Warrior Animal, died Tuesday night of natural causes ... TMZ Sports has confirmed. He was 60 years old.

Law enforcement tells us, the wrestling legend -- who was one half of the famous Road Warriors tag team -- passed away at Tan-Tar-A Resort in Osage Beach, MO.

We're told cops received a call at around 11:49 PM from Laurinaitis' wife ... but when deputies arrived on scene -- emergency personnel had already declared the ex-wrestler deceased.

Laurinaitis is considered one of the best in-ring performers of all-time -- he wrestled for most of his WWE career with Road Warrior Hawk and won multiple tag team championships as The Road Warriors/Legion of Doom.

He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2011.

"RIP Animal,love you my brother," Hulk Hogan said in a statement Wednesday morning. "I know you and Hawk have a lot of unfinished business to take care of! God speed and blessings to your beautiful family,one love4Life."

Laurinaitis' son, James Laurinaitis, was a superstar linebacker at Ohio State who was picked in the 2nd-round of the 2009 NFL Draft by the Rams.

Joseph, meanwhile, was known for his face paint and spiked shoulder pads ... as well as his imposing frame -- he was 6-foot-2, 300-plus pounds.

As a team with Road Warrior Hawk (who died of a heart attack in 2003) ... Laurinaitis famously headlined several HUGE WWE events."

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I absolutely worshipped Road Warrior Animal as a kid. Worshipped him! The Road Warriors were by far and away the greatest tag team in pro wrestling history in my opinion.

Whenever my friends and I would backyard wrestle in the 1980's, I was almost always Animal and my friend was Hawk. If you thought the real Road Warriors worked stiff and didn't sell, you should of saw us. We would beat the **** out of those neighborhood kids, and every day they would come back for more because we were all Road Warrior fans!

RIP to Joe
And thoughts and prayers to his family, friends, fans, and loved ones!

[jimpickens]

One of the all time greats their feuds with the Koloffs and Crusher Khrushchev the Freebirds and the Fabulous ones were classic.

[Zoneboy]

Even though the WWE has been a joke for years this actually belongs in the sports forum if it hasn't already been posted there. There's also no link to the TMZ article.

[MA]

Can this thread be moved to the Sports board?

[icecream]

Calling pro wrestling a sitcom is an insult to real sitcoms.

[MA]

Here is the link to the article:

https://www.tmz.com/2020/09/23/wwe-l...arrior-animal/

[stevea]

Oh no one of the Road Warriors gone! Not only were they in the WWF (the name at the time) but I think in WCW as well. A really great tag team...

[JamesG]

I recommend checking out the episode he did for Vice's "Dark Side of the Ring".

The series is really good.

[jimpickens]

Originally Posted by stevea

Oh no one of the Road Warriors gone! Not only were they in the WWF (the name at the time) but I think in WCW as well. A really great tag team...

The Road Warriors were in every major promotion at one time first saw them in Georgia Championship Wrestling where they feuded with King Kong Bundy and the Masked Superstar.

[stevea]

The late King Kong Bundy also, IIRC.

[SledgeBarone]

RIP Animal.

Originally Posted by Heenan Fan

As a team with Road Warrior Hawk (who died of a heart attack in 2003) ... Laurinaitis famously headlined several HUGE WWE events."

I can think of maybe one "HUGE WWE event" he headlined ... the Survivor Series where the Hawk and Animal teamed with the Ultimate Warrior and Kerry von Erich. Any others?

The vast majority of events he headlined were in regional territories like the AWA and Memphis, prior to the Road Warriors going to mid-Atlantic/JCP and the WWF/WWE.

[Heenan Fan]

Originally Posted by MA

Can this thread be moved to the Sports board?

Do you honestly have a problem with this thread being posted where it did?

[Heenan Fan]

Originally Posted by catsrule

Calling pro wrestling a sitcom is an insult to real sitcoms.

Well, WWE anyways. AEW is actually pretty cool though. It's not like there's a lot of good sitcoms nowadays either.

[Heenan Fan]

Originally Posted by SledgeBarone

RIP Animal.



I can think of maybe one "HUGE WWE event" he headlined ... the Survivor Series where the Hawk and Animal teamed with the Ultimate Warrior and Kerry von Erich. Any others?

The vast majority of events he headlined were in regional territories like the AWA and Memphis, prior to the Road Warriors going to mid-Atlantic/JCP and the WWF/WWE.

First of all, I didn't say that. You're quoting from the TMZ article, not me. And second, The Road Warriors made $350,000 a year each in 1986 money. And that was just from Jim Crockett Promotions, doesn't include all the money they made from merchandise, autographs, comps, etc. No tag team in the world could touch that money at the time. There are more companies other than WWE. They headlined several events, including the first ever Wargames.

[MA]

Originally Posted by Heenan Fan

Do you honestly have a problem with this thread being posted where it did?

No I don’t.