LOD 2000 & The Downfall of Road Warrior Hawk
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
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Wrestling Bios Presents - LOD 2000 & The Downfall of Road Warrior Hawk
The Road Warriors are one of wrestling's true great tag teams. Hawk and Animal captured the attention of audiences all across America and Japan during the 80s and early 90s, becoming one of the most dominant tag teams in all of professional wrestling. In terms of popularity, no one was as over as The Road Warriors when talking about tag teams, even creating the term "Road Warrior Pop" due to how loud crowds would get when Hawk and Animal made their entrance into arenas.
When The Road Warriors made their way to the WWF in 1990, Hawk and Animal were renamed as "The Legion of Doom". The Legion of Doom would stay in the WWF until 1992 before going back to Japan and also returning to WCW. The team would return to the WWF in 1997 where Hawk and Animal would mainly feud with The Hart Foundation and, a little later, The New Age Outlaws.
When the New Age Outlaws had seemingly got the better of Hawk and Animal, The Legion of Doom returned to WWF screens at WrestleMania 14. With a brand new look, a new manager and a new attitude, The Legion of Doom were renamed "LOD 2000". LOD 2000 would continue working in the WWF throughout most of 1998, but it was when the tag team added Droz to the team that the cracks began to show.
This mini documentary from Wrestling Bios takes a look at LOD 2000 and the downfall of Road Warrior Hawk. Topics covered include:
01:59 - The Road Warriors in WCW during 1996
03:23 - The Legion of Doom feud with The New Age Outlaws
06:16 - LOD 2000 debuts at WrestleMania 14
10:25 - Darren Drozdov joins the LOD
11:35 - Sunny leaves the LOD 2000
13:57 - The televised downfall of Road Warrior Hawk
17:00 - Hawk falls off the Titantron
- Much More!
#WWE #Documentary #Wrestling
I never understood this. The Road Warriors were the most storied tag team in wrestling history. To end like this was disrespectful.
It is
Vince has mishandled so many guys over the years.
This is what the WWE has done for years, if it's not Vince's creation he'll do whatever he can to mock certain wrestlers
@@linchayes9007 Vince can be very petty at times, lod/road warriors deserved better, incredible tag team
yeah
When I was a kid, I thought their shoulder pads were just the coolest thing ever.
Me to
Always a Demolition guy myself Long Live The Jun-Horde
Same here, man! The Road Warriors are my all-time favorite tag team.
@Jah Will B Dunn Will that include Bombastic Bob of the New Midnight Express he looked so sexy with that blonde mullet 😍💕
John Demler right behind you on that
WWE did the Road Warriors dirty in their 2nd run.
as much as I liked them, there was a reason they didn't stick around anywhere very long
especially hawk !!!!!
Natural Vanguard they were in that category of selling tickets just by their presence, and they always kept to doing just enough before going stale.
You're right about that!
@@gossamer1234 they should have stuck around during the New Generations Era and The Attitude Era
We blast WCW for the "drunk Scott Hall" story line but let's never forget WWF did it first with Hawk.
EXACTLY!!! Some people have selective memories.
Not some people everyone who are huge fans of the attitude era wwf has selective memory
@@sniperklown5986 I'm a huge fan of wwf/e and I thought it was disgraceful
Thank You!!! WWE Fanboys forget everything.. But Bash WCW for things they let slide..
@@kenrickeasondude nobody cares about wcw it got terrible at the end
The original lod were one of the only true Main event tag teams. Probably the most popular team ever. They could have headlined any event.
When tag teams were actually respected in wrestling
The Rockers, Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty could have headlined any event as well.
@Justin Sharpe yeah I'm.not saying lod were the only ones. The stieners were def up there. I'd say peak lod were probably more popular tho.
@Justin Sharpe Your comment tells me you didn’t watch wrestling as well as you think, Shawn was on the up and up from 93, plus Shawn was on top in 96 while Bret didn't leave till the end of 97. With Diesel and Razor it's hard to say since they left but IMO Razor would of been the top guy if he could control his demons. The NAO, DX (HBK&HHH) Nash and Hall, IRS and the Million $ man (Heels). Also the mega powers etc.
djcol77 well when you came in the ring . Brutally beating your opponents before the beginning of a match . That’s just a given.
I'm now 52 years old .
So I grew up with The Road Warriors destroying everything and everyone in the business.
I hated this whole time LOD segment when it was happening. I Love the memory's of Hawk and Animal beating The Fuk out of World of Wrestling !
The LOD were (and still are in my personal opinion) the GOAT tag team and the later usage of Hawk and what they were making him to absolutely sickened me
Hollywood blondes, the Bush wackers, and the rockers are better.
@@jonb2756 ,🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@jonb2756 Keep that stupid thought in your head!
WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT A RUSH!!
Yours is more accurate 😂
They said that when they shott up cocaine and steriods all at once..WHAT.. A ...RUSHHH it probably was mixxed with the new 2000s xanaxx epidemik that hitt in 99 ..2000... Legeion of doom..... loved... the dr.. prescriptions.. for xanaxx and steriods...pretending they back hurt ..from..wrestling...
U did it wrong its WHAAAAAAAAAAAT AAA RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSH
Lamest catchphrase ever.
You're right, Luna Vachon would've been perfect for the LOD.
HELL YEAH!
Wow. I Can totally see that. Good call surprised I’ve never thought of it but damn good call.
Criminal Minds Girl she was apart of the Oddities though.
Know Your Role Boulevard didn’t she leave them at some point?
@@AQUAPHREESH193 who Luna? No she got fired for no exact reason with the other members of the Oddities in January. Which always pissed me off. I wanted a Ministry vs Oddities match.
And no, Sunny left LOD. Not Luna.
You handle the sensitive topics with tact and compassion. Love it.
Really looking forward to a more in-depth analysis of the Road Warriors careers and legacy. 👍
Great work Bios. It is a shame Hawk passed away not too long after reuniting with Animal. At least he is at peace now.
Selfishly I wished after Royal Rumble 98 Road Warriors went to ECW and had a feud with the Dudley Boyz
I remember the Dudley's doing the dooms day device and pointing skyward after hawks death. They showed a lot of respect to LOD
Frank Last I remmber that was it around 2003
A feud between Road Warriors and the Dudley Boyz in ECW would have been great.
The dudleys wasn't over enough in 1998 and the road warriors weren't do no hard-core matches 😂
I grew up watching the road warriors in the late 80s. I remember getting their figures for my birthday. No matter what they always have a special place in my childhood.
Rest in peace Road Warrior Hawk ( Michael Hegstrand ) and Road Warrior Animal ( Joe Laurinitis) two of the most badass tag team Wrestlers In the history of Professional Wrestling and they were legit tough also heard Hawk was a member of Hells Angels
Had no idea Animal was John Laurinaitis's brother. Nevermind that he had also died.
What??? I never knew animal's real last name was Laurinaitis any relation to John Laurinaitis?
@@dezlamphere7667wow 😂
This is one of the best wrestling UA-cam channels. The quality and nostalgia is off the scale. I salute you sir for all your hard work and dedication.
Hawk and Animal were used as enhancement talents for other teams. Should have went to New Japan from the start.
Or Stayed their asses in Atlanta.. Vince Mcmahon used them pretty okay at first but the second and third times around He used them like Job Guys..
Why? The wwf was the big leagues
@@kenrickeasonwcw wasn't going to use them neither. They were getting old
@@sweetpetergeda they were old, yes, but they were still draws, and could make money for the company. All the good history they gave to the business, and just to be jobbers wasn’t right.
"WELLLLL" - Hawk
Thank you sir, for being so respectful of the Road Warriors' ENTIRE career.
Literally my favourite thing on UA-cam right now, keep it up
I agree this channel.is a gem
Facts agree!
My memories will only be from the 80's for the LOD! RIP Hawk
The best tag team ever hands down.
R.I.P. Hawk.... What a rush!!
The Road Warriors... The Legion of Doom...
They rocked back in the days! Hawk was a beast...
@@thekenjirosangaarena wtf
L.O.D had some phenomenal crowd pops man, especially in the initial WWF run. Remember them smashing the Nasty Boyz at Summerslam when i was a kid
Despite this storyline, the Road Warriors will go down as one of the best tag team in wrestling.
Screw u The New Midnight Express were legend above LOD 10 bc😂 Bombastic Bob was a beast in the ring. Never seen a man with such an awesome blonde mullet 😍💕
Rock and roll Express
Best tag team ever.. No one else comes close
Agreed
Idk about that Dudley ECW and TNA run were great
Dudleyz had a longer run won way more titles each won all the big.titles of their era but dudleyz won each numerous times
As much as I respect the Dudley's, you can't base greatness on titles alone. The Road Warriors are the only team to hold the 3 major North American promotions tag titles. In their prime, the Road Warriors could sell out and main event major arenas with no problems. It's very rare when a tag team could be the feature attraction in a promotion and Hawk and Animal could do just that.
You are so right!
I love the Wrestling Bios channel. I immediately stop whatever I'm watching already to watch the newest Wrestling Bios video
THE ROAD WARRIORS or LEGION OF DOOM the best Tag Team of all time in my eyes.
Awesome Video ;-)
There best time was from 1991 to 1997 in my eyes.
Hawk being on top of the Titantron was a scary moment
I remember being really freaked out by out when I was a kid
@@mrowley7300
I'm sorry
I was 4 and didn't know any better lol
@@mrowley7300
I was 4 as well
Born in 94
Hell, I was 11 and remember being pretty disturbed by it. I just remember thinking how I just could not for the life of me understand why he was becoming so incredibly unstable. I remember feeling like it came from nowhere, and absolutely hating Droz with a passion for his seemingly opportunistic actions regarding Hawks downfall. It was a depressing angle for sure, one of the few that actually hit you in the emotion bone, probably didn't help that the RW/LOD were always just these imposing, larger than life type figures for such a long time before this started happening. The whole thing just killed their hard won mystique, and Hawk's physical appearance also declined right along with his actual self so the whole thing really felt SO real. It's like all of the sudden he was this bumbling, confused, weathered aging man. When you know Hawk as Hawk for so many years before this and then watch his turn into that in the matter of such a short time span before your very eyes it just played off as such a real thing that was happening.
Their downfall was time and age
I didn't find the Hawk storyline funny at all. Why the WWF wanted to rehash his problems for entertainment is beyond me.
Cause money
💰💰🤑
That was the formula for the Attitude era, blurring reality with a wrestling angle. A formula that didn't work for the Road Warriors. Personally, I just found the whole angle annoying. But thanks to the remnants of the Kliq still being attached to Vince's hips (metaphorically speaking I hope), this once great tag team fell by the wayside and had nothing but being jobbers.
When the Warriors left wrestling it was never the same !
Damn! They absolutely buried LOD when they came back. They even put over 2 Cool at a house show.
Such a sad end to IMHO, the greatest tag team of all time. So f'n brutal! Hawk & Animal were screwed by Vince.
Vince and D-X had it out for LOD and anyone else seen as the “old guard” who made names for themselves outside of the WWF such as Vader for example. On one hand it made room for a new generation of talent but on the other several careers were ruined and it began the undisputed monopoly WWE now has over the industry.
True. WWE wants to own everything and it is causing more harm than good.
No this was more LOD being the older guys putting over the new guys
@@GOJOWrestling but very disrespectful
@@GOJOWrestling WWE could have built it up.. Let them lose fighting hard as they can.. I know at the end of the day Owners and Bookers will do things their way but man least let them lose with dignity...
LOD at this point were stale. 15 years of squashing people. They had literally nothing else they could do, I love the LOD but there was no more meat left on the bone.
The way the WWF/WWE gave Road Warriors their send off was totally sucked. The losses to New Age Outlaws and the LOD 2000 Story lines were low points for the Road Warriors. Making Road Warriors drop belts to a team like the Brothers of Destruction would've far made more sense for starters.
To think these guys started in 83 and was still relevant in the late 90's into the 2000's. They're by far the Goats of Tag Team Wrestling.
I'll always remember The Road Warriors as the coolest, toughest and strongest Tag Team of all time
The most dominant tag team ever! 🤘💀💪
And the most intimidating.
For those who don’t understand,Vince crushes any “characters” idea he (WWF/wwe) didn’t come up with....
Even their first title run in WWF was poorly handled, as if Vince knew they had to get a run with it but made it as short and underwhelming as he could, I mean money inc beating them?,
The road warrors were definitely one of my favorite tag teams of all times
This is one of them storylines I definitely want to forget it made the warriors look goofy out there #riphawk
Animal died today. R.I.P.
Still my favourite ever tag team. Absolute legends.
Awwwwww what a rush! That pumped me up as a kid. My favorite tag team of all time along with Demolition. R.I.P. Hawk and now Animal.
I have loved these guys since the early 80's, RIP dear brothers!
L.O.D 2000 look something out of Mad Max.
The Road Warriors are from Minnesota. Chicago was just there kayfabe hometown...
Really? Why does animal claim to be a philly boy? Hawk is from Minnesota
Because he is from philly, but moved to Minnesota and that's where hawk came in. The Chicago was a made up hometown for story line!!!
If the Road Warriors weren’t from Chicago is it possible then that Akeem wasn’t from Deepest Darkest Africa?
*Tell em Hawk*
Wellllllll
You are killing these #BIOS keep it up you have a true #fan #supporter in me BROSKI
@@sheepdavis #notherenot
@@sheepdavis I don't do #twitter and it's for #whatever I want homie
The way the road warriors left wasn't right
It is unexpected
Droz did do a good job as a backup Road Warrior, he looked the part very well.
Can we talk about how hot sunny was in LOD gear though? She was in her prime 😍
Who wouldnt have wanted to do her back then?
One of my favorites. Always wondered what she had on under that outfit
Funny how the whole Hawk's addiction storyline was going on about the same time Scott Hall's addiction storyline in WCW.
Coincidence or Papal?
Vince wanted ratings and he didn't care whose life he shortened to get it
Titto 530 and on that fateful night in May 1999...
@@jknight1984 how is that ? Are they gone by this point
jknight1984
Oh man I'll never forget that day in my hometown. R.I.P. Owen Hart
Do the story of Macho King 👑 Randy Savage
No matter what the writers did to LOD in the end, they were -THE- most badass Tag Team in wrestling history, period.
Hawk was always my favorite as a kid. I loathed the angle they worked at the end. Even as a 16-year old I knew that everything being done and said was pre-planned and I never could wrap my head around why WWE went that route. Then again, I am not a billionaire with a globally known brand.
interesting thing is that two competitors they fell to were Triple H and HBK, who have great reverence for the old style NWA wrestling that has influenced nXt. However the 90s were all about survival of the fittest, and no one was safe.
You left out some bits from the end of their WWF run and Hawk suicide angle:
-Animal and Droz continued to team for about a month after the Capital Carnage spat
-After Hawk revealed Droz as the enabler or whatever, the story line turned into some "friendship triangle" for Animal. This continued for a few more shows.
-Eventually, Droz walks away from a match he and Animal have against the Acolytes. Hawk comes down for the save, but they both still get a beating from the Acolytes
-They came back reunited with Paul Ellering around WMXV, first to attack Patterson and Brisco for mocking them, participated in a battle royale on Heat before WM, then had a surprisingly decent tag title match against Owen and JJ on the next RAW before they disappeared for good.
The one thing I want to point out from the match with RVD and Kane: it does not seem like the LOD/Road Warriors did themselves any favors with how the match ended. RVD and Kane both hit their finishers, Hawk took the pin, and after the bell rang Hawk just got up, barely selling the fact he got hit with two finishers. Kane was visibly furious, and as much of a "Road Warrior Pop" they received could not outvalue the fact the match left people very angry with how it played out.
L.O.D 2000 is the L.O.D I remembered but their second run in WWE was much worse than their first run. WWE using Hawk's real life problems were much worse than when WCW did it with Scott Hall that same year in 1998. When they came back in 2003 I was extremely shocked as I thought Hawk was dead from the Titantron fall from 1998 and to see them lose to Kane and RVD was disappointing. What's even worse was Hawk died later that year in 2003.
But by 1992 it started it to decline of nostalgia of LOD
Well done...a fitting tribute to the Greatest tag team in Pro wrestling....Every night Hawk n Animal gave us what they did BEST!! Beatin people up...tell em Hawk!
A lot of ECW posters in the audience.
I always thought LOD 2000 looks ridiculous. I hated the new shoulder pads, helmets and the addition of Sunny
Honestly Luna would have been a great manager for L.O.D. , I also think even Sherri or Women would have been good choices also
The greatest team of our time... the greatest team of all time.
-Paul Ellering
The way you told the story made it seem more complete and interesting as opposed to how it really happened. I appreciate the storytelling.
Sunny was alot like Elizabeth, in the fact that both ladies were managers, Elizabeth was the manager of The Mega Powers (Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan), and Sunny was the manager of The Legion of Doom 2000.
The Hawk storyline might not have been too badly remembered had he not been spiraling to his death in real life. If he was still alive it might be looked at as a decent angle.
The best ever tag team that ever preformed in the square circle
Vince did more damage to them than we will never know
Giving precious paul a dummy called Rocco... what the fudge was vince thinking the lod were not puppets but decent human beings who kicked buttski everywhere they went and they did it with style and grace
Paul offered to take ventriloquist lessons but Vince said no.
@@josephnicolino8529 now how do u know that little tit bit of info....are u a wwe employee ???
No wonder Hawk left them behind after Summerslam 1992 and it started already
This makes me sad watching this, I remember ALL of this going down, use to love L.O.D. The Hawk storyline was absolutely terrible.
Another Great video! I completely agree with you I'm saying that Luna Vachon would have been the perfect female to put with the L.O.D.! Her and Hawk alone would have been Promo Gold!
I know quite a few fans who hated this version of L.O.D. I didn't mind it. It was a cool new look to a team I had been watching since their AWA days. I thought Sunny fit well. Obviously fans always prefer them with Precious Paul, but overall, L.O.D. 2000 was a solid version, at least to me anyways.
LOD were my fav tag teams back in the day as a young teenager. They had charisma and the gimmick which worked. It was sad when Hawk passed.
Hart Foundation were my favourite tag team. I also loved British Bulldogs. Demolition were excellent. The future tag teams of the Hardyz and the Dudleys deserve acknowledgement and brought the fun. Legion of Doom were the greatest.
R.I.P. Road Warriors Hawk & Animal
I think it was disrespectful (regardless of the storyline), for WWE to have the NAO and DX attack the LOD.
You’re amazing at what you do brother. Content is second to none!! You got me back into professional wrestling lol. Your work is much appreciated
Why is some of your mixes better than the original?
Great video celebrating one of the greatest if not the greatest tag team ever.
Looking forward to more.
Rest in peace Hawk
You do a great job with these videos. I own several UA-cam channels and websites and I often share your content to my 300k wrestling subscribers on FB and to my Wreslting911 website fans.
Keep up the good work.
You suck
I was a WWF guy growing up and my bud Johnny was a WCW guy. He bragged about the quality of the bouts on WCW but I was like, "meh." Then one day, I inadvertently tuned into a LOD match. It was quite obvious that Hawk and Animal were on a completely different level than the WWF tag team matches I had seen.
Paul ellering formed the legion of Doom.. the legion of Doom had several members including the road warriors and Jake the Snake Roberts and others back in the early 80s
fact of the matter is by the time they left WCW because of Jim Herd, both names were used interchangeably. Vince however felt that Legion of Doom as the team name felt better because it was less often used, and enough wrestlers had Warrior as some kind of name/nickname. Same issue with Kerry Von Erich being called the “Texas Tornado.”
I will always remember the 80's Road Warriors mowing everyone down in their path. Greatest Tag Team EVER.
I still think LOD are the greatest tag team of all time.
I can why WWF did the 2000 stuff but yeah it didnt work. I see why they tried it though
Nah Demolition were better and they had an awesome look
Kenjiro Sanga hahaha no way, a knockoff, with beer guts and looking like they walked off a horrible porn shoot. Demolition was gross, that bondage gear was horrible
I met 'Lo D' way Back in 1992 in my local Pub...All i have to say is...GENTLEMAN !!
The road warriors the best in tag team wrestling. I met animal at the New York comic Con about a couple of years ago. He looked like he could wrestle with the Young bucks today. I complemented about his solo run and how good he was. He told me he liked it too,but they didn't let him wear the face paint. He said with a grimace, I didn't like that.
These Wrestling Bios are amazing. Never missed a single episode :)
It is a disgrace that such a legendary team was treated like that by creative
They deserved another title run
A serious one
The Road Warriors were and still are my ALL time favorite tag team. No one will ever match what they did in a time when wrestling was "real" to everyone watching.
Hawk's death not only ended the LoD career but completely killed Animal's run as a wrestler as well. Nobody was ever going to buy Animal & Heidenreich and there was pretty much nobody Animal could have believably paired with either.
Animal felt so lonely after Hawk passed away
@@superlex611 Yeah tag partner not withstanding, they were also close childhood friends. He's likely never been the same after that.
@@Phoenix7786 a lone warrior
Best. Tag team. Ever.
Hands down the best tag team ever. Impressive look great intro music, but the Road Warriors we’re kicking ass before intro music became popular. They were huge and the spike pads were just the icing on the cake. Shame on Vince for exploiting a story line that opened up old wounds. Credit Hawk for pulling it off. They deserved better than that.
Great retrospective of LoD's darkest days! Seriously though, very comprehensive and well done video.
RIP Hawk, RIP Animal:(
The DX beatdown of the Warriors almost made me want to cry when I watched it live. The LOD was the reason I got hooked on wrestling back in 1986. When they brought in Sunny as their manager, I always felt if you're gonna pair them with a woman, they needed someone like Chyna or Luna Vachon...hell even Baby Doll would have been a great throwback. I will always prefer 1986-1989 Road Warriors over their later years.
R.I.P Road Warrior Hawk! Aaaauugghhhh WHAT A RRUSSSHHHHHH!!!
vince wanted to bury them period
Leave Vince alone what has he ever done to u? VKM gave us stars such as Kwang he gave us The Juicer he gave us Max 🌕 he gave us Hakushi he gave us Flash FN Funk he gave us the Battle 🐈 he gave us 1 2 3 kid why are u so angry? 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Battle cat was already a huge star over seas..123 kid was the lightning kid and the juicer never even worked in wwf,he was wcw!
@@superstarreviews9937 u must have been drinking too much Juice cause he was in a Dark Match in the WWF against Konnan back in the early 90's
@@thekenjirosangaarena cause he have rights to be. VKM is an evil man
@@lilmanmullins9193 stop saying he is evil leave this poor man alone LOD 2000 was ok but all the rest tbh kind of boring Power & Glory were better and the Orient Express 🇯🇵
It hurt that they weren't pushed to extreme dominance during the attitude era. I thought they fit in perfectly and I wanted to see them destroy everyone.
But the New Generation Era should have kept progressing
LOD 2000’s look at WM was amazing. I remember popping hard. Sunny was an afterthought for me. Road Warriors and Steiner Bros are 1a and 1b for me in best tag teams of all time
I always preferred demolition
great video. I remember seeing them various times on the wwf uk tours, sheffield, Manchester, nottingham. great days. The first time i ever saw them as a kid I spilt my popcorn all over the guy in front of me when the LOD music hit 😆😆