Joseph Michael Laurinaitis (September 12, 1960 – September 22, 2020), better known by his https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_name Road Warrior Animal (or simply Animal), was an American https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling. Along with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Warrior_Hawk, he was one half of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_team https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Warriors.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Warrior_Animal#cite_note-alumni-2 He headlined multiple https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WWE_pay-per-view_and_WWE_Network_events and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NWA/WCW_closed-circuit_events_and_pay-per-view_events, competing for the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_World_Heavyweight_Championship at 2001's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WCW_Sin.
Laurinaitis made his debut in November 1982, competing as The Road Warrior using a biker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimmick_(professional_wrestling). After only a few matches as a singles competitor, his career and life would change thanks to an idea by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ellering.
American and Japanese territories (1983–1986)- When https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ellering was looking to put together a stable of heels in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Championship_Wrestling (GCW) called "The Legion of Doom", it was decided to put Laurinaitis together with his good friend Mike Hegstrand and change their names to "Animal" and "Hawk" respectively. Thus, the Road Warriors were born. They first started out as biker gimmicks; on The Road Warriors DVD, Animal said he felt like one of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_People. To look more intimidating, the two shaved their heads into Mohawks and started wearing studded dog collars, spiked shoulder pads, and face paint. The look and name were taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Max_2, helping to paint the two as no-mercy monsters.
Jim Crockett Promotions (1986–1990)-Their hard hitting style, no nonsense attitude, and winning ways made the Road Warriors fan favorites. Even when they were booked as heels, the fans refused to boo them.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Warrior_Animal#cite_note-LODDVD-6 They started to split their time between the AWA and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Wrestling_Alliance (NWA) until finally leaving the AWA for big money contracts with the NWA and a huge push for the monster duo. During their initial run in the NWA, they helped popularize the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames_match, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_match_types#Scaffold_match, and their trademark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_match_types#Hardcore-based_variations. In 1988, the Road Warriors engaged in a violent feud with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Powers_of_Pain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Barbarian_(wrestler) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Warlord_(wrestler)) the first team that could truly match the Road Warriors in power (and who were one of the most well known Road Warrior clones). The Powers of Pain even went so far as to injure Animal's eye, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayfabe) as his eye injury actually occurred days earlier during a match, during a weightlifting competition. When Animal returned, he initially wore a hockey goalie mask to protect his eye. The angle abruptly ended when the Powers of Pain left the NWA after finding out they were booked against the Road Warriors in a series of Scaffold Matches and they did not want to get hurt by falling off the scaffold. Near the end of 1988, the Road Warriors captured the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NWA_World_Tag_Team_Championship from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Midnight_Express_(professional_wrestling) whom they mauled in short order to win the titles.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_Warrior_Animal#cite_note-Titles-7 After being the "Uncrowned champions" for a long time the Road Warriors' run with the tag team titles was short-lived.
World Wrestling Federation (1990–1992)- The Road Warriors immediately signed with the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE (WWF) in 1990 and were pushed into a feud with the most famous of all "Road Warrior Clones", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demolition_(professional_wrestling), a group which included their old training partner Barry Darsow. Just over a year after signing with the WWF, the Legion of Doom won the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Tag_Team_Championship_(WWE) and held it for over five months.
World Championship Wrestling (1993, 1996)- Laurinaitis made some non-wrestling appearances in WCW in 1993. On August 18, at the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clash_of_the_Champions_XXIV, Animal made his appearance, getting out of a black https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Camaro indicating his partner Hawk was https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dustin_Rhodes' mystery partner against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Rude and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Sullivan_(wrestler). On September 19, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_Brawl_(1993), Animal was the advisor for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sting_(wrestler)'s team, consisting of Sting, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davey_Boy_Smith, Dustin Rhodes, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Ottman#The_Shockmaster_(1993) for WarGames, defeating https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Van_Vader, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Vicious_(wrestler), and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Heat. For the next couple of years, Laurinaitis stayed out of the wrestling ring, collecting on an insurance policy from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd%27s_of_London while Hegstrand competed all over the world. Near the end of 1995, Laurinaitis' back had finally recovered enough for him to return to active competition. Three years after everyone thought the Road Warriors had ended, they reunited and signed a contract with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Championship_Wrestling. Return to WWF (1997–1999)- While the Road Warriors never officially broke up, Animal started making an increasing number of solo appearances after they left the WWF as Hegstrand struggled with drug and alcohol addiction. In 2002, Animal once again returned to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Japan_Pro_Wrestling as Animal Warrior teaming with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiji_Muto. In 2003, The Road Warriors last stint was for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_of_World_Japan_Pro_Wrestling feuding with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shane_Twins. Hawk would die on October 19, 2003. The Road Warriors appeared in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Nonstop_Action_Wrestling in late 2002 to early 2003 as part of a group that opposed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Russo's faction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_Entertainment_Xtreme, but would only wrestle one actual match for the promotion. Laurinaitis died of a heart attack on September 22, 2020, ten days after his 60th birthday, at the Margaritaville Resort (formerly known as the Tan-Tar-A Resort) in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osage_Beach,_Missouri. Former Road Warriors manager https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ellering along with numerous others also paid tribute.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrestling_Observer_Newsletter_Hall_of_Fame (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrestling_Observer_Newsletter_Hall_of_Fame#Inductees)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Hall_of_Fame (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWE_Hall_of_Fame#Tag_teams_and_families) as a member of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Warriors