STW - Legion of Doom [Show Notes] (Patreon)

The feedback for last week’s episode covering your return to the WWF to be JJ Dillon’s assistant and Survivor Series 1992 has been tremendous - and for our YouTube viewers out there - you finally get to see what I’ve seen over 5 years now - Bruce’s face!

This week - something that also has taken forever - and we’re finally going to be talking about them in long form - the Road Warriors, the Legion of Doom, Hawk & Animal!

Bruce - when do you first hear of the Road Warriors?

They’re put together by Eddie Sharkey up in Minnesota and get them hooked up with Ole Anderson. Minnesota is such a hotbed for talent - can you think of another area that had the same success as them?

The rumor & innuendo at the time is that there was a possibility that it would’ve been Rick Rude teaming with Animal…wouldn’t have been the same would it?

Here are two guys - they look tough - they look mean - they look powerful - they look like two dudes straight out of the movie Mad Max which is where Ole got the idea from. They’re paired with “Precious” Paul Ellering and billed from Chicgo and their TV debut as heels takes place on WCW on June 11, 1983. They’re put in a squash match and destroy their opponents. These guys were the right people at the right time in the right gimmick were they not?

They weren’t using Iron Man as their entrance music as of yet and really they still had hair and no face paint…but you could tell they were money right?

In Ellering’s table at the time - called the Legion of Doom mind you - were the Road Warriors, Jake Roberts, King Kong Bundy & the Spoiler. Do you think the Road Warriors or the Legion of Doom fit them better?

Traveling on the roads with Ellering…and especially Jake…they were able to learn so much so quickly. But they had a rep for being dangerous did they not?

The Doomsday Device debuts - Animal picks their opponent up from underneath and puts them on his shoulders and Hawk comes off the top with a clothesline - it’s one of the most impressive tag team finishers - not just at that time - but to this day is it not?

After killing everyone in Georgia - and Vince buying the territory - they move to the AWA but they’re now babyfaces and tag team champions there. How hard is it for them to be babyfaces considering their whole gimmick is pretty much to no sell whatever offense the heel is giving them?

The face paint - that came from Bill Watts is that right?

Overtime they modify their look more with the spiked shoulder pads, and get a bit of character with their over-the-top promos, particularly from Hawk. He gets the catchphrase later “Oh, what a rush!” from the film “A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 – Dream Warriors.” They might’ve been stiff, might not have been the best workers putting ***** matches out there - but man they got it and they got it early didn’t they?

It’s reported within their first year or two, they were already making six figures as they kept going around the territories plus when they debuted in Japan in 1985 for Baba and All Japan, and became immediately popular over there too. Why do you think that was?

They did a brief stop in Houston, and defeated Brad Armstrong & Terry Taylor at the Sam Houston Coliseum on February 15, 1985. Do you remember that night by any chance?

From the Observer:

“At their peak with Crockett Promotions, they inked a deal where both Hegstrand & Laurinaitis were guaranteed $500,000 per year, among the biggest guarantees in pro wrestling history up to that point in time. Paul Ellering got a $275,000 a year guarantee.

They were also partners in the Zubaz craze, the crazy pants worn by weightlifters and wannabes of that era.”

Be honest Bruce - you still have a pair of the Zubaz didn’t you?

The narrative has always been that Kevin Nash & Scott Hall changed the game - but the Warriors contract with the Crocketts…that’s some amazing money back then isn’t it? Even for Ellering as a manager! Looking back - do you think it was the contracts that hurt Crockett - not Vince running Survivor Series to destroy Starrcade?

They’re back and forth between the NWA and All Japan for the rest of the 80s, constantly making a ton of money wherever they went. Their final appearance was at NWA Capital Combat in May of 1990, where they and Norman the Lunatic defeated Kevin Sullivan, Cactus Jack and Bam Bam Bigelow.

Were they always on the WWF’s radar?

Were they always a team that Vince wanted?

That’s why he did Demolition and the Powers of Pain right? Because he wanted a Road Warriors like team?

To settle this - in my research on the copyright lawsuit between Demolition Ax and the WWF - it’s stated in the lawsuit by the WWF that it wasn’t an idea of Bill Eadie’s but the WWF wanting a team like the Road Warriors…what do you say to that?

The Road Warriors - now just the Legion of Doom finally join the WWF in June 1990. It’s reported that Vince had told them they’d make more money than they ever had before, but that didn’t end up happening…do you think that’s how Vince sold them on the deal?

Why the Legion of Doom instead of the Road Warriors? Was that a Vince call?

In the TV debut of the LOD, they air a Demolition promo mid-match, where they call the LOD “Demolition ripoffs”. They also appear on the Brother Love Show on 7/28/89 and you call them the same thing too, but LOD call Demolition the imposters…

You’re leaning into it so it’s hard to believe no one didn’t feel that way right?

What was it like working with Hawk & Animal? Were they as intimidating as they seemed?

Did they have any issues integrating themselves into the locker room?

Speaking of the Powers of Pain…they had been split up a few months prior to LOD joining the WWF, and Warlord and Barbarian were wrestling as singles.

Were they split up knowing the LOD were potentially coming in? Three similar looking teams at the same time may have been a bit too much?

Not too long after debuting, they debut their great WWF theme, with Hawk’s “Oh, What a Rush” planted at the beginning. Is that a Jim Johnston idea?

Demolition now had a third member, with Crush joining Ax and Smash just a few weeks before LOD’s debut, and Demolition were the current WWF Tag Team Champions and feuding with the Hart Foundation, setting up a match for SummerSlam 90 in Philly. LOD got involved in the match and cost Demolition the titles. Did everyone see money in Demolition vs. LOD?

Do you wish there was an opportunity or timeline to bring LOD over sooner when Demolition was at its peak? The WWF really didn’t draw on house shows with tag team matches but man those matches at the right time…they could’ve been something couldn’t they?

They work a house show program with Demolition immediately after SummerSlam. Sometimes tags, sometimes 6-man tags with the Ultimate Warrior and LOD taking on Demolition - including the 10/1990 SNME…what did Vince think of them once they were in the company?

At the 1990 Survivor Series, we have 4 Warriors on one team (although not billed exactly as that, as we can’t call LOD the Road Warriors or Kerry Von Erich the Modern Day Warrior) and the Ultimate Warrior is the sole survivor of the match, when they defeated all 3 Demolition and Mr Perfect. The Road Warriors & the Ultimate Warrior…not a whole lot of sense being made in those promos huh?

Ax from Demolition is now gone, so LOD are facing the Demolition team of Crush and Smash going forward, and facing either them or the Orient Express on the house shows. They’re not exactly working at the top of the cards like they did in wherever else they had been. Did you ever hear or feel any pushback?

Was it ever considered for LOD to get a big hurrah and win the titles at WrestleMania 7? It seems there were a lot of changes going on in the tag division at the time, with The Rockers winning the tag titles - and then deciding against it and keeping the titles on the Hart Foundation. Then the Nasty Boys suddenly come in, and the push the Power & Glory were getting is phased out. What was going on with the tag team division around that time?

LOD’s big spot in the 1991 Royal Rumble is eliminating your meal ticket Bruce - The Undertaker. Nothing really comes of this since no one can team with the Undertaker - but that’s a big spot is it not?

The Nasty Boys win a tag team battle royal on Superstars to become #1 contenders for the tag titles at WrestleMania 7 with LOD being the last team eliminated - caused by Power & Glory - to set up their marriage at Mania. Was the delay too long do you think of the Legion of Doom to get the titles? Did that hurt them do you think?

LOD beat Power & Glory in just 58 seconds at WrestleMania 7, defeating Roma with the Doomsday Device. Some people get really upset over this calling it a burial of P&G but in reality Hercules was injured, which was the reason for the short match do I have that right?

That’s LOD’s WrestleMania debut…as big a win and convincing as it is…it feels like a sort of a letdown wouldn’t you say?

Were they just not getting the Road Warrior Pops as they’ve become known for?

A week after WrestleMania VII, and WWF is in Japan co-promoting a show with SWS at the Tokyo Dome.

And the main event is the Road Warriors (using their more familiar name to Japanese fans) defeating WWF Champion Hulk Hogan & Tenryu via count-out in 14:03

Meltzer:

“Both Hogan and Hawk bled. The content of this match was better than it sounds on paper as everyone was trying to make everyone else look good. Hogan even let Animal press- him five times over his head. Hogan and Hawk basically dominated working against one another, including turning over tables and chairs in a ringside brawl. The finish saw Hawk hit Hogan with a chair as all four were brawling outside the ring and Hawk beat the count in for the win. The consensus was the content of this match was very good and the heat was very good throughout with both teams getting an equal babyface reaction (unlike last year when Stan Hansen got the babyface reaction when he wrestled Hogan). Hogan didn't do his usual routine at all, with no posing and no superman comeback on LOD. As you can figure, the fans were not happy with the finish with chants of "pinfall, pinfall" erupting when the bout was over. This finish, in and of itself, isn't going to hurt business and the only reaction was that none of the four would agree to do the job (how much of that is true or not, I don't know, but the fans felt that cheap finish was an

indication of that).”

***¾

Is that how you remember it? No one wanted to lose?

You’re not around Bruce for the rest of LOD’s run pretty much, but LOD get their big moment at SummerSlam 91 at MSG by defeating the Nasty Boys for the tag titles in a cool moment.

They are the first and only team to win the AWA, NWA and WWF tag belts. Was this too little too late?

They keep the titles till February 92, losing then to Money Inc at a house show in Denver. The business is changing and you start to see it…the Road Warriors aren’t happy.

Meltzer:

“In a major surprise, the Legion of Doom dropped the WWF tag team titles on Friday night (2/7) in Denver to Ted DiBiase & IRS.

Supposedly LOD had been promised there would be no cameras present for the switch (the WWF had a film crew tape the match although at press time we have no idea when or if it'll ever air) and some people were visibly unhappy about that being the case. It was the first chance the WWF had to get the belts off LOD since rumors started swirling everywhere of them being ready to jump back to WCW or possibly New Japan when their WWF contract expires in June.

It's hardly a secret that they have been among the most vocal in opposition to the WWF steroid testing policy. ”

There’s a lot of drama going on…and all of a sudden Hawk gets suspended for failing a drug test and LOD is off TV until WrestleMania 8 where they do an interview and debut Paul Ellering in the WWF as their manager. Surprising to see Vince lean on something that wasn’t his idea wasn’t it?

Of course, not long after this comes…Rocco! They find the ventriloquist dummy in a scrapyard,  and they say it is the LOD’s former home in Chicago.

He was apparently an inspiration in their past, and they decide they’re gonna clean up the doll, and bring him with them to all their matches going forward, so they will never forget their past and where they came from.

Don’t you wish you were there to do all this creative Bruce?

The final appearance of LOD as a team for several years is at SummerSlam 92 in London. The story goes Hawk and John Nord went AWOL after the show, and Hawk rode off with the Hell’s Angels.

Is that the story you were told?

Animal carries on either working as a singles or teaming up Crush on the house shows (NOT as a “new” LOD as you clearly said last week!).

Animal suffers a back injury during a handicap match vs the Beverly Brothers in Japan in September 1992 and ends up leaving the WWF a month later too. Were you sad you didn’t get a chance to do anything with the Legion of Doom creative once they won the titles?

Is there something you would’ve changed back then?

Hawk goes to Japan while Animal is on the shelf until 1996 because of his injury and a Lloyds of London policy where all of a sudden they reemerge on Nitro in January. Was that a surprise to everyone?

Once they’re back on WCW TV - at that point were they a team that was on everyone’s radar as - if Hawk is right and Animal is healthy - they can draw money?

They last in WCW for 6 months, leaving after disputes over pay with Bischoff and they carried on in New Japan until December 96 before making a surprise return to the WWF on the February 24, 1997 edition of Raw from the Manhattan Center.

They of course get the classic “Road Warrior Pop” on their return but their first match back is a disappointing 10-minute double count-out with the Headbangers.

How did this deal come together and was there any hesitancy on either side?

Were there big plans for the LOD when they returned?

LOD & Ahmed Johnson defeat the Nation in the Chicago street fight at WrestleMania 13 and that’s really the highlight of that early return…that or the fact they’re in the 10-man main event at Canadian Stampede…but had the miles and matches caught up to them at this point?

Henry Godwinn takes a nasty Doomsday Device on a Shotgun taping and sadly breaks his neck and that will lead to the Godwinns coming for revenge. Eventually the LOD will win the tag team titles one last time in October of 97 but they’re really transition champions for the new hot heel tag team…the New Age Outlaws. Any issues do you remember with Henry and the LOD for the injury?

Did the Road Warriors object to essentially handing the torch to the Outlaws?

On the December 15th Raw, the LOD are against DX - Shawn & HHH. Chyna interferes for the DQ, and the Outlaws come out and they do a number on the LOD. They shave one of Hawk’s famous mohawks, and powerbomb Animal through the announcer’s table. This is something the LOD have never done…been destroyed and laid out - mind you by heels…this is quite the turn of events is it not?

LOD would get a return match with the Outlaws at the Rumble and win by DQ and then on Raw they fail to win the titles again and then we finally see it…Hawk and Animal fight with each other in the ring…backstage…it’s broken up by officials and it feels like we’ve seen the last of LOD…

Was it time for them to come back with a fresh coat of paint? Is this time for them to come forward into the Attitude Era? Were there actual plans of breaking them up?

They’re gone until WrestleMania 14 and they are the last time announced for a 15-team battle royal and they have new music…a new manager in Sunny…new entrance gear with hockey goalie helmets…they get a big reaction…but they’re very quickly the same old LOD even with the name of LOD 2000…did they have any chance of making this work do you think?

Very quickly Sunny is gone by the way side and the Outlaws are now the new top babyface tag team…and LOD is pretty much left for dead…wrestling the new Midnight Express and really no one gives a shit about them…fair to say?

Then…they’re put with Droz…and Paul Ellering makes a return…and it’s just a mess is it not?

Did you think there was a chance to make it work with Droz? Were Hawk’s demons beginning to show?

How in the world does Paul Ellering make a return in 1998 WWF?

Well he’s not long for the LOD as he turns on them and ends up being aligned with the Disciples of Apocolpyse…Skull & 8-Ball…also known as Ron & Don Harris. This is just trying to make shit work isn’t it?

On the July 27th Raw, we start a controversial Angle playing off of Hawk’s real-life demons.

LOD lost a match to Mark Henry & the Godfather of the Nation when Godfather pinned Animal with a Death Valley Driver after Hawk fell off the top rope while attempting the Doomsday Device; during LOD's entrance, Hawk did not wear his traditional shoulder pads, and then tripped and fell while getting into the ring; then during the match, Hawk appeared to nod off on the ring apron and the commentary team said they heard he received disturbing news in the past day. How the hell did he ever agree to this?

Where was this really going? Were you comfortable with it?

The next week, they have Hawk doing a promo, saying his real name is Michael Hegstrand, and apologizing to the fans, Vince McMahon and Animal for his actions the previous week.

Later on the August 24th Raw, Hawk just shows up to the announce table as if he’s stoned saying he’s here to help do some “color dysentery”.

Bro…tell me about it…right?

He asks JR if his wife still has the belt and then starts asking Lawler if he remembered the time in the Mid South Coliseum when he told him not to sell the piledriver and how it got over.

Bruce - how the hell did Vince sign off on this? How did Hawk?

What did Animal feel about all this?

Then on Sunday Night Heat at MSG before SummerSlam 98:

Too Much defeated LOD at 2:14 when Scott Taylor pinned Animal after Hawk fell off the top rope and hit Animal in the back with his LOD helmet;

The match was supposed to be Animal teaming with Droz but Hawk eventually staggered out to the ring and convinced Droz to let him take his place in the ring with Hawk then wrestling the match, while wearing his LOD helmet…

Was anyone comfortable with any of this? Would this lead to anyone making any money? Defend it Bruce!

Droz starts appearing more often as Animal’s partner and just those two are presented as the Legion of Doom and you know where we’re going with it…

Eventually on the November 16th Raw in Lexington, KY, it’s Animal & Droz vs Gangrel & Edge. Hawk then shows up and starts climbing up the side of the TitanTron.

The match just ends and Animal is pleading with Hawk to come down, but Hawk is threatening to jump and he’s gonna go out in glory.

Paul Ellering then pleaded with him to come down and he wouldn’t. Then Droz also climbs up the TitanTron and seems to give him a slight push, and they make out Hawk has fell from the top of the TitanTron to the ground and take him out in an ambulance.

Bruce…I don’t know…you tell me.

Hawk returns a month later wearing a cast, now clean and accuses Droz of being the “dope pusher”, and that Droz had been supplying him the drugs to make Hawk seem undependable in the eyes of Animal. He says when he’s healed LOD will be better than ever - Droz then attacked Hawk until Animal made the save.

Then it’s never spoken of again and the angle is just dropped.

For the better right?

I’m sure Droz’s injury sadly had something to do with this but please tell me everyone sat down collectively and said…this should stop…

Hawk returned in March 1999 and their last match here was the day after WrestleMania 15, losing to Owen Hart & Jeff Jarrett, and LOD were gone from the WWF shortly after. What do you remember of their exit? Contract expiring?

Do you think there were any ill will or issues from the creative at this time?

Did you think you would ever see them back in the WWF?

LOD are on the indies and back in Japan the next few years, Animal even has a short singles run in the dying days of WCW, and they even appear on one of the early TNA weekly PPVs. Did you keep in touch with either of them?

They made two last WWE appearances - first on the May 12, 2003 Raw in Philly - losing to Tag Champs Kane & Rob Van Dam.

Observer:

“RVD & Kane beat Road Warriors in 3:10. Animal was blown up in 40 seconds. Hawk missed the doomsday device and Kane choke slammed him and RVD frog splashed him for the win. Bischoff said he had signed them for Raw. At this point neither had signed a contract and there were no dates booked for them after Baltimore on 5/12. Road Warriors looked terrible, but it was short enough that the crowd seemed okay with it. Hawk got right up. There has been a long and negative history of Hawk and Vince, but Vince told Hawk before the show to let bygones be bygones.”

How did this come to be? Were they that big a disappointment? Were Hawk & Vince able to squash the heat that Meltzer alludes to here?

The next night in Baltimore at the Smackdown tapings, LOD defeated CM Punk & Doug Delicious in a dark match before the show…that’s quite the name isn’t it?

Why wasn’t there a spot for them? Was it just their appearance?

Do you know if there were any other talks at that point or any other point in the future regarding the LOD?

Hawk is said to have turned his life around at this point and become a born again Christian thanks to Ted DiBiase. Sadly LOD’s final match together was on October 3, 2003 against Greg Valentine & Buff Bagwell at an Indy show in Oshawa, Ontario.

Road Warrior Hawk - Michael Hegstrand passed away 16 days later on October 19 at age 46 due to a heart attack.

How do you remember hearing the news?

Animal returned to WWE in 2005 and formed the new Legion of Doom with……

Heidenreich…

Bruce - how the hell did this come to be? Was Animal excited to be working with Heidenreich?

Animal had saved Heidenreich after several weeks of beatdowns from MNM on Smackdown and they did win the tag titles from MNM at the 2005 Great American Bash PPV in July.

After the match, Animal paid tribute to his late partner and friend by looking up to the heavens above and saying, "Hawk, this one's for you, brother!"

Vince isn’t really known to be a fan of nostalgia…and it feels like this wasn’t his thing. Was he into this?

Over the coming weeks, Animal convinces Heidenreich to shave his head into a Mohawk, wear the LOD makeup and gave him the spiked shoulder pads to officially endorse him as a member of LOD. Is this the last possible way to get Heidenreich over? Did it work?

They lose the tag titles back to MNM on the October 28, 2005 edition of Smackdown in a 4-way match also involving the Mexicools and William Regal & Paul Burchill…2005 was a dark time for the company was it not?

Heidenreich is released in January of 2006, and Animal stays with the company a few more months just as “Road Warrior” and was released in June 2006. It was time wasn’t it?

The Road Warriors & Paul Ellering were inducted into the 2011 Hall of Fame in Atlanta - a well deserved spot wouldn’t yo usay?

Animal made one last appearance as part of the celebrations leading up to Raw 1000, and defeated Heath Slater on the July 20, 2012 edition of Smackdown, in his final match.

Animal passed away on September 22, 2020 just ten days after his 60th birthday, after suffering a heart attack…

What do you think their legacy in this business? Top 5 greatest tag team?