- 2 days ago
Biography WWE Legends S05 E04 - May 17 2026 (Full Episode)
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00:00:03what a powerful night when you talk about power you talk about powerful men in a powerful industry
00:00:16they were the greatest tag team in the history of this business
00:00:34nobody was tougher nobody was stronger nobody was more intimidating our business
00:00:39it's beating people up in wwe they were the legion of doom
00:00:45prior to that they were the road warriors take on the warriors we'll slap you right down in either case
00:00:51they were ass-kicking machines they don't have any regard for themselves they have no regard for
00:00:57anybody else it was hardcore my god look at this every night you had animal anybody anywhere anytime
00:01:07and you had hawk you're dead meat it's almost like they were just tied together but behind the curtain
00:01:14they were completely opposite the charms of james like daddy does in the ring he just was always
00:01:21there and just always so loving you know i was mr joe straight and narrow and hawk was mr
00:01:31total excess everything he did
00:01:33whoa three times he was rushed into an er for drug overdoses could have died
00:01:41at that point i was really pissed at him felt like i was being deserted by my partner
00:01:46it got to the point where he's like i can't babysit anymore
00:01:51but they needed each other the beauty of them was together not separate
00:02:00they were brothers he goes joe i love you i said brother i said i love you too much
00:02:06i didn't think i was going to get upset but it was a very um it was very emotional
00:02:10i never got to say goodbye the greatest team of our time the greatest team of all time they were
00:02:19the
00:02:19best that there was well this is where it all began six kids in the family and mike was number
00:02:38five
00:02:39mike as a kid mischievous i was in trouble for something a kid just running around and playing but
00:02:48a little harder and a little heavier than everyone else he wasn't a troubled kid you know growing up
00:02:55but uh i mean he was for whatever reason he he liked to fight that was you know i mean
00:03:01that was mike's
00:03:02sport you know it was kind of fighting he had a very short temper i mean he could if he
00:03:07felt you crossed
00:03:08him he was probably going to knock you out there was that fighting time in his life in high school
00:03:15and everything and it was seemed like he was trying to prove something to himself or whatever i'd
00:03:21a psychologist would have fun with it i think and he used alcohol and pot and things like that i
00:03:30mean
00:03:30it was peace love dope time in the world but he was just really a good guy if you were
00:03:37his friend
00:03:37yeah he wouldn't he wouldn't he would do anything for him you know i mean and that that's one thing
00:03:43that he valued and that he kept through his whole career was his friends yeah check one two three four
00:03:53hawk and i grew up in minneapolis we went to different high schools because we lived in two
00:03:58different parts of the city here we are a little bit of nostalgia this is hawk's all neighborhood here
00:04:03my dad and hawk lived fairly close like i think they could have ran into each other at like any
00:04:10moment in time it was just they hadn't yet my dad of course in his high school years played football
00:04:19joe was highlighted in the minneapolis star tribune as an all-conference football player out of
00:04:25irondale high school at the time i was at golden valley luther college playing football i was part of
00:04:32the recruiting team i told him who i was invited him over for a night to tour the campus and
00:04:41see if
00:04:42if he would entertain the idea of coming and playing football with us and he made a decision to come
00:04:49i met joe laranitis here in 1978 in the fall when school started and after that it was love at
00:04:59first sight
00:05:02he was very good football player that didn't quite work out life went a different direction for him
00:05:13that's when he uh found out nancy got pregnant
00:05:18so he was going to do the noble thing and drop out of college and marry nancy
00:05:26that was just the right thing to do i found out that we were going to have a boy and
00:05:33then we had joey
00:05:35in february of 1981.
00:05:40it was like just a light switch it was just he just stopped doing whatever he was doing and just
00:05:46became a dad as simple as that you know i know that he and joey's mom tried to be together
00:05:51and stay
00:05:51together and everything and i understand that that didn't work out but they were able to be parents
00:05:55at you know such a young age and i think they did a pretty good job we ended up getting
00:06:02divorced in
00:06:031982. now i think back and i'm like yeah we were young now you're a brand new father you're 20
00:06:12years old
00:06:13what was going to be his future
00:06:22growing up my dad was he was more of the fatherly figure that was a provider you know my mom
00:06:28was
00:06:28probably a little bit more of the you know one that you know gave the love i guess our mom
00:06:33died young 57.
00:06:37she was a sweetheart yep yep yeah she uh had a real heart and mike was you know like just
00:06:48out of high
00:06:49school so i i didn't know how much it affected him but you know some of his friends told me
00:06:55that it
00:06:55really had a hard time that was his time of transition what am i going to do in life you
00:07:03know
00:07:03and his direction was a little lost he also didn't like school he didn't care for school
00:07:12and that's where he started you know his whole workout regimen
00:07:18in minneapolis there was a gym that became known as the mecca of the midwest called just simply the gym
00:07:26all right here we are we're at the gym 13 500 square feet of the toughest powerlifters bodybuilders
00:07:32weightlifts anything you want in the state of minnesota's right here one day i go to the gym
00:07:38mike happened to be there and i'm doing incline i'm doing like 315 or 350 or something like that
00:07:45on the incline he looks at me and he goes you're not right he goes a young kid should not
00:07:50be doing
00:07:50that he just open hands and goes whack you know and from there you know we uh we became real
00:07:56good
00:07:56friends you know once they kind of met officially then it just kind of became like they were just
00:08:02meant to be they met at the gym but at the same time they were bouncing at the bars i
00:08:09can't remember
00:08:10was it grandma bees or whatever he used to talk about all the time well here we are at the
00:08:15infamous
00:08:15grandma bees different they loved it because they got to get paid to beat people up that's what we were
00:08:22known for we were like old dogs backed up in the corner we were vicious also for my dad i
00:08:29think he
00:08:29was honestly willing to do whatever he needed to do to you know pay for diapers pay for whatever you
00:08:35know whatever the little little baby joey needed here we are at the baltimore civic center baltimore
00:08:44maryland talking to the wrestling fans coming to see georgia championship wrestling and i've got
00:08:48a guy named eddie sharkey is a trainer who's also working as a bartender at grandma bee's
00:09:19and he knows ollie anderson the promoter and anderson one day calls eddie sharkey and says i'm looking
00:09:24for a couple of guys ollie comes to minneapolis meets with eddie sharkey at grandma bees and says hey
00:09:33who you got you know i i need i need some talent who do you have ollie sees joe and
00:09:40mike and he thinks
00:09:43there they are like like that's it from then on there you know we uh we went into the wrestling
00:09:49camp that eddie sharkey had we went there three months straight five days a week and we really
00:09:54beat the heck out of each other so now they get called down south to georgia championship wrestling
00:10:01as the road warriors for two guys that just happen to be tough guys to go directly from bouncing to
00:10:11maybe a smidge of training and then to georgia championship wrestling which was one of the top
00:10:17professional wrestling territories in the country at that point is totally unheard of they literally
00:10:23just took this chance and didn't even know what was going to come of it mike at that point in
00:10:30his life
00:10:30was was still wandering you know joe from the get-go was this family guy so much harder for joe
00:10:40than it
00:10:41would have been for mike because mike had nothing nothing to lose but for my dad you know you're
00:10:46potentially leaving a job leaving a baby and like what are you doing it was kind of a weird spot
00:10:53for
00:10:53him where it just felt like it was like now what
00:10:58the road warriors here they are at georgia championship wrestling first things first
00:11:04they needed a manager i want to take a moment if i may to talk to uh precious paul ellering
00:11:10here is
00:11:11a gentleman who is oh yes rumors about holy pulled me aside with them and said uh these are going
00:11:20to be
00:11:20your boys first we molded the look i just started with face paint first then hawk said one day joe
00:11:31you
00:11:31know you should get a mohawk and then i'll get the double mohawk and then our heads will be one
00:11:38two make one
00:11:41then we said come up with names and and holy points to animal he says you look like an animal
00:11:47hawk said i think i'm a hawk which was which this is hard this is animal they were natural heels
00:11:55bad guys
00:11:59they had the face paint they had the hair they had the names the only thing they needed was the
00:12:07song
00:12:10their music for the ring entrance that song would set the tone the road warriors getting set to move
00:12:18into the ring a big impressive pair of individuals you felt like two monsters from hell were coming out
00:12:27the back of the back of that daggone dressing room and gonna wreak havoc when they first came in you
00:12:35see them it's just wow
00:12:41look out
00:12:44these two guys were the coolest things that i'd never seen just badass
00:12:50brother you talk about mr's bizarre individuals they were taking people's heads off
00:13:01it wasn't old school wrestling grab a hold work the hold i mean what happened to professional
00:13:07wrestling these guys are just rough and tough animal and hawk completely turned the tables over now it was
00:13:14just slam bam in your face man y'all better get used to this because it's coming down baby
00:13:22they were themselves that's who they were we did it all our life we've always got our way
00:13:28i was slapping people since i was yay high to a grasshopper they forgot this is not real this is
00:13:34make-believe oh brother i have never seen anybody as completely vicious and as overwhelming as our
00:13:42they just rolled with it once the ball got rolling it just picked up speed you're looking at one of
00:13:47the most dynamic trend-setting courses in the sport of wrestling today where it's going to take it i can't
00:13:53have to tell you
00:13:56the road warriors were so successful early on that they were able to work successfully
00:14:04in georgia championship wrestling in jim crockett promotions national wrestling alliance and awa they
00:14:14were able to do it all and it just meant more exposure for the road warriors at that time cable
00:14:21tv
00:14:21that changed everything coming up next the road warriors right here on espn and cable tv when it
00:14:29started to spread across the united states everybody could see wrestling i'm here in dallas at the
00:14:36reunion center we got the greatest talent in the world i got the road warriors you name it and they're
00:14:41here tonight so it made regular stars superstars who'd you come here to see road warriors i watched
00:14:50these guys get big fast i want to see the road wars yeah i was like oh my god you
00:14:57know these guys are
00:14:58monsters now and that's when i heard the roar
00:15:10the reaction from the fans there was something else every night there were bad apples bad guys but fans
00:15:19loved it loved it it was huge they had the look that gets the look they had the it factor
00:15:28and they
00:15:30just fed off of each other there's gonna be a rumble tonight because we're the warriors that's right they
00:15:39had chemistry ying and yang tell them brother hey hawk and i had a unique callepathy man we were two
00:15:47guys
00:15:48they found in the wrestling business and put together we were two guys that were friends we
00:15:52bounced we worked out together we've known each other for years so i think that gave us a little
00:15:57bit of an edge notice how hawk and the animal tag in and tag out watch this oh it's almost
00:16:03like
00:16:04i don't know they were just tied together animal hawk as a team they were great these men are the
00:16:11most
00:16:11devastating tag team i've seen in my career but behind the curtain they were completely opposite
00:16:23joey lived with his mother but joe would see him all the time he missed no one he was on
00:16:30the road it
00:16:31was hard it really was hard for him he he was a very good father and i always wanted to
00:16:40be with him
00:16:41and see him and as much as he traveled he saw joey as much as possible you see life different
00:16:48when
00:16:49you're a parent and hawk didn't have children so he you know that that was a difference
00:16:57i think joe was more subdued hawk was more of a fiery type of guy you know he would go
00:17:05out at night
00:17:06at first it was just drinking and park always had a good time but animal was the one that the
00:17:15promotion
00:17:15always knew we could reel him back in and uh you know make sure that they they made their shows
00:17:21and
00:17:21did the things that they were going to do they were two drastically different
00:17:30wired people hawk really was able to jump right on that lightning bolt in the life of the fast lane
00:17:36and turn it up about three more notches while in the short term if one member of a tag team
00:17:44wants
00:17:44have a certain lifestyle and the other wants to live a completely opposite lifestyle that can be
00:17:49fine but it's really not sustainable eventually something could give
00:18:00russia and the united states have always been at it for years and years and the cold war continued in
00:18:071985
00:18:14now for the business it meant something perfect time for the russians to come
00:18:23introducing first from the soviet union ivan koloff and rusher khrushchev
00:18:33the great american bash in 1985 was a huge deal you had 27 000 americans
00:18:42all with one thing in common they hated russia
00:18:48the russians in our culture they were the bad guys
00:18:55and then when you have the road warriors
00:19:00this hard american take no prisoners and you russians you want to try something we're just gonna knock the hell
00:19:10out of you
00:19:12people wanted the russians to really get beat up they want the road warriors to beat them up
00:19:19the road warriors are our bad guys
00:19:26both teams have been disqualified a double disqualification
00:19:33even though the match ended in a draw the road warriors went from being bad guys to now being good
00:19:40guys
00:19:44that entire interaction with the russians ends up making the road warriors even more beloved
00:19:59so now they're more popular in a much better position when it comes to dealing with the guy who
00:20:06decides how much money they'll make the man with the checkbook jim crockett let's bring in mr jim
00:20:11crockett president of jim crockett promotions animal and hawk wanted guaranteed contracts so we talked to
00:20:19jimmy and and he was gonna come up with a deal and so uh before we did the deal we
00:20:27got a hold of vince
00:20:28i got a hold of vince you know they're going to meet with vince why not i mean you know
00:20:35that they're
00:20:36going to go back and forth to see what they can get we have to remember the mid 80s were
00:20:41gigantic
00:20:42for wwe the involvement with celebrities like cindy loper and mr t and the eventual formation of this
00:20:50event called wrestlemania completely transformed wwe and the wrestling business as we knew it
00:20:57and this of course plays right into the road warriors hands they can now threaten crockett
00:21:02with the idea that they could defect to wwe if they wanted we're gonna be the ones walking out
00:21:07you're the ones are gonna be laying and vince he said i'd really like to have you but i just
00:21:14can't
00:21:14give out guarantees i i nobody here has one so we said okay and then right before he leaves he
00:21:20says
00:21:20you know i i know you're negotiating with crockett if if you want to use me you can't in the
00:21:29negotiations
00:21:30and we went back and jimmy came up with a very nice deal for us and it was guaranteed mr
00:21:37crockett you've
00:21:38been a very busy man with some very successful negotiations i'm a very happy man right now jim
00:21:43animal and hawk both got 500 000 per year for three years and that was money in the bank you
00:21:53know nobody
00:21:53was getting that kind of money back then guaranteed how would you handle like success and the success
00:22:01they had their ways of handling and coping with that success and your choice of how you move forward
00:22:09with this you know they just a different way of going about doing things we actually lived two
00:22:18different lifestyles you know i was mr joe straight and narrow and hawk was mr hawk you know he he
00:22:28enjoyed
00:22:29the nightlife he started to become full speed man he was searching for good time and most of the time
00:22:38he found it he made no secret about his his reputation outside the ring in terms of you know the
00:22:45party life
00:22:46i went to the ring and things were kind of hazy everything seemed a little bit slowed down
00:22:52but i never saw impede
00:22:56his performance in the ring during that point
00:23:10so no one knew at the time that it was gonna you know take on a life of its own
00:23:16and become this growing issue
00:23:22hawk was uh drinking a lot and then you know it would progress
00:23:37and he started obviously doing a lot of substances and stuff
00:23:45you know at the time you don't look at the way we look back reflect on it now
00:23:51yeah there wasn't any real discussion of hey you think you should cut back or whatever
00:23:56hawk was going to be hawk and and that's that's how he rolled and the guys he rolled with
00:24:04so we didn't really see the dangers and where it was headed
00:24:14joe and i met at the gym a friend of mine from high school we decided we wanted to lift
00:24:20weights
00:24:20and we were at a club that the women lifted on one side of the men worked out on the
00:24:25other side and we
00:24:26would always go to the men's side and they didn't like that but joe kind of fought the fight for
00:24:31us so
00:24:31that was the beginning there very soon after he met her i could tell he was smitten as i say
00:24:40they were very happy together that would eventually lead to marriage that would eventually lead to james and
00:24:48jessica uh the the two children they would have together and even when when he married julie
00:25:00he never really lost touch with joey he still had a responsibility to raise him
00:25:04while starting a new family and and and eventually raising james and jessica
00:25:13he made sure that we knew that we were loved like family was number one out of anything that he
00:25:20was
00:25:20doing james
00:25:24look at all those teas
00:25:29i think the most important thing was just togetherness so when he came home it was all
00:25:34about family and hawk did his own thing oh mike is mike he's just um crazy but a very caring
00:25:45extremely
00:25:46caring loving person he had an amazing heart hawk was the best to know hawk is to love hawk
00:25:55one day we were in midtown new york and there's a guy in a alley and and hawk he stops
00:26:04and he gives a
00:26:06guy a hundred bucks that's the way hawk was he would give you the shirt off his back
00:26:14i was in the nwa and i was making like five six hundred dollars a week and i got a
00:26:19tax bill
00:26:19and it was like 500 bucks that i owed back taxes and hawk seen me sitting over there he said
00:26:25what's
00:26:25the matter i said well i just got stuff i gotta take care of i told him what was going
00:26:28on and he
00:26:29said man don't worry about it gave me 500 bucks for someone is at the time was character was larger
00:26:37and bigger than life the guy he had a heart he was a great guy super nice guy but uh
00:26:46hawk would go
00:26:48out two three days at a time and not sleep and party non-stop with some stimulants and things yeah
00:26:57three times he was rushed into an er for drug overdoses three times od could have died drug
00:27:04overdoses a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler driving an old pickup truck with no seat belt and
00:27:12rolled the truck six times and walked away without a scratch one time him and a buddy northern minnesota
00:27:19november cold snow icy lake falls out of the boat drunk as a skunk he's sinking sinking sinking mike
00:27:30said he's looking up and it's pitch dark and he sees like a pin light and he's like i don't
00:27:37know what
00:27:37that is but whatever it is if i don't make it to that pin light i'm i'm done like i'm
00:27:44done i'm dead
00:27:45i'm done and he gives the last ditch effort well what it was was his buddy found a flashlight in
00:27:52the boat and was shining the flashlight in the water
00:28:02and and that's what saved mike was the flashlight
00:28:07in his effort to get to that pin light his buddy grabbed him and pulled him in the boat
00:28:15and and that saved him that night that flashlight
00:28:21at the time joe kind of started to get you know frustrated with mike it got to be a heavy
00:28:28load
00:28:29sometimes i wanted to live up to the respect that our name had in the business but joe definitely had
00:28:38a
00:28:38loyalty to mike a loyalty to the business and the loyalty to the road warriors
00:28:44no matter how much mike started to go off the rail joe was able to reel him back in and
00:28:51keep him
00:28:52focused and on track to what you know what the ultimate goal for for the two of them was
00:28:58a brother can talk to another brother i mean come on we got this opportunity let's you know get it
00:29:05let's get it going i think hawk accepted when when there were some things said you know he knew what
00:29:11the deal was and he got in line but i think they they they understood each other hawk was there
00:29:18for
00:29:18the match get have a couple cups of coffee and go this event is for the world's tag team championship
00:29:43they were still hot real hot
00:29:48hey road warriors now you guys are invited to my party saturday too you know we don't mingle we
00:29:53mingle they were able to take this meteor rise to the top and stay on top the number one team
00:30:00in
00:30:00wrestling of course the incomparable road warriors their early road warrior days you know first they
00:30:06didn't have the shoulder pads but then they really dialed it in right they got those shoulder pads and
00:30:12spikes on them it was amazing i loved it it was hardcore man
00:30:18well and then i think mike's wit came out on the interviews we live life on the edge
00:30:28what a rush oh what a rush hawk came up with it it was in a movie
00:30:39oh what a rush it was great fans loved it
00:30:46by this point the road warriors are just that tag team they're clicking on all cylinders hot as can be
00:30:52go warriors you know they had conquered the awa you know there was the nwa and then it was wcw
00:31:05and
00:31:05the wwe i think it's something that they always wanted there's only one way to measure your success
00:31:12and tag team wrestling and that's to go up against the best so you know how you rate at that
00:31:19particular
00:31:19time we needed to take the next step and go to the big daddy which everybody was calling the wwe
00:31:24the
00:31:25big daddy all right and make our our presence there
00:31:31the guys wanted to leave for wwe because pride has to drive you and you're proud that you are the
00:31:39best
00:31:41you're proud that nobody else can do what you do
00:31:46and i said you guys go but i'm gonna finish out my contract because i've always been a man in
00:31:54my work
00:31:56so it was time to go separate ways
00:32:00it was tough because i'm the dad and they're my boys
00:32:09and that's what started the the ball rolling to move on
00:32:24vince mcmahon wanted to get the road warriors up to the wwe but they had such a good deal
00:32:31and the money they were making that the wwe couldn't match because vince did not guarantee money
00:32:38but the road warriors had already hit the ceiling at wcw so they decided at that point to make the
00:32:46move
00:32:47to wwe so that they could be more than what they were the road warriors was a name that was
00:33:01associated
00:33:02with the movie so it was difficult to clear legally and since wwe being a global company
00:33:10you want to have a name that you can clear and legion of doom was something that we could get
00:33:18clear
00:33:27when they did arrive they
00:33:33they took the place by storm
00:33:44they just went out there and just ran through people
00:33:49they beat the hell out of everybody they got in the ring with
00:33:52the only reason they beat the hell out of everybody was they didn't know what else to do
00:34:06both joe and mike they were intense as hell but when you get them out of the ring
00:34:13they were also wonderful people how's the food here joe huh how's the food here any limitation
00:34:24mike enjoyed being around fans enjoyed enjoyed that part of his job i think
00:34:30we're going to kill them beverly boys tonight yeah you know it are you coming
00:34:35can you come right i ain't got no way to get i got way to get there no tickets in
00:34:40that oh
00:34:40i'll get your tickets and get away to go he had a heart of gold that's just the kind of
00:34:45guy he was
00:34:45he had a heart that was bigger than himself tony if he gets a chance to get when he gets
00:34:51healed
00:34:51to get to a wrestling match can you somehow can you get his name how many tickets do you think
00:34:55you want
00:35:00he could light up a room when he came in there yeah i don't know for whatever reason
00:35:04see you tonight great guy but mike had demons that would prevent him from making good choices
00:35:17it just got to the point where in the 90s it was total excess everything he did you know if
00:35:25we go out
00:35:25drinking it was just he would drink to the point where you know he would just not stop it was
00:35:32tough to
00:35:33watch sometimes luke the bushwhacker had a beach house the pool was behind the townhouses and people
00:35:46would put the lawn chairs on this side of the pool and the beach was out there so they had
00:35:50their backs
00:35:50to the pool and they were looking out at the beach and so when my wife and i pull up
00:35:56i see hot crawling
00:35:58towards the deep end of the pool i think he's just screwing around you know having fun i saw him
00:36:03like going the deep end of the pool and slither and slide down the pool like a snake and i
00:36:09was getting
00:36:09my bags out of the car as i walked by he's on the bottom of the pool just there like
00:36:14sleeping on the
00:36:15bottom of the pool so my wife said oh my god is he playing around she goes no go get
00:36:19him so i went i got
00:36:21him and pulled him out of the pool and i guess he'd eaten a bunch of things that were putting
00:36:27him to
00:36:27sleep you know and that was a real close call at that time but i got him out of the
00:36:33pool and they
00:36:33resuscitated him and got him going and that was the beginning of i knew we had a problem on our
00:36:39hands
00:36:43even though mike had his vices and his challenges still at that point joe was incredibly loyal to mike
00:36:51joe developed a real love in his heart for mike you know he certainly wasn't happy with his choices
00:36:58but that love for mike and not giving up on him or just throwing in the towel and saying you
00:37:04know
00:37:04what dude i'm just i'm tired of your antics i'm tired of your life i'm just i'm done i'm out
00:37:10of here
00:37:10you go your way i'll go my way but that wasn't joe it was the the bond that's built and
00:37:19forged
00:37:20in those early years when they were didn't have all the money and and you know building their
00:37:27relationship together joe wasn't willing to throw in the towel saw
00:37:34an opportunity of of hope that mike could make a lifestyle change
00:37:42animal thought with hawk hitting a couple speed bumps he'd straighten out
00:37:49but he really didn't it kind of kept getting worse
00:37:56at the time mike failed the test and the test was for illegal drugs
00:38:05he needs help need to get him out of here and we'll do whatever it takes to help him and
00:38:12get
00:38:13him on the road back we tried rehab and uh but he just didn't do it
00:38:21after hawk failed the drug test the wwe had to suspend him they tried to send him to rehab but
00:38:29hawk would not go he had he had become a full-blown addict and the only one who didn't realize
00:38:36it was hawk
00:38:39okay does everybody understand why we're here today that's right we're here to talk about drugs
00:38:47drugs are going to get you nowhere all drugs do is ruin you they make life real hard
00:38:55and instead of going forward you you end up going backwards
00:39:02we did a intervention at one point in time we sat down with him and just you know told him
00:39:09uh you
00:39:10know how much we love him and are concerned for him and his health we were hoping that he would
00:39:16listen and and get some help that this was not something he could do on his own
00:39:23and get some help and um uh he didn't he was not ready i think that with hawk the way
00:39:36they used to
00:39:37do interventions was not going to work from the beginning because he's stubborn and i think when
00:39:43they said you can't or you need to or you should he went oh yeah i'll show you because that
00:39:48was how he
00:39:49was and so i think he would run the other direction
00:39:55hawk at that particular time he was making money one of the top tag teams if not the top in
00:40:01the world
00:40:02everything you want you've got that you've worked for your whole life so who knows what's really going
00:40:08on with somebody's mind or or what's happening inside of you i don't know why it turned out the way
00:40:15i'm not sure his personality was just and and i think that is a trait probably in the higstrand family
00:40:24there's a bit of it uh of addictions and and then you had money and you had fame and you
00:40:31had an image
00:40:33to be the wild guy
00:40:39and you know a lot of us will have the thing the little voice that goes off that says stop
00:40:46and um
00:40:48mike didn't and that a lot of that was fueled by being hawk
00:40:54well best man wife wishing you one happy marriage he probably had been fine if he'd stayed in north
00:41:04minneapolis and had been more grounded but i think road warrior hawk kind of took over
00:41:13and he lost himself in there somewhere you know there were times when he would come home and
00:41:26he was high and you just you didn't really want to be around him
00:41:34so it was a sad time because you just knew this wasn't going in a good direction
00:41:47you
00:41:48welcome to jam-packed medicine square garden welcome to summer slam
00:41:56at the time legion of doom they were popular they were very popular a legion of doom with the
00:42:03opportunity of a lifetime tonight as they meet the nasty boys for the world wrestling federation tag team
00:42:08titles they were attractions they drew money
00:42:13listen to this ovation here in the garden and they delivered when they got into the ring
00:42:22and now it's animal who's on fire
00:42:24close line and another one
00:42:26oh heaven to the head
00:42:29oh look at this he got him up i can't believe it
00:42:33hulk is up there
00:42:35he got him up
00:42:38he got him up
00:42:39he got him
00:42:41what a knife
00:43:02That SummerSlam of 1991 really was the pinnacle of everything that those two had accomplished.
00:43:11That was the peak.
00:43:13What a moment for Legion of Doom!
00:43:16Legion of Doom getting those tag titles in WWE, that's a big deal.
00:43:21At that point, Legion of Doom were it.
00:43:24Here we are at Toys R Us and the Legion of Doom!
00:43:29Oh yeah, new WWE tag team figures!
00:43:32It's Doomsday! What a rush!
00:43:35You know, they had other business going. They had like their own clothing mind.
00:43:38This company not only has a good product, it has a great gimmick.
00:43:42They're partners in a company called Zubaz.
00:43:45Those pants were one of the most popular pieces of apparel in the world.
00:43:50Their company grossed about $20 million last year.
00:43:53They were kind of like pioneers, you know, parlaying their fame into other adventures.
00:43:58So, they were in it together with everything.
00:44:00As for Hawk and Animal, they've learned how to succeed inside the ring and out.
00:44:06And they have no intention of losing in either one.
00:44:14At the time, Hawk was still struggling with his demons.
00:44:20And I think his lifestyle was taking a toll on him for sure, mentally and physically.
00:44:28Joe was his babysitter.
00:44:29You know, he would try really hard, but it got to the point where he's like,
00:44:34I can't, I can't babysit anymore.
00:44:37Paul Ellery, welcome to WrestleMania!
00:44:42I have returned!
00:44:47Animal felt that Hawk was better when I was around.
00:44:51They said, well, it sure would be nice to have you back.
00:44:53And next thing you know, I got a phone call.
00:44:57Paul was also a great role model for them.
00:45:00And so, I think with Hawk, I think that they were kind of hoping that maybe the two of them
00:45:04together
00:45:05could kind of, you know, hone him in a little bit.
00:45:13At that time, Paul Ellery had a brilliant idea.
00:45:19He brought out a dummy, Rocco, who was supposedly their long lost childhood doll.
00:45:29What is this?
00:45:32Animal.
00:45:33Paul!
00:45:33Hey, what is this?
00:45:35That's Rocco!
00:45:36And now Rocco the dummy was supposedly going to inspire Hawk and Animal, take them to higher heights.
00:45:42All this rubble, we got one piece of memory left.
00:45:47By then, their biggest positive, money-wise, was their merchandise sales.
00:45:54Well, I wanted something that would help sell a lot of merchandise.
00:45:58And I thought we could do that with Rocco dolls.
00:46:04Remember the Rocco?
00:46:05We didn't even talk about that, right?
00:46:07The man.
00:46:09Can I take him?
00:46:10I want to take him to the ring.
00:46:12He can be our master.
00:46:13Let's take him everywhere!
00:46:14I can't believe an animal after all these years.
00:46:17I remember talking to Joe at the time how much he couldn't stand that dummy.
00:46:23Paul!
00:46:24This is .
00:46:25Oh, .
00:46:26Both Hawk and Animal hated that dummy.
00:46:31Hey!
00:46:32Check out the haircut!
00:46:34I would like to point out, I had absolutely nothing to do with Rocco.
00:46:41Oh, you guys are sure change!
00:46:44I gotta tell you, I thought it was Rocco.
00:46:49I'm sorry, it was rotten.
00:46:53Rocco did not belong with the Legion of Doom.
00:46:58You got these two bad asses.
00:47:02Ugh, what a rash.
00:47:05Hi, I'm Rocco.
00:47:06I'm your friend from when you were a little kid.
00:47:09It made, it just made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.
00:47:15The development wasn't there.
00:47:18It didn't get what it needed from creative.
00:47:22We are the niches of destruction.
00:47:26I would have fought to the death to not f***ing do that.
00:47:28Eventually, Rocco somehow disappeared.
00:47:34Trevor.
00:47:36Over 80,000 fans welcome you to the grandeur!
00:47:43The spectacle of SummerSlam!
00:47:51SummerSlam 92 was gigantic for the WWE because it was truly an international event.
00:47:58This was the beginning of the WWE going worldwide.
00:48:0482,000 people in Wembley Stadium in England.
00:48:08I mean, that's a WrestleMania crowd.
00:48:11If you mess up the WWE, they don't look at you the same way.
00:48:18They're sticking millions of dollars of investment money in you.
00:48:25And we built up to it so much.
00:48:27Months and months of interviews and time spent.
00:48:30Because you want it to be nothing but the best.
00:48:32This is going to be the big thing.
00:48:34Money, Inc. against Hawk and Animal of the Road Wars.
00:48:36It's going to be a big night for us and we were all excited.
00:48:39It's SummerSlam, it's SummerSlam, and I can't wait, baby!
00:48:41Legion of Doom, don't think this is a chance for you to get even with Money Incorporated and IRS.
00:48:46These are two of our major tag teams, you know?
00:48:49Two of the biggest tag teams we've ever had up there.
00:48:52But then we get ready to go and Ellering comes to me and he goes,
00:48:56Oh my God. I said, what's wrong? He goes, it's Hulk.
00:49:00He was not in good shape.
00:49:07How much do you want me to tell you about that night?
00:49:12He was really unhappy with that little puppet thing that they had going at that time.
00:49:18And seemed to be in a very self-destructive mood.
00:49:23Hawk was by the sink and he just took about four or five Placidils and threw them in his mouth.
00:49:31I've never taken a Placidil, but they're for sedating a horse or something.
00:49:35Or an elephant or something.
00:49:37If you take enough of them, I'm sure they'll kill you.
00:49:39And I remember he stuck them out on his tongue.
00:49:42They were all stuck to his tongue and then he just downed it with a drink.
00:49:48That's like suicide. Like, what are you doing?
00:49:52What was terrifying was riding the motorcycle out.
00:49:55Because he was in no shame to do that.
00:50:02It wasn't good.
00:50:03Hawk shouting to this capacity crowd.
00:50:06Hawk was just a train wreck that day.
00:50:11I'm not sure Hawk ever knows where he's at right now.
00:50:13With Hawk, you never knew what you were going to get.
00:50:17So we dealt with that as best we could.
00:50:20And that's all I can say about it.
00:50:22Doesn't look much like Hawk.
00:50:24To me, it looks more like an old dirty pigeon.
00:50:27I felt so bad for Cho.
00:50:29Imagine how frustrating that is for an animal who's looking on.
00:50:32Sometimes Hawk as a partner really failed him.
00:50:35Ring the bell, Rush.
00:50:36Ring the bell.
00:50:36He's out.
00:50:37He's had it.
00:50:38When you're a team, it's so important that one half of that team
00:50:42doesn't let the other half down.
00:50:44Everything with your career is tied in with his.
00:50:48With Hawk, everybody really jumped in to try to cover up
00:50:52what was going through and happening with him.
00:51:04So we kind of pulled it out.
00:51:06Look at this!
00:51:07Power stop!
00:51:08One of them are here to win!
00:51:16Here on goal with Earth, the Legion of News!
00:51:24You know, I wish it could have been a lot better looking back
00:51:27if we could have done it over again.
00:51:30The animal, Joel, he was very disappointed.
00:51:35Joel was a very proud man.
00:51:38He lived the Road Warrior gimmick.
00:51:41He was proud of that.
00:51:43And now, for it to be tarnished, that did not sit good with him.
00:51:51After the match, Joel and I met at the airport.
00:51:55Hawk's not here.
00:51:57We flew back.
00:51:59At the next TV taping, which was shortly after that event,
00:52:03Jolarditis is there.
00:52:07Animal's ready to go.
00:52:09Here is Animal of Legion of Doom!
00:52:16Hawk's nowhere to be found.
00:52:24After SummerSlam, Hawk, he just walked away.
00:52:30Where's Hawk? I don't know. Where is he?
00:52:34After that show, Hawk went, he met up with some bikers in England, and he disappeared for, I don't know,
00:52:43two or three weeks.
00:52:45He disappeared, and there was all kinds of rumors that he had taken off with the Hells Angels, and it
00:52:50was just nobody knew.
00:52:53No one had heard from him.
00:52:55The last known place that he had landed was in Amsterdam.
00:53:01Well, Hawk, he was a cat who had 13 lives.
00:53:06I knew he'd be alive. I just didn't know where, and I was hoping he wouldn't get hurt.
00:53:17Then, finally, he had his lawyer drop something where he wasn't coming back to WWE.
00:53:26Hawk had called and talked to Vince's secretary at the time and said,
00:53:30This is Hawk. I've had enough. I quit.
00:53:33And that was it.
00:53:36It's hard to say why Hawk would just walk out on WWE at that time.
00:53:42Despite whatever at SummerSlam 92, despite Rocco the dummy, the Legion of Doom were on top of the world.
00:53:51But, when you have this side of you that is just desperate to rebel,
00:53:56it becomes real hard to silence that side.
00:54:00Now, everything they built up is gone.
00:54:06Joel, he was disappointed. He was hurt. He was angry.
00:54:13He was devastated.
00:54:16He was mad.
00:54:19Hey, I've got a family. You know, I have kids.
00:54:23Animal said, I'm so disappointed. I am so hurt.
00:54:26We got the great tag team. We're the biggest company in the world.
00:54:29And now he goes and pulls this.
00:54:31He said, that hurts not only him, but it hurts me. It hurts my family. It hurts everybody.
00:54:37It felt like I was being deserted by my partner.
00:54:40He forgot that we're a team and he made a personal decision which affected a team.
00:54:45You know, and you can't do that when you're a member of a team.
00:54:48There's no I in team.
00:54:51So now, Hawk's gone and all of a sudden this partner's dangling out there by himself
00:54:56and they had to put him with other members and single matches.
00:55:01Joe never really made it as a solo performer.
00:55:06I think people looked at it as a lesser than version.
00:55:11It just didn't work because people wanted the original Road Warriors, the original Legion of Doom.
00:55:19You separate them.
00:55:21They're just not as good as the sum of both parts.
00:55:27So, Animal needed Hawk.
00:55:30Joe on his own didn't have as much success.
00:55:33That's just the way it was.
00:55:34It just wasn't as important to Hawk.
00:55:41Hawk didn't need Joe as much as Joe needed Hawk.
00:55:44I ain't saying that on camera because, like, you know.
00:55:50He was going to try to make it work.
00:55:53But it's, I can't imagine him not being with Hawk.
00:56:03At that point, Hawk decides to go to Japan and tag with Japanese wrestler Ken Sasaki.
00:56:11When Hawk went to Japan with Sasaki, they did a Road Warrior clone.
00:56:19Joe was very, very upset about it.
00:56:21It was kind of like a stab in the back, you know.
00:56:24I wasn't sure at that point that they would ever, you know, would ever be back to normal.
00:56:29You know, you can make that right.
00:56:31It was kind of maybe taken a little bit too far.
00:56:35Hawk being heavy in his addiction at the time.
00:56:38Instead of saying, hey, I screwed up and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:56:41You know, he just went, oh, that's, I didn't do anything wrong.
00:56:46At that point, I was really pissed at him.
00:56:49I wasn't so much against him doing it, I was against him going without asking me.
00:56:53To go with him.
00:56:54He should know after all those years that anybody that was going to have his back, it was going to
00:56:57be me.
00:56:59At the time, Joe had injured his back.
00:57:02That one was, was pretty bad.
00:57:05You know, it was one of those of you who were like, do I keep going or should I maybe
00:57:08take some time off?
00:57:09And I think with the situation that was going on and with Hawk and with, you know, him having to
00:57:15do singles
00:57:15and it was just kind of a perfect storm for a perfect time off.
00:57:21Put your arms up, James.
00:57:23Hey, like daddy does in the ring.
00:57:26At that time, he was away from wrestling.
00:57:29Every game, every practice, any school event, anything that we were doing, he was just always there.
00:57:37I just think it's a true testament as to who he was.
00:57:41He was a dad.
00:57:45As far as Joe and Mike go, I would say that it was probably over a year that they did
00:57:53not speak to one another because of that stab in the back, you know.
00:57:57Joe was very hurt by it, very upset by it.
00:58:01So we talked a lot about, you know, quitting.
00:58:04We talked about, you know, getting a normal job.
00:58:08But that pull, I think, of being Road Warrior Animal and the business was just too strong.
00:58:17Mike realized that the beauty of them was together, not separate.
00:58:31It's almost like, you know, they got divorced, but they, you know, needed to, you know, reunite to get back
00:58:37together again because they were meant to be kind of a thing.
00:58:40But I think they were just drawn, drawn to the business, drawn to each other.
00:58:45It's like, you know, having a fight with your brother, you know, you're mad at each other for a while
00:58:50and you make hope because you love each other, you know.
00:58:53So they loved each other.
00:58:56They were brothers.
00:58:59No matter what happens, you're brothers.
00:59:03It was a blood thing with them.
00:59:06It took Hawk to learn for a while who his true best friend in the wrestling business was and it
00:59:12was me all along.
00:59:13Because I stuck with him through thick and thin.
00:59:15I stuck with him because I believed in him.
00:59:17And he was my partner and I loved him and I grew up with him.
00:59:19I grew into business with him.
00:59:21My family learned to love him.
00:59:22I grew up with him and loved him.
00:59:23So I said, let's just try it again and see what happens.
00:59:30Hey, Oz, I'm gonna smile over here.
00:59:34In 1996, we met with both of them and Animal and Hawk seemed like they were in a really good
00:59:43place and they expressed to us the desire that they really did want to come back.
00:59:49Coming up next, we have a huge surprise right here on RAW.
00:59:55It was one of those, look, we're gonna try this.
00:59:57If it works great, if it doesn't work, then we're gonna cut bait.
01:00:08And a total combined weight of 575 pounds, the region of fuel!
01:00:18It's cool when you've established yourself to a point that you can go away and be missed.
01:00:26Animal!
01:00:27Hawk!
01:00:29Listen to this reception!
01:00:30And then when you come back, people are super hyped to see, oh my God, these are my guys, they're
01:00:35back!
01:00:37And that energy carries and they still have the same energy, just like they never left.
01:00:45For me, it was even cooler because I just hadn't seen them in a while.
01:00:50L.O.D. had some great moments when they came back in 1997.
01:00:53Wait a minute, here we go!
01:00:56Winning the tag titles.
01:00:57The way you made a print!
01:01:01Come on, man!
01:01:03Come on, man!
01:01:03Come on, man!
01:01:03Come on, man!
01:01:04To see them in the ring together was fun.
01:01:06And their charisma was so good with each other and the wrestling, it was good wrestling, but for me I
01:01:12think it was more about the trust.
01:01:17Can we trust him?
01:01:20Are we going to be able to trust that he's going to show up or that he's going to be
01:01:23sober?
01:01:24Animal gave Hawk another shot because they were so closely bonded together.
01:01:32But, uh, Animal sort of was waiting for the next meltdown for Hawk.
01:01:39You know, it's like nobody could stop it.
01:01:41When he was going to self-destruct, he was going to self-destruct and it didn't matter what the consequences
01:01:46were.
01:01:47It didn't matter how it affected everything else that maybe Joe had on the line.
01:01:52And, like, whatever happens to Hawk affects him.
01:01:57That was kind of the sad part about it.
01:02:01Hawk was really, like, he was going through a rough spell then and it just made you sad.
01:02:08You know, and you try to look out for him because he was the kind of going to look out
01:02:12for you.
01:02:14It's Hawk, man, and he deserves our respect and we need to look out for him.
01:02:23Sometimes it's a good thing to work in real life situations into the creative because you can feel it and
01:02:35it is real.
01:02:36In this particular case, we took Hawk's real life addiction and real life issues that he was dealing with on
01:02:48a daily basis and put it on screen.
01:02:51He's walking drunk, it looks like.
01:02:53Hawk has not only fallen off the wagon, but the wagon has run him over.
01:02:59I hated it.
01:03:02I f***ing hated when they used this addiction and storyline stuff.
01:03:09Hawk's no shape of compete here, King.
01:03:12What is wrong with this guy?
01:03:14Well, he's got a problem, obviously.
01:03:17It was painful, you know, it was painful.
01:03:20And it didn't help him with any issues.
01:03:25It was just like a...
01:03:28What are you doing?
01:03:29Look at you!
01:03:30Look at you!
01:03:31I didn't like it.
01:03:33And I know Animal didn't like it.
01:03:36Things he had him doing on live on TV said, this is too close to home, man.
01:03:40This is opening up some old wounds we're trying to put away.
01:03:44I don't think Hawk can even defend himself here.
01:03:47And if Hawk would have said, I don't like it, well, that would have been perfect.
01:03:51But he said, I'll do it.
01:03:52So we did it.
01:03:55In addition to that, we introduced another character in Draws, where the idea was, if Hawk can't work, because Hawk
01:04:06was dealing with issues, well, you've got Draws that can now be a part of the Legion of Doom with
01:04:14Animal.
01:04:14Nice teamwork there by Draws and Animal.
01:04:18Remember Hawk from his problem with painkillers is now an alternate.
01:04:23Any time you do that, it doesn't work. The audience doesn't accept it. They want the original.
01:04:30Well, let's just say that dwelling on the past is something the old L.O.D. would do.
01:04:36They want their guys, man. Draws and Animal were not the Legion of Doom.
01:04:42Oh, what a rush!
01:04:44Hawk, you know, like, he wasn't happy.
01:04:48He was trying to be a pro.
01:04:51There's Hawk right there.
01:04:53What is he doing? I thought he was going to come out. He's climbing up on the titantron.
01:04:57The storyline culminated when Hawk is now threatening to jump off the titantron.
01:05:05Hawk has threatened to jump.
01:05:08Draws climbs up to help Hawk to get him down.
01:05:12Get out!
01:05:13And then they do this thing where Draws puts his hands on Hawk.
01:05:17Don't touch him! Don't touch him!
01:05:19Go! Go! Go! Go!
01:05:21Get a shirt!
01:05:22Oh!
01:05:22Oh!
01:05:24Go away!
01:05:29Fuck!
01:05:31Every fan hated it, I think.
01:05:33And as a family, I wasn't, it bothered me, you know, but I kind of, I guess I thought there
01:05:39might have been a better ending to it than how it ended.
01:05:41The audience didn't believe it, and the audience didn't want it.
01:05:48And as far as Hawk went, the audience just felt sad for Hawk.
01:05:55This character, who was once just this invincible force of pure and utter destruction, is now almost pathetic.
01:06:07It was another negative to be brought up.
01:06:11And, uh, when you lose your respect and your pride, that's a lot in this business.
01:06:23Maybe a look at reality is the end here.
01:06:28If it isn't, it's close.
01:06:41The sad fact was, is the Legion of Doom wasn't the Legion of Doom anymore.
01:06:47Father Time does no jobs, uh, and Father Time, it, it hit them.
01:06:55And during that time period, the Attitude Era is exploding.
01:07:01There's new, massive stars that are popping up every single week on Monday Night Raw.
01:07:09So, the Legion of Doom, I think they were more looked at as kind of a washed up old team,
01:07:15because this is now a young man's time.
01:07:17One, two, three.
01:07:22It would have been nice to have a nice little year or two run and retire as champs, you know,
01:07:27in a fairytale world.
01:07:29But, unfortunately, you know, we don't live in a fairytale world, and we, you know, that's not gonna happen.
01:07:35So, unfortunately, we left WWE.
01:07:40When their contracts weren't renewed, they were not quite ready to hang up the boots, they hit the independents.
01:07:50In 2000, Hawk and Animal are bouncing around the independent circuit in Australia.
01:07:57And one night, Hawk collapses with a medical emergency, a heart issue.
01:08:06It was a toll of all the drugs that he had done over the years, and just not taking care
01:08:11of himself the way he should have.
01:08:14Animal got him to the hospital.
01:08:16They wanted to keep him, they wouldn't let him out.
01:08:20And Animal took him out, because Hawk said, I can't stay here.
01:08:24I just can't.
01:08:25I don't wanna die here.
01:08:27And he lived in Florida now.
01:08:30So, Animal flew him back to Tampa, and Animal went back to Minneapolis.
01:08:38And that was it.
01:08:43Mike was looking at life after wrestling and trying to figure out what to do.
01:08:48Announcing or doing something and trying to figure out next steps.
01:08:55He was working out with me every morning.
01:08:57One of the girls there that did aerobics was this gorgeous, dark-haired lady named Dale.
01:09:03And Hawk, well, Hawk, there's that girl over there.
01:09:06So I introduced him, you know.
01:09:09I said, Dale, I don't know if you remember Hawk or not, but he wants to take you out.
01:09:13So they ended up going out.
01:09:16And they ended up marrying her.
01:09:19She was a great influence on him and a huge part of his life.
01:09:24He loved her a lot.
01:09:26She loved him a lot.
01:09:27And they were, I think, good for each other.
01:09:32At the time, Joe, he did a lot of independent wrestling, but he never really liked it.
01:09:39You know, when you don't have that person in the corner that you've kind of always relied on, whether he's
01:09:43reliable or not.
01:09:45He was, you know, they had gone through a lot together.
01:09:49You can't have Rotary Animal without Hawk.
01:09:53You couldn't have one without the other.
01:09:59One day, I invited Joe to a conference out in Phoenix, Arizona.
01:10:05It's called AIM, Athletes International Ministries for College and Professional Christian Athletes.
01:10:12Joe immediately said, can I invite Mike?
01:10:15I want to invite Mike.
01:10:17I'm like, Joe, you know, it's like a Christian conference, right?
01:10:21Like it's, and he goes, I know, but I just feel like I'm, I'm supposed to invite him.
01:10:26I'm like, well, by all means, invite him then.
01:10:34And he called me back and he said, man, he wants to come.
01:10:43That first night, Mike's whole personality, attitude, everything shifted and changed.
01:10:51Oh my gosh, like there's a genuine change in this man.
01:10:55There was a sense of genuineness about him, a sense of joy that he maybe didn't have prior to that.
01:11:04And a change, not just a change of attitude, but a change, a heart change.
01:11:12After that, he was just trying to just, you know, straighten up all around.
01:11:18And here we are.
01:11:22Finally, he was ready for that.
01:11:24And Hawk got clean and sober, which is a great story on Hawk Whip.
01:11:31Nobody thought Hawk would ever pull it off.
01:11:35It was like night and day.
01:11:38It was just a wonderful thing to see.
01:11:40It was a, a miracle.
01:11:45It took us all by surprise and obviously in a good way.
01:11:49He just seemed really happy.
01:11:53Life will be good.
01:11:55You've got, you know, you have Dale, you have your place in Florida.
01:11:58Everything is, it seemed like it was falling into place.
01:12:02Knowing that, okay, you don't have to worry so much about Mike anymore.
01:12:08The road he was on is no longer the road he is on.
01:12:14Now he's on a new road.
01:12:16On this road, he will fulfill his life and his destiny in life.
01:12:30September 2003, I got to spend time with Hawk.
01:12:36We just sat there and soaked up some sun and talked about the old days and where we can go
01:12:45from here.
01:12:48It was Saturday morning.
01:12:50He was getting ready to move.
01:12:52He calls me up and he goes, I got to get right in here.
01:12:55I got to go help Dale pack and help her move.
01:12:57He goes, I'll call you back later tonight.
01:12:59He goes, Joe.
01:13:00I said, what?
01:13:01He goes, I love you.
01:13:03He goes, you know that, don't you?
01:13:04I said, yeah, man, I know that.
01:13:06I said, brother.
01:13:07I said, I love you too, Mike.
01:13:08I said, I'll talk to you tonight.
01:13:21Yeah.
01:13:25I always get this way.
01:13:34Mike and Dale.
01:13:39They were moving, you know, and they were moving a lot of furniture and boxes and stuff.
01:13:46And from what I understand, he wasn't feeling well, you know.
01:13:52He said, I'm tired, feel real good or something, went and laid down.
01:14:01And yeah, yeah.
01:14:08I think an hour later, Dale went in and he had passed.
01:14:19The guy with a big heart dies with a heart attack.
01:14:27Yeah, the hardest part was just, you know, didn't expect him to die.
01:14:43All the times that he could have died in his life, it was unexpected.
01:14:49Which sounds crazy.
01:14:55Joe's phone rang.
01:14:57It was Dale.
01:14:59He just, like, collapsed.
01:15:04He, like, just, like, fell to the ground.
01:15:07Joe told me when he got that phone call that Mike had passed away.
01:15:12He said he sat down and he just cried like a baby.
01:15:19The animal called me up and said, uh,
01:15:24Hawk is gone.
01:15:31And I cried and cried.
01:15:38It was hard.
01:15:45Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.
01:15:47We're live here on Raw this past Sunday morning.
01:15:49Road Warrior Hawk passed away unexpected at the age of 46.
01:15:56Even though he had gotten clean, I think, as we all know, that kind of partying was strained on his
01:16:03heart.
01:16:04It caught up with him at a time when he had gotten clean.
01:16:06So that was kind of sad.
01:16:08We definitely lost him way too early.
01:16:13Hawk was a nice guy.
01:16:17So it was just a really, really tough one.
01:16:24Growing up in the 60s, I don't remember my dad ever giving me a hug.
01:16:36And Mike brought that back.
01:16:40And, uh, got our dad to hug us.
01:16:44And we hugged our dad.
01:16:48And we hugged each other.
01:16:51That's the way I remember.
01:16:58My brother Hawk, man, I'm telling you, there's not a day that goes by that I do not think about
01:17:03that man.
01:17:05I knew Hawk better than anybody.
01:17:07If I could explain the connection that Hawk and I had, I would, but I can't explain it.
01:17:13And Hawk, we fed off each other, man.
01:17:17It was one mind, one team, one body.
01:17:21And I will forever miss him and be indebted.
01:17:24They did it.
01:17:31Around that time, we were in Missouri.
01:17:35We lived in Missouri for a long time.
01:17:37My brother was playing for the St. Louis Rams.
01:17:41And then we were down there for quite some time that St. Louis really became our home.
01:17:46My dad, he, you know, he did wrestling appearances here and there.
01:17:49You can tell he definitely missed it, but he continued to be a family man.
01:17:54And he was just a grandpa to, you know, all of his little grandkids and just loved that.
01:17:58I mean, he wished he could have been living near everybody in his family and just,
01:18:03we all could have just lived on a compound together and he would have been happy.
01:18:10When I had my son Jacob, which was April 19th, 2011,
01:18:14my dad ended up like not being able to breathe like very well.
01:18:20So he ended up going into the hospital and he got diagnosed with congestive heart failure.
01:18:27But after that, he definitely was like hyper focused on his health
01:18:32and just trying to make sure that he was as healthy as he could be.
01:18:36What was, so I think they had to do so.
01:18:39It was his family, 100%, you know.
01:18:49Sorry.
01:18:53She told me that he wanted to watch Jacob grow up as his grandpa.
01:18:59And he wanted to watch him play high school sports and go to college and all that stuff.
01:19:06So that, like at that moment, he wanted to, you know, be there for him and, you know,
01:19:12for everybody else in the family.
01:19:13And that was, that was definitely what was driving him.
01:19:21There were times that I know he wasn't feeling okay.
01:19:26But I know that he pushed through it like every day, you know,
01:19:30just to be there for us and whoever else needed him.
01:19:34He was just determined to be there.
01:19:40I knew Joe had some heart issues, but I didn't know just how serious they were.
01:19:51It was September 22nd, 2020.
01:19:55He ended up going into the hospital.
01:20:00He was having a heart attack.
01:20:04I remember at one point they told me that they had been like trying to revive him for like 30
01:20:10minutes.
01:20:14And I knew at that point he wasn't going to make it.
01:20:20I just knew, you know, it's just that feeling.
01:20:27Seeing him laying there on that table, just knowing he wasn't coming back.
01:20:37I just like fell to the floor, my whole world just, just stopped.
01:20:49I didn't think I was going to get upset, but it was a very, um, she was very emotional.
01:20:55The Minnesota professional wrestler known as Animal has died.
01:21:00Joe Laurinaitis died at the age of 60.
01:21:03TMZ is reporting his death was from natural causes.
01:21:06To get that call of his passing was, uh, heart-wrenching.
01:21:14I saw Hawk a month before he died, and I saw Joe a month before he died.
01:21:22And I never got to say goodbye.
01:21:31Well, we're going to the hockey rink to go meet my son and play a little hockey.
01:21:38I'm, I got to still try to school him a little bit, you know, because I still tell him I'm
01:21:43better than him, but I don't know, he's pretty good.
01:21:47Hey.
01:21:51Knock that cat out of here.
01:21:54The way that my dad raised us was just to love each other.
01:21:58You know, and of course, everybody parents, I think a little differently than like how they were raised, but I
01:22:05catch myself, I'm the same way with Jacob.
01:22:07Let's pass around a little, huh?
01:22:10Oh, yeah.
01:22:12That love for family.
01:22:14I just don't know anything different than that.
01:22:16That's literally all I was used to.
01:22:19My dad, he's just in the back of my mind, you know, all the time.
01:22:22Just, what would he do, or what would he say?
01:22:25Can you rip it?
01:22:27And of course, the dedication, the hard work, like just teaching the work ethic.
01:22:32I've definitely kind of instilled that in Jacob, and I do explain it to him like, hey, Papa would have
01:22:37done this, or you know what I mean?
01:22:38I kind of use that because there's a lot of stuff that my dad, and of course, my mom taught
01:22:43us that it's like, you need to keep going.
01:22:46You need to try to be the best.
01:22:48You need to try to do this, you know, and I definitely will have to kind of throw Papa's name
01:22:52around a little bit just to get Jacob to listen to me.
01:23:03Go back to the early days at the gym and Grandma B's and them crossing paths with one another, whether
01:23:13it be fate or whatever else it is that brought the two of them together to go on to have
01:23:18this legendary tag team career.
01:23:20It's pretty amazing to think about it and look back on.
01:23:26The four of the road warriors.
01:23:28Brother, you talk about vicious, bizarre individuals.
01:23:34I think the legacy would probably be...
01:23:37And brother, they are carnage unlimited.
01:23:41Nobody was tougher, nobody was stronger, nobody was more intimidating.
01:23:45You want a piece of the warriors? Hop in the ring.
01:23:48They made their own destiny.
01:23:50What a moment for Legion of Doom!
01:23:53They wrote the book.
01:23:55Oh, look at this!
01:23:57Forget about it!
01:23:58Then they lived the book.
01:24:01They were the best of their time.
01:24:04They were the best of all time.
01:24:07But the best things in life are not things.
01:24:13They're relationships.
01:24:19Outside of being known as Animal and Hawk, they were Joe and Mike.
01:24:25And they developed the loyalty to one another and stayed together through the highs and lows, the thick and the
01:24:33thin.
01:24:33And it led to a long-lasting love for one another.
01:24:41Joe Laurinaitis and Mike Hegstrand were true brothers.
01:24:46They would have never found the success they had in life without each other.
01:24:51The road that they traveled was together.
01:24:55And they may have drifted apart at times, but they always came back together.
01:25:00They never really left each other.
01:25:02They were really always there for each other right to the end.
01:25:08It's a lot of destiny.
01:25:12The next thing you know, you're making memories.
01:25:16Of all the things in the world, it's the memories that matter.
01:25:25The boys are smiling.
01:25:27The boys are smiling.
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