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WWE Hall Of Famer ‘Road Warrior’ Animal was recently interviewed by WrestleTalk TV in the UK.
Animal was one half of the legendary tag team, the Road Warriors aka the Legion of Doom. His tag team partner Hawk passed away in 2003. Animal, Hawk and their long-time manager ‘Precious’ Paul Ellering were all inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame as a group. Animal and Hawk have worked as a tag team in almost every major company, and were the first tag team to hold the WWF, NWA and AWA tag team championships.
The man asking the questions was the show’s producer and British wrestler/promoter Alex Shane. They discussed the Legion of Doom’s runs in the WWE as well as the current scandal involving Hulk Hogan.
•Working out is in his blood, but after retiring, he had let himself go a few times. Doing this made him feel terrible about himself. This, and helping his son train for the NFL, motivates him to stay in shape.
•He said that he is staying in shape in case a possible comeback happens. Tag team wrestling is down right now.
•The NWA used an old-school tag team wrestling style, while the WWF used an entertainment based style.
•Animal invented the ‘Legion of Doom’ name, not the WWF. They took it from a cartoon show they overheard when leaving a hotel. They billed themselves as members of the Legion of Doom.
•When they joined the WWE, Vince McMahon didn’t want to call them the Road Warriors because they already had other wrestlers with ‘warrior’ in their ring names. Animal suggested ‘Legion of Doom’. The WWF paid them for the use of the name.
•He had no problem with Demolition using a gimmick based on the Road Warriors. He had known both Ax and Smash at different times outside of the WWF. He wasn’t angry with his friends trying to make money because most career last 5 years.
•Animal admitted that he is lucky to have stayed relevant in the industry for 23 years with the same gimmick. He also likes it when new tag teams mimick the Road Warriors because it ensures the Road Warriors’ survival.
•Animal and Hawk were two guys picked out of a bar, but Demolition were genuine wrestlers trying to act tough. He found it funny that Road Warriors wore spikes while Demolition wore tiny rhinestones.
•They were never asked to tone down their rough style in the AWA because it made them a major draw for the company. They were two huge and powerful guys who could also do high-flying stuff.
•Their mohawks was Hawk’s idea. He suggested it in front of AWA promoters. The idea is that their heads could plug into each other.
•He said that their hairstyles were Hawk’s idea. He suggested it in front of the AWA promoters. The idea was that Animal’s Mohawk could plug into Hawk’s double Mohawk.
•The LOD hated the puppet that WWF introduced. The WWF were trying to give LOD a softer image so that they could sell more merchandise to children. Animal refused to ever touch it. The puppet “got mysteriously lost by the airlinesâ€.
•The puppet had nothing to do with why LOD left the WWF the first time.
•Hawk was a heavy partier, and often got suspended for 90 days. While Hawk was suspended, Animal wouldn’t be used. They left the WWF because of how often they were on “vacationâ€.
•Animal did not like Alex implying that Hawk was his “work wifeâ€. He had been friends with Hawk since they were teenagers and considered themselves to be brothers. Alex regretted using the word “wifeâ€, and Animal told him that you can’t use it when talking about a male wrestler in the industry.
•Animal mentioned that he sometimes struggled with handling Hawk’s addictions at times. They were once supposed to film a TV spot for WWF, and Hawk went to Amsterdam for a week with Jim Neidhart.
•When the WWF did the storyline about Hawk’s addictions, they originally wanted Animal to play the part. Animal refused.
•Animal felt the storyline was low, disrespectful and in bad taste. However, he believed that the WWE thinks that they could do whatever they wanted, and fans would like it.
•He didn’t understand why they took their biggest tag team, the “Hulk Hogan of tag teams at that timeâ€, and say that one of them had problems with additions. That damaged their image and it was too close to home.
•He doesn’t believe in doing storylines that are personal or close to home. Private lives are to be respected. All onscreen performers have a really close comradery and respected one anothers’ personal issues. But management is not a part of that and they make the decisions.
•When addressing controversial comments that Hawk once made about Vince McMahon, he admitted that the bad feelings between the WWE and the Road Warriors have cooled.
•Animal isn’t happy with the way that wrestling companies try to control the personal lives of contracted performers. He made reference to the lawsuit between Billy Jack Haynes and the WWE. The retired performers are adults who are no longer under contract with WWE, but the WWE still tells them what they can and cannot do.
•Animal said that he had always been on good terms with the WWE, but the relationship is strained. He said that many of the decisions management makes are not in the best interests of the business. Some of them can become very personal and dirty, and there is no place for it in wrestling.
•Alex Shane mentioned that Nick ‘Eugene’ Dinsmore suggested on the show that the wrestlers need to create a worker’s union within the industry to stand up for their rights. Shane theorised that the WWE pays some of the bigger names who would likely speak out more money so that they would think there is too much to lose by speaking out. Animal did not understand where he was going with this, and talked about he is still as famous today as he ever was because of the WWE Network.
•For whatever reason, Animal started comparing the accomplishments and accolades of the Road Warriors and the Dudleys, and got them mixed together. He was trying to make the point that it wasn’t fair to compare them as the same thing.
•When talking about Hulk Hogan’s relationship with the WWE, Animal said that we have said really stupid stuff in private that we don’t really mean. Hogan said it to someone who had evil intentions. He said that while most of us are not bothered by the colour of skin, we have still made racial slurs that we never actually meant. He believes that Hogan is not racist, but was caught in a bad situation.
•[It should be noted that Animal thinks Hogan made the comments to his friend Bubba the Love Sponge, and he had waited 8 years to release the footage.]
•He does not like Hogan and has no reason to defend him. However, he is certain that Hogan is not a racist. He acknowledges that Hogan has changed a lot in recent years, and his mentality has changed too.
•Vince McMahon’s decision to remove Hogan from the Hall of Fame and their website made no sense. There would be no WWE without Hogan.
•When asked if he felt that the timing of this video was purposefully for revenge, Animal agreed. He said that Hogan built the WWE and is the biggest selling merchandise seller of all time. He believes that there was another undercover reason why WWE is punishing Hogan.
•He was asked why Road Warriors should be considered a better tag team than the Dudleyz. While he admitted that the Dudleyz have held more titles in more companies, they made achievements that Dudleyz never matched. This included taking American titles overseas and selling out arenas.
•Contrary to rumour, Animal is actually a big fan of the Dudleyz. The duo were among the first to pay their respects to Hawk when he died, and the always do the ‘Dudley Device’ as a tribute to him.
•He said that the Road Warriors were among a small list of names that will never be seen again, along with Hulk Hogan, The Rock and Ric Flair. There is a secondary tier of people who were very good like the Dudleyz or Sting, but they were never among the all-time greatest greats.
Animal was one half of the legendary tag team, the Road Warriors aka the Legion of Doom. His tag team partner Hawk passed away in 2003. Animal, Hawk and their long-time manager ‘Precious’ Paul Ellering were all inducted into the WWE Hall Of Fame as a group. Animal and Hawk have worked as a tag team in almost every major company, and were the first tag team to hold the WWF, NWA and AWA tag team championships.
The man asking the questions was the show’s producer and British wrestler/promoter Alex Shane. They discussed the Legion of Doom’s runs in the WWE as well as the current scandal involving Hulk Hogan.
•Working out is in his blood, but after retiring, he had let himself go a few times. Doing this made him feel terrible about himself. This, and helping his son train for the NFL, motivates him to stay in shape.
•He said that he is staying in shape in case a possible comeback happens. Tag team wrestling is down right now.
•The NWA used an old-school tag team wrestling style, while the WWF used an entertainment based style.
•Animal invented the ‘Legion of Doom’ name, not the WWF. They took it from a cartoon show they overheard when leaving a hotel. They billed themselves as members of the Legion of Doom.
•When they joined the WWE, Vince McMahon didn’t want to call them the Road Warriors because they already had other wrestlers with ‘warrior’ in their ring names. Animal suggested ‘Legion of Doom’. The WWF paid them for the use of the name.
•He had no problem with Demolition using a gimmick based on the Road Warriors. He had known both Ax and Smash at different times outside of the WWF. He wasn’t angry with his friends trying to make money because most career last 5 years.
•Animal admitted that he is lucky to have stayed relevant in the industry for 23 years with the same gimmick. He also likes it when new tag teams mimick the Road Warriors because it ensures the Road Warriors’ survival.
•Animal and Hawk were two guys picked out of a bar, but Demolition were genuine wrestlers trying to act tough. He found it funny that Road Warriors wore spikes while Demolition wore tiny rhinestones.
•They were never asked to tone down their rough style in the AWA because it made them a major draw for the company. They were two huge and powerful guys who could also do high-flying stuff.
•Their mohawks was Hawk’s idea. He suggested it in front of AWA promoters. The idea is that their heads could plug into each other.
•He said that their hairstyles were Hawk’s idea. He suggested it in front of the AWA promoters. The idea was that Animal’s Mohawk could plug into Hawk’s double Mohawk.
•The LOD hated the puppet that WWF introduced. The WWF were trying to give LOD a softer image so that they could sell more merchandise to children. Animal refused to ever touch it. The puppet “got mysteriously lost by the airlinesâ€.
•The puppet had nothing to do with why LOD left the WWF the first time.
•Hawk was a heavy partier, and often got suspended for 90 days. While Hawk was suspended, Animal wouldn’t be used. They left the WWF because of how often they were on “vacationâ€.
•Animal did not like Alex implying that Hawk was his “work wifeâ€. He had been friends with Hawk since they were teenagers and considered themselves to be brothers. Alex regretted using the word “wifeâ€, and Animal told him that you can’t use it when talking about a male wrestler in the industry.
•Animal mentioned that he sometimes struggled with handling Hawk’s addictions at times. They were once supposed to film a TV spot for WWF, and Hawk went to Amsterdam for a week with Jim Neidhart.
•When the WWF did the storyline about Hawk’s addictions, they originally wanted Animal to play the part. Animal refused.
•Animal felt the storyline was low, disrespectful and in bad taste. However, he believed that the WWE thinks that they could do whatever they wanted, and fans would like it.
•He didn’t understand why they took their biggest tag team, the “Hulk Hogan of tag teams at that timeâ€, and say that one of them had problems with additions. That damaged their image and it was too close to home.
•He doesn’t believe in doing storylines that are personal or close to home. Private lives are to be respected. All onscreen performers have a really close comradery and respected one anothers’ personal issues. But management is not a part of that and they make the decisions.
•When addressing controversial comments that Hawk once made about Vince McMahon, he admitted that the bad feelings between the WWE and the Road Warriors have cooled.
•Animal isn’t happy with the way that wrestling companies try to control the personal lives of contracted performers. He made reference to the lawsuit between Billy Jack Haynes and the WWE. The retired performers are adults who are no longer under contract with WWE, but the WWE still tells them what they can and cannot do.
•Animal said that he had always been on good terms with the WWE, but the relationship is strained. He said that many of the decisions management makes are not in the best interests of the business. Some of them can become very personal and dirty, and there is no place for it in wrestling.
•Alex Shane mentioned that Nick ‘Eugene’ Dinsmore suggested on the show that the wrestlers need to create a worker’s union within the industry to stand up for their rights. Shane theorised that the WWE pays some of the bigger names who would likely speak out more money so that they would think there is too much to lose by speaking out. Animal did not understand where he was going with this, and talked about he is still as famous today as he ever was because of the WWE Network.
•For whatever reason, Animal started comparing the accomplishments and accolades of the Road Warriors and the Dudleys, and got them mixed together. He was trying to make the point that it wasn’t fair to compare them as the same thing.
•When talking about Hulk Hogan’s relationship with the WWE, Animal said that we have said really stupid stuff in private that we don’t really mean. Hogan said it to someone who had evil intentions. He said that while most of us are not bothered by the colour of skin, we have still made racial slurs that we never actually meant. He believes that Hogan is not racist, but was caught in a bad situation.
•[It should be noted that Animal thinks Hogan made the comments to his friend Bubba the Love Sponge, and he had waited 8 years to release the footage.]
•He does not like Hogan and has no reason to defend him. However, he is certain that Hogan is not a racist. He acknowledges that Hogan has changed a lot in recent years, and his mentality has changed too.
•Vince McMahon’s decision to remove Hogan from the Hall of Fame and their website made no sense. There would be no WWE without Hogan.
•When asked if he felt that the timing of this video was purposefully for revenge, Animal agreed. He said that Hogan built the WWE and is the biggest selling merchandise seller of all time. He believes that there was another undercover reason why WWE is punishing Hogan.
•He was asked why Road Warriors should be considered a better tag team than the Dudleyz. While he admitted that the Dudleyz have held more titles in more companies, they made achievements that Dudleyz never matched. This included taking American titles overseas and selling out arenas.
•Contrary to rumour, Animal is actually a big fan of the Dudleyz. The duo were among the first to pay their respects to Hawk when he died, and the always do the ‘Dudley Device’ as a tribute to him.
•He said that the Road Warriors were among a small list of names that will never be seen again, along with Hulk Hogan, The Rock and Ric Flair. There is a secondary tier of people who were very good like the Dudleyz or Sting, but they were never among the all-time greatest greats.
