Post by codystarbuck on Sept 23, 2020 11:35:33 GMT -5
Road Warrior Animal was Joe Laurenaitis, from Minneapolis, MN. He was a powerlifter and played football in high school and was a bouncer at a notorious club, Grandma B's. It was there he attracted the attention of former pro wrestler and trainer Ed Sharkey, who approached him about pro wrestling. Some of the bouncers were already training and he became part of a group that included Mike Hegstrand, Richard Rood and Barry Darsow. They went on to become (respectively) Road Warrior Hawk, Rick Rude, and Crusher Darsow/Krusher Kruschev/Demolition Smash/Repo Man. Joe was the first to make it to a bigger stage, as he was recruited to come to Georgia Championship Wrestling, where booker/owner Ole Anderson had an idea for a character, called the Road Warrior (from the Mad Max film). Joe debuted on World Championship Wrestling, in 1982, as The Road Warrior (singular).
So, some fans wondered if Ole had been watching Cruisin', instead of The Road Warrior!
Ole realized just how green Joe was and was ready to fire him. Wrestler Paul Ellering had an idea. He had injured his leg, but offered to play manager, with Joe in a tag-team, to help him develop. They made a call to Joe's buddy Mike Hegstrand, who had wrestled a little in Vancouver, and he was brought in to be the second half of the team. The biker gimmick was still there, at first.
The pair debuted on tv as the National Tag-Team Champions (previous champions, the Samoans, had left the territory to go to the WWF), still wearing the biker gear, though not the jean shorts...
It didn't take too long before they upgraded to the face paint and, eventually the spikes (they had spiked vests, first, then later added the shoulder pads). They were still green, so Anderson just told them to hit the ring and beat the crap out of their opponents. They took him a little too literally and a lot of the "jobbers" (wrestlers who put over the stars on tv, but were known as carpenters, in the business) took a real beating. The story was that people would come into the studio, see they were put into a match with the Road Warriors, pick up their bags and head out the door! They learned to work, though, and became big stars in Georgia, before going back to Minnesota and working for the American Wrestling Association (AWA) which was headquarted out of Minneapolis. They also started wrestling for All-Japan Pro Wrestling, where they became massive stars, instantly. They went back to Georgia to work for promoter Jim Crockett, who had taken over the tv show, and became legends, demolishing opponents each week. They stayed for quite a while, splitting their time between touring nationally for Crocket and the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) and for Giant Baba (promoter of All-Japan). Still, everyone goes to the WWF and they went, as the Legion of Doom (which was the original nickname for Ellering's stable, which included the Road Warriors, Jake The Snake Roberts, and King Kong Bundy). They didn't get over as well there, since Vince had already ripped them off with Demolition, as every promoter saw the response the Road Warriors got and introduced a copycat team (Demolition, the Master Blasters, The Blade Runners, the Maxx Brothers, Lord Humongous, etc, etc...). However, not one got a response like the Road Warrior Pop. The arena would play Black Sabbath's "Ironman," and when the first beat hit, the crowd would explode, the Warriors would hit the ring, and pandemonium would ensue.
Joe had two brothers who also wrestled: John, who wrestled as Johnny Ace, for Crockett and for All-Japan and became an agent (supervisor of the matches, to help develop angles) for WCW and then the WWF, as well as head of Talent Relations. Marc, the youngest, wrestled in Florida and Oklahoma, as The Terminator, then also wrestled for WCW and All-Japan. All three brothers even teamed in Japan, at one point.
Joe had a head for business, helped by Paul Ellering's acumen and they invested their very lucrative salaries well. At one point, they owned a major share of the Zubaz clothing manufacturer, which made workout pants, t-shirts and other apparel, with wild patterns, which became a fad in the early 90s.
Joe's son, James, was a standout football player in college and has played for the St Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints.
The Road Warriors were bigger than life and made many a fan, even among people who weren't wrestling fans. Joe wrote a book about their career and one of the oddest sights I ever saw, at Barnes & Noble, was a picture of him, on our internal web site, holding the Nook e-reader, with his face paint and mohawk. He wasn't the usual guest author, I'm sure.
So, now the Road Warriors are reunited and the heavens will shake.
So, some fans wondered if Ole had been watching Cruisin', instead of The Road Warrior!
Ole realized just how green Joe was and was ready to fire him. Wrestler Paul Ellering had an idea. He had injured his leg, but offered to play manager, with Joe in a tag-team, to help him develop. They made a call to Joe's buddy Mike Hegstrand, who had wrestled a little in Vancouver, and he was brought in to be the second half of the team. The biker gimmick was still there, at first.
The pair debuted on tv as the National Tag-Team Champions (previous champions, the Samoans, had left the territory to go to the WWF), still wearing the biker gear, though not the jean shorts...
It didn't take too long before they upgraded to the face paint and, eventually the spikes (they had spiked vests, first, then later added the shoulder pads). They were still green, so Anderson just told them to hit the ring and beat the crap out of their opponents. They took him a little too literally and a lot of the "jobbers" (wrestlers who put over the stars on tv, but were known as carpenters, in the business) took a real beating. The story was that people would come into the studio, see they were put into a match with the Road Warriors, pick up their bags and head out the door! They learned to work, though, and became big stars in Georgia, before going back to Minnesota and working for the American Wrestling Association (AWA) which was headquarted out of Minneapolis. They also started wrestling for All-Japan Pro Wrestling, where they became massive stars, instantly. They went back to Georgia to work for promoter Jim Crockett, who had taken over the tv show, and became legends, demolishing opponents each week. They stayed for quite a while, splitting their time between touring nationally for Crocket and the NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) and for Giant Baba (promoter of All-Japan). Still, everyone goes to the WWF and they went, as the Legion of Doom (which was the original nickname for Ellering's stable, which included the Road Warriors, Jake The Snake Roberts, and King Kong Bundy). They didn't get over as well there, since Vince had already ripped them off with Demolition, as every promoter saw the response the Road Warriors got and introduced a copycat team (Demolition, the Master Blasters, The Blade Runners, the Maxx Brothers, Lord Humongous, etc, etc...). However, not one got a response like the Road Warrior Pop. The arena would play Black Sabbath's "Ironman," and when the first beat hit, the crowd would explode, the Warriors would hit the ring, and pandemonium would ensue.
Joe had two brothers who also wrestled: John, who wrestled as Johnny Ace, for Crockett and for All-Japan and became an agent (supervisor of the matches, to help develop angles) for WCW and then the WWF, as well as head of Talent Relations. Marc, the youngest, wrestled in Florida and Oklahoma, as The Terminator, then also wrestled for WCW and All-Japan. All three brothers even teamed in Japan, at one point.
Joe had a head for business, helped by Paul Ellering's acumen and they invested their very lucrative salaries well. At one point, they owned a major share of the Zubaz clothing manufacturer, which made workout pants, t-shirts and other apparel, with wild patterns, which became a fad in the early 90s.
Joe's son, James, was a standout football player in college and has played for the St Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints.
The Road Warriors were bigger than life and made many a fan, even among people who weren't wrestling fans. Joe wrote a book about their career and one of the oddest sights I ever saw, at Barnes & Noble, was a picture of him, on our internal web site, holding the Nook e-reader, with his face paint and mohawk. He wasn't the usual guest author, I'm sure.
So, now the Road Warriors are reunited and the heavens will shake.