A lot of wrestling fans should be able to remember that trademark growl that would fill the arena shortly before the Legion of Doom came walking onto the scene, their spiked pads and facepaint furthering the intimidation factor that followed them everywhere they went. Hawk and Animal, the Road Warriors, or the LOD, however people remember them, were one of the absolute best tag teams in the history of the WWE, and they dominated for much of their time in the business. Sadly, Animal passed away recently from natural causes at the age of 60. Among the many wrestlers that have passed away in the past few decades, Joseph Laurinaitis was one of the absolute best since he and Hawk were among the most dominant forces in the ring, and were virtually unstoppable when put up against just about anyone. They even inspired a few other wrestlers to act as they did and paint their faces, but no one ever really took the place of the Road Warriors/LOD since they had a gimmick all their own that made them highly effective when it came to in-ring action. Unfortunately, Hawk passed away in 2003, making Animal a solo act for a while. At one point he did attempt to find someone else to wrestle with, but it didn’t pan out as he and Hawk had a chemistry that couldn’t be replicated that easy.
The sad part about wrestling, and a part that a lot of people should know by now, is that a lot of them don’t live to a ripe old age. Those that do are either lucky or have found out how to live a decent and healthy existence away from the ring at one point and have either given up the limelight or are working behind the scenes where they’re rarely ever noticed. But the life expectancy of a wrestler isn’t always that long since some of them succumb to old injuries and conditions that bothered them during their time in the ring, others become substance abusers, sad but true, and then some of them just pass away for other reasons. What a lot of people don’t always appear to realize that, despite this being a show, the WWE superstars are really banging each other about at times, and accidents do happen. This has been proven with Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero, whose deaths were extremely unfortunate but were job-related. The life of a wrestler is a hard one since they travel continuously, they put a great amount of stress on their bodies, and sometimes even the mental stress is too much since they tend to break down and need serious help.
For all intents and purposes though Joseph was alright and didn’t appear to be suffering any serious harm from his time in the ring. But again, the stress placed on the bodies of the wrestlers can be extreme and can catch up with them at times. Whatever happened to Joseph is unfortunate since he was a loved and very respected member of the WWE at one time before his retirement. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame along with his tag team partner Hawk in 2011, and despite the fact that the HOF in the WWE is a bit of a joke sometimes considering who they induct, it’s still a great honor for those wrestlers that have earned it. Hawk and Animal have gone down in history already, but his passing is likely, hopefully, going to be noted by the WWE since the two men were among those that helped pave the way for other tag teams and individual wrestlers since their style in the ring was just brutal and their whole gimmick was great since from the moment they emerged into the ring to the moment they left, it was their ring, without a doubt. They weren’t absolutely unstoppable, we won’t go that far, but they were a true force to be reckoned with in the ring since they didn’t back down and their storylines didn’t really disappoint until later on when Vince McMahon decided to take Road Warrior Hawk’s drug and alcohol issues and put them is part of a storyline. To say that it was kind of a sleazy move is putting it lightly, but to say that it took a toll on both Hawk and Animal was very accurate.
The truth of the business is that McMahon and the creative team at WWE will almost always use what they can in order to push a story, and it doesn’t really matter what it is that presents itself, they’re bound to use it. Hawk and Animal got through this storyline somehow, but the passing of Hawk in 2003 was a big hit to Animal, even though he did his best to keep going for a while. He gave everything he had to the business for years. Rest in peace sir, you’ll be missed.
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