The Road Warriors
The Road Warriors, also known as the Legion of Doom, were a professional wrestling tag team. They competed in many different professional wrestling promotions. They were known for competing in the American Wrestling Association, the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling, and the World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment. The team's original members were Hawk and Animal.
Road Warriors | |
---|---|
Stable | |
Members | Road Warrior Hawk Road Warrior Animal Power Warrior Droz Heidenreich Paul Ellering (manager) Sunny (valet) Christy Hemme (valet) |
Name(s) | Road Warriors Legion of Doom Hell Raisers Triple Warriors LOD 2000 LOD 2005 Hell Warriors |
Combined billed weight | 575 lb (261 kg; 41.1 st)[1] |
Billed from | Chicago, Illinois |
Debut | 1983 |
Disbanded | 2014 |
Years active | 1983–2014 |
Career
changeThey were joined by their manager "Precious" Paul Ellering. Droz joined the team after an angle happened that was based off of Road Warrior Hawk’s real life alcohol and drug issues.[2] The angle even went so far as to fake a suicide jump off the top of the TitanTron.[2] The angle bombed and both members said that they disliked it and left the WWF in 1999.[2] Their last TV appearance as a team was on the May 12, 2003 episode of Raw when they faced World Tag Team Champions Rob Van Dam and Kane.[3] Hawk died on October 19, 2003 from a heart attack.[4]
Animal returned to the WWE in 2005 and teamed with Heidenreich.[5] They won the WWE Tag Team Championship after defeating MNM (Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro) at The Great American Bash on July 24, 2005.[6] Heidenreich became an official member of the Legion of Doom on August 18, 2005. They were also manged by Christy Hemme during that time. They lost the tag team titles on the October 28, 2005 edition of SmackDown! to MNM in a Fatal Four-Way tag team match that also featured Paul Burchill and William Regal and The Mexicools (Super Crazy and Psicosis).[7] Heidenreich was released from WWE on January 17, 2006 and Animal was released a few months later.[8][9]
On April 2, 2011, The Road Warriors, along with Paul Ellering, were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Dusty Rhodes.[10] Animal died on September 22, 2020, also from a heart attack.[11]
Championships and accomplishments
changeRoad Warriors / Legion of Doom / LOD 2000
change- All Japan Pro Wrestling
- NWA International Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- American Wrestling Association
- AWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- Cauliflower Alley Club
- Tag Team Award (2020)[12]
- Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling
- World Japan Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- Georgia Championship Wrestling
- NWA National Tag Team Championship (3 times)
- NWA National Tag Team Championship Tournament (1984)[13]
- Hardcore Hall of Fame
- Class of 2021
- International Wrestling Superstars
- IWS World Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- i-Generation Superstars of Wrestling
- i-Generation Tag Team Championship (3 times)
- Independent Pro Wrestling
- IPW Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- Jim Crockett Promotions/World Championship Wrestling
- NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Dusty Rhodes (2) and Genichiro Tenryu (1)
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (Mid-Atlantic version) (1 time)
- Iron Team Tournament (1989)
- Jim Crockett, Sr. Memorial Cup (1986)
- Memphis Wrestling Hall of Fame
- Class of 2022
- National Wrestling Alliance
- NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2012)[14]
- NWA Wrestling Legends Hall of Heroes (2016)[15]
- Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
- Class of 2011 (Animal, Hawk, and Ellering)[16]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI Tag Team of the Year (1983–1985, 1988)
- PWI Feud of the Year (1987) with Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff vs. the Four Horsemen
- PWI ranked them #1 of the 100 best tag teams during the "PWI Years" in 2003
- Quebec Wrestling Hall of Fame
- Class of 2015
- Super World of Sports
- One Night Tag Team Tournament (1991)[17]
- Tokyo Sports
- Best Foreigner Award (1985)[18]
- World Wrestling Federation/WWE
- WWF Tag Team Championship (2 times)
- WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2011)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
- Rookies of the Year (1983)
- Tag Team of the Year (1984)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)
Hell Raisers
change- New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- IWGP Tag Team Championship (2 times)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked them #58 of the 100 best tag teams of the "PWI Years" in 2003
LOD 2005
changeHell Warriors
change- Toryumon Mexico
- UWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time)
References
change- ↑ Shields, Brian; Sullivan, Kevin (2009). WWE Encyclopedia. Dorling Kindersley. p. 221. ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 R.D. Reynolds and Randy Baer (2003). Wrestlecrap – the very worst of pro wrestling. ECW Press. ISBN 1-55022-584-7.
- ↑ "WWE Show Results 2003". WWE. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
- ↑ Muchnick, Irvin (2007). Wrestling Babylon: Piledriving Tales of Drugs, Sex, Death, and Scandal. ECW Press. p. 148. ISBN 978-1550227611.
- ↑ "Smackdown Results (July 14, 2005)". WWE. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
- ↑ "The Great American Bash 2005: Results". WWE. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
- ↑ "MNM Wins WWE Tag Team Championship in Fatal 4-way Match - SmackDown, October 28, 2005". WWE. Archived from the original on 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
- ↑ "WWE releases Heidenreich but finds huge replacement". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2013-11-15.[permanent dead link]
- ↑ "WWE News: Sabu vs. Cena, RVD vs. Rey, Animal released, Rock movie update". PW Torch. Archived from the original on 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
- ↑ "Hall of Fame: 2011 WWE Hall of Fame Inductees - The Road Warriors & Paul Ellering". WWE. Archived from the original on 2014-09-08. Retrieved 2013-11-15.
- ↑ Toro, Carlos (September 23, 2020). "Road Warrior Animal Dies At Age 60". Fightful. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
- ↑ @CACReunion (January 6, 2020). "Ohhhh WHAT A RUSH! The CAC 2020 Tag..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ↑ "Pro Wrestling History". prowrestlinghistory.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
- ↑ Meltzer, Dave (November 17, 2012). "Sat. update: Great TV show, WWE multiple releases, Austin talks WWE Hall of Fame, Best night for Bellator, PPV predictions, NWA Hall of Fame, James Storm headlines benefit show, Devitt takes another title". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on July 1, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2012.
- ↑ "Looking at the NWA Legends Fanfest and WHy It's Still Important All These Years Later". www.pwinsider.com. Archived from the original on October 26, 2016. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
- ↑ "Lawler, McMahon, Road Warriors among PWHF Class of 2011". Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum. November 26, 2010. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
- ↑ "One Night Tag Team Tournament « Tournaments Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". www.cagematch.net. Archived from the original on May 7, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
- ↑ 東京スポーツ プロレス大賞. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 14, 2017. Retrieved January 20, 2014.