Road Warrior Hawk

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This article is about an American professional wrestler. For other uses, see Road warrior (disambiguation).

Road Warrior Hawk
A man in face-paint wearing spiked shoulder pads looks off into the distance
Hawk in 1997
Birth nameMichael James Hegstrand[1]
Born(1957-01-26)January 26, 1957[2]
Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
DiedOctober 19, 2003(2003-10-19) (aged 46)
Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, U.S.
Cause of deathHeart attack
Spouse(s)
Judy Pendzimas
​
​
(m. 1986; div. 1991)​
Dale Watts
​
(m. 1998)​
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Crusher Von Haig
Hawk
Hawk Warrior
Road Warrior Hawk
Billed height6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[3]
Billed weight275 lb (125 kg)[3]
Billed fromChicago, Illinois
Trained byEddie Sharkey[3]
Debut1983[3]

Michael James Hegstrand (January 26, 1957 – October 19, 2003) was an American

professional wrestler. He was best known as Road Warrior Hawk, one half of the tag team known as the Road Warriors (or the "Legion of Doom"), with Road Warrior Animal. Outside of the Road Warriors, Hawk was a sporadic challenger for world heavyweight championships on pay-per-view from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. He headlined the inaugural 1993 edition of Extreme Championship Wrestling's premier annual event, November to Remember.[4]

Early life

While living in Minneapolis, Hegstrand attended

Barry Darsow
could make it big in professional wrestling.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (1983–1986)

Main article:
the Road Warriors

Hegstrand started his career as part of the Traveling All-Stars. He was billed as "Crusher Von Haig" and wrestled in Vancouver. Soon growing weary of the road and becoming homesick. Hegstrand traveled back home with Rood. Later in 1983, fate struck again when Laurinaitis's partner for the night found himself in legal trouble. Needing a quick replacement, Ole Anderson gave Hegstrand a call, and he accepted the booking to team with Laurinaitis. Neither man knew at the time that they would make wrestling history that day.

interview style was vicious, yet charismatic and a bit humorous. Hawk was known for often beginning his promos with his trademark yell of "Wellllllllllllll!..." and ending with his catch phrase of "Oooooooooh, what a ruuuuuuuuuuuush!"[6] The team was an instant hit, revolutionizing the tag-team scene with their power moves, no mercy attitudes, and innovative face paint that would spawn many future imitators in wrestling.[7] In Georgia they won the NWA National Tag Team Championship four times[8] before moving on to bigger promotions such as the American Wrestling Association in the US and All Japan Pro Wrestling in Japan, winning tag-team titles wherever they went.[8]

National Wrestling Alliance / World Championship Wrestling (1986–1990)

Their hard hitting style, no nonsense attitude, and winning ways made the Road Warriors fan favorites wherever they went; even when they were booked as heels, the fans refused to boo them.

The Russian Team (which included the Road Warriors’ old training buddy Barry Darsow, then wrestling as Krusher Khrushchev).[14][15][16] During their initial run in the Mid-Atlantic region of the NWA, they helped popularize the WarGames match,[10] the Scaffold match,[17] and their trademark Chicago Street Fight.[18]

In 1988, the Road Warriors engaged in a violent feud with the

The Samoan Swat Team,[22][23] and The Skyscrapers[24][25]
before leaving the NWA in the summer of 1990.

World Wrestling Federation (1990–1992)

The Road Warriors immediately signed with the

SummerSlam 1991 and held them for about six months.[8] When they lost the titles in February 1992 they were briefly taken off television, only to return with long-time manager Paul Ellering by their side, as well as a wooden dummy called "Rocco". Both members of the Legion of Doom thought the gimmick was stupid, as did most of the fans and it led to Hawk quitting the WWF,[29]
leaving Animal on his own for the first time in nine years. When Animal suffered a severe back injury a short while later, everyone thought it was the end of the legendary team.

Japan, ECW and Independents (1992–1995)

Hawk competed as a singles wrestler in Europe, Australia, and Japan and although he won nearly every singles match he competed in, he was usually seen (by North American and Japanese fans at least) as a tag team wrestler. Thus, he always fought either mid-card opponents or made teams with better-known singles stars. When he joined

Smokey Mountain Wrestling
and Midwest Territorial Wrestling.

World Championship Wrestling (1993, 1995–1996)

In August 1993 Hawk made sporadic appearances in

Meng and Kurasawa,[33] but a proposed singles feud with Kurasawa fell through due to an arm injury (in kayfabe Kurasawa broke Hawk's arm using a cross armbreaker, to let Hawk rest). Hawk returned in January 1996, but this time, he also brought Animal back with him as his back had finally recovered enough for him to return to active competition. During that time, Sting and Lex Luger had won the WCW World Tag Team Championship and the Warriors challenged them, to no success.[34][35] The rise of the New World Order
precluded further challenges, and they headed back to the WWF.

Return to WWF (1997–1999)

After leaving WCW they returned to the WWF

Billy Gunn) and shockingly lost the titles to the upstart team.[8] On an episode of Monday Night Raw, L.O.D. challenged D-Generation X in a Tag Match. During the match, The New Age Outlaws attacked L.O.D. and shaved off one of Hawk's mohawks, and threw Animal through the announcers table. After several unsuccessful challenges the L.O.D. were repackaged as "Legion of Doom 2000" with manager Sunny, although she did not stay with the team for long.[6]

During

Puke, was introduced later known as Droz. This led to the conclusion of the storyline, in which a suicidal Hawk climbed to the top of the TitanTron, the giant television monitor erected during episodes of WWF's Raw Is War to show match highlights to fans in attendance. Puke, supposedly attempting to rescue Hawk, climbed after him, only to apparently throw Hawk over the side (with a special effect being used to make it appear as though fans could see Hegstrand's body plunging a fatal distance behind the screen); Puke then revealed that he had been enabling Hawk's drug addiction in order to kill him and take his place in the Legion of Doom. Being forced to act out Hegstrand's personal demons onscreen eventually proved too much for both Hegstrand and Laurinaitis, and both men quit the company shortly after the "Puke killed Hawk" incident.[29]

Late career (1999–2003)

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 and generally did not appear at many wrestling shows during this time.

born-again Christians in 2001 and appeared at a number of Christian wrestling events run by Ted DiBiase and Nikita Koloff
hoping to reignite their tag-team career. On June 22, 2002, International Wrestling Superstars, Road Warriors Animal & Hawk defeated the Headshrinkers for the World Tag-Team Championship. That victory also led to Team USA winning the International Tournament held in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

They also appeared in

The Original Sheik who died earlier that year; it was run by the sons of The Sheik, Eddie and Tom Farhat. They decided to book Hawk for an event in Holt, Michigan; that event was the second to last time Hawk wrestled.[citation needed] Two weeks before he died he wrestled his final match with Animal in Oshawa, Ontario, defeating Greg "The Hammer" Valentine and Buff Bagwell.[40]

Death and legacy

Hegstrand died on October 19, 2003, in the early morning in his home in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida.[41][42] He was 46 years old. His friends said that he and his wife Dale had recently bought a condominium near their current home and were packing their boxes the night before. Hegstrand said that he felt tired and went to take a nap. When his wife checked on him at about 1 am, he had died of a sudden heart attack. At the time of his death, Hawk and Animal were working on a book about their careers. Animal returned to WWE in mid-2005 and decided to dedicate his entire run to Hegstrand, including his tag team title victory with Heidenreich at The Great American Bash.

On the March 28, 2011, episode of Raw, it was announced that the Road Warriors would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2011. On April 2, 2011, the night before WrestleMania XXVII they, along with Paul Ellering, were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by Dusty Rhodes.

Championships and accomplishments

a The Road Warriors reign with the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, with Genichiro Tenryu, began December 7, 1988, after Ted Turner's purchase of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling from Jim Crockett, Jr. and having it renamed World Championship Wrestling.

b Hawk and Animal's reign with this championship also happened after Ted Turner bought and renamed the promotion. However, it took place before the title was renamed the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

See also

References

  1. ^ Oliver, Greg. "Road Warrior Hawk dead at 45". canoe.com. Archived from the original on January 12, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  2. ^ "WWE Royal Rumble weekend, NXT Takeover, WWE in Wilkes-Barre, Baltimore, Richmond (reports needed), next ROH, Impact Wrestling, and Evolve dates, Sasha Banks, Road Warrior Hawk, Volador Jr.,Taylor Wilde, The Stro". January 26, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d "Road Warrior Hawk profile". Cagematch. Retrieved September 23, 2020.
  4. ^ "Road Warrior Hawk: Profile & Match Listing". Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
  5. ^ Matthew Hester(Senior Writer) (2010). "C Vs. C: The Road Warriors Were the Greatest Tag Team in Pro Wrestling!". Bleacher Report.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-1-55022-683-6
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  7. ^ a b c Various Comments (June 14, 2005). Road Warriors: The Life and Death of Wrestling's Most Dominant Tag-Team (DVD). USA: WWE Home Video.
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-0-9698161-5-7
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  9. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "NWA Crockett Cup Results (1986)". Retrieved April 17, 2007.
  10. ^ a b prowrestlinghistory.com. "NWA Great American Bash Results (1987 #1)". Retrieved April 17, 2007.
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  33. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "WCW Clash of the Champions Results (XXXI)". Archived from the original on April 21, 2008. Retrieved April 17, 2007.
  34. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "WCW SuperBrawl Results (VI)". Retrieved April 17, 2007.
  35. ^ prowrestlinghistory.com. "WCW Uncensored Results (1996)". Retrieved April 17, 2007.
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  38. ^ tnawrestling.com. "TNA Weekly PPV Results 2003". Archived from the original on January 27, 2007. Retrieved April 17, 2007.
  39. ^ Graham Cawthon. "WWE Show Results 2003". Retrieved April 17, 2007. (May 12, 2003) WWE Raw Tag Team Champions Rob Van Dam & Kane defeated the Legion of Doom when RVD pinned Road Warrior Hawk following the chokeslam / Five Star Frog Splash combo (LOD's surprise return after more than a 4-year absence)
  40. SlamWrestling.net
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  44. ^ "Ohhhh What a Rush! The CAC 2020 Tag Team Award will go to the Road Warriors! We will be joined by @PaulElleringWWE and @RWAnimal who will receive the award. There isn't enough space to list all of their titles and accomplishments, but one more can be added in April!pic.twitter.com/bm4jwpBgTl". January 6, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
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  54. ^ 東京スポーツ プロレス大賞. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). Retrieved January 20, 2014.
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    ISSN 1083-9593
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External links

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